USA – Page 6 – Pro Racquetball Stats Blog

The Men’s pro doubles draw was incredibly deep this year. Most of the round of 16 matches were coin flips, and six of them went tie-breaker. Once we settled down though into the semis, it was mostly chalk. The top 3 seeded teams advanced with straight-game wins, to be joined by the upstart 12th seeds of @Marcos Gravier and @Roy Hernandez, who took out #5 and #4 to make the semis here.

From there, it had to come down to #1 vs #2 in the final; the hall of famer Ice Man Robert Sostre paired with former BB champ @Benny Goldenberg took on the current IRT #1 De La rosa, playing this tournament with the underrated @Javier Mar. The final was a shootout between DLR and Iceman on the left hand side, with Sostre showing fast hands and Daniel showing even faster put backs. In the end the two touring pros won a solid 8,11 final to cap the weekend.

With the win, Mar repeats as Beach Bash Champion. But with this win, Daniel becomes the first male to win the career “Grand Slam” of Men’s pro doubles events (Beach Bash, Outdoor Nationals, and Vegas). Several women’s pros have done it (Rhonda, Janel, Michelle, and Aimee) but never a Male until today. H/T to Vic for this observation.

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Women’s Pro Doubles:

The 6th seeded former USA National champs Kelani Lawrence and @Hollie Scott took their first outdoor pro doubles title together by ousting the #3, #2 and #1 seeds in order. First they took out the NY pair of Ramos & Guinan, then they downed the pre-tourney favorites Munoz & Laime in the semis, before taking out the top-seeded team of Roehler and Sotomayor in the final in a breaker.

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Mixed Pro Doubles:

De La Rosa repeated as Beach Bash mixed champion, albeit with a new partner for 2023, winning the final as the #2 seed with Hollie Scott in a tiebreaker. The met two relative newbies to outdoor racquetball in the final in Eduardo Portillo and Alexandra Herrera , who took out the #1 seeds Robert Sostre and @Caridad Morales in the semis.

This win represents Daniel’s 18th Mixed pro major outdoor title, his fourth in Florida.

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Men’s Pro Singles:

Daniel De la Rosa blew through the singles draw, giving up a combined 19 points in three games to repeat as Beach Bash singles champion. He defeated #3 seed Maryland native @Pruit Dylan in the final. DLR’s adeptness at one-wall was apparent throughout the Thursday competition, mixing in soft slice lobs off of drive serves with pin-point accuracy of drive kills and angled passing shots.

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Women’s Pro Singles:

Sotomayor, who had never played outdoor racquetball prior to this event and was thus seeded last, ground out victories against @Carla Munoz (who has won both 3-wall singles titles at the last two outdoor majors) in the quarters, @Kelani Lawrence in the semis, then upset the 3-time defending Beach Bash singles champion @Hollie Scott in the finals 21-14. Sotomayor crushed her backhand all day, hitting bottom-board from shoulder height overhead serves and demoralizing her opponents. A great performance.

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Other Notable draws:

– CPRT 40+ Doubles: Well, they say you can’t teach an old dog new tricks. Tell that to the 48-yr old five-time IRT champion Sudsy Monchik , who teamed with fellow 40-something Rocky Carson to take the loaded CPRT 40+ doubles draw. They topped two tough outdoor veterans in Joe Young and Thomas Gerhardt in the final 11-8.

Two IRT legends teamed up, one with decades of outdoor experience in Rocky Carson, the other with almost none (and a broken hand to go with it) in Sudsy Monchik . They beat teams that included best outdoor players Florida has to offer in Rob Mijares , Marcos J. Gravier , the #2 seeds Rolon & Sostre in the semis, then former BB champ Joe Young paired with #1 ranked 3-wall singles player Thomas Gerhardt in the finals.

– Men’s 75+: in what turned out to be the biggest draw of the event (20) teams, the final had some familiar names and was a nice warm=up for the weekend’s pro doubles. Two-time defending Outdoor Nationals champs @MMicah rich and @Jason Geis reached the final from the top-half, while Rocky (who wons 11 major outdoor pro doubles titles .. but none in one-wall) partnered with Barcelo to reach the final from the bottom.

In an excellent final, Rocky/Barcelo took out Rich/Geis 11-7 in the breaker.

Men’s 100+: Hall of Famer Marty Hogan teamed up with the venerable @Richard Miller to take the 100+ doubles draw. They were seeded 12th out of 12 teams, and beat the 11th seeded team of Jose Nivela / Martin Gonzalez in the final.

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Paddleball Competition Review

It is worth noting that these courts were originally designed for Paddleball. So its only fitting that there were Wednesday Paddleball competitions.

– Men’s Pro Doubles Paddleball was taken by the Hulkster/Warrior combo of Rolon and Blatt, who defeated fellow NYers Ryan Lopez and @Paul Angel in the final.

– Women’s Pro doubles paddleball was taken by #1 seeds @Kathy Guina and @Jasmine Suarez , who crushed two LPRT pros in the semis and then took out Morales/Colon in the final.

– Mixed pro Doubles Paddleball: was taken by Rolon & Guinan, giving both the Paddleball double on the day, defeating Suarez/Angel in the final.

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Thanks for all the streaming on the weekend from the LPRT video crew, with @JT R Ball leading the way and bringing in all sorts of characters into the booth (including the Warrior, Sudsy, Mikey D, Vic Leibofsky and the like).

Thanks to the Tourney Directors Peggine Tellez , Jen O’Meara , @Mike Coulter and the entire 3Wall Ball crew for putting this event on and ensuring the legacy of outdoor majors.

Reminder to Players! Please like and follow this page so that when I tag you, you see it. Facebook will only retain tags of people that like/follow a page, which means lots of you are not getting the notoriety of getting tagged and noticed on Facebook. If your name is here and it isn’t tagged … it probably means I attempted to tag you but Facebook stripped it.

