Day Four

I am sad to say we are all eliminated as of this afternoon, but overall we had an excellent tournament, so I can't complain. The banquet was this evening and the food is always terrible, but at least it was better than eating in the Gopher Hole (yes, this is their dining hall). Congratulations to semifinalists Mimi Takamune in Women's Intermediate and Evan Brown (Oregon) in Men's A!

Today's Results:

Men's C

Merscher v. Sterret (Lake Forest)-- L (6, 7)

Men's A

Brown (Oregon) v. Brian Quigley (NUIG Ireland)-- W (?, ?)

Brown (Oregon) v. Alex Tovar (Pima Community College)-- L (?, ?, ?)

Women's Intermediate

Takamune v. Lauren Kjolhede (Southwestern)-- L ((18), 3, 0)

Congratulations to all of our players. We had the best tournament we have had since roughly 2002. We finished 4th place overall this year! Our women scored double the team points we scored last year. And we had an incredible 12-win streak on Thursday.

This being my fourth year at Collegiates, I am sad that I have reached the end; I am sad that I didn't do better for my team, but in the end I am happy that I was part of the group that was able to bring Pacific back into 4th place (NCAA Division I at that) and I brought my all for that very moment in time. It has been a great tournament, and I am happy this is the way it will end. Thank you to all of my teammates for making this such a great year and a great team to be a part of. I will miss you all very much and I wish you all the best in the years to come.

To our head coach, Mike Steele: without you, I never would have discovered handball nor would I have improved as much as I did. You are the team. I have no idea what we will do when you retire. Thank you for four excellent years.

Full team rankings will be posted when we receive them from the United States Handball Association (USHA). Stay tuned for next year's tournament in February 2010 at Texas A&M University.