The fourth annual Rec Park Racquet Rumble drew 71 players to the Harpur Stantz courts on Saturday for a doubles-only tournament that began in the fog and finished in the hot sun. Evan Vail ended the day with two trophies, making him the only player to win twice.
Before the first serve
The tournament is run by Tennis Charities of Binghamton, with Michael Starke as tournament director. It is open to every ability level, juniors included. For $25, everyone received a T-shirt and played at least three matches, and the winners took home trophies. The stated goal going in was sixteen teams in each of the three divisions.
Plenty of players entered both the gendered and mixed doubles, which led to those competitors getting in a lot of matches. Many competitive, long matches in the men’s and women’s doubles meant the mixed event was running behind from the start.
Was really cool to see every generation of the community out having fun and competing together. Thanks to Michael Starke and TCOB [Tennis Charities of Binghamton] for putting on such a fun event.
The full results
Men’s doubles
Men’s Final: Evan Vail/Adam Lewczuk (1 seed) def. Joey Hommel/Mason Spottek (2 seed), 8–2
Third Place Playoff: William Mendler/Shawn James (4 seed) def. Tyler Davis/Julian Holdrege, 6-4
Women’s doubles
Women’s Final: Kathleen Hundley/Emily Esther (1 seed) def. Sweet/Sweet (4 seed), 8–5
Third Place Playoff: Yelena Reporyeva/Siya Sehgal (2 seed) def. Ali Krowiak/Anna Norris, 7–6
Mixed doubles
Mixed Doubles Final: Evan Vail/Sophie Sweet (3 seed) def. Mason Spottek/Julia Holtermann (1 seed), 8–4
Third Place: Kathleen Hundley/Connor Darcy (2 seed) by walkover
Evan Vail won the men’s doubles title alongside Adam Lewczuk as the top seeds, then won the mixed title with Sophie Sweet as the third seeds, beating the top-seeded pair in the final. Mason Spottek finished runner-up in both the men’s and mixed divisions.
Three members of the Sweet family played; Jennifer and Ella reached the women’s final, and Sophie won mixed. In the women’s draw, the one seeds, Kathleen Hundley and Emily Esther, got the win, and the second seeds, Yelena Reporyeva and Siya Sehgal, ended their tournament with a win after a 7–6 battle in the third-place playoff.
Every photo from the tournament
All 98 photos from Saturday, in one place. Click any picture to open it full size.
With its continued success, the Rumble has become a staple of the local tennis calendar, and it seems like Rec Park will be hosting this annual tournament for many more years to come.