2012 Pumpkin Patch Open

While the weather was still tolerable, 26 teams managed to travel to Lancaster, PA for the very first annual Pumpkin Patch Open. The two man team format was preparing players for the bigger teams tournaments they would be playing in a month. The tournament was broken down into two divisions, with A paying $1000/$500 and B paying $400/200. Next year with more sponsors we hope to bring up these numbers and qualify for 3 star status! The 1k, however, was enough to bring some decent teams however. In the B division two teams prevailed. Manor TT(WB) featuring youngsters Jameson Bernard and Bereciah Skolnick and Trolley Car Titans who were composed of Trolley Car founder Ken Weinstein and Steve Hochman from Baltimore.

In the finals Weinstein outlasted B. Skolnick in a close five game match, Jameson won the second match against Hochman handily 3-0, which avenged his earlier 11-9 in the fifth loss to him. The youngest Skolnick battled hard against Hochman and was up 2-1 in games and had 4 match points but eventually lost 14-12 in the fifth. Jameson evened the match at 2-2 with a 3-1 win over Weinstein. The doubles was left for the $400. Up 5-2 in the fifth, veteran Hochman told me,"I didn't use the timeout, I was an idiot!", and Manor rolled 9 straight points to win the B division, wow.

In the A Division everything was supposed to play out like it should except Micaiah Skolnick from Manor wasn't buying any of it. In the round robin Micaiah beat a very strong Larry Abass, and Wetzler and Skolnick somehow managed to take down Baltimore in doubles to secure a spot in the semifinals. The Galactic Jersey team was top seed with #29 in the US Kai Zhang and the #1 under 12 in the US Jack Wang. For the most part the first stage was just warm-up, well, except for a match between Abass and Zhang, game one Larry served off 10-11, oops. The next three games were tight, match tied 2-2, in game 5, Zhang was sweating at 6-6, then some amazing shots and minor errors led to a 11-7 victory for Zhang. Samson Dubina carried his partner, this author, well for the initial stage. The match to advance was against Locomotive. Samson was strong and finished Micahel Leshinsky 3-0, Vladimir Iodkovskiy evened it up by crushing Rich Burnside 3-1. Samson took care of Vlady 3-0 and somehow Burnside came back from down 2-0 to beat Leshinsky in 5 (Michael must have been tired).

In semi one the hurricane that was New Jersey dismantled the Locomotive team. Zhang was simply too strong. Wang defeated Vlady in some tight games very good backhand points 3-1.

In the other semi Samson overcame an upset attempt by Wetzler, John was up 1-0 and 10-6 in the 2nd before Samson came back to win 3-1. Micaiah destroyed Burnside much more than the 3-1 match score indicated. His backhand was relentless, ripping it at will. Samson took care of Micaiah with steady openings and more consistent play, a comfortable 3-0, and Burnside weaseled his way past Wetzler with good placements and some fortunate bounces 3-2.

The finals for $1000 started well for Jersey. Zhang ripped Burnside 3-0, the games were close, but no cigar. Samson beat the junior Wang 3-1 in a very close match, Samson's play away from the table was superior to his counterpart. Wang battled with quick backhands, but it wasn't enough, match tied 1-1. Now the feature match, 2500 vs 2400, the two top players, Samson and Zhang! This was not really a match. Zhang beat Samson in almost every aspect of the game. Fun points to watch, 2-1 Jersey. Wang against Burnside was all about serves. Wang could not handle the Mike Walk serves and crazy style, some good points and rallies but the service errors were the difference 3-0 Burnside. Doubles for the $1000..........we never really had a chance, up game two 10-8, but they played well together and deserved the championship! Congrats to the New Jersey boys who played wonderful. Thank you to all that attended, it was a nice day. We look forward to next year for a bigger and better Pumpkin Patch Open!

2012 Pumpkin Patch Open Results
A Division
Final
Galactic New Jersey d. Dubina/Burnside 3-2

Kai Zhang d. Rich Burnside 6,9,5
Samson Dubina d. Jack Wang 10,-9,7,5
Zhang d. Dubina 5,5,6
Burnside d. Wang 10,10,6
Zhang/Wang d. Dubina/Burnside 10,10,8

SF
New Jersey d. Locomotive 3-0
Zhang d. Leshinsky 3-0
Wang d. Iodkovskiy 3-1
Zhang d. Iodkovskiy 3-0

Dubina/Burnside d. Manor Elite 3-1

Dubina d. John Wetzler 3-1
M.Skolnick d. Burnside 3-1
Dubina d. Skolnick 3-0
Burnside d. Wetzler 3-2

B Division

Manor TT(WB) d. Trolley Car Titans 3-2
Ken Weinstein d. Bereciah Skolnick 3-2
Jameson Bernard d. Steve Hochman 3-0
Hochman d. B.Skolnick 3-2
Jameson d. Weinstein 3-1
Jameson/Skolnick d. Weinstein/Hochman 3-2