Date: Fri 08-Sep-1995

Publication: Bee

Author: KIMH

Illustration: I

Quick Words:

Stroock-Tennis-1995

Full Text:

B Y K IM J. H ARMON

It used to be a repetitious sort of story, the latest exploits of a woman

named Joanne Klopfenstein or a man named Dave Arnold, but, lately, everyone

has been taken a taste of the men's and women's singles championships of the

annual Bertram Stroock Memorial Tennis Tournament.

Klopfenstein and Arnold each captured five titles in six years - Klopfenstein

winning hers between 1987 and 1992 and Arnold winning his from 1986 to 1991 -

but in the last three years (four for the men) a different player has won the

championship. This is the story of the two newest champions - Bob Elliott and

Diane Gucciardo . . .

Bob Elliott was not an unknown commodity as he entered his first Stroock

Tournament. After all, his play in the Newtown Open spoke volumes about his

ability to all the members of the Newtown Tennis Association.

Which is why Elliott was seeded No. 1 for the 22nd annual Stroock and why he

was the man to beat - a reputation he lived up to when he captured the Men's

Singles championship in a 6-1, 6-1 win over defending champion and No. 2 seed

Preston Meyer.

No. 1 seed Diane Gucciardo stumbled a year ago in the Women's Singles

championship - literally - but with bruised knees and sore wrist just a

painful memory, she remained steady on her feet last weekend and shed her

bridesmaid status as she won her first title with a 6-2, 4-6, 6-3 decision

over unseeded Kathleen Martin.

The Stroock Tournament, sponsored by the Richard and Victor Coopersmith

families and named for Bertram Stroock, a past benefactor of Newtown tennis,

began play in August and culminated last weekend at Dickinson Park with

semi-finals and finals matches in several different divisions - men's singles,

women's singles, men's doubles, women's doubles, mixed doubles, and junior

events. While Elliott and Gucciardo were earned their titles, Drew Arnold and

Justin McCarthy (men's doubles), Shelby Lance and Wendy White (women's

doubles), Leon Barkman and Wendy White (mixed doubles), Jason Calandruccio

(boys' 18 and under), Alison Healy (girls' 18 and under), Eric Putnam (boys'

14 and under), Kristin Meyer (girls' 14 and under), Dan Murphy (boys' 12 and

under), and Caitlin Martin (girls' 12 and under) were winning titles.

Finals

Men's Singles - Elliott defeated Meyer 6-1, 6-1, to claim the title while Jim

Ondak edged Chris Kovacs 7-5, 2-6, 6-2 in the consolation round final.

Women's Singles - With her husband's parting words, " stay on your feet! "

echoing in her head, Diane Gucciardo erased the memories of her fall in the

championship final last year and upended Kathleen Martin 6-2, 4-6, 6-3 in a

tough, three-hour battle.

Gucciardo reached the finals of the Stroock last year and was down 3-0 to

eventual winner Shelby Lance when, after lunging for a hard shot, she fell

down. She bruised her knees and hurt her wrist and had to withdraw from the

tournament, missing yet another opportunity to win a title in an NTA-sponsored

tournament. " Between the (Newtown) Open and the Stroock, " Gucciardo said, "

I made it to the finals something like five times and never won. I decided

this year if my opponent made a good, hard shot, I was going to give it to her

and not take another chance at putting myself out of the tournament. "

After taking a first-set win, Gucciardo's plans on claiming the title took a

momentary sidetrack as Martin earned a 6-4 win in the second set.

" She was playing it safe and defensive in the second set, " Gucciardo

explained. " I went to the net a couple times but she would just lob it back

over my head. I'd run back and get it, but I'd be back at square one, only I'd

be more tired.

" It was a grueling match, " she added, " and it became a question of who was

going to make the first mistake. "

In the consolation bracket, Abbe Bowles earned the title.

Men's Doubles - Arnold and McCarthy eased past Hugh Lavery and Jim Ondak 6-3,

6-1 for the title while Gene Bernard and Dom Nocturne slipped past Chris

Kovacs and Dave Waite 6-3, 6-1 in the consolation finals.

Women's Doubles - Lance and White made it six championships in a row with a

6-0, 6-3 decision over Kathy Joyce and Claire Willis.

" It helps a lot that we do play inter-club during the winter, " White

explained, " so we're used to playing matches, but I guess we've just lucked

out. "

The duo did not have much trouble with their semi-final match against Jean

Kunkel and Jan Lavery (a 6-0, 6-2) win and pretty much dismissed Joyce and

Willis in the same fashion.

" We were able to come to the net, " White said, " take hold of it, and force

some errors. Our opponents were equally as skilled as us, but we were able to

put a lot of pressure on them. "

Bea Gellert and Mary Tietjen were the consolation round winners.

Mixed Doubles - Barkman and White won their second mixed doubles title with a

6-2, 6-1 win over Bernard and Lance. Andrew and Jim Ondak defeated Lorraine

Chappell and Matt Guzzetti in the consolation round 3-6, 6-1, 6-4.

Boys' 18 and under - Calandruccio edged Rob Anders 7-6, 6-2.

Girls' 18 and under - Healey defeated Amy Grabowski 7-5, 6-3.

Boys' 14 and under - Putnam had to come from behind to defeat Zack Miller 5-7,

6-2, 6-0.

Girls' 14 and under - Meyer nipped Kaitlin Lavery 6-4, 7-6 for the title.

Boys' 12 and under - Murphy eased past Matthew Brown 6-1, 6-2.

Girls' 12 and under - Martin defeated Lauren Meyer 6-3, 6-0 for the

championship.

Semi-Finals

Men's Singles - In perhaps the best match of the tournament, Elliott came from

behind to upend McCarthy, 2-6, 6-3, 6-2. Meyer also had to come from behind in

the other semi-final - in order to give himself a shot at defending his title

- and defeated No. 5 seed Steve Bigham (1992 champion) 2-6, 6-4, 6-2.  

Women's Singles - Gucciardo, the No. 1 seed, easily handled the unseeded Sonja

Haskel 6-0, 6-1 to advance to the finals.

The unseeded Martin upset the tournament's No. 2 seed, Julie Stern, in two

sets: 6-3, 6-4.

Men's Doubles - Arnold and McCarthy, seeded No. 3 in this division, teamed to

vanquish defending champs and No. 1 seeds Barkman and Ray Craven 6-0,. 7-6. In

the other semi, No. 4 seeds Lavery and Jim defeated No. 2 seeds Brian Connolly

and John Daugherty.

Women's Doubles - White and Lance defeated Jean Kunkel and Jan Lavery 6-0, 6-2

to advance to the finals. In the other semi, Joyce and Willis defeated the

mother/daughter team of Abby and Bobbe Bowles 7-5, 1-6, 6-3.

Mixed Doubles - No. 1 seeds White and Barkman defeated the No. 4-seeded team

of Hugh and Jan Lavery 6-1, 6-2. In the other semi-final, the unseeded team of

Bernard and Lance defeated unseeded Alex Aitchison and Willis 6-3, 1-6, 6-2.

Boys' 14 and under - Putnam defeated Dan Sobo 6-1, 6-2, while Miller defeated

Ben Coopersmith 6-3, 6-1.

Boys' 12 and under - Murphy slipped past Matthew Beres 6-3, 6-3, while Brown

stormed back from a first set loss to upend Matthew McFadden 4-6, 6-0, 6-0.