Boxer Handball

Third Place!

2009-02-23T14:02:00.001-08:00

A message from Coach Mike Steele:

Here’s a brief report on the 2009 Boxer results for the trip to Nationals at the U. of Minnesota: for the first time ever, PU handball took third place nationally, beating the U. of Texas and Texas A&M for that spot—the first time we have ever knocked off those two in the same year. The first full day of the tournament, last Thursday, to start the day Boxer players won their first twelve matches in a row...an unbelievable streak. For comparison, a 4 or 5-win streak was the best prior record. During the streak, Boxer handballers met and defeated players from U. Minnesota, Texas A&M, U. Texas, Lake Forest (the eventual champs), San Jose State, Cal Berkeley, a couple of Irish schools, and Missouri State (eventual #2). We ended up that day with a 17-5 record. By Friday morning, our great women’s team had doubled its entire point total from 2008! We did not win any individual titles, although Mimi Takemune reached the medal semi-final round before losing. Capt. Aaron Garner reached the top 8 for the third year in a row. He has missed All-american status each time by an inch.

This was a wonderfully cohesive team, cheering each other in matches as late as 1 am. They also supported Evan Brown of Oregon who flew and stayed with us.

When we arrived to watch some of the final matches on Sunday, we learned that things did not pan out as well as Texas and Texas A&M would have thought. Neither of these teams secured the victories they needed in order to score more team points than Pacific. Thus, we are not 4th place after all, but 3rd!

We made it safely back to Forest Grove without any travel snafus. Thank you to Mark, Rachael, and Justin for driving us to and from the Airport this week.

GO BOXERS!

Day Four

2009-02-21T21:59:00.000-08:00

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.

Day Three

2009-02-21T15:04:00.000-08:00

Friday was the longest day ever. We had matches beginning at 8 AM and matches scheduled to play at 10 PM; however, now since we were into our classes and playing 21-point matches, the tournament got behind schedule and our last match finished at roughly 2:15 AM on Saturday. Hence why I am updating the blog now instead of last night.

Friday was not as good as Thursday, we did not match our 12 consecutive wins and 17 wins for the day, but we played hard, we played well, and we are proud of our successes for the tournament as a whole.

Results for Friday, February 20, 2009:

Men's Novice

Nguyen v. Josh Salwey (Minnesota State)-- L (5, 1)

Men's Challenger

Williams v. James Flaherty (SUNY Stony Brook)-- L (16, 5)

Bateman v. William Dressell (Florida)-- W (forfeit)

Bateman v. Brady Adams (Utah State University)-- L (6, 20)

Men's C

Thomas v. Ben Kwiatkowski (Texas)-- L (18, 12)

Levine v. Chris Hazelton (Iowa)-- L (8, 11)

Komo v. Billy Craig (SCC)-- W ((16), 5, 10)

Komo v. Dan Sterret (Lake Forest)-- L (5, 2)

Merscher v. Akinfolami Akintonji (Texas)-- W (9, 17)

Merscher v. Steve Bremer (Texas A&M)-- W (1, 1)

Men's A

Brown (Oregon) v. Matt Acker (Texas A&M)-- W (11, 10)

Brown (Oregon) v. Ciaran Neary (Dublin City University)-- W (18, (2), 7)

Men's Open

Garner v. David Brainard (Missouri State)-- W (3, 11)

Garner v. Nikolai Nahorniak (Lake Forest)-- L (14, 7)

Women's Intermediate

Takamune v. Anneliese Szutenbach (Lake Forest)-- W (14, 3)

Takamune v. Melissa Roberson (Texas)-- W (12, 4)

Matsumoto v. Kayla Boggs (Southwestern)-- W (17, 6)

Matsumoto v. Madeline Brown (Missouri State)-- L (8, 13)

Women's C

Novak v. Brandy Jaworski (Florida)-- L (10, 4)

Snelson v. Krista Allen (Utah State University)-- L (3, 1)

