Carroll, Casey and Fink Take the Chapman Memorial
Sunday
St. Louis, MO, WPH Press, 1/14/24
Finals Sunday at the inaugural Chapman Memorial featured the number one players on the R48, WR48 and SR48, as well as the conclusion of the Chapman Memorial open doubles and amateur doubles brackets from the handball-only St. Louis Handball Club.
R48 Men’s Pro
Final: Lucho vs. Carroll
Lucho entered the 2024 Chapman Memorial final having held the R48 #1 ranking for all but two weeks since November of 2022. Cordova had won ten Race 4 Eight titles entering the Chapman Memorial final, including six in the last fourteen Race events. Killian Carroll was making his first start of the Race season and just his fourth Race stop since the beginning of the 2022/23 Race season.
Carroll started the Chapman Memorial final on a mission to win his twenty-third Race title, moving his feet with purpose and speed. Carroll attacked from the beginning of the match, seemingly looking to tackle Cordova into submission. “Killian is playing like he has a flight to catch,” stated ESPN play-by-play analyst David Vincent.
Carroll led Cordova 8-3 in game one, pushing Cordova into the back court with blistering passes and shrinking the court with his sensational speed. Cordova continued to battle against an unflappable and essentially unbeatable version of Carroll, losing the first game 15-8. “Luis won the second half of the first game and I am disappointed by that,” stated Carroll.
Carroll was ruthless in game two, apparently fueled by Lucho’s second-half of game one win. Carroll hit seven untouched ace serves for nearly half of his points in game two and won the other eight points nearly as easily, putting an emphatic exclamation mark on his return to the tour.
“I am happy I can still spar with the guys on tour,” Carroll would later say. “I have been doing a lot of CrossFit and running. I have been obsessed with improving my left hand for the last three years. I still want to add more defensive shots with my left and more touch shots.”
Final: Killian def Lucho 15-8, 15-2
Mens Rankings Methodology (PDF)
Playoffs
Martin Mulkerrins bounced back from four unconverted four match points in his quarterfinal match against Killian Carroll to defeat Leo Canales to win fifth, while David Walsh needed six match points to overcome Vic Perez to win ninth. Loren Collado earned his best finish of the season by defeating Jab Bike to win seventeenth.
Fifth place final: Mulkerrins def Canales 25-16
Ninth place final: Walsh def Perez 25-23
Seventeenth place final: Collado def Bike 25-13
R48 Chapman Memorial Finishes
1st: Killian
2nd: Lucho
3rd: Fink/Danos
5th: Mulkerrins
6th: Canales
7th: Relihan/Esser
9th: Walsh
10th: Perez
11th: Streibig/Chapman
13th: Cooney/Doyle/D. Munson/D. Mulkerrins
WR48
Final: Casey vs. Ni Churraoin
The two best players on the planet met in the Chapman Memorial WR48 final, with Catriona Casey aiming to extend her thirteen tournament WR48 win streak in St. Louis while adding his twenty-eighth WR48 title. Ciana Ni Churraoin would be seeking her first WR48 title at the Hinder Club after losing finals as a teenager and into her early twenties.
The level of play was outstanding from the outset between Casey and Ni Churraoin, as the two superstars patiently and methodically rallied and waited for the opportunity to strike. The first half of game one featured six rallies of fifteen or more shots, leaving the two incredibly well-conditioned athletes winded. There was very little between the pair as they entered the business end of the first game, but a late surge from 13-11 from Casey enabled her to seize control and take a one-game lead.
Game two followed a similar pattern to the first, with the lead changing hands and neither Casey nor Ni Churraoin able to pull away. CNC grabbed the lead late in the second game, turning an 8-10 deficit into a 12-10 lead. Casey called a timeout, taking sixty seconds to regroup and adjust her gameplan. “That was to halt her momentum, I suppose,” Casey would later say. The timeout changed the match completely, as Casey earned a side out with a CNC error and ran the table from there, scoring five consecutive points to add to her unmatched legacy.
“I don’t think either of us played our best there,” stated Casey, who traveled to the St. Louis Arch and took the tram to the top of the 630-foot structure on a two-degree day in the middle of the event. “We both made a lot of hand errors. I was not sure if I could make this one and I’m obviously delighted that I did.”
Final: Casey def Ni Churraoin 15-11, 15-12
Playoffs
Niamh Heffernan clinched third in her first WR48 start, defeating 2023 WR48 New Orleans finalist Clodagh Munroe, while Mikaila Esser overcame her doubles partner Ashley Ruiz to win fifth.