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Next up?

Per our handy master racquetball calendar …

https://docs.google.com/…/1V6OTid6rZ356voXVkoV2sN7KMMb…/

Next week the IRT is in Chicago, and USAR hosts Intercollegiates at Ohio State for the first time. Later this week we’ll recap the standings post Beach Bash for the 2023 Cup Series and post the results online.

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tags

March 9, 2023

Beach Bash 2023 Preview

Sostre is the #1 seed in both pro doubles draws; can he finish them out? Photo Steve Fitzsimons 3WB 2020

The time has come for the first Outdoor Major of the new year! Its Beach Bash time, held on the historic Garfield Street courts a block from the beach in Hollywood, Florida. 162 lucky competitors got in before the tourney filled up and are set to compete for the title of best one-wall racquetball competitors in the land.

This is the 15th “Beach Bash” event, dating to 2007, 16 if you include the seminal 2004 WOR One-Wall outdoor championships that served as a kickoff for WOR and the integration of outdoor communities from around the country.

R2 Sports App link: https://www.r2sports.com/website/event-website.asp?TID=39926

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There’s a ton of Pro and upper-level draws to review. We’ll run through them with some quick observations as a preview instead of my normal per-round, per-match review.

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Men’s Pro Doubles

The biggest draw in Florida this weekend is Men’s Pro doubles, with 15 teams vying for the title. We’ll have a new champion for 2023; last year’s winning team (Mercado and Mar) has changed up; this year @Javier Mar is playing with none other than DLR and will make for a formidable team to beat as the #2 seed.

However, the bottom half of this draw is crazy deep; multi-time Outdoor National champions Jason Geis and @Micah rich are here for the first time playing one-wall; they’re seeded 10th and will have to work at it to take out the 2018 champions Blatt/Rolon in the round of 16 just to take a shot at DLR/Mar. Also lurking in the bottom half is Faro & Iggy (who won the CPRT draw last year), Joe Young (the 2015 doubles champ) playing with @Carlos Bravo, and outdoor legend @Rocky Carson , playing with Alejandro Barcelo . There are no easy matches in this lower bracket.

The #1 seeds are legendary; Robert Sostre and @Benny Goldenberg , NY’s finest, who have 5 doubles titles in this event between them. They could face 3-time winner Deida in the quarters. Watch out for dark horses Roy Hernandez and @Marcos Graviel as the 12 seeds; they may be better at long wall, but they have a decent pathway to the semis.

My Finals predictions: Mar/DLR take out Iceman and Benny in the final.

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Women’s Pro Doubles

Great matches expected throughout this draw, which features a ton of old-school and current talent. We’ll have a new champion, since last year’s team got broken up.

#1 seeds are interesting: Sotomayor and USAR Hall of Famer @Aimee Ruiz form a tough lefty-righty pair, but they’ll be pushed heavily by another lefty-righty pairing of top-4 LPRT players in Erika Manilla and @Alexandra Herrera in the semis. That is of course if Manilla/Herrera can get by the NY legends Anita Maldonado and Michele Herbert , who have won this title three times between them.

From the bottom half, @Carla Munoz (who won Vegas one-wall last October) picks up the excellent doubles player Brenda Laime and will be tough to beat. However, the 3/6 match between LPRT and USAR regular doubles partners Scott and Kelani Lawrence and the underrated Kathy Guinan and @Maira ramos could be eye opening.

Finals Prediction: Laime & Munoz top Herrera & Manilla.

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Mixed Pro Doubles preview

The DLRs have parted ways, both on and off the court, meaning that there will be a new Mixed doubles champion team going forward. Daniel is here, teamed with Scott and are the pre-tournament favorites despite being the #2 seeds. To get to the final though, they’ll have to contend with top mixed pairings like Munoz/Natera, Laime/Bleyer, Benny/Silva, and Mar/Manilla. The team coming out of the bottom half will be battle tested for sure.

Iceman is paired with Caridad Morales as the #1 seed, and they’ll face a very tough team in the semis no matter what, as that quadrant is stacked. Rich/Lawrence, Guinan/Deida, Blatt/Herbert, and Herrera/Lalo are all great teams and its a coin flip for me who advances.

Finals prediction: DLR/Scott over Sostre/Morales

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CPRT 40+ preview

Last year’s CPRT finalists Seran Ramkissoon / Max Heymann are back as the 1-seeds; they’ll be pressed by the experienced #4 seeds Geis/Soda Man to get back to the finals from the top-half.

In what should be a super-fun bottom half, two IRT legends in Carson and @Sudsy Monchik are teamed up as the 6-seeds. They’ll have their hands full to get past #3 Miller/Gravier and especially #2 Sostre/Rolon from the bottom half.

Finals prediction: Sostre/Rolon over Geis/Koll

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100+ combined: just a quick note for star power observations: Marty Hogan is in the 100+ draw with Richie Miller, and look to be the favorite in that draw despite their seeding.

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Men’s Pro Singles:

#1 seed and IRT #1 Daniel De La Rosa is back in Florida to defend his title. He cruised to the singles title here last year, won it in 2019, and is the favorite here. He has two tough one-wall players in @Nelson Deida and @David Blatt (aka the Hulkster) in his half-bracket to contend with.

From the bottom side, look for under-rated outdoor player @Ben Bleyer to make some noise; if he can get by William Rolon he could be a finalist.

In the end, I don’t see DLR losing this draw; he’s just too good a shot maker to be defeated in one wall.

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Women’s Pro Singles

#1 Seed @Hollie Scott is the 3-time defending champion in this event, but doesn’t have to contend with the likes of MRivera or Herbert this year as in years past. This year she has a whole slew of LPRT touring pros in the bracket, and will have to get by the likes of Erika Manilla and @Carla Munoz to take a 4th straight title. Don’t sleep on Veronica Sotomayor , in this draw as a 7th seed and is the definition of an upset special.

