Forty six doubles players gathered in Maine over the weekend to bid farewell to a court, welcome the inaugural class into the Maine State Squash Hall of Fame and yes, to play squash. The Bowdoin doubles court–the only one north of Boston in New England–will be demolished within two weeks, but players in three divisions happily took the opportunity to put the old court through the paces one last time during the Maine State Doubles, which began Thursday and finished Sunday afternoon.

The late rounds of the Open draw were all Bowdoin: current players, alumni, a coach, and two Bowdoin players' fathers. Eventual winners Zach Linhart and Mike Fensterstock, both grads of Bowdoin, defeated coach Tomas Fortson and senior captain Jake Sack in a a five game semifinal. The match was highlighted by long rallies and some hotly contested points. After seeing their two love lead dissipate, Linhart and Fensterstock put away the fifth 15-11 to advance to the final.

The other semi saw the father son team of Andy and Chris Nehrbas pitted against another father/son pairing, Guy and Peter Cipriano. The Bowdoin court has been very good to the Nehrbas' –the two won the Charles Butt Doubles Tournament in 2005 and 2006, with Chris claiming a third with Fortson in 2007–and the trend continued through the semi as they won in three. Linhart and Fensterstock outdualed the Nehrbas' and forced errors to take the final 15-13, 15-9, 15-12.

Doug Fuller and Eric Grossman won the B Draw in a straightforward affair, though by no means over your every day squash player. All three of their matches were against Bowdoin hockey players, as coach Terry Meagher encourages his team to play squash for agility, footwork and practice seeing a small black object move quickly, as it translates to following a hockey puck. Fuller and Grossman went through the weekend without dropping a game.

Six teams competed in the 60+ final. Garrett DeGraff and Chuck Lyster walked away the victors, winning the final 3-1 over tournament director Fred Hill and Peter Latimer. The draw consisted of two separate red robins with both finalists going 2-0 in matches. Hill and Latimer claimed a major victory on Saturday when they defeated the Canadian team of Kerry Martin and Paul Yaphe. Martin and Yaphe won the 60+ at last years Maine State Doubles and the Charles Butt Doubles in the fall.

Hill saw his and Bernie LeCroix's idea of a Maine State Squash Hall of Fame fulfilled on Saturday night over a lobster dinner at the Outing Club at Bowdoin. The Hall was officially established and the first three members inducted. They are: Charles Butt, the swimming and soccer coach at Bowdoin for over 40 years, as well as winner of more than 20 national championships including one doubles championship; Ed Reid, Bowdoin's first squash coach and winner of squash championships in the late 40's and early 50's; and Dell Fuller, a former insurance executive who won five national doubles championships and started several squash tournaments.

The competitors and supporters returned to the court on Sunday for the last matches to be played. There are plans to someday add three softball courts and one hardball doubles court to the Lubin Family Squash Center at Bowdoin, which opened in 2000 has seven international-standard squash courts, but nothing is in action for that now. Before anything happens, funds need to be raised for the court. Until then, those who used the Bowdoin court have a ways to go for their doubles matches.

 

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