Nathan LeFevre-Huntley Montgomery Capture Lagunitas Open

Tori Eichleay
January 28, 2015
Ross, CA

The good weather held through Saturday and Sunday for the men's tournament. A record 40 teams (16 Championship and 24 Gentlemen’s ) battled in the cages with 52 matches played on Saturday alone. It seemed to be family affair weekend, with many teams composed of various family member combos. The first victory was won by father-son duo Nick and Brett Hoppe, who won the Gentlemen’s final over first-time finalists John Boesel and Andy Spiegel in a close two-set final. The Consolation final featured brother-in-laws Baird Conner and Rian O’Meara (making his way from the beaches and ‘paddle’ courts of Southern California), against the veterans Sean Williams and Adam Tracy. The bros backed up their alliance, winning in two sets. The Reprieve introduced two new teams to the game, Peter Mortimer and Chuck Muller versus Wyeth Goodenough and David Grossman. The ‘G’ team fought valiantly for a three-set see-saw victory, and proclaimed that they are hooked on the game.

(L to R)  Gentlemen's Winners: Brett Hoppe and Nick Hoppe  Finalists: John Boesel andAndy Spiegel

The Championship flight included the deepest talent pool yet in Northern California, including former National Champion Mike Cochrane and the Club’s own head pro and highly ranked Nathan LeFevre. Fortunately, the two did not pair up for the tourney. The returning Denver team of Peter Dinneen and Scott “the Ripper” Ripley were not able to defend their Consolation trophy, losing a battle to the cagey Denver veteran Ed Hays and son-in-law, local George Eichleay. In the main draw Reprieve, long time partners and brothers-in-law Pete Lardner and Rich Welch defeated the travel team of Ben Porter and Vasiliy Guryanov. The Consolation Reprieve featured a three-set battle between two up-and-coming teams of big hitting tennis players, Mike Viani and John Wong versus Andrew Biggs and A.J. Rohde, with Biggs/Rohde pulling out the victory.

The Championship draw had three of the four top seeds take part in two highly-anticipated semi-final matches. First seeds Nathan LeFevre and Huntley Montgomery held off Eric Pearson and Ned Lanphier. The other semi featured a repeat of last year’s final with third seeds Will Lyon and Tom Mayes again upending the second-seeded team of Mike Cochrane and Andy Ward. In the final match of the day, LeFevre/Montgomery brought too much firepower and bested Lyon/Mayes in two sets.