The 2004 MSRA State Doubles Championships featured two striking characteristics:  four of the seven divisions were won by unseeded teams and a rash of injury defaults had major impacts on the draws. The success of the unseeded teams was due either to an up and coming surge of new players or a lousy seeding job by the Committee. There is, however, no explanation for the injuries. Perhaps it was just one of those years.

The first match of the finals evening on May 3 gave a hint of things to come. The defending champions in the 50+ division, Tom Poor & Len Bernheimer, were forced to default when Lenny was struck in the eye while playing in the Worlds. Fortunately, his glasses saved more serious damage, and he will recover with rest. That default seemed to ease the way for the second seeded team and 2001 champions, Mac Davidson & Fran Donlan. Not to be, however, for they were waylaid in the semifinals by the new 50’s entry of Sandy Tierney & John Connolly who continued on to victory in the finals over Chipp Adams & Peter Gordon in four games.

Tierney moved on within the hour to his second of three finals when he teamed with Jessie Chai to win their fourth Mixed Doubles crown, handily defeating Annette Andruss & John Nimick in three. Tierney & Chai had not won since 2000, but two time defending champions, Mary McKee & Doug Lifford, could not play this year. Mary’s twin sister, Berkeley Revenaugh, moved to Boston last fall and was seeded second with her husband Ross. Unfortunately, Berkeley fell ill during the semifinal and was forced to default.

The B draw was a wide open donnybrook. None of the four seeded teams made it past the quarterfinals. Former champions Gerry Kirschner & Jeff Rodman were ushered out in the quarters by 2002 champion Rob Dewees playing with new partner John Palfrey. Last year’s finalists, Chipp Adams & Adam Simms, were also dismissed in the quarters in three quick ones by Josh Greenhill & Joe Cortes, Dewees’ former partner. They in turn were dumped by Harvard Club pro Sharon Bradey & Len Zide. Last year’s champion, Joe Swan, played with John Connolly and bowed to Pepper Riley & Tyler Hill. Emerging from this confusion was the Dewees-Palfrey tandem with a close four game finals win over Bradey & Zide.

A new winner appeared in the 60’s column after Bernheimer & Jerry Fineberg had to default. Lenny’s partner, Tom Poor, just 60, teamed with also newly minted 60 Peter Laird to defeat defending champions Jim Young & Joel Kozol in the semifinals, then Peter Marx & Dave Murphy in a four game final match.

In one of the three draws where a seeded team won, the C division actually had two seeds make it to the semifinals. Dave Newton & Ed Madden, defeated the last two years by the eventual champions, finally came through to win the final over 1998 champions Bob Frazier & Phil McComb. They teetered along the way, however, with five game wins in the quarters over Bry Roskoz & Meredith Johnson and in the semis over Joe Swan & Ali Fahr. Frazier & McComb were the beneficiaries in the upper half of a default from top seeded Tony Jerauld & Peter Coffin who pulled a groin a few days before the match.

For the first time, enough women entered to stage a Women’s draw. Jeannie Blasberg & Orla O’Doherty of  SquashBusters pulled the first upset with a win over Roskoz & Johnson. Their run ended in the semis at the hands of twins Berkeley Revenaugh & Mary McKee. Dianne Smith & Hope Crosier squeezed into the finals with a narrow four game victory over Liz Steffey & Kate Lytle. The twins then reaffirmed their national ranking by taking the final match in four games.

Sandy returned for his third and final match in the A’s. His partner, Patrick Malloy, is a senior and captain of the national champion Trinity team and a rapidly improving doubles player. They narrowly escaped in the semifinals with a 15-13 5^th game win over the tournament’s surprising dark horses, T&R pro Daniel Sharplin and assistant University Club pro Jason Hicks. That duo had won in five over Poor & professional partner Viktor Berg in the first round, then squeezed by with a 17-15 5^th game win over Phil Constable & 2003 champion Derrick Niederman before dying by the 5^th game sword to Tierney & Malloy. In the bottom half, Bernheimer again had to default to Alex Dean & Ming Tsai who in turn had to default in the 5^th to Jack Wyant, the new Milton coach, & Ross Revenaugh when Ming pulled a muscle. Wyant & Revenaugh had ousted 4-time champions Doug Lifford & Jamie Fagan in the quarters in four close games. The Tierney-Malloy/Wyant Revenaugh final saw a somewhat fatigued Tierney slowly succumb to Revenaugh’s rockets fired from the forehand which negated Sandy’s deadly reverse and occasionally passed Patrick. The new and once again unseeded champions were crowned in four.

So the winners can crow for the summer while the losers lick their wounds and the injured heal theirs. There were 139 players in this year’s event, the largest number ever. Many younger players such as Jon Hyett, David Adams and Patrick Malloy are making ripples. The larger numbers and the emergence of these younger players bode well for the future of the doubles game in Boston.