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Doubles team pays it back at benefit pool tourney

Photo provided Suzzee Meusel, left, and Sarah Ashley show the check they won for placing in their division at the Lyle Area Cancer Benefit Pool Tournament in Carpenter on Jan. 12 before donating it back to the fundraiser.
Photo provided
Suzzee Meusel, left, and Sarah Ashley show the check they won for placing in their division at the Lyle Area Cancer Benefit Pool Tournament in Carpenter on Jan. 12 before donating it back to the fundraiser.
By John Burbridge sports@charlescitypress.com

The annual Lyle Area Cancer Benefit Pool Tournament attracts the top players from a multi-state area.

The competition is so tough that often the only way to win something is to lose early.

“That’s what usually happens with us,” Charles City resident Suzzee Meusel said of the “success” her and her doubles partner, Sarah Ashley, have had at the three-day tournament.

“When you lose in the opening round, you get dropped to a ‘Hard Luck’ bracket,” Meusel said. “Then if you lose there, you get dropped to ‘Last Chance’.

“We’ve won those brackets before, but we’ve never gotten out past the opening round.”

For Meusel and Ashley, their “hard luck” changed during the most recent tourney held Jan. 10-12 at the Carpenter (Iowa) Community Center.

The pair went undefeated through the first two days of play before losing their first match on Sunday. In the end, they managed to place eighth out of 96 teams.

“We had a lot of fun and shot some good pool,” Meusel said. “Shot some not so good pool, too.”

Nonetheless, the team played well enough to “cash” in the tournament.

But with both players having friends and loved ones who are and were affected by cancer, they decided to donate their winnings back to the tournament.

“We just wanted our picture taken with the check before we gave it back,” said Meusel, who plans to continue to participate in the tourney in winters to come.

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