Third place final: Heffernan def Munroe 25-9
Fifth place final: Esser def Ruiz 25-13
Finishes
1st: Casey
2nd: Ni Churraoin
3rd: Heffernan
4th: Munroe
5th: M. Esser
Womens Rankings Methodology (PDF)
SR48
Final: Fink vs. Munson
David Fink entered the SR48 Chapman Memorial final seeking his eleventh consecutive SR48 title and thirteenth overall. David Munson advanced to his first SR48 final in his first SR48 start at the Chapman Memorial, needing tiebreakers to defeat SR48 #3 Kyle English in the quarterfinals (15-13) and SR48 #2 Bill Mehilos in the semifinals (15-8).
Despite playing in many of the same events for more than a decade, Fink and Munson had never faced one another. Munson started well in the first, grabbing a 5-1 lead with his customary sharp shot making. “I am not used to this,” Munson said before the match in reference to playing his eighth match in less than forty-eight hours. “I am really sore.”
Fink was not happy with his ball striking from start, mis hitting routine shots and making a number of errors. “I just could not find the sweet spot on my hand on any shot,” Fink would later say. “Even the most routine shots were challenging.”
Fink erased the early deficit but Munson was never out of the game. “Dave is so tactical and skilled that I rarely got first strike opportunities,” stated Fink. “When you have played since you were a young kid with great coaching and great talent, you know your way around the court and Dave can definitely handle himself in any situation on the court.” Fink clinched the first game with several kills and several untimely errors from Munson.
Just as Munson had done in the first, the Vermont-born, Chicago resident charged early in the second, seizing a 6-2 lead. “I knew coming into the match that Dave had two great hands and he proved it over and over, killing balls with his left and right and playing great ceiling balls and wrap-arounds,” stated Fink.
Fink started to play more aggressively to climb back into the game, taking balls off the bounce with Munson pinned behind him. Fink would eventually lead 14-8 but struggled to score the final point. “I hit some really good shots to earn side outs but those shots were not there when I was serving,” stated Fink.
Fink scored the final point with a drive at Munson’s feet, securing his second SR48 title of the season and thirteenth overall.
Final: Fink def Munson 15-10, 15-9
Playoffs
Bill Mehilos overwhelmed Hinder Club hall of famer Kevin Pettus to win third, while SR48 #3 Kyle English defeated St. Louis’s Jacob Pelech to win fifth.
Third place final: Mehilos def Pettus: 25-4
Fifth place final: English def Pelech 26-6
Finishes
1st: Fink
2nd: D. Munson
3rd: Mehilos
4th: Pettus
5th: English
Seniors Rankings Methodology (PDF)
Chapman Memorial MVPs: Daniel Relihan, Niamh Heffernan & David Munson
Ireland’s Daniel Relihan earned Chapman Memorial MVP honors for an outstanding debut on the Race 4 Eight tour, defeating Patrick Cooke in the round of 64, R48 #10 Ivan Burgos in the round of 32, SR48 Chapman Memorial finalist Dave Munson on the round of 16 and giving R48 #1 Lucho Cordova a scare in their quarterfinal match. Not many have advanced to the quarterfinals in their first Race 4 Eight Men’s Pro start and Relihan joins a very elite group. Relihan even closed out Friday as the only undefeated player on the Race 4 Eight tour!
2023 collegiate national champion Niamh Heffernan made a huge splash in her WR48 debut, upsetting second-seeded Ashley Ruiz in the quarterfinals and winning the third place playoff by defeating 2023 WR48 New Orleans finalist Clodagh Munroe. Heffernan is a name to watch on the WR48 and will be on the short list of contenders on the tour going forward.
Dave Munson finished second in his first SR48 start at the Chapman Memorial, knocking out SR48 #3 Kyle English in a 15-13 tiebreaker in the quarterfinals and SR48 #2 Bill Mehilos in a 15-8 tiebreaker, while also defeating R48 #9 Shorty Ruiz in the R48 Men’s Pro round of 32, eventually finishing tied for thirteenth and playing eight singles matches during the event! Munson could have also taken home Chapman Memorial Gladiator honors for playing as well on Friday morning as he did seven matches and forty-eight later on Sunday morning
2024 Chapman Memorial Champions
R48: Killian Carroll
WR48: Catriona Casey
SR48: David Fink
Men’s Open Doubles: Doyle/Walsh
Women’s Open Doubles: A. Ruiz/M. Esser
35+ Doubles: Lemp/Lynch
A Doubles: Stoffel/Ceaglske
B Doubles: Team Ortega
50 Doubles: Vale/Kaplan
140 Doubles: Cambell/Fox
60/65 Doubles: Johnson/Pfannenstiel
Thank you!
Thank you to Eric Hillgren, Katie Hillgren, Jeff Streibig, Janiki Streibig, Dave Streibig, Grillin’ Terry and all of the Hinder Club members and volunteers for an incredible event and for honoring “The Great One” David Chapman. Thank you to the WPH staff and broadcast crew for working around the clock to bring viewers outstanding coverage throughout the weekend on ESPN+.
Follow the draws and results from the 2024 Race 4 Eight Chapman Memorial HERE
David Fink
WPH Senior Writer