WFDF DDC Championships / AZ States

11/10/06 - 11/12/06 in Phoenix, Arizona

OPEN Division

WOMEN Division

MIXED Division

 The Report
 MIXED PAIRS:
 We started off Thursday bright and not that early with a double round robin of 
 Mixed Pairs. Numbers were down a bit from the past two year. We had 10 in 2004,
  11 last year, and 6 teams this year. But the quality was very even. Games were
  to 11 in each round with the top two teams advancing to a 2/3 final.
 The first round ended with Beth Verish and Bill Wright leading with a 4-1 
 record, having only lost to Conrad Damon and Kristine Spekkens. Conrad and 
 Spekks (3-2) lost to Jennifer Griffin and Dave Hesselberth (2-3) and to Harvey 
 Brandt and Lori Daniels (3-2). Upsets abounded and the second round started 
 with no team really out of the mix.
 Brandt / Daniels lost an early match in the second round to Terry Frank and 
 Carlton Howard but then went on a roll, including another victory over 
 Damon / Spekks. This put them into the finals. Verish / Wright had a very 
 close loss with Brandt / Daniels in the second to last round or their superb 
 play might have seen them playing for the title. That match will be forever 
 known as the “Cheek” game. Mark and Susie Horn rebounded from a 1-4 start to 
 finish with a 3-7 record.
 Records after pool play:
 Conrad Damon / Kristine Spekkens    7-3
 Harvey Brandt / Lori Daniels    7-3
 3rd - Beth Verish / Bill Wright    6-4          
 4th - ennifer Griffin / Dave Hesselberth    5-5
 5th - Mark Horn / Susie Horn    3-7
 6th - Terry Frank / Carlton Howard    2-8
 The finals saw a hobbling Brandt and energetic Daniels (with two pool 
 victories in hand) facing off with the #1 ranked player in the world, Conrad 
 Damon, and the always improving Kristine Spekkens. In close games, 
 Brandt/Daniels somehow managed to extend the streak and took the title in two 
 games, 16-13 and 15-12. 
 Response to Mixed  Pairs DDC has been fantastic and you should start planning 
 your partnerships for next year. It shall return.
 WOMEN’S DIVISION:
 The Women’s teams started off action Friday playing in the main pools. This is 
 to allow everyone maximum exposure to the highest level of DDC. After the 
 pools, the three teams split off for a double round robin of their own to 
 determine this year’s champions. 
 Tita Ugalde had shamefully bailed on Mixed Pairs to save her ailing foot for 
 Women’s play and the overall. It must have paid off as Tita and Beth Verish 
 withstood inspired play from last year’s champs, Terry Frank and Kristine 
 Spekkens, to become World Champions. Jennifer Griffin and Lori Daniels teamed 
 to give Ugalde / Verish all they could handle, losing the first match 15-13 
 and taking the second 17-15.  But a second round loss to Frank / Spekkens made 
 it impossible to wrest the title.
 The final results:
 1st - Tita Ugalde / Beth Verish    3-1
 2nd - Lori Daniels / Jennifer Griffin    2-2
 3rd - Terry Frank / Kristine Spekkens    1-3
 OPEN DIVISION:
 Watch out, that was the necessary advice as
 all but one of the prelim pools on Friday saw upsets.
 (Initial seeding numbers are in parentheses.)
 Pool A:
 (1) John Greensage and John Kirkland    3-0
 (9) Rick Sader and Bill Wright    2-1
 (8) Richard Paschal and Jeff Woessner    1-2
 (16) Tita Ugalde and Beth Verish    0-3
 Sader / Wright pulled off the minor seed bust in the toughest turn-around in 
 pool seeding with a nail biting 16-14 victory.
 Pool B:
 (7) Mark Horn and John Schiller    4-0
 (2) Conrad Damon and Tony Pellicane    3-1
 (15) Liz Herrick and Spencer Herrick    2-2
 (10) John Elsner and Andy Lemann    1-3
 (17) Terry Frank and Kristine Spekkens    0-4
 Horn /Schiller busted big time over defending WFDF World Champs 