Costley v. Jessica Merker (Florida)-- L (18, 2)

Allender v. Janice Wong (SUNY Stony Brook)-- W (9, 1)

Allender v. Lindsey Wuenker (Florida)-- L (8, 10)

Best Day Two in the History of Boxer Handball

2009-02-19T20:59:00.000-08:00

We had an incredible day today with 17 matches won out of the 27 played. This is unbelievable; not only is it the best the Boxers have done in a single day, but it is double what we do in a typical day. This puts us in a really good spot for team point totals. Spectacular play today. We're hoping to rake in some more wins tomorrow. Hopefully tomorrow won't be quite as busy now that we have all settled/clawed our way into our separate classes.

GO BOXERS!!!

First Round Matches:

Men's C-Intermediate-Challenger

Chris Thomas (125) v. Dane Swanson (Minnesota, 100)-- W ((11), 10, 3)

Matt Levine (103) v. Tim Grothe (Texas A&M, 123)-- W (6, 8)

Jared Komo (111) v. Jordan Stanek (Missouri State, 114)-- W (4, 4)

Men's B-C-Intermediate

Casey Merscher (71) v. Antriksh Mithal (Texas, 90)-- W (5, 9)

Men's Open-A-B

Aaron Garner (3) v. James Zender (Lake Forest, 30)-- W (3, 4)

Evan Brown (Oregon, 15) v. Anthony Selestow (Lake Forest, 18)-- L (7, 10)

Women's C-Intermediate-Challenger

Jenny Novak (57) v. Desiree Ensell (San Jose State, 56)-- W (0, 0)

Sara Matsumoto (58) v. Kathleen Heng (Cal Berkeley, 55)-- W (5, 6)

Women's B-C-Intermediate

Sara Allender (44) v. Jessica Budjac (Minnesota, 37)-- W (3, (5), 6)

Megan Snelson (36) v. Rachel Peterson (San Jose State, 45)-- W (7, 7)

Lindsey Costley (34) v. Christina Cartenuto (Missouri State, 47)-- W (6, (11), 4)

Second Round Matches:

Men's Contender-Novice

Nguyen v. Reed Curl (University of Texas San Antonio)-- L (4, 5)

Men's Challenger-Contender

Weigel v. Totzke (Minnesota State)-- L ((9), 13, 2)

Bateman v. Steven Chau (SUNY Stony Brook)-- W ((6), 2, 6)

Men's Intermediate-Challenger

Williams v. Nick Eckelcamp (Missouri State)-- L (11, (11), 10)

Men's C-Intermediate

Levine v. Mithal (Texas)-- W (2, 2)

Thomas v. Cathal Walsh (DCU Ireland)-- W (3, 1)

Komo v. Zach Profant (Cal Berkeley)-- W (?, 8)

Men's B-C

Merscher v. Chris Patton (Texas A&M)-- L (1, 2)

Women's Intermediate-Challenger

Takamune v. Kim Conti (University of Texas San Antonio)-- W (3, 9)

Sherman v. Kelly Parmet (Southwestern)-- W ((13), 9, ?)

Women's C-Intermediate

Novak v. Kara Rosenbaugh (Pittsburgh State)-- W (7, 7)

Matsumoto v. Jamie Mackoul (Missouri State)-- L (5, 9)

Snelson v. Elizabeth Little (Fort Scott)-- L (13, 12)

Allender v. Joanne Logan (DCU Ireland)-- L (12, (10), 10)

Costley v. Nicole Moser (Lake Forest)-- L (3, 6)

Men's B Doubles

Levine/Merscher v. McCorry/Sherry (UUJ Ireland)-- L (?, ?)

Third Round Matches:

Men's Contender

Weigel v. Sammy Nguyen (SUNY Stony Brook)-- L (?, ?)

