Nicky and Nick win men’s doubles

Majority of the winners from the three-day pickleball tournament hosted by the Pickleball Federation of the Northern Mariana Islands pose for a photo with their medals on the pickleball courts at the American Memorial Park last Sunday. (LEIGH GASES.)

One could say it was the “real dill” as pickleballs flew to-and-fro throughout the three day Pickleball Federation of the Northern Mariana Islands pickleball tournament that occupied the courts at the American Memorial Park, with gold and silver medals given to the winners of nine different divisions last Sunday night.

The tournament began Friday evening, Dec. 2, and lasted into the late night hours of Sunday, Dec. 4, ending with the most exciting game of the tournament—the 4.5 men’s doubles division game between Nicky Nichols and Nick Martindale versus Donn Dunlop and Guam’s Derek Alcorn. It was a match made in heaven as both Nicks nicked the championship medals away from both D’s, 15-8, in the playoff set of the finals.

Martindale and Nichols were undefeated throughout the tournament and faced off with Dunlop and Alcorn who made their way to the finals from the loser’s bracket. In the championship game, Martindale and Nichols won the first set, lost the second and third set, and won the final playoff set after reaching 15 points first. 

Nicky Nichols and Nick Martindale, back court, in action against Derek Alcorn and Donn Dunlop on the pickleball courts at the American Memorial Park last Sunday. (LEIGH GASES)

Martindale and Nichols bounced back from their two consecutive losses and tag-teamed their way against Dunlop and Alcorn with their speedy footwork and hard smashes, which Dunlop and Alcorn were unable to recover from. They were as serious as could be on the court, but they were all smiles afterwards, congratulating each other on a great game.

For the other matchups throughout the tournament, in the open singles, Martindale won first place against Eric Abraham, 11-4, 11-3.

In the 4.5 mixed doubles, Alcorn and Mary Rose Alvarez won first place after defeating Roy Pangelinan and Chelsea Henzon in a best-of-three match, 11-9,11-6,11-4, and won the finals, 15-3.

In the 4.0 women’s doubles, the strong duo of Marivic Dunlop and Rowena Houck overpowered the mother-and-daughter tandem of Joane Henzon and Chelsea Henzon, 15-3 in the finals.

In the 3.5 men’s doubles, the father-and-son duo of Ray Austin and John Riley Austin climbed their way to first place against Patrick Quimby and Gregg Clark, 11-4, 8-11, 11-7.

For the 3.5 mixed doubles round-robin match, Narlo and Yun Hee Dean won first place.

The 2.5 mixed doubles first place went to Patrick Quimby and Lydia Li after defeating Jojo Valencia and Ruby Gozon, 11-3, 11-4, 15-11.

The 2.5 men’s doubles round-robin match first place went to D.J. Arriola and Daniel Yoon after beating John Riley Austin and Doha Lim, 2-0.

For the 2.5 women’s doubles match, Sharon Abragan and Miles Guerrerro won over Ruby Gozon and Leslie Rodriguez. 

The skill ratings for pickleball players range from 5.5—meaning this player is a top caliber player level, down to 1.0—meaning this player is just starting to play pickleball and has little understanding of the rules.

Martindale, a firefighter and pickleballer from Washington state who comes to Saipan occasionally to visit family, said after the game that “it was a great battle awesome little tournament that these guys all put on. I just came and played so [I’m] super fortunate to be part of this. These guys created a good community… It was awesome.”

When asked what his background was with the sport, he said “these guys kind of relit my flame when I visited last year. My wife’s from here and I just looked up pickleball and sure enough, they had a group that was playing up on Capitol Hill and so yeah, that kind of re-sparked my interest in pickleball. It’s [an] awesome community. I have a blast doing it, so it’s super fun for me… everyone’s always in a good mood, it’s a good time [and] people got the potluck going.”

He credits Marivic Dunlop, Donn Dunlop, Nicky Nichols, and Nelson Krum for “putting this whole thing together and [keeping pickleball] alive.”
His partner, Nichols said “We’re so glad he came to play. He played out here with us last year for about three weeks. When he came out, we were still not quite as good as we are now and our game level rose because of playing with him… I was really lucky to have him as a partner.”

Marivic Dunlop, who was the tournament director and a PFNMI board member, said after the game that “the tournament is organized just for fun with ​​all the members, because we [were] not able to do the Marianas Cup tournament. We put it all together with the help of a lot of the members and the board members also, and it turned out to be great. It’s not perfect, but everyone did have a great time.”

There are currently 150 plus members and growing, with Dunlop inviting everyone to try the sport out saying, “come and join us! That’s the goal… to get the community to come and play with us… have fun and exercise.”

The PFNMI has plans to put together another tournament next February with Guam pickleball players again.