Joey Payeur
Anniss Seid backed Jason Kabel into a corner he could not get out of.
With the fifth-and-deciding game deadlocked in the late stages, Seid made three stellar shots using the corners of the court to full advantage to come away with a 3-2 victory to capture the ‘A’ division of the 28th-annual Sunset Country Squash Club’s Boxing Day tournament at the Memorial Sports Centre.
The scores were 8-11, 11-5, 11-6, 2-11, and 11-8.
“I think just staying focused was the best part of my game today,” noted Seid, who topped the tournament for the second time.
“It was just a matter of keeping my head in the game, keeping confident, and not quitting,” he added.
“I just had to find the holes and treat every point like it’s a new game.”
A back-and-forth fifth game saw Seid and Kabel tied 7-7 before Seid delivered back-to-back key shots to pull ahead for good.
After nailing a serve return to the deep corner to take the lead, Seid charged a shallowly-placed shot by Kabel and thumped one again into the same corner that Kabel couldn’t get to for a 9-7 advantage.
Kabel got one back but then smacked a shot into the tin to set up match point at 10-8.
Seid clinched the title with a drive to the front corner that lightly bounced and then died before Kabel could reach it.
“[Kabel] pushed me to the limit,” Seid said.
“It was good for old times’ sake,” he added. “We used to battle all the time until I moved from the Fort to Thunder Bay for school.
“It was nice to face him in the final.”
Seid had the shot of the match in the first game of the final—uncorking a no-look spinaround shot that found the target and kept him in the point, which ended in a “let” call and a re-serve.
Kabel eventually prevailed when Seid hit the tin on game point, but Seid jumped out to a 6-0 lead in the second game and quickly tied the match.
The third game saw Seid get off to another quick start with leads of 5-2 and 9-3, using a mix of touch, power, and misdirection shots to befuddle Kabel.
But the man who holds the key to the facility as the town’s community services manager found the key to extending the match.
While Seid ran into trouble with numerous shot-making errors, Kabel crafted a 7-0 run after an early 1-1 tie by making good on a few touch shots of his own to cruise to victory in the fourth game.
Seid started his march to the title by edging Aaron Grynol 2-1 in the best-of-three first round.
He then received a second-round bye before nipping Anthony Andrusco 3-2 in the ‘A’ quarter-final.
Anika Alexander then pushed Seid in the ‘A’ semi-final before finally falling 3-1.
Kabel, meanwhile, blanked Joshua Ernst 2-0 in his opener before sweeping Jeff Wright 3-0 in the second round and then getting a bye through the quarter-finals.
Defending ‘A’ champ Ben Andrusco lurked in the ‘A’ semi-finals but Kabel put forth a solid effort in a 3-1 win.
In the ‘B’ event, Thunder Bay teen Jonny Zajac had his work cut out for him in the final against a former nationally-ranked youth competitor in the form of Colin Drombolis.
The two took turns getting the better of each other, with Zajac getting the last word in a 3-2 triumph (11-8, 7-11, 13-11, 5-11, and 11-9).
Zajac and Drombolis were tied 9-9 in the fifth game when the latter drilled one into the tin.
Then on match point, Drombolis watched Zajac drill a low laser that just struck above the tin and landed near the front wall beyond his reach.
An opening-round loss to Andrusco pushed Zajac to the ‘B’ event, where he beat Rory Bagacki (score unknown) and then rallied from a 2-0 deficit to upset Mark Faragher 3-2.
Drombolis lost his first match to Jeff Gustafson, but stormed his way to the ‘B’ final by beating Angel McCormack (3-1) and Grynol (3-1).
The ‘C’ event final saw McCormack make short work of Bagacki with a 3-0 sweep (11-6, 11-9, and 11-4).
McCormack was first beat by Anthony Andrusco 2-0 and then Drombolis 3-1 to wind up in the ‘C’ event of the 20-person tournament.
She then blanked Al Christiansen 3-0 before handing the same margin of defeat to Jay Sobkowicz.
Bagacki lost his opener to Bob Tkachuk 2-0 before losing to Zajac, but still got a bye to the ‘C’ final due to being at the bottom part of the draw.
The local club will host its annual home tournament Jan. 16-18.