Day One

2009-02-18T21:32:00.000-08:00

We departed from Forest Grove at 4 AM, flew out of Portland at 6:30 AM, landed in Minneapolis, caught the light rail, then the bus, and now we're here: University of Minnesota. It's been a long day, but surprisingly, there were no travel meltdowns. This is a rarity for the handball team if you have read anything about our previous adventures. The only real excitement was walking the wrong direction for two blocks in the roughly twenty-degree weather trying to find Qudoba (thanks, to Patty's wonderful iPhone navigations). It turns out there was an entire street full of restaurants only a block away from the rec. center. We learned this after we walked for six blocks there and back. Normally, we would not complain about the walk, except it is absolutely freezing here.

We also had a wonderful team dinner at a very classy establishment known as Burger King here in Minnesota. The other classy establishment close to our hotel (Arby's) was closed.

Today was an excellent day of handball. Most of our newbies played today along with our doubles team. Today's results are as follows [Note: today's matches were played to 15]:

Men's Challenger-Contender-Novice

Chuong Nguyen (175) v. Steven Totzke (Minnesota State, 178)-- L (6, 5)

Men's Intermediate-Challenger-Contender

Danny Williams (140) v. Logan Vincent (Texas A&M, 149)-- W (4, (4), 4)

Josh Bateman (135) v. Michael Petefish (Florida, 154)-- L (6, 14)

Collin Weigel (143) v. Josh Pinter (Marquette, 146)-- L (3, 0)

Women's Intermediate-Challenger-Contender

Mimi Takamune (69) v. Whitney Moore (Southwestern, 76)-- W (0, 0)

Elizabeth Sherman (75) v. Kimberly Hughes (Florida, 70)-- W (3, 3)

Men's B Doubles

Matt Levine/Casey Merscher (8) v. Novak/Nordhal (Minnesota State, 9)-- W ((11), 8, 1)

Go Boxers!

Disclaimer: All opponents names are as listed on the tournament brackets. Pacific University is not responsible for the misspellings of the names listed anywhere in this blog.

Preparing ourselves for Minnesota...

2009-02-07T10:30:00.000-08:00

This year the Boxers will be traveling to Minneapolis, Minnesota for the 2009 Collegiate National Handball Tournament. Joining us, will be Evan Brown, a freshman at the University of Oregon. Since Evan is not technically part of our team, he will be unable to contribute to our team points and will instead earn his own. Evan is a long time friend of the Boxers and we are glad to have him as a travel buddy.

In Boxer news: We are returning this year with one National Champion (Jared Komo, Men's Novice) and we hope to produce more this year. The tournament begins on February 18th and ends on February 22nd. Blog updates will begin on the 18th. We encourage you to join us and cheer for us from afar.

Thank you for your support and a special thanks to all of the donors who are making this trip possible!

Team Rankings

2008-02-25T18:40:00.001-08:00

2008 Collegiate National Handball Tournament Team Standings

NCAA Division I:

1. Missouri State University

2. Lake Forest College

3. Texas A&M University

4. Dublin Institute of Technology (IRE)

5. National University of Ireland--Galway (IRE)

6. University of Minnesota

7. Pacific University

8. Pima Community College

9. Southwestern

10. University of Texas--Austin

11. University of Limerick (IRE)

12. University College--Dublin (IRE)

13. Western Washington University

14. Miami University Ohio

15. Cork College (IRE)

16. University of Ulster--Jordanstown (IRE)

17. University of Nebraska

18. Bemidji State

19. Iowa State

20. UC Davis

21. National College of Art and Design (IRE)

21. Southwestern CC Iowa

21. York University

24. Cardinal Stritch

25. Inver Hills CC

25. University of Texas--Permian

27. Howard College

27. Logan College of Chiropractic

NCAA Division II:

