Nothing Middling about the Midwesterns

January 22, 2012
Cincinnati, OH

It was cold day with a little picturesque snow in the air, and a heavy chance of a Chicagoan winning the Men's Open.

The men’s semifinals were something to behold. All four seeded teams made the semi-finals. Third-seeded Brett Englesberg and Jeff McMasters of Pittsburgh faced the Chicago duo of Mike Marino and Dane Schmidgall in one semi. Marino and Schmidgall barely made an unforced error in their 6-0, 6-1 dismantling of Englesberg and McMasters.

The highly anticipated semi final match between the team of Scott Estes and Brian Uihlein and Juan Martinez-Arraya and Alex Bancila was a little slow to heat up as Arraya and Bancila needed a set to get comfortable with the extreme spin coming off the racquet of Uihlein. Unfortunately for them they couldn’t quite stretch the match to three sets and so lost 6-0, 6-4.

In the Women's Open, in the largest ever draw, locals Heather Prop and Lynne Schneebeck, currently ranked #4 nationally, defeated the Chicago team of Missy D'Alise and Katie Queenan to claim the title. (photo at right above: D'Alise, Queenan, Prop, Schneebeck.)

In addition to the Men's 90+ and 110+ events, this year the tournament added a Women's 90+ event, which drew 8 teams.

Men's Open (pdf) 
Women's Open (pdf) 
Men's 90+ (pdf) 
Men's 110+ (pdf) 
Women's 90+ (pdf) 

Congratulations to all the winners and finalists!