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Streaming: remember to be patient with streaming at this event, because the cell phone coverage at this site is notoriously difficult. But sign up for live streams notification at WOR and 3WallBall and of course KRG will have notifications all weekend.

Thanks to the Tourney Directors Peggine Tellez , Jen O’Meara , Mike Coulter and the whole @3Wall Ball team for putting this event on! Thanks again to Abel Perez and his company @APCON for being the title sponsor; Perez is a great promoter of the sport.

Associations not already mentioned: @World Outdoor Racquetball , WOR – World Outdoor Racquetball , USA Racquetball

March 8, 2023

USAR High School Nationals recap

r2sports: https://www.r2sports.com/tourney/home.asp?TID=40258

Congrats to the 231 HS entrants who traveled to Portland to compete in this year’s USA Racquetball High School championships. This was the 35th iteration of the tournament, held every year (save for Covid) since 1988.

Here’s a quick run-through of your Gold division winners:

– Boys Singles Gold #1: Benjamin Horner from Iowa takes the crown; its the first time a player from Iowa has won a HS national. He defeat’s Texas’ DJ Mendoza in the final.

– Girls Singles Gold #1: @Naomi Ros repeats as Prep champion out of Douglas MacArthur HS in San Antonio. @George Bustos ‘s program continues to churn out top junior talent.

– Boys #1 Doubles: Luke Dannegger & Nicholas Heinlein out of St. Louis University HS in Missouri take the crown, going wire to wire as the #1 seeds.

– Girls #1 Doubles: Avery Oppermann & Gabbie Roseman out of Kirkwood High in Missouri also take the crown as the #1 seed, continuing St. Louis’ dominance.

– Mixed #1 Doubles was taken by Ros & Mendoza, giving Ros the weekend double.

In the team competition:

– Overall Team: Kirkwood HS in St. Louis, who repeat as overall Team Champions and win their 5th ever Combined National title.

– Boys Team: St. Louis University HS from St. Louis: this boys-only school wins for the 12th consecutive time and 16th overall. SLUH has now won 16 of the 30 Boys titles competed since High School Nationals started in 1988.

– Girls Team: Kirkwood also took the Girls title here, which powered them to the overall title. This is their first ever Girls title.

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The Missouri High School Association maintains the best historical site for results i’ve seen of basically any racquetball organization: see this page for a full list of team winners: https://www.mohsrball.com/national-champion-teams

Congrats to all our National HS players!

March 7, 2023March 8, 2023

LPRT Boston Wrap-Up

Congrats to your winners on the weekend:

– Singles: Montse Mejia

– Doubles: Paola Longoria & Samantha Salas

Mejia wins her 4th straight event and extends her winning streak to 16 matches on tour, and she’s now put herself in a clear position to capture the year end title with solid results the rest of the way out. She leads the “season to date” points race by more than 160 points.

R2 Sports App home page for event: https://www.r2sports.com/website/event-website.asp?TID=40583

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Lets review the notable matches in the Singles draw.

Singles Match report in the PRS database: https://rball.pro/5gz

In the 32s, no surprises. Costa Rican junior @Maricruz Ortiz was the unlucky opponent of @MMaria José Vargas on her return from Maternity leave; she played the former #2 ranked player tough but lost 11,11. Ortiz followed this up with a solid win in the Women’s Open doubles over Nancy Enriquez and her time playing with and training with Veronica Sotomayor and Sudsy Monchik is paying off.

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In the 16s:

– Angelica Barrios got a solid win over a similarly talented competitor in Brenda Laime in the 8/9 game.

– Vargas primed herself for another deep run, topping #5 Jessica Parrilla in a breaker.

– Argentina shocker: Valeria Centellas cruised by #4 Natalia Mendez in two. These two doubles partners are frequent training partners, and these matchups when it counts are always unpredictable.

– In the 7/10 match, @Hollie Scott got a solid win over #7 @Carla Munoz .

– #2 Montse Mejía , winner of the last 3 tournaments, was pressed by Mexican veteran Nancy Enriquez but advanced in a breaker.

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In the Quarters, another shock loss.

– Barrios took out #1 Paola Longoria in a tie-breaker 7,(13),7. All props to Barrios, who joins Laime, Mejia, and Vargas as “Players who have beaten Longoria this season.”

With all due respect to Barrios’ win, the story here has to be Longoria’s continued losses on tour. She’s now lost 5 times this season: she had just six losses in the previous seven seasons COMBINED. Something has definitely shifted for Longoria, who as i’ve pointed out before is nearing 34 years of age and who may be seeing her skills decline just enough to end her dominance on tour.

In the other 3 quarters, expected work from the tour’s top players:

– Vargas made fast work of Centellas 0,9 to move into the semis.

– Manilla crushed her US national team doubles partner Scott in two

– Mejia dominated another Mexican veteran Salas 9,2. Not to pick on Salas here, but its worth noting (with respect to Longoria’s slide this season) that Salas is basically two years older than Longoria, and went from making 9 finals in the 2018-19 season. Since that point, she’s made exactly ONE final in 27 tournaments. Sometimes that age 33-34 tripping point can be a light switch of results on the court.

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In the Semis

– Barrios continued her run with a win over Vargas. Barrios has always been a tough matchup for Vargas, and now improves to 4-2 against her former countrywoman in all competitions.

– Mejia takes out Manilla in two solid games 7,9

In the Finals, Mejia ground out game one against a challenging opponent in Barrios, then had a furious comeback to stave off a breaker and win the second game at 14.

Its her 4th straight tourney win (something that puts her in the top 20 of all time), her 16th straight tourney win (tied for 14th all time), and really makes a statement on her place on tour right now.

