College Racquetball Team from New York struggles with loss of Straub

The Clarkson Racquetball Team participated in the third ECRC tournament of the 2009-2010 season this weekend. The tournament took place in Woodridge, New Jersey at the Woodridge Court Club. This was the third of six tournaments that take place every school year throughout the United States.One thing to notice about the Clarkson team is the lack of success by the men's team. Many people on the team attribute this to the loss of former Clarkson racquetball god, Brian Straub, after he graduated in Spring '09. Straub led the men's team for many years, and now without him the difference in success is troubling. The current president of the Racquetball Club, Marco Fontana, played with Straub for one year and had this to say about Straub and the team's performance without him, "Even without the best player Clarkson has ever seen, the team unity and overall effort has evened out and solid performances are seen in each bracket." Juan Barbosa has taken over as the number one seed on the Clarkson men's team. He has this to say about having to fill the very big shoes of Straub, "Becoming the number one player at Clarkson has pretty much made me the leader of the group, much like Brian Straub. Though my strikes do not explode off of the front wall quite as much as his did, they are still quite devastating."On the brightside, for the first time in maybe Clarkson's entire history they have brought a full women's team, of eight women, to a tournament. The women's team in comparison to the men's team is doing astonishingly successful. Led by the former president, Rachel Weiss, the female following for racquetball has picked up dramatically. Weiss has achieved a respectable level of success in the top women's bracket at ECRC tournaments. She finished runner up for top women's players at the Allentown, PA tournament back in September. The continued success of Weiss is the one bright spot for the Clarkson team as it struggles to find success without the greatness that was Brian Straub. His shoes will be very difficult to fill Weiss had this to say about the team's future, "This is a rebuilding year for Clarkson. We had a lot of very talented players graduate in the past few years. However, while we are not performing at our best yet, we have the numbers and the potential to improve." There is still hope for the future of the team and hopefully incoming freshman can bring the new talent the Clarkson Racquetball Team is desperately searching for.