No. 1-seed wins mixed doubles

By STEVE DAY, DAILY SUN

Saturday, June 20, 2009 1:55 PM EDT

THE VILLAGES — Bill Freeman and Deb Harrison did what a No. 1-seed is supposed to do in winning The Villages Advanced Pickleball Championship mixed doubles Friday at Bacall Recreation Center.

They won the title, but had to alter their game in order to put away No. 3-seed Tom Nonnemacher and Willa Clair 10-12, 11-3, 11-5.

In the first game of the match, Freeman/Harrison opened a comfortable lead only to have Nonnemacher/Clair come roaring back and take the game.

“They were hitting hard at me,” Harrison said. “I started making some errors on their hard hitting.”

That was when the top team re-evaluated its game plan.

“We changed our game,” Freeman said. “We went softer. We hit softer.”

The change worked and Freeman/Harrison cruised to easy wins over the next two games to take the championship.

Clair said she was elated by the victory in the opening game.

“It was very exciting and I still had a lot of strength left,” Clair said. “It felt so great to get one game on them.”

Nonnemacher said momentum didn’t stay with his team long.

“We made a good comeback, but when you are playing a great team like they are, momentum can shift in a second,” Nonnemacher said.

Both Nonnemacher and Clair were happy with their finish in the event.

“We’re happy to have forced three games in the finals,” Nonnemacher said. “We can’t complain.”

Clair said it is not a bad thing to lose to a team as talented as Freeman/Harrison.

“If we have to lose, I would rather lose to them. They are the best,” Clair said. “Deb has been a mentor of mine for a long time.”

Freeman/Harrison reached the finals by defeating unseeded Jeff Shank and Lydia Fenster 11-7, 11-3 to begin the morning.

Nonnemacher/Clair won a hard-fought 11-5, 9-11, 11-3 victory against the No. 2-seeded team of Mark and Diane Bock to advance to the final match.

In the consolation match for third place, Shank/Fenster defeated Bock/Bock 11-8, 11-7.

“We were unseeded and defeated the second-seeded team,” Shank said. “We beat both the second- and fourth-seeded teams in the tournament. I’m very happy.”

Fenster agreed with her partner.

“We did very well to be playing together for the first time,” Fenster said. “We did really well together.”

Bock/Bock lost both their matches Friday.

“We didn’t bring our A-game today. We had too many mistakes,” Mark Bock said. “Some days you are on and some days you are off. You have to credit our opponents. They make you make mistakes. I’m disappointed, but in tournaments there is only one team that is not disappointed.”

Steve Day is a sportswriter for the Daily Sun. He may be reached at sports@thevillagesmedia.com.