The International Racquetball Tour(IRT) served up its 2001-2002 Season with its annual first stop of the tour in New Orleans for the 2001 Summer Cooler Pro Am held at the Elmwood Fitness Center August 9 - 12, 2001. With this being the first stop since early June, the question for the tournament was who would have the winning edge? 
    The early round and quarterfinal matches of the draw went according to seeding. There were two particular matches worth mentioning in the Round of Sixteen. The match between Dan Fowler and Mike Guidry, ninth and eighth seeds respectively, and a rematch of the National Open Finalists, Rocky Carson and Jack Huczek, the fifth and twelve seeds. Both matches were classic racquetball duels with both going to tie-breakers. The match between Guidry and Fowler looked like it would never end. Both refused to give an edge to either and after two hours of hard play, Guidry finally merged as victor 10,(6),3,(9),9. Huczek and Carson's match looked as though Huczek would steam roll past Carson. Huczek, after dropping the first game, could do no wrong taking the next two as Carson himself exclaimed "Can I just get a break!" Well those darn Racquetball Gods were listening as Carson bolted his comeback taking the final two games to advance 8,(3),(1),8,5.     In the quarters, the four top seeds took care of business. The first match was Cliff Swain and Tim Doyle. After dropping a close first game, Swain won the next three to move in the semis (10), 7,9,8. Following Swain was Sudsy Monchik and he defeated Guidry in three straight 8,5,6. Next in line was John Ellis and Alvaro Beltran. These two had fairly close games but Ellis prevailed 6,9,8. The last quarterfinal match of the evening was Jason Mannino and Carson. The first game of the match remained close before Mannino over took Carson, and won the next two fairly promptly 9,4,4.
    The first Semifinal match was a meeting between Swain and Ellis. Ellis came out strong in game one keeping Swain off balanced and away from front court to win it 11-3. Game two Swain took command early with his power serves jumping out to a 10-2 lead. Ellis fought back to cut the lead to one, but Swain ended his comeback with a neat little get in front court to take the game 11-9. Game three saw Swain again taking command with his power strokes and serves to an early lead of 8-2, but Ellis the cat that he is scratched and clawed his way back in the game cutting the lead to 7-9. Swain then regained the served with a forehand kill shot and finished the game with an Ace and splat shot rollout. Game four was somewhat of a reverse of the previous two as Ellis took a six point lead. Down 3-9 Swain mounted his own come back scoring a point here and a point there. Before you knew it, it was tied 10-10. From there Swain finished the match after Ellis skipped his backhand splat shot attempt and the final point was an ace by Swain to win it 12-10.
    The next semifinal match was Monchik and Mannino. Game one was not all that fancy. After the two exchanged point for point in the beginning to reach 5-5, Monchik pulled away with his deep court killed shots winning the first game 11-5. In game two, Mannino stayed in control. Noticing that Monchik was staying back, Mannino took advantage putting the ball away quickly as possible not to let him get anything going. After winning game two 11-4, Mannino continued controlling the tempo of the match by timing Monchik's serves well. He was so much in control of game three he only had one dive and won the game 11-1. Game four the crowd anticipated for Monchik to make a run to force the match in a tie breaker, but Mannino did not give him a chance. If he was not making diving put away shots, Mannino was killing it from back court. He won the game 11-4 to upset the number seed.
    The final paired Swain and Mannino a repeat of the previous final at the stop held in Portland, OR. After a 90 minute delay of the start due to IRT referee, Erin Barranigan, battling a semi final open match to a tie-breaker, the match got underway with Swain serving three straight aces. He did not let up from there controlling front court and moving quickly and of course rolling out splat shots taking game one 11-3. In game two Swain took a 9-5 lead when Mannino launched his come back by scoring 4 straight points tying it at 9. After an exchanged of points and several side out services, Mannino closed out the game 12-10. The following game Swain served 5 aces and ran off 10 unanswered points. Swain finally ended the game with a front court pinch shot for an 11-3 win. In game four Mannino took a 4-0 lead and did not let Swain get any closer than 2 points. On an unforced error by Cliff, Game 4 went to Mannino by the score of 11-6. In the deciding fifth, the game stayed close. Both exchanged points until mid-way of the game. After a time-out by Mannino at 6-7, Swain scored 5 straight points finishing the Match the way he started it, WITH AN ACE. 
    Cliff Swain successfully repeated as champion for the 2001 Summer Cooler by defeating Jason Mannino to once again start the season atop the IRT. Swain contributed his victory with his aggressive front court play especially in the deciding game. "I picked up the pace and just took control of front court", Swain said, "and not(depending) so much of my aces. I just try to get the ball in play in a good position." Quoting from his message board at his web site, " after having him 7 to 6..he rattled off 3 aces and played great in the clutch", Mannino states, "..also I think the ref took a nap in the fifth game, missing some really obvious calls..but he did the best he can..no hard feelings." Next stop will be the Stockton Pro Am in Stockton, CA August 30 - September 2, 2001. 

Local Tournament Sponsors
Left to Right 
Back Row: Rico Alvendia, Charlie Hollinger, Rayne Thomas, Liz Welsch, Al Schof(Tournament Director), & Joe Sherrill.
Kneeling: Champion Cliff Swain, Zachery Wertz(Tourney Towel Boy), Runner Up Jason Mannino, & Anthony Zeringue(Tourney Assistant).
Not Pictured: 
Local Sponsors  Barry Lee, Ricky Knight, Dan Maloney, & Cyril Hentze.
Tourney Assistant: Pattie Schof  Images Provided By AL REAGLE