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A Perfect Handball "10"Brian WatsonNot long after Dr. Tommy Burnett was inducted into the Missouri Sports Hall of Fame, did his Missouri State Handball Bears respond by winning their 10th USHA National Collegiate Combined Team Championship Title by sweeping the Men’s and Women’s Titles for 2008 in convincing fashion at the Plaster Sports Complex. The tournament was hosted here by the Missouri State University Handball Team this year. The tournament started Wednesday evening with final matches being completed Sunday morning. Eddie Morales and Armando Ortiz finished their “All American” performances by winning the Men’s Open Doubles final defeating Lake Forest College’s Suhn Lee and Jon Iglesias becoming National Collegiate Doubles Champions.The Missouri State Men’s Team showed its’ strength by playing with tenacity and placing three men in the Open Division and three in the “A” Division. Eddie Morales, Eric Hillgren, and Armando Ortiz won their matches placing them into the top eight players in the tournament. Will Lemp, David Brainard, and Ryan Willis all played superbly in their matches placing all of them into the “A” Division. Tom Doering also displayed masterful play going deep into the “B” Division. The Missouri State Women’s Team gave Coach Burnett an early scare during Thursday’s tough preliminary matches being unable to place any of the Lady Bears into the Women’s Open Division. But with mental toughness taught by the Hall of Famer Coach, the ladies responded with big wins on Friday placing Mary Masalskis, Angie Miller, Lauren Ritter, Katie MacKoul, and Bailey Chandler in the “A” Division. Most notable on Friday was Angie Miller’s tremendous win over Caitriona Casey of the National University of Ireland (Galway). That’s right; this was an International Collegiate Tournament with 63 players from nine different colleges in Ireland, the country where handball originated. Other Lady Handball Bears who helped with the Women’s Team comeback included Laura Berretini, Andrea Thurmond, Jessica Long, and Emily McMahill who all showed championship caliber play setting up the entire Team for the sweep. Saturday, the Missouri State Handball Team only needed 13 team points to secure the Women’s, Men’s and Combined Team USHA National Collegiate Handball Championships and the team finished as resounding champions with outstanding play by the entire Team. The Women’s Team finished with 1004 points and the Men’s Team with 1077 for a Combined Team total of 2081; plenty to secure the sweep. The Team’s performance is a reflection of the 16 year tradition of Missouri State & Southwest Missouri State Handball, now winners of 10 Combined Titles, 6 Men’s Titles and 9 Women’s Titles. The players respond to Coach Burnett’s true concern for his players and his ability to get their best effort on the courts. As he always is quick to state, no coach ever hit a ball for the team, the players have to get in there and play with a determination of champions. Well, those players showed their love for the game of handball and their respect to a 4-time Hall of Fame coach by giving him a Perfect Handball “10”. |
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901 S. National, Springfield, Missouri 65804 www.missouristate.edu |
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