Eight full teams of 6 players descended upon the Racquet Club of Philadelphia for the title of the Percy Cup Champions 2016. Starting off the tournament on Friday at 11am a full squad and supporting team of Aiken took on the Philly-Chicago team. With Purvis & Cook looking strong taking the Pair 1 match 8-5 Aiken had the dream start but it was quickly stopped by Tancer & Iole who won the Pair 2 match 8-6. With Zacher a very experienced player on the Philly court and the power of Nazemoff they beat the team of Ellis & Glance 8-2 to seal the first match of the tournament 2 matches to 1 for Philly-Chicago.
As the tournament progressed the pair 1 team from New York 2 and the Philadelphia pair 1 team were playing very steady doubles with fantastic retrieving. They won all their matches and were giving their teams the best start possible. New York 2 team kept it going and won the Division 2 with 67 games and second was Washington with 56 games.
In Division 1 it all came down to the last match which was Philadelphia vs Boston. Pair 1 as mentioned earlier played great Tennis beating a steady Boston team 8-5. Philadelphia needed to win this match and Boston needed at least 5 games to guarantee 1st place but they came up short losing 8-4. Philly needed 5 games to bring it to a three team time but couldn’t do it and lost 8-4 which meant Boston and New York finished on 57 games and Philadelphia on 56. It went to games Lost and New York had lost 47 games and Boston 50 games!
New York vs New York 2 was the final. With Whitcomb at Marathon grille enjoying his Eggs Benedict pair 3 kicked off the final where we saw the Simone duo come back from being down to take the first set 6-5. They continued the pressure and won the second set 6-3 against Goneos & Griffith. New York 2 was 1 rubber up. The second pair match was one for the history books where Stockton & Spangler lost the first set 6-5. With MacGuire & Claghorn feeling good kept the pressure on but it wasn’t enough and the lost the second set 6-5 bringing it to 1 set all. The third set started a 3 all but we all knew where the match was going and before we knew it 5 all final set was called by the marker! Spangler & Stockton held their nerves and with an epic final rally won 5-6 6-5 6-5. 1 rubber all going into the pair 1 match. Skiff & Kitchen who had been playing great Tennis all weekend shot out of the blocks taking the first set 6-1. Whitcomb & Inselbuch weren’t fazed at all and came up with a new game plan which worked a treat taking the second set 6-4. Tied at 1 match all and 1 set all it was all to play for. Skiff making some superb volleys and Kitchen which the retrieving proved too much in the end and they took the third set 6-3. Final score and victory to New York 2, 6-1 4-6 6-3 and of course the coveted Percy Cup trophy.