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Points Implications of results

Longoria’s early loss costs her dearly; there was already going to be a 90 point swing between Mejia and Longoria by virtue of the 2022 Boston Open expiring, and Mejia’s better results closes the gap significantly. Longoria’s lead at the top of the tour is now below 300 points. This is significant because the looming Sweet Caroline Grand Slam was missed last year by Mejia, meaning she has no points to defend and stands to make up a whopping 300 points just by entering the last event of the LPRT season. Unless Paola can turn it around, it is looking more and more like Montse will pip her for the title by season’s end.

Herrera missed this event to receive an award in her home town; she’s now essentially locked into 3rd place for the season, well behind Montse for 2nd, and well ahead of Manilla for 4th.

Other top 10 machinations: Parrilla and Mendez switch places even though both were upset in the quarters. Barrios’ big run moves her up to 7th above Munoz.

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Doubles review:

Match report in the PRS database: https://rball.pro/dga

Neutrals got the final they wanted, as #1 Longoria/Salas cruised past Scott/Lawrence in one semi 5,8. In the other semi, Mejia and Manilla are getting more comfortable playing together and dominated the Argentine pair of Centellas/Mendez to make the final as well.

The final was a tense, argumentative affair, as the vets from Mexico tried to hold off the young guns on tour. In the end, they staved off a furious comeback after splitting the first two games, and Longoria/Salas win their 37th career pro doubles title together 4,(14),7

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Women’s Open, other draws

– As noted above, Maricruz Ortiz took out Enriquez to win Women’s Open.

– Ortiz also took the LPRT U21 draw, beating Centellas in the semis and Katz in the final.

– Jolene Sullivan & Jose Flores Jr. took the small Mixed Open RR group.

– Bolivian Miguel Arteaga topped Flores to win the 20-man Open singles draw.

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Thanks for all the streaming on the weekend, especially from broadcasters Timothy Baghurst, Jerry J Josey Jr., and @Tj Baumbaugh]

Thanks to the Tourney Director @Stuart Solomon for putting this event on!

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Next up?

Per our handy master racquetball calendar …

https://docs.google.com/…/1V6OTid6rZ356voXVkoV2sN7KMMb…/

Beach Bash next weekend, then IRT in Chicago. LPRT is back at the end of April in San Antonio.

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tags

LPRT

March 6, 2023

Minnesota HoFame IRT Tourney recap

Montoya the latest player to join the IRT Tier 1 club. Photo Kevin Savory 2022 Portland IRT event

Congrats to your winners on the weekend:

– Singles: Rodrigo Montoya

– Doubles; Rodrigo Montoya & Javier Mar

Montoya becomes the 45th ever winner of a Tier 1 event in the Men’s pro tour.

R2 Sports App home page for event: https://www.r2sports.com/website/event-website.asp?TID=40006

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Lets review the notable matches in the Singles draw.

Singles Match report in the PRS database: https://rball.pro/q4j

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In the 32s, no surprises and mostly blowouts; only two matches even had games go double digits.

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In the 16s:

– Adam Manilla with a solid win in the 8/9 seed game over Costa Rican @Andres Acuña 11,3. Manilla really rounding out his game so far this season.

– #5 Alejandro Landa forfeits out of the event, likely due to his not quite recovering from the multiple ailments (ankle and back) that hobbled him at the end of the last event. The lack of points will cost him, as he sees his ranking continue to slip. This gives Alan Natera a walkover into the quarters.

– Sam Bredenbeck really pushed #3 Eduardo Portillo , beating him in the first before losing in the breaker. Hometown crowds energized both Bredenbeck brothers this weekend.

– #6 Rodrigo Montoya took out his doubles partner #11 Javier Mar in two close games.

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In the Quarters:

– #1 Daniel De La Rosa took out the lefty American Manilla 7,9

– Natera looked to take advantage of his gifted quarter final appearance, beating #4 Jake Bredenbeck in game one, but Jake took over from there to win (13),3,4.

– Hot-handed Montoya crushed #3 Portillo 4,4. Montoya continues to be the player who I most wish would commit to touring full time, just to see what would happen.

– #2 Conrrado Moscoso , who missed the last event due to some high-level meetings back home in Bolivia, ground out a tactical win over his Canadian nemesis Samuel Murray in game 1 before running away with the match 13,3

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In the Semis:

– DLR was pressed by Jake, losing game one, before regrouping to win (7),10,2 to move into the final and guarantee he retains #1.

– In a surprising result, Montoya improves to 5-4 lifetime over Moscoso with a dominant 13,3 win. Moscoso reportedly was nursing a knee injury, but the 15-3 shellacking of the player who many think is the next #1 is interesting.

In the Finals, Montoya served DLR off the court, winning 15 of his 40 points via Aces. DLR was able to salvage match points against in game two, but games one and three were one-way traffic for Montoya. Its Rodrigo’s first Tier 1 win on the IRT, and is a long time coming for one of the world’s best players.

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Points Implications of results:

Moscoso had a slight chance of regaining the tour #1 if he won, but his semis loss guarantees DLR is in the driver’s seat for a while longer. Moscoso probably doesn’t have a good chance of regaining #1 until the SoCal Open.

Parrilla’s expiring of his huge points win from last year’s Suivant Grand Slam drops him from #3 to #5, giving Jake a career #3 high.

Landa’s absence drops him to #7, while Montoya moves up to #6. Montoya is now just a handful of points out of 4th on tour, and the next two events to expire include an absence for Rodrigo, meaning he’s like to be in the top 4 by June.

Veteran players who are either hurt or retiring continue to plummet: Kane is now #14, Rocky #15, and Alvaro all the way down to #30.

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Doubles review

Match report in the PRS database: https://rball.pro/esd

Landa’s last minute W/D caused Moscoso to pick up a new partners last minute … just perhaps the best Male doubles players of all time in DLR. They bashed t heir way to the final. There they met the #1 seeds Montoya/Mar for what was billed as a fantastic match of top doubles play.

