WPH Press
The WPH was proud to present the seventh WPH Icebreaker, featuring the top women’s stars for the second time in Icebreaker action. Tucson’s Ashley Moler and Mikaila Mitchell were joined by current 3-Wall national singles champion Danielle Daskalakis and former 3-wall national champion Tracy Davis in a sensational four-women field at Tucson’s Clark Park.
Daskalakis faced Mitchell in the opening match, with the stylish left-handed New Yorker seemingly the big favorite against Mitchell. Mitchell had never qualified on the Women’s Race 4 Eight, while Daskalakis had reached #3 on the WR48, in addition to winning numerous national and world titles.
Mitchell quickly found her serve against Daskalakis, pinning the lefty deep into the right corner with an overhand drive serve that consistently landed inches from the back line. Daskalakis struggled to return the out-the-door deep ball to her off-hand, surrendering a number of points to Mitchell. “I’ve worked on my 3-Wall serve a lot,” stated Mitchell.
Mitchell was also able to dictate play in the rallies, using her length and overhand strikes to push Daskalakis from side to side. Mitchell swept both games, announcing herself as a force in the women’s game.
The second semifinal pitted longtime rivals and former 3-Wall national singles champions Ashley Moler and Tracy Davis. Moler won the first women’s Icebreaker in March on her home court, but would need to overcome one of the most decorated women’s outdoor players in history to make the final. Ashley took game one comfortably, but Davis bounced back, taking game two. Buoyed by mostly vaccinated and masked fans, Moler regrouped in the tiebreaker. Rhythmic cheers of “Let’s go Ashley” echoed throughout Clark Park from “Moler’s Maniacs,” as Dr. Ashley fly-killed and punch-fisted her way to the final.
The Mitchell-Moler final started identically to their Icebreaker #5 clash, with Moler winning the first 14 points of the match. Mitchell avoided the bagel at 0-14, scoring five points to establish some momentum going into game two. Battling one another and the sun that had moved directly onto the court, Mitchell forced a tiebreaker with a similar strategy to her semifinal win against Daskalakis: deep overhand serves and overhand drives in the rally.
The tiebreaker provided plenty of momentum shifts, with the lead changing hands a number of times. While Ashley had her mostly vaccinated and masked maniacs supporting her, a number of Mitchell’s Missouri State teammates made the masked trip to Tucson to support their favorite Missouri State Bear. While not as loud as the maniacs, the Bears provided a huge boost to their charge, led by Mitchell’s fiancé and aspiring Icebreaker champion Sam Esser. “One at a time,” urged Esser throughout the tiebreaker. Trailing 10-13, Mitchell ran the table, scoring the final five points of the match to complete one of the best stories in recent handball history.
“I’m just so overwhelmed,” stated an ecstatic Mitchell. “I have been really training hard and adding new workouts, in addition to playing a lot of handball. I watched my match from the previous Icebreaker and learned a lot from that. I’m a volleyball player, so the overhand swing is natural for me. My serve was working. I am so motivated to just keep going now!”
“Normally I can step in and fly Mikaila’s overhand serve, but for some reason I couldn’t today,” stated a disappointed Moler.
Daskalakis bounced back from her loss to Mitchell to defeat Davis for third.
(CLICK THE LINKS BELOW TO WATCH)
Semifinals
Mitchell def Daskalakis 15-13, 15-10
Moler def Davis 15-5, 4-15, 15-7
Final: Mitchell def Moler 5-15, 15-7, 15-13
Third Place: Daskalakis def Davis 25-22
David Fink
WPH Senior Writer