1. University of Florida

2. Dublin City University (IRE)

3. UC Berkeley

4. Pittsburgh State

5. Minnesota State Mankato

6. Fort Scott Community College

7. Colorado School of Mines

8. San Jose State University

9. University of Iowa

10. Hardin-Simmons

11. SLIGO (IRE)

12. Texas State University

13. Monroe Community College

14. Rochester University

Results

2008-02-25T13:21:00.000-08:00

Pacific University Handball National Tournament Results

Wednesday, February 20, 2008

Women

Kira Hamer (92) v. Jackie Selestow (Lake Forest, 85) – L (-6, 7, 3)

Jenny Novak (86) v. Christina Cartenuto (Missouri St., 91) – L (12, -13, 9)

Men

Reese Moriyama (187) v. Eamon Briggs (Southwestern, 166 – W (14, 3)

Lee Moyers (188) v. Chris English (Hardin-Simmons, 170) – W (7, 3)

Jared Komo v. Neal Oliver (Cal-Berkeley, 195) – W (10, 4)

Conor Casey/Patrick Dedrick (12) v. Cormac Smyth/Richie Walsh (Dublin Tech, 5) – L (6, 5)

Thursday, February 21, 2008

Women

Hali Hutchinson (77) v. Deborah Cullingham (Cal-Berkeley, 68) – L (1, 8)

Hutchinson v. Jessica Budjac (Minnesota) – W (4, 7)

Kanoe Bartels (64) v. Brittany Hinchliff (Cal-Berekley, 49) – L (1, 9)

Sara Matsumoto (41) v. Emily McMahill (Missouri St., 40) – L (2, 19)

Sara Allender (49) v. Emily Rund (Minnesota, 37) – L (20, 18)

Lindsey Costley (39) v. Asley Moler (Iowa, 42) – L (1, 4)

Kahaili Barrows (46) v. Kayla Ashland (Minnesota St.-Makato, 35) – L (2, 0)

Hamer v. Kathleen Heng (Cal-Berekley) – W (8, 3)

Novak v. Orla Gaffney (Dublin Tech) – W (4, 0)

Men

Aaron Garner (7) v. Will Lemp (Missouri St., 26) – W (5, 4)

Conor Casey (29) v. Armando Ortiz (Missouri St., 4) – L (3, 5)

Casey v. Victor Perez (Lake Forest) – L ( 4, 7)

Patrick Dedrick (95) v. Shane Hayes (NUIG, 66) – L (-18, 7, 9)

Dedrick v. Ivan Alvarado (Minnesota) – W (-18, 7, 9)

Billy Gates (110) v. Michael Deal (Colorado School of Mines, 115) – L (-15, 10, 7)

Gates v. Kevin Lamml (Minnesota) – L (20, -10, 10)

Jon Oania (123) v. Nathan McCurtin (NUIG, 102) W (20, 18)

Oania v. Ciaran O’Sullivan (Dublin City U.) – L (3, 4)

Casey Merscher (124) v. Clifford Yip (NUIG, 101) – W (4, 2)

Merscher v. Luis Ramirez (Pima CC) – L (-17, 17, 10)

Lee Moyers (183) v. Steve Bremer (Texas A&M) – W (12, -14, 5)

Moriyama v. Paul Demby (Florida) – W (13, 5)

Komo v. Spencer Stern (Pittsburg St.) – Win by forfeit

Komo v. Jose Jimenez (Southwestern) – L (14, 9)

Friday, February 22, 2008

Women’s Contenders Division

Hamer v. Cartenuto – W (13, -17, 0)

Hamer v. Jessica Johnson (Florida) – L (?, ?)

Novak v. Casey Grier – W (-20, 9, 4)

Women’s Challengers Division

Hutchinson v. ____________ -- W (13, 12)

Hutchinson v. Susan Copp (Minnesota) – L (?, ?)