In the final, Montoya & Mar won a solid two-games 13,8 over DLR and Moscoso, giving Montoya the double on the weekend and the pair their 6th pro title together. They cement their status as the top doubles team in the world.

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Men’s Open, other draws

– Canadian Kurtis Cullen took out #1 seeded Gatica and #2 seeded Gomez to win the Men’s Open title.

– Kelly Gremley & Vallana Perrault took the Women’s Open Doubles RR draw.

– Meadow Barth & Jordan Barth teamed to take the Mixed Open doubles draw.

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Thanks for all the streaming on the weekend, especially from broadcasters Favio Soto, Pablo Fajre and the IRTLive crew

Thanks to the Tourney Directors John Olson and @KKaren Masberg Bredenbeck for putting this event on and raising the funds to bring pro racquetball back to MN.

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Next up?

Per our handy master racquetball calendar …

https://docs.google.com/…/1V6OTid6rZ356voXVkoV2sN7KMMb…/

We will recap LPRT and HS Nationals later this week.

Next weekend is Beach Bash! The First outdoor major of the year, held on the one-wall courts in Hollywood, Fla. The weekend after that, the IRT is back in action, as well as USAR intercollegiates at Ohio State.

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tags

International Racquetball Tour

March 3, 2023March 3, 2023

LPRT Boston Open Preview

Can Mejia make it 4 in a row? Photo Kevin Savory US Open 2019

The LPRT is back in Boston for the 2023 Frontline Boston Open Presented by ARK Behavioral Health.

R2 Sports App link: https://www.r2sports.com/website/event-website.asp?TID=40583

There’s 25 players in Boston, and the draw shakes out to give us a ton of really compelling matchups. The round of 16 here is going to be awesome.

Top20 players missing: #2 Herrera is not here, giving Mejia the #2 seed and a cleaner run to the finals to go after her fourth straight win. The next highest missing player is #15 Lotts. Ironman Maria Renee Rodriguez misses just her 3rd event in five years, as does her Guatemalan partner Gaby Martinez. Lastly #20 Rajsich remains on touring hiatus.

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Lets preview the draw. Here’s some notable qualifying matches that i’m looking forward to:

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In the 32s, there’s some good starters:

– Last week’s surprise finalist Vargas goes against Costa Rican’ top junior Maricruz Ortiz, a bummer of a draw for Ortiz, who has been training with Sudsy “Rocky Balboa” Monchik in Florida.

– In an all-Argentine youngster matchup, #13 Valeria Centellas goes up against lefty Martina Katz .

– USA U21 junior Annie Roberts gets a close match with veteran LPRT Colombian @Cris Amaya .

– Lastly , two Canadian juniors in Juliette and Marjolaine Parent make their LPRT debuts. Their mom, Monique Parent , is a former Canadian national singles champ and last appeared on the Ladies pro tour in 1985 at the DP event in …. Boston.

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round of 16: there are going to be some barn burners here.

– 8/9: Laime vs Barrios. Right now its advantage Barrios on the strength of her win over Herrera in AZ. But these two are neck and neck and couldn’t have a different gamestyle.

– Vargas plays into Parrilla, a bummer for Leoni to get an early round matchup against a top 4 player despite her lofty seed.

– The winner of the all-Argentina playin between Centellas & Katz plays … the #4 seed Argentine Mendez. I guess we really wanted to ensure all the players from La Albiceleste were gone early.

– Scott vs Munoz. these two are also neck and neck in terms of world talent rankings and this could go either way. Scott topped Munoz at the 2021 US Open, but that was just their 2nd ever meeting (first in 2016, which Munoz took). Edge to Scott.

– Lawrence vs Salas: another gut check for an up and coming player, to see if they can take out a veteran. Salas is 3-0 lifetime and took out Kelani at the World Games last fall and has the slight edge here.

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Projected Qtrs:

– Longoria over Barrios. If it was Laime, i’d give her a slight edge, but i just don’t think Barrios’ game style can ever beat Paola.

– Vargas over Mendez: the last of the all-Argentine meetings in this quarter, and two long-time doubles partners meet.

– Manilla over Scott: USA vs USA but Manilla has the advantage here.

– Mejia over Salas; Mejia is on a roll and isn’t losing to Samantha here.

Semis:

– Longoria over Vargas: Vargas was playing without pressure last week; now there’s expectations and I think Longoria has the better mindset.

– Mejia over Manilla; Erika beat Montse twice in a row in late 2019 they never met prior or since. Lots has changed since then, not the least of which is Mejia being on a 3-tournament winning streak. This is setup to be an awesome match but I think Montse is taking a step ahead of the rest of the tour right now.

Finals; Montse over Longoria to take her 4th straight event. Longoria looking in the mirror and wondering if this is the inevitable changing of the guard.

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Doubles review

No Herrera this weekend, so Mejia teams up with Manilla (who also is missing her newly minted championship partner from US Nationals. Regular teams Centellas/Mendez and Scott/Lawrence form the rest of the top 4 seeds.

In the end, I like Manilla/Mejia to get to the final, but to lose to Longoria & Salas.

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Look for Streaming in the regular places; follow the LPRT on Facebook and sign up to get notifications when they go Live.

Look for Timothy Baghurst, Jerry J Josey Jr., and Tj Baumbaugh on the mike, calling the shots!

Thanks to the Tourney Director and @USA Racquetball President Stuart Solomon for putting this event on!

Coincidentally, if you’re interested in playing Fantasy Racquetball for this event, the links to the brackets are advertised on LPRT’s main page. The winner each week gets free swag!

Associations

LPRT

March 2, 2023

IRT 2023 KWM Gutterman MN Hall of Fame Event

Will Landa give us more talking points this weekend? Photo US Open 2019, Photographer Kevin Savory

The IRT returns to the host site of last year’s US Open, the University of Minnesota, for the 2023 Minnesota Hall of Fame IRT event. Thanks once again to the generous sponsorship of Keith Minor and Kwm Gutterman , the pros are back in Minnesota.

