2003 E-Force 31st U.S. National Intercollegiate Championships
Presented by Penn Racquet Sports

Arizona State University
Tempe, Arizona: April 2-6, 2003
Admission is free -- Spectators are welcome

Online Media Guide
Event History
Recordbook

MEDIA ADVISORY! ... Contact the U.S. Racquetball Association Media/Public Relations Department for more details, or to obtain credentials. Call 719/635-5396, x 126 (pre-event) or fax to 719-635-0685. On site contact: Jim Hiser, USRA Executive Director, at 719-499-9561.

Women's Gold Singles: #2 Kristen Walsh (Univ. of Utah/Salt Lake City, Utah) def. #1 Krystal Csuk (DuPage College/Chicago, Ill.) 15-8, 15-0

Top seeded Huczek, a sophomore, won his second straight U.S. Intercollegiate championship in a rematch of last year’s final with No. 2 Shane Vanderson (Baldwin Wallace College, Berea, Ohio). Vanderson, a senior, jumped out to early leads in both games, but was plagued by inconsistency which led to a straight game loss, 15-7, 15-7.

Vanderson was ahead 6-5 in the first game when referee Willie Tilton (Colorado Springs, Colo.) called a skipped ball on an apparent winner by Vanderson. One line judge disagreed with Tilton’s call and the other indicated a no decision, causing the point to be played over. Vanderson was visibly upset about the call and Huczek took advantage of the opportunity, ending the game on a 10-1 run.

Again in the second game Vanderson took an early lead, but Huczek patiently hung around waiting for a mistake by Vanderson. Huczek kept himself in rallies with spectacular retrievals until a setup presented itself, which he consistently able to capitalized on.

The women’s No. 1 singles final, also a rematch, pitted No. 1 Krystal Csuk (DuPage College, Chicago, Ill.) and No. 2 Walsh. Csuk scored an upset last year over Walsh, who won the title in 2001. Walsh, who stated after Friday’ s semifinals that she had been anticipating the rematch for a year, appeared to be on a mission Saturday. She played nearly flawless racquetball and made the most of mistakes by Csuk enroute to a 15-8, 15-0 victory to reclaim her title.

Csuk began the match by hitting well placed passes, but Walsh was there to gobble them up. Csuk was forced to play more defensive than normal when her offensive shots found the floor more often than the front wall. Walsh, however, couldn’t seem to miss, especially in the second game, and went offensive at every opportunity keeping the pressure on Csuk.

No. 1 seed Jack Huczek (Oakland University, Rochester Hills, Mich.) defeated No. 5 Zack Miller (Chaffey College, Alto Loma, Calif.) in the semifinals in straight games, 15-8, 15-4. Huczek has not lost a game thus far and seems on track to capture his second straight intercollegiate championship.

Huczek will face No. 2 Shane Vanderson (Baldwin Wallace College, Berea, Ohio) in a rematch of last year’s thrilling final which went to a tiebreaker. Vanderson also has not lost a game, but had a tougher time in his semifinal match than did Huczek. After winning a close first game against Cesar Carrillo (University of Memphis, Memphis, Tenn.), 15-12, Vanderson found himself down 9-1 to start the second game. After conferring with Baldwin Wallace Assistant Coach Mike Dennison (Twinsburg, Ohio) during a timeout Vanderson stepped up his game and stormed back for a 15-12 win to advance into Saturday’s finals.

“I am glad to have got through that match,” Vanderson said of his match with Carrillo. “Now my focus is set on regaining my title tomorrow.” Vanderson won the intercollegiate crown in 2001.

The women’s final is also a rematch from a year ago, but it almost didn’t shape-up as both finalists needed a tiebreaker to advance to Saturday’s action. Defending Champion and No. 1 seed Krystal Csuk (DuPage College, Chicago, Ill.) looked unstoppable in her first game against No. 5 Lauren Deutsch (University of Southern California, Los Angeles, Claif.) as she blanked her, 15-0. Deutsch rebounded in the second game and came away with a win, 15-13, but Csuk recovered in time for the tiebreaker to win it, 11-5.

Csuk will face long-time rival No. 2 Kristen Walsh (University of Utah, Salt Lake City, Utah) who had to comeback against No. 3 Melissa Borgwat (Sacramento State University, Sacramento, Calif.) after blowing a 12-6 lead in the first game. Borgwat ended the first game on a 9-1 run to win, 15-13. Walsh regrouped between games and went on to win 15-7, 11-0.

Both Csuk and Walsh are looking forward to Saturday’s rematch. “I’m excited to play Kristen,” said Csuk. “She’s one of my favorite people to play because she always gives 110% and we always have close matches.”

“I’m looking forward to playing Krystal in the finals,” Walsh said. “I have been anticipating this match since last year.”

Penn State finished fourth in last year’s overall team competition behind champion Baldwin Wallace, BYU, and Arizona State. After three days of competition the Nittany Lions have accumulated 1412 points, 18 points ahead of defending champions Baldwin Wallace. Baldwin Wallace is trying to capture its third straight Division I National Championship. Brigham Young University is in third, just 26 points off the lead.

