Mass State Doubles To Culminate In “Finals Night” This Evening   
By Rob Dinerman

Dateline May 4th --- There will be a frenzy of activity on the two doubles courts of the University Club of Boston this evening, by the end of which NINE teams will be crowned champion of a Massachusetts State Doubles competition that began in mid-March. Defending Men’s Open champions Dan and John Roberts will face Doug Lifford and Max Montgelas in a rematch of last year’s final in the wake of the Roberts brothers’ semifinal win over Greg Zaff and Andrew Slater (who reached that stage by saving a fourth-game match-ball against them in their quarterfinal victory over former Trinity College teammates Reg Schonborn and Simba Muhwati, one of five matches in this event to go the five-game limit) and the balancing Lifford/Montgelas defeat of Graham Bassett and Jonathan Hyett in the bottom-half semi. John Roberts is in for a busy night, having also partnered his Harvard Club of Boston pro colleague Sharon Bradey to the Mixed Doubles final, where they will oppose Fernanda Rocha and Bassett. Rocha, who teamed up with Amanda Sobhy to defeat two-time (2007 and 2008) Mass State champs Sandy Tierney and Pat Malloy in a memorable Men’s Open round-of-16 match early last month, and Bradey are also set to play tonight in the Women’s Open final against Hope Crosier and Mary McKee.

   Though they fell one round short of the Men’s Open final, as noted, Slater and Zaff did earn a spot in the 50’s final against Chris Spahr, finally recovered from a lengthy late-winter bout with plantar fasciitis, and Scott Poirier, while in the other Mass States age-group category, the 60’s, top seeds Tierney and Joe Duffey will face Malcolm Davidson and Tom Poor. Spahr is also set to play in the Parent-Child final with his daughter Caroline against Amrit Kanwal and his son Deven, who will also be contesting the B final against top seeds Charlie Humber and Cole Koeppel. In the final of the Siblings tourney, Koeppel and his brother Jacob, who defeated Carson and Caroline Spahr in the semis, will receive a walkover, since their scheduled opponents, James and William Hearty, have a scheduling conflict that will prevent them from playing this evening. Finally the C Division, the largest of the lot with 41 entered teams, is still getting down to two teams as of this Monday-morning writing, but there is no doubt that this process will be completed later today, as the Mass State Doubles is by far the most subscribed to and well-run of any regional doubles competition in the land, and Finals Night never fails to be enthralling and exhausting for everyone involved.