USSRA 2005 National Doubles
Marc 31 - April 3, 2005, Rob Dinerman in New York
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The 73rd USSRA Men's and Women's National Doubles Championships opened late this morning with a record turnout of nearly 150 teams vying for titles that are up for grabs in a dozen different categories. No fewer than six clubs in the greater metropolitan area will be hosting this extravaganza, which returns this year to New York, where the event was also held in 2002.

There are nearly double the amount of entries from last year in Chicago, most notably in the women's Open division, which last year involved the irreducible minimum of only two teams (Meredeth Quick/Jessica Dimauro and successfully defending eight-time champs Alicia McConnell and Demer Holleran) in what was therefore a one-match tournament.

Now there are eight teams entered in the Open division (and six more in the A flight), with a new champion guaranteed, as Holleran (who also won with Berkeley Belknap in '94 prior to beginning her extended reign with McConnell two years later) will be missing this year's edition, and McConnell will instead be teaming up with her fellow Coloradan Pochy Holderfer. Belknap and her twin sister Mary are also entered, as are Dimauro (seeded No. 1 with her Canadian compatriot Karen Jerome) and Quick (seeded second with her fellow Brooklynite Dana Betts).

The eight-team men's open draw is headed in the seedings by ISDA superstar Gary Waite and eight-time champion Morris Clothier, who nosed out Clive Leach and Eric Vlcek in a five-game 2002 final, the first to allow professionals to compete after 69 years as an amateurs-only event. Vlcek and Preston Quick won in Denver and Chicago in 2003 and 2004 respectively, but they are playing with different partners this year (Quick with Steve Scharff and Vlcek with Alex Pavulans), while other ISDA stand-outs like Josh McDonald, Scott Butcher (playing with McDonald), Blair Horler, Doug Lifford and Tyler Millard will also be competing for this prize.
Backing this flight up is a mammoth 28-team A draw led in the seedings by Ryan O'Connell/Whitten Morris and former late 1980's Franklin & Marshall teammates Beau Buford and Geoff Kennedy but featuring enough quality entrants to make this field both the largest of the entire slate and arguably the most unpredictable as to the ultimate outcome.

There are many formerly great protagonists sprinkled throughout the age-group flights, from Gordy Anderson and '75 champion Michael Pierce, partners and top seeds in the 55's event, to three-time winner ('87, '88 and '91) Rich Sheppard in the 40's, to Clive Caldwell (in the 50's) and his former titles-winning WPSA partner John Nimick, whose 45's flight in chock full of luminaries, including Peter Briggs, Jay Gillespie and Todd Binns, a three-time WPSA Doubles Team Of The Year honoree with the late Tom Page who at age 47 is barely two years removed from the advance he and ISDA partner Jeff Mulligan made to the semis of the North American Open! Squashtalk will be providing daily updates throughout what figures to be a long and exciting weekend of doubles squash.

Early Thursday results, US National Doubles:
Men's A First Round:
Karlen & Polsky def Grudzien & Krantz 15-11 17-18 16-15 15-11
Barquin & Sabatine def Dinerman & Sobhy 15-11 15-10 15-11
T Wyant & J Wyant def Hornblower & Sharnoff 15-8 15-10 15-9
Villari & Burke def McEvoy & Collins 15-6 15-9 15-9
Mens 40+ First Round:
Sheppard & Fabiani def Hofmann & Devorsetz 3-0
Mehta & Wahlstedt def Hickox & Desombre 3-2
Conway & Bobman def O'Brien & Allen 3-0

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