In the men’s team competition the University of Memphis has 1536 points and a large lead over second place Baldwin Wallace who is 317 behind the Tigers. Third place belongs to the University of Southern Colorado who is 386 points behind Memphis. Last year Baldwin Wallace finished first followed by the University of Southern Colorado and the University of Memphis.

BYU is in position to repeat as the women’s team champions with 848 points. They are followed by Penn State University who is 88 points off the lead. Bryant College is a distant third with 505 points.

Miller will take on defending champion Jack Huczek (Oakland University, Rochester Hills, Mich.) in one of Friday’s semifinal matches. Huczek has rolled through the competition thus far into the tournament while only allowing his opponents to score a total of 6 points combined. “I want to go out there and have fun, play hard, and take it one match at a time,” Huczek said.

The other semifinal match-up is between No. 2 Shane Vanderson (Baldwin Wallace College, Berea, Ohio) and No. 3 Cesar Carrillo (University of Memphis, Memphis, Tenn.). Carrillo placed third last year and Vanderson finished second to Huczek. Vanderson won the tournament in 2001 and the senior hopes to get another shot at it this year. “I look forward to competing against Cesar (Carrillo) tomorrow,” Vanderson said. “I would really like another shot at Jack (Huczek) on Saturday.”

The women’s No. 1 singles division played two rounds today also bringing their draw to the semifinals. No. 7 seed Jenny Cary (Oregon State, Corvallis, Oregon) and No. 8 seed Laurie Fisk (University of Missouri, Columbia, Mo.) were upset in the round of 16. Cary lost to Keely Franks (University of Texas, Austin, Texas) in a three game battle, 15-13, 8-15, 11-7. Fisk lost to Quinn Morton (Penn State University, University Park, Pa.) in straight games, 15-7, 15-13.

As in the men’s division the top three seeds advanced to the semifinals and the fourth seed was left behind. No. 5 Lauren Deutsch (University of Southern California, Los Angeles, Calif.) upset No. 4 Kristen Alatorre-Martin (Arizona State University, Tempe, Ariz.), 8-15, 15-9, 11-1.

Deutsch will face defending champion Krystal Csuk (DuPage College, Chicago, Ill.) in the first of two semifinal matches set to be played Friday. The other semifinal match features No. 2 Kristen Walsh (University of Utah, Salt Lake City, Utah) and No. 3 Melissa Borgwat (Sacramento State University, Sacramento, Calif.). Walsh won the tournament in 2001 and finished second last year to Csuk.

There were two rounds played in men’s No.1 singles, which opened in the round of 32. All of the top 8 seeds advanced into the quarterfinals, including defending champion and top seed Jack Huczek (Oakland University, Rochester Hills, Mich.) and No. 2 Shane Vanderson (Baldwin Wallace College, Berea, Ohio). The competition promises to get tougher leading into the finals.

“I felt good today, but I know that the tournament is going to get harder as we go along,” said Baldwin Wallace’s Shane Vanderson, who was the 2001 Intercollegiate Champion and runner-up last year. “I have trained hard and hopefully I can make it to Saturday for another shot at the title.”

The women’s No. 1 singles began with just one opening round, putting their draw into the round of 16. Most of the top seeds earned a bye for the first round, but will be in action on Thursday with two rounds scheduled. Defending champion and top seed Krystal Csuk (DuPage College, Chicago, Ill.), along with 2001 Intercollegiate Champion and 2002 runner-up Kristen Walsh, are expected to once again battle it out for the title.

The tournament will feature over 200 of the best collegiate racquetball players representing 40 schools from across the country. Up for grabs are spots on the U.S. National Racquetball team, to be earned by the men’s and women’s No. 1 singles champions. Other individual awards are at stake in singles and doubles competition, as well as trophies earned by the top men’s, women’s, and overall team finishers.

It looked as though defending champion Jack Huczek (Oakland University, Rochester Hills, Mich.) wasn’t going to compete in the event, but after a last-minute entry, he was added to the draw for a chance to defend his title. His main competition will come from Baldwin Wallace’s Shane Vanderson (Dublin, Ohio), who won the title in 2001 and was runner-up to Huczek last year in a thrilling match that went to a tiebreaker. Others expected to challenge for the title are University of Memphis’ Cesar Carrillo (Memphis, Tenn.) and Southern Colorado’s Andreas Jimenez (Pueblo, Colo.).

Krystal Csuk (Chicago, Ill.) is back again this year to defend the title she won in an upset over previous defending champion Kristen Walsh (Salt Lake City, Utah). Walsh is also back and eager to reclaim her title. Ironically, Walsh played for Baldwin Wallace College when she won her title and then transferred the following year, as did Csuk. Walsh now attends the University of Utah and Csuk is enrolled at DuPage College in Illinois. Others gunning for the title include Melissa Borgwat (Sacramento State, Sacramento, Calif.) and Kristen Alatorre-Martin (Arizona State University, Tempe, Ariz.).

The tournament begins Wednesday, April 2, and continues through Saturday, April 5, at the Arizona State University Student Recreation Center. There is no charge for spectators to view the action.