Wyants Fall Just Short Against Aldrich Pair in NYC
By Rob Dinerman; SquashTalk © 2006; all rights of reproduction reserved.
May 6, 2006     

Dillon and Simon Aldrich Win Thriller Over Tim and Jack Wyant By Rob Dinerman

It took nearly two hours of enthralling back-and-forth squash, but Simon and Dillon Aldrich, who moved up to the Open division after winning the 17-and-under flight in the inaugural USSRA Father & Son tournament last year, managed to (barely) out-last Tim and Jack Wyant via a 17-16 17-16 6-15
12-15 15-13 quarterfinal tally which accurately portrays how evenly matched these two inter-generational pairings really were.

The exciting battle, which ended when Tim Wyant over-hit a backhand cross-court that sailed well past the back wall and into the Racquet & Tennis Club gallery at 13-14, marked the second straight year that the Wyants (who had come within two points of defeating the eventual Open champions Noah and Robert Wimmer in a fourth-set tiebreaker and wound up losing in five a year ago) had come up just short in the quarterfinal round of this event. It was similarly the second straight year in which the Aldriches, who won the '05 17-and-under final with an 18-14 close-out to the fifth game of their match versus their fellow Apawamis club-mates Rob and Robbie Berner, had seen a two games to one lead as well as a fifth-game lead (13-9 in both cases) largely evaporate yet managed to come through, however barely, at crunch time.

The tone for the taut ending to the fifth game was actually established in the first two frames, in which each team let a triple-game-ball opportunity slip away in each game: both times the Aldriches moved out to a 14-11 lead, both times they then proceeded to drop five straight points to fall behind two points to love in the best-of-five tiebreaker the opted for after being caught at 14, and both times they then captured the final three points of each game.

Though the Aldriches had aligned themselves with Simon on the right wall last spring, at the suggestion of Apawamis head pro Peter Briggs, they switched walls for this match in order to put Simon on the left with Jack Wyant, Tim's left-handed father, and many points contained repeated left-wall lob-rail exchanges between the two dads, with their sons eagerly seeking a chance to impose themselves into the action. Tim was much more forceful from the third game onward in this latter tactic than he had been through the first pair of games, often poaching into the front-left to make retrievals when Jack had been forced deep, while Cornell freshman Dillon Aldrich, frequently evincing the carefree qualities and devil-may-care gambler's instincts of youth, was by far the player most willing to go for creative and sometimes risky shots, alternating winners and tins, neither of which chastened him from remaining equally aggressive the next time an open ball presented itself.

As had happened in last year's final-round fifth-game tiebreaker, when his four winners ended the match from 1-all, set-five, Dillon provided the winning shots at 16-all in each of the first two games, the first when his cross-court forced a back-pedaling Jack Wyant to loft his response out of court over the front wall, and the second when another of his cross-courts chased the senior Wyant to the back wall, where it died at his feet. But a bad tinning stretch by Dillon, in several cases on balls that Simon should have played and was preparing to play, cost the Aldriches the fourth game and almost caused them to squander their late-game 12-8 advantage in the fifth.

At 14-11 Dillon had an open backhand with the whole right wall vacated (Tim had crossed over and was fenced in on the left), which he tinned, following which Tim Wyant nailed a cross-court winner with too wide an angle for Simon Aldrich to answer. A 14-all tie appeared almost inevitable at that juncture, given the pattern that the first two games had established, but, as noted, Tim got a little too much upward angle on his last swing of the day, and the greatly relieved Aldriches were into the semis (their third match of the day), where after splitting the opening pair of games, they lost in four to the Wimmers, whose straight-set quarterfinal win over Sanford and Joshua Schwartz this morning left them fresher and more energetic than the pardonably increasingly fatigued Aldriches as the match wore on.

ISDA superstar Preston Quick and his father, Taylor, rallied from 11-14 in the third game of their semifinal match against Will and Scott Simonton, running off six straight points to lead two/one and eventually standing at double-match-ball when they led 2-1, set-three in the best-of-five fourth-game tiebreaker, but Scott Simonton hit a cross-court winner past Taylor Quick and Preston Quick tinned a shallow backhand drive to necessitate a fifth game which the Simontons raced through 15-6 for the right to oppose the defending-champion Wimmers in tomorrow's Open final.

Also set to compete in tomorrow's finals are the Vlceks, Eric and John, against the Zugs, James Sr. and Jr., in the debuting Century division (for partners with a combined age of 100 or more); and former WPSA top 10 singles and doubles player Larry Hilbery and his son, Patrick, against the Walshes, Brian and his son, Michael, in the 13-and-under. The six-team 17-and-under flight will have both the semis and final played tomorrow.

USA Father-Son Hardball Doubles. New York. Results

Open Division (18-and-over):
Rd of 16: Noah and Robert Wimmer, bye;
Sanford and Joshua Schwartz d Richard and Stephen Tanfield, 3-2;
Simon and Dillon Aldrich d Ralph and Christoper Gerra, 3-0;
Jack and Tim Wyant d Jim and Rob Gibbons, 3-0;
Bill and Wesley Simpson, bye;
Scott and Will Simonton d Fred Sr. and Fred Jr. Pickering, 3-0;
Frederick Sr. and Frederick Jr. Kneip d Schuyler Sr. and Schuyler Jr. Winter, 3-0;
Preston and Taylor Quick, bye.

Qtrs:
Wimmers d Schwartzes, 3-0;
Aldriches d Wyants, 3-2
Simontons d Simpsons, 3-0;
Quicks d Kneips, 3-0

Semis:
Wimmers d Aldriches, 3-1;
Simontons d Quicks, 3-2.

17-and-under Division
Rob and Robbie Berner, bye;
Hoyt Taylor/Rees Sweeney-Taylor d Terry and Brian O'Toole, 3-0;
Michael and Zeke Scherl d Paul and Tom Rapisarda, 3-1;
Christian Oberbeck Sr. and Jr., bye.

Century Division
Preliminary:
Dave Vahlsing Sr. and Jr. d Pete Bostwick, Sr. and Jr., 3-0.
Semis: Eric and John Vlcek d Vahlsings, 3-0;
James Zug Sr. and Jr. d Sam and Michael Halpert, 3-0.

13-and-under Division
Preliminary: Patrick and Benton Turner d Tim and Peter Lasusa, 3-2.

Qtrs:
Larry and Patrick Hilbert d Ted and Hayes Murphy, 3-0;
Turners d Peter and Jack McDonald, 3-0;
William and Browning Platt, d Taylor and Ron Tutrone, 3-0;
Brian and Michael Walsh d Alan and Christopher, 3-1.

Semis:
Hilberts d Turners, 3-0;
Walshes d Platts, 3-1.

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