R2 Sports App link: https://www.r2sports.com/website/event-website.asp?TID=40006

The draw for this event is down a bit from what we’ve come to expect out of pro draws, continuing a trend so far in 2023. I’m not sure why this is the case. The first half of 2022 saw draws regularly north of 40 in the singles draws for the IRT, then by October we were mid 30s, and the first four events of 2023 have gone 36,30,31, and just 25 in Minneapolis.

Top20 players missing: just #3 Parrilla missing from the top 10, then a big chunk of the 11-20th ranked guys are out for this event. We’ll end up having one larger round of 32 on thursday, then kick off the main event friday as normal.

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Lets preview the draw. Here’s some notable qualifying matches that i’m looking forward to:

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In the 32s/1st round, here’s a couple to watch for if the streaming starts up early:

– Cullen-Natera: Natera has been playing well lately and the Canadian will give him a good test.

– Collins-Salgado Jr: can Rodrigo get an upset of the lefty vet?

– Sam Bredenbeck – Gatica: upset watch for the American.

– Carter -Hansen: the Iowa amateur is a dangerous opponent and could give Carter trouble.

– Carrasco-Gomez: i like this matchup that could go either way.

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round of 16:

– Acuna-Manilla could be a barn burner at 8/9: good gut check match for both.

– Landa-Natera: could Landa be distracted after the controversy at the last event?

– Montoya-Mar: the good friends and long-time doubles partners have to face off in singles in the 16s, not for the first time. Impossible to predict who wins; they’ve evenly split their matches going back years. For what it’s worth, Montoya won their most recent meeting, at Mexican Nationals in Juarez a month ago.

– Moscoso- Carrasco: could be a meeting of fellow Bolivians and doubles partners. Not likely to see Conrrado lose here, but he’s been known to lose to his fellow Bolivians at inopportune times.

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Projected Qtrs:

– #1 De La Rosa over Manilla: a rematch of the same quarter in Atlanta

– #4 Jake versus #5 Landa. To say there’s bad blood here would be an understatement, after Landa’s actions in their doubles match in Atlanta. But, Landa is 12-1 over Jake lifetime. Landa was decently hurt in the last event; is he healthy?

– Portillo versus the Montoya/Mar winner: whoever comes out of the 6/11 can beat Lalo

– Moscoso over Murray; Despite Murray’s tactical acumen, i don’t see Moscoso losing to him again anytime soon.

Semis:

– DLR over Landa; despite Landa’s superior career h2h over DLR, i think his time has past where he can push the #1 player.

– Moscoso over Montoya/Mar winner. Conrrado and DLR have elevated.

Finals; Moscoso takes out DLR again. I see a similar result to what we saw in Atlanta, with slower walls and a slower ball benefitting Conrrado.

A note about the possible rankings: DLR is currently 200 points ahead of Moscoso, but is set to lose around 100 points in delta to Conrrado when the next event expires (the Suivant consulting Grand Slam). So, if Moscoso wins here over DLR in a final, they’ll be amazingly close at the top. I believe Conrrado can re-take #1 spot by just a couple of points if he wins and DLR makes the final.

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Doubles review

9 teams here, and some interesting moves. DLR decides not to enter doubles this event, leaving his US national teammate to find another partner; he picks Moscoso, who then drops his own Bolivian partner Carrasco just a couple weeks before they are set to play at PARC. It all seems like a moot point though, because Montoya/Mar are #1 and are the clear favorites.

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Look for Streaming in the regular places; follow the IRT on Facebook and sign up to get notifications when they go Live.

Look for Favio Soto, Pablo Fajre and the IRTLive crew all weekend on the mike, calling the shots!

Associations: International Racquetball Tour

February 28, 2023

Montana IRT Satellite and Xelani Open Recap

Natera wins in Montana. Photo US Open 2019, Photographer Kevin Savory

No Tier 1s or major events on the calendar last week, but we did have a couple of interesting pro-level competitions going on. Here’s a quick recap of two events that had some pros and internationals competing.

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First up; the Montana Winter Classic, an IRT-500 (which means basically players get $500 per round won from the quarters onward). This tournament drew a handful of regular touring pros and some top Canadian players.

r2sports page: https://www.r2sports.com/portfolio/r2-event.asp?TID=40488

Pro finals: Alan Natera Chavez took out Thomas Carter . Semi finalists included recently crowned National Singles Open champion Ty Hedalen

Open doubles: won by LPRT #4 Erika Manilla and Matthew Ivar Majxner , who topped the all-Canada pairing of Lee Connell and @Tanner Prentice .

Men’s Open singles: also won by Manilla in a small RR group.

Bravo to the Montana crew, Andrew Weber , Majxner, and others who made this tournament possible.

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Xelani Open

https://www.r2sports.com/portfolio/r2-event.asp?TID=40450

the brainchild of top Florida amateur Alex Zamudio , this tournament featured an old-school open only draw; big money to enter, winner takes all style competition.

25 Pros from around the country and around the world entered the singles (34 together for 17 teams in the doubles), and here’s how the action went down.

Pro singles:

The story of the tourney had to be Mexico 21U player Diego Gastelum , who upset Ecuador international Juan Francisco Cueva in the 16s, then Guatemala’s Edwin Galicia in the quarters, then the #1 seed and easy tournament favorite @aAlejandro Herrera in the semis to make the finals as an #12 seed.

From the bottom side, Ecuador’s longtime veteran @Jose Daniel Ugalde worked his way th rough the draw, upset #2 @Nolsen Jimenez

in the semis, then took out Gastelum in the final to claim the big prize.

