Handball Club

Here is the Mavericks’ handball tournament schedule through the USHA collegiate nationals in February. Follow us on Facebook by joining the Minnesota State Mankato Handball Club group.

September 20-21 – Maverick Handball Camp featuring World Champion, Killian Carroll

September 27-28 – Rudy Harris, Fargo, ND YMCA

October 25-27 – University of Illinois

November 8-10 – Bear Bash – Missouri State University

November 22-24 – U of Minnesota Classic

December 6-8 – Milwaukee Classic

January 17-19 – Illinois State Singles – Lombard, IL

February 7-9 – Maverick Open – Minnesota State Mankato

February 19-23 – USHA Collegiate Nationals – U of Texas

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 67^th 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 11^th in the pro tournament.