 Damon / Pellicane. And Liz Herrick announced her return to competition by 
 pairing with her son to bust up as well.
 Pool C:
 (6) Cody Kirkland and Rick LeBeau    3-0
 (3) Harvey Brandt and Jon Freedman 2-1
 (11) Doug Korns and Rick Williams    1-2
 (14) Vic Ouzoonian and Craig Simon    0-3
 Once again, a top pool seed fell as the young (only in years) Cody Kirkland 
 teamed with the old (only in years) veteran Rick LeBeau to take out 
 Brandt / Freedman.
 Pool D:
 (4) Johan “Tossen” Eriksson and Thomas Lindell    4-0
 (5) Dave Hesselberth and Carlton Howard    3-1
 (12) Jim Elsner and Mike Prost    2-2
 (13) Chris Horn and Ramon Trevino    1-3
 (18) Lori Daniels and Jennifer Griffin    0-4
 Ah, back to order. This was the distance pool as Swedes Johan and Thomas 
 restored seeding order over teams from North Carolina, Florida, California, 
 and Hawaii.
 Second Round, Pool B:
 I can't go into a lot of detail here, let the results speak for themselves. 
 Paschal and Woessner controlled this pool on the strength of their experience. 
 Lots of movement in the group, check the original seeds!!
 9th - Paschal / Woessner    6-0
 10th - Jim Elsner / Prost    5-1
 11th - Ouzoonian / Simon    3-3 (head to head victory, 21-19)
 12th - John Elsner / Lemann    3-3
 13th - C. Horn / Trevino    2-4  (head to head victory, 25-23)
 14th - Korns / Williams    2-4
 15th - L. Herrick / S. Herrick    0-6
 Second Round, Pool A:
 After Friday’s action (that left two games to be played on Sunday morning), 
 only one team was really out of contention for the semis. The bunching of 
 records was certainly not typical. four teams had a 3-2 record and two more 
 were at 2-3. Sunday would be telling.
 Sunday saw critical matches for several teams. Brandt / Freedman won a tough 
 one against Hesselberth /Howard, 22-17, to move closer to a semi berth and 
 knocking out Dave and Carlton. And Eriksson / Lindell used their exacting play 
 to beat C. Kirkland / Lebeau, 21-16,  In the end, Greensage / J. Kirkland 
 cruised in with only 1 loss (to the younger Kirkland / LeBeau), 
 Damon / Pellicane were in with 2 losses, and there was a three way tie for the 
 last two spots. The Swedes saw the long trip worth it with a 2-0 record 
 against the other two teams, and Brandt / Freedman snuck in because of their 
 victory over C. Kirkland / LeBeau.
 Both semi matches were over in two straight. Greensage / J. Kirkland took out 
 Brandt / Freedman, 21-14 and 21-7. Damon / Pellicane had a tough second game 
 but prevailed in two against the Swedes (scores not reported). The finals 
 brought out some great offensive and defensive action from both sides. 
 Damon / Pellicane stayed in control and won a tough first game, 21-19. Then 
 they took over and won 22-13 in the deciding game. 
 1st - Conrad Damon / Tony Pellicane
 2nd - John Greensage / John Kirkland
 3rd - Johan Eriksson / Thomas Lindell     4-3
 3rd - Harvey Brandt / Jon Freedman    4-3
 5th - Cody Kirkland / Rick LeBeau    4-3
 6th - Dave Hesselberth / Carlton Howard    3-4
 7th - Mark Horn / John Schiller    2-5
 8th - Rick Sader / Bill Wright    0-7
 I want to thank everyone for coming out, especially all those from great 
 distances. In particular, Johan and Thomas from Sweden.
 Many thanks to Rick Sader and Lone Eagle printing for the great stickers. 
 Please put next year on the calendar. The total amount of DDC action over the 
 weekend was amazing, people played for hours. Not to be missed. 
 And don’t forget VA States in April, WFDF World Overall in July, and all the 
 various state overalls still keeping DDC alive. I’ll keep the calendar going 
 on this DDC site.
 The AZ tourney site (click here) has DDC discs, hats, and bags available from 
 the event.