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The Doubles draw was wide open, with top seeds falling early on both sides. The #1 seeded team of Zamudio & Morales was taken out by Gastelum & Gomez in the quarters, while the #2 seeds (Team Ecuador Ugalde/Cueva) was upset by the legendary Sudsy Monchik playing with Charles George . Neither of these upset-minded pairings could go much further though.

In the end, the Floridians rose to the top, with Herrera (paired with Bolivian Fronton veteran @Marcelo Vargas Aguilar ) taking on Jimenez and Mike Harmon from the bottom half. Jimenez and Harmon blew it up in the final, winning 6,6 to take the title.

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Next up, we have a busy weekend.

https://docs.google.com/…/1V6OTid6rZ356voXVkoV2sN7KMMb…/

Next weekend we have HS Nationals, IRT in Minnesota, and the LPRT in Boston.

February 21, 2023

IRT Williams Accounting and Consulting Atlanta Grand Slam Recap

DLR back in the winner’s circle, and back to #1. Photo US Open 2019, Photographer Kevin Savory

Congrats to your winners on the weekend:

– Singles: Daniel De La Rosa

– Doubles: @Rodrigo Montoya and Andree Parrilla

DLR wins his 11th career IRT title, and he is now tied for 12th all time in the tour’s history.

R2 Sports App home page for event: https://www.r2sports.com/tourney/home.asp?TID=39119

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Lets review the notable matches in the Singles draw.

Singles Match report in the PRS database: https://rball.pro/2ix

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In the 32s: a couple of results stood out to me:

– Carrasco loses to Guatemalan #1 Salvatierra 8,14. Even though these two are similar in stature on the world rankings stage, I would have thought the Bolivian would have pulled it out.

– Jose Daniel Ugalde did not seem that pressed to defeat Erick Trujillo 8,11. An interesting result; Ugalde now plays into Acuna, who he beat at 2022 Worlds in the group stage. Could we see a run?

– Erik Cuevas takes out Jesus Guillermo Ortega in a breaker. This seems like an upset in my book, as he’d beaten Cuevas the last couple of meetings.

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In the 16s, a couple of notable results for me:

– #4 @Alejandro Landa held off the usually dangerous @Jaime Martel in two. These two players will both be part of a larger issue later on in the weekend, so read on.

– In kind of a shocking result for me, #11 Sebastian Franco took out #6 Rodrigo Montoya with ease 4,11. The Jeckyl and Hyde performances of Montoya continue; in my mind he’s one of the bets 3-4 players out there, but he can’t seem to beat players consistently that he should beat. Franco had lost 8 of his last 9 matches on tour, mostly to amateur entries in the opening rounds of events, and should never beat a guy who’s making pro finals.

– Ugalde could not continue his run, and Acuna took him out with ease to move into the quarters.

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In the Quarters, chalk.

– #1 Daniel De La Rosa cruises past @Adam Manilla

– #4 Landa reverses his recent trend in events and lives up to his seeding, taking out his former doubles partner @Samuel Murray in a breaker.

– #3 @Jake Bredenbeck crushed Franco 8,3 to make the semis for the 4th time in his last 6 IRT events.

– #2 Andree Parrilla blasted #7 @Andres Acuña 3,4 to move into the semis and squelch any possible upset.

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In the Semis

– DLR got a walk-over against Landa, (his doubles partner both this weekend and on the US Team) after Landa tweaked his ankle in their doubles match earlier in the day.

– #3 Jake got a solid win over his long-time rival Parrilla to move into his 3rd final in his last 6 events.

In the Finals, DLR and Jake played the expected “close but never really in doubt” match, with DLR winning 10,12. Jake continues to really make a mark on tour and seems a safe bet to get another tourney win eventually.

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Points Implications of results

– Thanks to Moscoso’s absence and DLR’s performance, Daniel will re-ascend to #1 on tour for the time being. And going forward for a while, it will be a dog-fight at the top as both DLR and Moscoso have varying results expiring and we may see more flip flopping. Just hope Conrrado doesn’t miss events.

– Portillo’s absence costs him: he’ll drop slightly in the rankings.

– Despite his early loss, Montoya will move up to #7

– Adam Manilla will rise up to #9, his career best.

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Doubles review

Match report in the PRS database: https://rball.pro/n9s

The doubles draw overall was very chalk-y, with the top 4 seeds advancing to the semis and the top 2 to the final.

However, that’s not the storyline of the weekend.

In a tense semi-final between #2 seeds DLR/Landa and #3 Murray/Jake, a possible match-point for the US champs was given in the form of an avoidable hinder. It was a wrap around shot and though Jake was definitely in the way, it was a borderline hinder call. Which, upon appeal, is exactly what was called; the line judges’ calls turned the avoidable into a replay hinder, much to the chagrin of Landa.

Landa, without warning, shockingly spiked the ball back towards the back wall, ostensibly towards the line judge who called the rally a replay instead of an avoidable, nearly pegging Murray in the face. Murray and Jake were shocked that Landa received no technical or warning for the action, and the match was over on the next rally. But the reaction on social media was fast and furious; how could there not have been any penalty given for this behavior at the moment? The referee was a highly experienced IRF level ref in Jaime Martell; did he miss what happened?

Murray, Landa’s long-time doubles partner, took the rare-step of posting on KRG specifically to call out what happened, and Landa took the also rare step of responding (and not apologizing) in real time defending his actions.

I’m sure this is not the last we hear of this; IRT generally issues fines and suspensions after the fact (and in private) even if there’s no on-the-court penalty. But more importantly, Landa’s US National team spot is now in severe jeopardy. He was already on probation for actions stemming from the PARC event last April, and his actions here could absolutely lead to a suspension from the team. The timing couldn’t be worse, as Landa just re-qualified for the team by winning National doubles two weeks ago, and is scheduled to play both singles and doubles at the upcoming 2023 PARC event, a qualifier for the 2023 Pan Am Games.

