The power-packed men’s top skill level of the ninth annual American Riviera Classic pickleball tournament did not disappoint on Sunday at the Santa Barbara Municipal Tennis and Pickleball Center.
In the best-of-three, gold-medal match, defending champions and local team Andy Silverstein and Michael Challen needed a huge comeback in the deciding third game to outlast Santa Barbara’s Shawn Joo and Matt Culvert of Westlake Village and earn a repeat championship.
Silverstein/Challen rallied from deficits of 5-1 and 7-2 and won in a thriller, 11-9, for the title. The teams split the first two sets, with Silverstein/Challen taking the first, 11-4, and Joo/Culvert rebounding in the second, 11-8.
“The 5.0-plus or open division was unlike any other year, clearly,” said Silverstein of the quality of the teams. “There were 12 teams and all the teams were good It’s fun.The quality here is getting better and we got people from out of town. It was a battle for the entire thing for everyone.”
Silverstein/Challen dominated the first game of the final as Silverstein controlled the game with tenacious defense.
“He’s like a Tasmanian Devil, man,” Challen marveled about his partner. “That guy can basically, jump around and defend, counter and attack. The way he holds his paddle he can pretty much keep the ball going forever. I try to put the ball away when I can, but he sort of gets us to the point where he allows us to survive the point long enough.”
Joo/Culvert picked up their play in game two. A Culvert drive broke a 5-5 tie and ignited a 5-0 run en route to leveling the match at 1-1.
“Pickleball is definitely a game of streaks,” said Silverstein. “We had the advantage and they definitely had the advantage and then we grinded and got a little lucky at the end.”
Joo/Culvert carried their momentum into the game three and took a 5-1 advantage. A drive by Joo and a Culvert backhanded through the middle gave them what appeared to be a comfortable lead at 8-3.
But Silverstein/Challen were up to the challenge of overcoming the deficit.
“We just decided to play one point at a time and grind it out and focus on the right strategy,” said Challen of the comeback. “We took a few important timeouts and basically just kept guzzling water and trying to stay physically in the game. That was probably the biggest part of it.”
The momentum pendulum started to swing to Silverstein/Challen’s side as they scored on consecutive balls to the back of the court to end rallies. Challen’s came on a block of a big drive by Culvert to make it 8-6.
“You got to learn how to ride the good momentum and, as quickly as possible, prevent the other team from riding momentum,” said Silverstein. “In the second game, we didn’t do that. They just drove at us and we couldn’t stop it. So we said: ‘Third game we really need to cut that momentum. We clearly didn’t until 7-2 but we were just positive the whole time.
Joo/Culvert tried to break the momentum with a time out, but Silverstein/Challen never let up. Challen scored three more points for a 9-8 lead, their first lead of the game. He scored the tying point on a dink to the sideline that Joo was unable to make a play on and served for the go-ahead point. They reached match point on another successful wide dink. Joo tried to counter it with an around-the-post shot but his ball hit the post.
“Those (dinks) are risky because Shawn has a great forehand, so if you leave those a little high, he will just totally punish it,” said Silverstein. “It’s one of those shots if you hit it precise, it’s great. (Michael) said, ‘Whatever, it’s third game, let’s just do it.’ And it worked.”
On the first championship point, the teams engaged in a long ding battle before Culvert sided out on a big hit. He then scored on a backhanded overhead to make it 10-9.
A hitting error gave Silverstein/Challen a side out and they won the championship point when a Joo/Culvert counter attack sailed long.
The team of Dominik Stefanov, a former San Marcos tennis star, and Bradley Garcia took the bronze medal over Justin Jordan/Evan Liu.
The men’s competition capped three days of action in the largest pickleball tournament on the South Coast.