Women’s Intermediate Division

Bartels v. Lizzie Little (Fort Scott CC) – W (-8, 19, 3)

Bartels v. Lindsey Woenker (Florida) – L (0, 8)

Barrows v. Stephanie Miller (Florida) – L (11, 11)

Barrows v. Cullingham – L (8, 8)

Allender v. Trisha Riggs (Missouri St.) – L (2, 8)

Allender v. Amanda Baechle (Missouri St.) – L (-14, 17, 9)

Matsumoto v. Hanna Michael (Lake Forest) – L (3, 2)

Matsumoto v. Nicole Moser (Lake Forest) – L (-15, 10, 0)

Costley v. Sarah Brusig (Lake Forest) – L (8, -20, 2)

Costley v. Sabra Abernathy (Minnesota) – W (11, -16, 0)

Men’s Open Division

Garner v. Marshall Lowy (Texas A&M) – W (5, 6)

Men’s B Division

Casey v. Dan Pry (Texas) – W (2, 9)

Casey v. Daniel Perez (Pima) – L (?, ?)

Men’s C Division

Dedrick v. Cathal Walsh (Dublin City) – L (-16, 4, 4)

Men’s Intermediate Division

Oania v. Yip – W (15, 14)

Oania v. Mike Carpenter (Lake Forest) – L (7, 2)

Merscher v. Nevan McCartin (NUIG) – L (18, 12)

Men’s Challengers Division

Gates v. Logan Smith (Pittsburg St.) – L (-18, 6, 7)

Moyers v. Mike Cain (Miami OH) – L (15, 6)

Moriyama v. Josh Sarkis (Monroe) – W (2, 20)

Moriyama v. Stephen Wood (Texas A&M) – L (11, 19)

Men’s Novice Division

Komo v. Andy Luehring (Miami OH) – W (?, ?)

Komo v. Evan Townsend (Fort Scott) – W (8, 6)

Saturday, February 23, 2008

Women’s Intermediate Division

Costley v. Woenker – L (10, 16)

Women’s Novice Division

Novak v. Bianca Greene (Lake Forest) – L (3, 17)

Men’s Open Division

Garner v. Brian Carroll (Dublin Tech) – L (9, 18)

Men’s Novice Division

Komo v. Jeff VanBooren (Missouri St.) – W (?, ?)

Sunday, February 24, 2008

Men’s Novice Division

Komo v. Joey Urbani (Lake Forest) – W (11, 3)

Komo wins Men’s Novice Division National Championship

Notes:

Lindsey Costley wins $1,000 John Sabo Sr. Scholarship

Total team scores: Men’s-- 748…Women’s-- 444…Combined--1,192

Day Four

2008-02-23T20:09:00.000-08:00

Congratulations to Women's Contender Semifinalist Jenny Novak and Men's Novice Finalist Jared Komo. Jared plays early tomorrow morning for the national championship in his division and then we will begin the long drive back to Kansas City, fly to Houston, and back to Portland. We will arrive in Forest Grove in the wee hours of Monday morning, so the blog may not be updated tomorrow unless I find some time (and internet access).

And as much as I don't want to seem like I'm praising myself, I know coach would be upset if I didn't mention this: congratulations to Lindsey Costley, recipient of the 2008 John Sabo Sr. Handball Scholarship.

Tonight's banquet dinner may have been the longest of the banquet dinners, but at least they served the food first this year. The food was not as bad as it usually is either; we had even made more substantial dinner plans after the banquet, which have since been cancelled due to the better quality of food. And Billy Gates won a camouflaged hat during the door prizes.

So the tournament ends tomorrow, I will make more detailed/photo posts either tomorrow or sometime early this week, but for now I'll go for the sentimental stuff. We may not have had our best tournament, but we still had a great time together. To our seniors-- Jon Oania, Billy Gates, Patrick Dedrick, Kahaili Barrows, and Hali Hutchinson-- I've enjoyed my tournaments with you. We've had some really great times, some we'd like to forget, and some we hope we never forget. I am really happy that I got to chill with all of you and get to know you. Best of luck to you all in your futures and hope to see you in the courts whenever you're around.

