Unseeded Dori Easdale and Jill Gilbert Conquer Columbus

February 2, 2018
Columbus, OH
By Brian Heil

Year five of Elysium hosting the Women's Columbus Open produced it's fifth different winner and third consecutive first time champions. This year the unseeded team of Dori Easdale and Jill Gilbert from Columbus rattled off four matches, taking out the third-seeded team, Anneliese Adkinson and Heather Morneau, and the fourth seeds, Spencer Caravaggio and Megan Trombold, in the final to capture their first title.

Caravaggio/Trombold had an impressive win in the semifinal, taking out the top seeds and former champions Abby Hand and Amy Heil (Columbus) before succumbing in the final 6-1,5-7,6-3. In the other half of the draw, another young team, Jessica Easdale and Alice Tunaru (Columbus), had a great first tournament, taking out the second-seeded veteran team of Vicki Brown and Janet Mazzola (Cleveland) in the quarterfinals in straight sets before coming up short in the semifinals against Easdale/Gilbert (Jessica's mom showed no mercy).

Overcoming some brief blizzard conditions and some backdraw mayhem, the day overall was a great success filled with upsets and tight matches. Thanks for all who came in to support Columbus paddle and Region IV. Hoping to have you all back and then some next year!

Special thanks to Elysium Tennis staff for working all week to prepare for the day to help run as smoothly as possible. Thank you to our sponsors Colin LeVeque (Peletonia), Rob Martin (Crest Retirement) and Rich Ihlendorf (beer and wine) and to Worthington Hills and the Lakes country clubs for the use of their courts.