Welcome to the Maverick Handball blog. As our first post, I’m going to recap the major achievements for the last season.
Collegiate Nationals
Maverick Men’s Club Handball Team
Wins National Title,
Women’s Team Finishes Second at
Nationals
Mavericks combine for second-place overall men’s/women’s finish
Mankato, Minn. – The Minnesota State
University, Mankato men’s club handball team won its first-ever open division
national title, and the Maverick women’s handball team finished second
nationally at the 67th
annual United States Handball Association’s National Collegiate Handball
Championships, held Feb. 20-25 in Minneapolis.
The men’s
team beat the University of Texas by a score of 2,148-2,118 to win the national
title.
The top
six players score towards the team score. Tyler Stoffel, Michael Gaulton,
Adrian Anderson, Clay Edwards, Sam Ure and Matt Johnson scored for the Maverick
men’s team. Stoffel and Gaulton earned All-American honors.
The
Maverick women’s team finished runner-up to Missouri State University by a
score of 2,287-2,232. Scoring for the Maverick women’s team were: Ciana Ni
Churraoin, Carina Aguilar, Kendra Kaupa, Maddie Kennedy, Courtney Sill and
Crystal Theobald. Ni Churraoin and Aguilar earned All-American honors.
In the
combined championship, the Mavericks finished runner-up to Missouri State by a
score of 4,382-4,380, a one-match difference, in the closest score in the
history of the event.
Individually,
several Mavericks placed in their divisions:
- Ni
Churraoin won the women’s open singles over Dublin City University’s Fiona
Tully 21-5, 21-16.
- Ni
Churraoin and Aguilar won the women’s open doubles over Dublin City
University’s Tully and M Ni Dhalaig 21-15, 15-21, 11-6.
- Stoffel
finished runner-up in the men’s open singles losing to University College
Dublin’s Galen Riordan 18-21, 21-8, 11-3.
- Theobald
finished runner-up in the women’s A2 singles losing to University of
Alberta’s Erin Lovie, 21-5, 16-21, 11-4.
- Matt
Johnson and Andrew Unick finished runner-up in the men’s B doubles losing
to Stony Brook University’s Yang and Han, 21-5, 21-7.
The tournament was held
at the University of Minnesota’s Recreation and Wellness Center.
Women’s Pro Tour
Ciana Ni Churraoin finished runner-up at both women’s pro tour stops this season. She also finished runner-up at the USHA National four wall handball tournament in open singles. She was the women’s open division doubles champion at the USHA nationals when she partnered with Fiona Tully.
Men’s Pro Tour
The Maverick’s Tyler Stoffel qualified for a spot in the men’s pro tournament and lost to #6 ranked pro, Emmett Peixoto by a score of 15-3, 15-8. Qualifying for the pro tournament is very difficult. Tyler played great to qualify. He finished 11th in the pro tournament.