Day Three

2008-02-22T22:59:00.001-08:00

My results list is currently being typed up by Billy... so this will be a less detailed post, but I will post more details from today later.

Aside from seeing a lot of excellent handball today, we saw three amazing things:

1. a player whose boxer shorts were longer than his court shorts

2. a girl in knee-length pistachio spandex

3. a grown man wearing Heely's

Though everyone played hard today as we powered through several matches (probably more today than the 24 from yesterday, but I will know for sure later), only four Boxers are moving on tomorrow: Aaron, Lindsey, Jenny, and Jared. Jenny and Jared are semifinalists in their divisions, so congratulate them when you see them back on campus! Aaron and Lindsey are quarterfinalists in their divisions. We all hope to have these four playing again on Sunday for the championships. Some schools have already been eliminated from the tournament, it is usually our goal to have half of the Boxers playing on Saturday, but we will take whatever we can get; our odds are better than several other teams at the moment.

At the end of the tournament I will post a detailed breakdown of all the games and scores. I should also have more pictures to add sometime tomorrow, whenever we have a break.

And finally, happy birthday, Jon and Lee!

Go Boxers!

A Little Bit of Handball History

2008-02-21T22:02:00.000-08:00

So I have been asked to provide a brief history of handball at Pacific...

Pacific University would not have handball if it weren't for Coach Mike Steele (also the president of the United States Handball Association). He started this program and he is the reason we have such a strong reputation throughout the handball community-- among many things, Pacific is known for having the best referees of any school around. This year's collegiate tournament consists of roughly 300 players (including 60 from Ireland) from 50 schools. Pacific usually finishes in the top 4 teams in NCAA Division I. Boxers have attended the tournament since 1980, producing 18 national champions and 2 All-Americans since 1985. There are over 240 alumni who have played handball at Pacific.

It's kind of a legacy. So come play handball...

Day Two

2008-02-21T21:38:00.000-08:00

The weather in Missouri is quite different than Oregon. We arrived to temperatures of three degrees Fahrenheit, below zero with the wind chill. Since then it has been warmer, but icy. There was a lovely ice storm that coated all of our rental vans with a thick layer. The wonderful people at Budget did not provide us with ice scrapers even though it's winter and ice is common in Missouri. Hooray, for scraping ice off of twelve-passenger vans with credit cards/I.D's.

The dining hall a few blocks from the Handball facility is magnificent. The food is mediocre, but the dining hall itself is something to see. So that's one really positive thing about Missouri.

Boxers played 24 matches today; of those 24, Boxers won 10 which is really good for a small team. The day began with a series of losses, some of which were the same scores on the same court-- we decided court 1 is cursed. Boxer winners for today (marked W/Games, due to multiple games by some players): Kira (1/1), Jenny (1/1), Aaron (1/1), Jon (1/2), Casey (1/2), Lee (1/1), Reese (1/1), Jared (1/2), Hali (1/2), Patrick (1/2). Most of the men played two matches today so a big chunk of our women will play two tomorrow. We are finishing pool play and will work into our brackets tomorrow, for those who aren't there already. I will post our brackets and standings once we have them... most likely tomorrow night.

It was a great day of handball and it's only going to get better.

Go Boxers!

Day One

2008-02-20T21:12:00.000-08:00

After a very long day of traveling, we made it to Springfield without any major setbacks (which is highly unusual for any handball trip). For the past two years, it has been my goal to take a picture of Coach Mike wearing his sleeping mask on the plane. I am proud to say I was seated in the same row as Coach Mike and... well, the photo is posted.

Some folks played today, but everyone will play tomorrow; the results for day one are:

Kira and Jenny fought it out like champs, but each lost in the tie-breakers.

Lee, Reese, and Jared dominated their opponents.

Our lone doubles team (Conor and Patrick) lost to DIT (Ireland), who will probably win the tournament (if it were a tournament for the shortest shorts).