by John Lumley
We had a fantastic turnout of 21 players, ready to battle for the 2023 Noll Cup! The tournament’s second match was a battle between Tim Carroll and Dan Villiers, with Carroll taking it 6-5 in the final set. Both players were retrieving everything and had some spectacular rallies. Saturday saw the number 1 seed, Vaughan Massie, cruise to the semifinals. Charlie Lee and Pete Roessler had a great match which Lee took 6-3 in the final set. Tom Price and Max Drake were in the last round of 16 matches, which went the distance 6-5 6-4 in Price’s favor. He finished the match with a fantastic backhand boast at full force.
In the quarterfinals, the top half of the draw saw Massie and Carroll cruise to the semis. Eli Drake played great control to move Tyler Thompson around the court and close out the match in straight sets. Stephen Wetherill had a solid game against James Price, who had a great tournament but, in the end, couldn’t get the win.
Massie and Carroll started the day with an epic three-set match. Momentum changed a few times in the match, but in the end, Massie’s length and control got him the win and into the final. Wetherill played an excellent style of pace and control to take Drake 6-4 6-4 to complete the bottom half of the draw. Two hours later and our final was underway! Massie came out the gate strong, hitting good length and finding some targets. Wetherill went on a spree of crushing the grille to level it at three games-all before Massie took the set 6-3. The momentum switched & Wetherill went out to an early 2-0 lead. Massie made it clear he did not want a third set, dug deep, and played some superb tennis to close the match 6-3 6-4.
Thank you to all the players for a fantastic event & to Justin Skaggs at Wayward for the beautiful wooden trophies.
