WPH Press, Brooklyn, NY, 6/25/23
The USHA proudly hosted the 15th USHA WallBall National Championships at the famed Coney Island handball courts on West 5th St. & Surf Ave. in Brooklyn, featuring the best men’s and women’s WallBall players in the U.S.
Men’s Pro Singles and Doubles
WallBall superstar Tywan Cook entered the 15th USHA WallBall National Championships as the number one seed and defending champion, having defeated Joshua Garcia in last year’s final. Cook and Garcia would have to contend with a strong 33-player singles field that included Timbo Gonzales, Tyree Bastidas, Los Pena, “The Human Torch” Gio Vazquez, Hector Velez, Dan Pitre, King of the Court David Velez, Kadeem Bush, and other stars aiming for the national title.
Gustavo Ruiz, better known as “Tavo” advanced to the final in the upper bracket, defeating 2022 King of the Court David Velez in the quarterfinals in the match of the tournament. Tavo led 5-0 in the one game match to 21 before finding himself trailing 11-20. Tavo rallied, scoring ten straight points to stun the King. Tavo blitzed defending champion and universally recognized WallBall #1 Tywan Cook in the semifinal.
Nazir “Naz” Marston is one of WallBall’s rising stars and cemented his status of one of the sport’s elite at the 2023 WallBall National Championships, defeating second-seeded Joshua Garcia in the quarterfinals and rallying to defeat Hector “Pito” Velez in the semifinals. “Naz is very athletic and fast,” stated Pito, who has been working hard to get into great shape. “I was blowing him out early in the match but he came back.” Naz defeated Pito by the slimmest of margins to advance to his first major final.
Tavo entered the final with a tremendous amount of experience in the sport’s biggest matches, having played in a number of King of the Courts finals and other majors throughout New York. Naz’s inexperience was evident early in the final, as the high level play that earned him a spot opposite Tavo was nowhere to be seen with Tavo building a 15-1 lead in the one game final to 25.
“Tavo was extremely dominant in the first half of the game,” stated WallBall pro singles player and WPH correspondent Arthur Sayed. “He was hitting the ball with immense power, making incredible retrieves while placing great defensive shots on those retrieves, to buy him time to get back on the court and commit to offense on the next shot. Naz looked quite flat in the beginning, making a ton of unforced errors. After what seemed like a billion misses, Naz started to place the ball on the wall with more consistency and finding the shots he was looking for. He also made several winning kills in a row to cut the deficit to 9-22.”
The rally was too little, too late, as Tavo scored two points to arrive at match point and closed out the match with an ace.
Men’s Pro Singles
Quarterfinals
Cook def Pena 21-14
Tavo def D. Velez 21-20
Velez def T. Gonzalez 21-13
Marston def J. Garcia 21-15
Semifinals
Tavo def Cook 21-9
Marston def H. Velez 21-20
Final: Tavo def Marston 25-11
Doubles Final: Vadala/Mendoza def D. Velez/C. Miranda 25-7
Women’s Pro Singles and Doubles
Jenny Qu was aiming to defend her WallBall Women’s Pro Singles national title in the Women’s Pro Singles but would have to overcome the Garate sisters and Kaitlyn Colon in the four-player round robin singles group.
Qu was dominant in her three round robin singles matches, overcoming Colon 21-5 and Team Garate, defeating Jessenia 21-10 and Melanie 25-11.
Women’s Pro Singles Finishes
1st: Qu
2nd: M. Garate
3rd: J. Garate
Doubles Final: Team Garate def Qu/Daskalakis 25-17
Thank you to the USHA for an outstanding tournament, Arthur Sayed for reporting from Coney Island and Tens Finest for broadcasting the action.
Watch the matches on Tens Finest HERE
Follow all of the brackets from the 15th USHA WallBall National Championships HERE
For more on the USHA, visit ushandball.org
Doubles photo courtesy of Naz. Team Garate photo courtesy of Jessenia
David Fink
WPH Senior Writer