A number of local athletes had strong performances at the DeRoy Junion Open national youth squash tournament held this past weekend at the Birmingham Athletic Club (BAC).

The BAC has a 60-year tradition of squash excellence, and today has the largest active men's singles squash ladder in the United States, with more than 180 players.

"I guess you could say we've been the state's slice of squash for some time," said Mike Beauregard, chair of the BAC squash program.

Four BAC boys and two BAC girls reached the semifinals of the DeRoy Junior Open, which is comprised of 109 competitors in five age groups.

BAC members Michael Snower and sisters Tatyanna and Aryanna Dadabbo won their age-bracket championships Sunday as part of the two-day tournament.

In the Boys' 19U bracket, Snower, a Detroit Country Day junior, won the finals match 11-4, 8-11, 8-11, 11-6, 11-5 over Blake Briscoe of St. Louis. Briscoe is one of the top players at his age level in the country, and will be playing squash at the U.S. Naval Academy next year.

Down two games to one, Snower won the final two games in commanding fashion to capture his first 19U title after winning the DeRoy Boys Under 17 title in 2009.

Tatyanna Dadabbo, a Marian High School freshman and ranked 13th in the U.S., fell behind early in her match against Haley Parsons, another top-15 player. Both competed in the 15U division. Parsons took a commanding 9-3 lead in the first game, demonstrating superior early match shot-making skills, and holding onto a 11-9 game one victory. 

But Dadabbo, the No. 1 seed at the tournament, took control after a tight win in the second game and controlled the final two games, outscoring Parsons 22-8. It was Dadabbo's second consecutive title at the DeRoy tournament.

Sixth-grader Aryanna Dadabbo of the BAC captured a three-set victory 11-9, 11-5, 11-7 to capture her title at 13U as the top seed.  Dadabbo earned the title without surrendering any games to opponents.

"I really wanted to win at our home tournament and I was excited to win my first Gold title this year," Aryanna Dadabbo said. "(My opponent) was winning in both of the first two games by a score of 5-2, so I was very lucky to win the those games. 

Overall BAC squash players earned three age-bracket titles, as the Cleveland Racquet Club.  The other four individual titles were spread among competitors from Cincinnati, Colorado, New Jersey and Philadelphia.

In the biggest upset of the semifinals, fourth-seeded Nate Moll from the BAC upset first seed Joe Schmidt of Cleveland in the boys' 11U division in a thrilling five-game match by a score of 3-2. Moll, ranked No. 17 in the U.S., beat the No. 4 U.S.-ranked Schmidt (and defending DeRoy Boys 11U Champion) by scores of 12-10, 11-8, 9-11, 9-11, 11-5 to advance to Sunday's final.

In the other Boys 11U semifinal, third-seeded Nicholas Robinson of New York City beat BAC's Hugh Cameiner in three games, earning the right to face Moll in Sunday's final.

In Boys' 13U, the BAC's third-seeded Charlie Beauregard, Mike's son, beat Konrad LaDow of Colorado to advance to the finals Sunday. Beauregard, after falling behind two games to one, rallied to win the last two games 11-5 and 11-8 to pull off the upset and earn the opportunity to face Cleveland's Adam Cristal in the finals. Moll and Beauregard both lost in their finals matches.

"I was very pleased with how I played, especially coming back from down one set in the semifinals," said Charlie. He started playing competitively nearly four years ago and was introduced to the sport by his father. Although the Holy Name student also enjoys swimming, he hopes to continue competing in squash nationally.

"It's a fun sport to play and it's great exercise," he said.