As temperatures soared during a national heat wave, students at the Welcome Back Student Pickleball Tournament were left to ask a question: is it hotter outside or inside McAfee Gym?
“I would rather play outside than in McAfee Gym right now,” said Marquez Davis, a freshman sport and recreation management major at the tournament.
Mentions of the warmth went on throughout the 5:30 p.m. to 7:30 p.m. tournament Wednesday that was coordinated by the EIU pickleball club. The organization received $165 for the event from New Student & Family Programs.
The tournament was the first of its kind at EIU, but it won’t be the last. EIU pickleball club advisor Josh Norman said they will host another one in the spring that will feature separate men’s and women’s brackets.
To play outside of the tournaments, students can join the pickleball club that meets in McAfee Gym every Tuesday and Thursday from 5:30 p.m. to 7:30 p.m. and Saturdays from 7 a.m. to 10 a.m.
“We’d loved to have more people. Especially if we get more interest, the university might start to take notice because there is a lot more universities across the nation that are sending out pickleball teams to play in tournaments,” said EIU pickleball club secretary Elijah Kubicek. “If we want to grow the program, get more people interested, it can become a space where anyone can join and have all different kinds of levels who want to play.”
Kubicek and his brother, Samson Kubicek, won the doubles tournament of 16 teams.
The brothers rematched their round one opponents, EIU pickleball club president Ella Zahm and Emily Stortzum, in the championship. In the first set, the Kubicek brothers went out to an early four to nothing lead. However, Zahm and Stortzum would soon put points up on the board, leading to a standstill at 4-2 for a few minutes. Eventually though, the Kubicek’s would go on a run, leading to an 11-2 win.
The following set would prove to be tighter. After rallying points back-and-forth, the girls were two points away from victory, but lost service. The brothers would flip the score from down 9-7 to up 10-7. After regaining service, the girls looked to close out the set. However, they would lose their second serve by the ball just missing Sampson’s paddle and going out the back of the court.
With service regained, the Kubicek brothers neared victory, with the odds in their favor. They would close out the championship on their first serve.
“It’s just really fun to compete,” Elijah Kubicek said. “We haven’t had this level of competition at EIU before, where I felt like I could lock in and really focus on the game because before a lot of the open gym times people come it’s certainly just for fun, making room for all the different play levels and everything. But here, me and my brother, we could play as hard as we wanted.”
Bryce Parker can be reached at at 581-2812 or at baparker2@eiu.edu.
