Palmer man wins national title

PALMER — After finishing fifth in a national squash tournament in 2010, Mark Alger thought 2011 might just be his year.

He was right.

Alger, who founded the Moosewood Squash Centre in Palmer, earned a national championship in his age bracket during the U.S. Masters Squash Championships in Cambridge, Mass., last week.

“I didn’t know if I’d get as far as I did, but I knew I’d do better this year than years past,” Alger, 50, said recently.

Last year, Alger scored his fifth-place masters finish in the 45-49 age group. Now 50, Alger graduated a class and responded by sweeping his way to the title.

“None of them came up with me,” Alger said of his former age division. “I knew I’d be at least in contention.”

Alger walked into the competition ready to win, but didn’t see victory coming easy. Overall, Alger said he feels like he exceeded his expectations.

“I knew it was a possibility, but I didn’t expect it,” Alger said.

Alger won all of his matches in three sets, but that doesn’t mean he cruised to the title.

“All were pretty tough games,” Alger said.

The second-seeded Alger opened with a 3-0 win over Andre Boissier of Los Angeles and followed with a sweep of Eric Dunn of Oshawana, Ontario, Canada, in the second round.

A 3-0 win over Paul Lechtzier of Toronto put Alger in the finals. He earned the championship with a 3-0 win over the top seed, Richard Bell of Blue Bell, Pa.

Alger said the final match was certainly his most difficult.

“He hit the ball very clean, very hard,” Alger said. “He had great racket skills.”

Alger said a key was keeping the matches to three games.

“I like to keep the pressure on, control the game,” Alger said.

Alger said he favors more of a finesse game when competing in squash, a racquet sport played in a small, four-walled court with a small rubber ball.

The overall win marks Alger’s third masters championship and fourth national title. Alger captured masters titles in the 30-34 age group in 1991 and 1992. He also won a U.S. Amateur Squash Championship in 1981.

Alger has been active in the sport for nearly 40 years, getting his start as a youth growing up in Tacoma, Wash. In 2003, Alger built a regulation-sized squash court — Moosewood Squash Centre — on his Palmer property. Since, Alger has created a local squash league and hosted the state squash championships a number of times.

Moosewood is open to the public. For more information, see moosewoodsquash.org.

Contact Mat-Su Valley Frontiersman sports editor Jeremiah Bartz at sports@frontiersman.com and follow him on Twitter on twitter.com/matsu_sports.