In the final…the chatter in the Facebook live stream group chat focused on asking why Landa was even allowed to be playing, but the play on the court was far more interesting than the keyboard warriors in action. Landa was clearly hobbled; pundits said it was his ankle but he seemed to also be favoring his back to this observer, and DLR was taking a ton of shots that normally Landa would be handling. Parrilla and Montoya tried to work the ball to the right hand side as much as possible; when it was left out in the middle, more often than not DLR would bury it.

The match still went breaker, but Landa’s stamina ran out; long-time rivals Parrilla and Montoya took the tiebreaker 11-6 to take the doubles title.

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Men’s Open, other draws

– Natera beat Trujillo to take Men’s Open. Solid wins by Ortega Jr to make the semis.

– Veteran Ecuadorian team Ugalde/Cueva topped Atl locals Cunningham/Miller to win Open Doubles.

– Costa Rican junior Maricruz Ortiz took the Men’s Elite singles crown.

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Thanks for all the streaming on the weekend, especially from broadcasters Favio Soto , Pablo Fajre , @Karen Grisz and the IRTLive crew

Thanks to the Tourney Director @Michael Miller for putting this event on, and thanks as always to title sponsor Donald Williams for everything you do in the sport.

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Next up?

Per our handy master racquetball calendar …

https://docs.google.com/…/1V6OTid6rZ356voXVkoV2sN7KMMb…/

There’s an IRT satellite in Montana next weekend with some great talent that we will cover. The unsanctioned big-money Xelani open is in Miami and hopes for a full 32 draw of top Open players. The weekend after both LPRT and IRT are in full stops while High School Nationals happens in Portland. A busy March coming up.

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tags

@iInternational Racquetball Tour

February 21, 2023

LPRT Arizona Pro Stop Recap

Vargas had a fantastic tournament upon her return from maternity leave. Photo US Open 2019 Kevin Savory

Congrats to your winners on the weekend:

– Singles: Montse Mejia

– Doubles: Paola Longoria and Rhonda Rajsich

Mejia wins her 3rd straight LPRT event and has a 12-match winning streak on tour (see https://rball.pro/qx5 for longest LPRT winning streaks). In doubles, Longoria teams with Rajsich for the first time since 2016 and wins the title again, improving her pro doubles record to 6-0 with her long-time rival (see https://rball.pro/i0s for Longoria’s full LPRT doubles match history)

R2 Sports App home page for event: https://www.r2sports.com/tourney/home.asp?TID=39119

Interestingly, the entire LPRT stop was played out by early Saturday afternoon. I cannot recall seeing a pro event that ended before at the earliest Saturday Night. This took me by surprise when the ladies started on Thursday (normally they don’t kick into gear until Friday morning).

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Lets review the notable matches in the Singles draw.

Singles Match report in the PRS database: https://rball.pro/ovk

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In the 32s: a tale of two kinds of qualifiers. Several of the round of 32s were complete blowouts: three of the scores were of the “1 and 0” variety. But then there were several interesting matches:

– Both players were gone a while; but only one could advance. #16 Maria José Vargas took out @Rhonda Rajsich in a breaker to earn a shot at Longoria.

– #12 Valeria Centellas was definitely pressed by USA’s Lexi York , going 11-8 in the breaker before advancing.

– I was expecting a bit more from Lucia Gonzalez against #9 Kelani Lawrence ; after losing the first game 11, the American turned on the guns and raced to an 11,3 win.

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In the 16s, an absolute shock.

– Vargas upset #1 Longoria with a well earned tie-breaker win. Vargas came back big in both the first and third games and just played better than Longoria. This is the earliest exit for Longoria in an LPRT event since January of 2007, and she now has more losses so far this season (four) than she had in the prior four seasons combined, and we still have several stops to go (Longoria career W/L here: https://rball.pro/z2i, and see here for Longoria’s losses on tour https://rball.pro/v2p.). Bravo to Vargas for this win, but the storyline has to be this: are we looking at the potential fall of the long-time #1?

Other Round of 16 observations:

– #9 @Kelani Lawrence with a great win over #8 Brenda Laime .

– #6 Jessica Parrilla with a solid win over #11 Hollie Scott ; these two are very closely matched.

– #2 Alexandra Herrera held off Gaby Martinez in two tight games in a round of 16 that should have been a semi (not unlike Vargas-Longoria). Solid win for Herrera to avoid a possible upset here.

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In the Quarters, more crazy results.

– Vargas continues her run by taking out USA’s Lawrence in a breaker. This could have been a huge emotional letdown for a player to have to come back after toppling #1, but Vargas held serve in a match she should win, despite just coming back from months off.

– #5 Natalia Mendez continues her dominance over #4 Erika Manilla by winning in a breaker and donutting the American #1 11-0 along the way. Mendez has never lost to Manilla in a match tracked by PRS, dating back to their junior days.

– #3 Mejia reversed the result against Parrilla from Mexican Nationals last week, winning easily to move on.

– #2 Herrera was taken out in two closer games by #7 Angelica Barrios 12,11. The Bolivian champ improves to 3-2 lifetime over Herrera.

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In the Semis

– Vargas continues her run, downing her long-time doubles partner Mendez to make the final as a #16 seed. Its the 4th highest seed to ever make a final in the known seeding history of the tour.

– Mejia crushed Barrios 6,5 to return to the final for the 3rd straight event, and for the fourth time this season.

In the Finals, Vargas took game one 15-12 but (finally) ran out of gas and Mejia cruised the rest of the way, winning (12),2,4 to take her third straight title.

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Points Implications of results

– Around this time last year, we were asking if Herrera was the heir apparent after two straight wins over Longoria. Well, Mejia now has won three straight events and should overtake Herrera for #2 on tour if My math is correct.

– Longoria remains #1 still though by a sizeable margin (nearly 600 points) and it will take a number of additional early round upsets for Mejia to overtake her for the title, especially by season’s end.

– Barrios’ result jumps her up from #11 to #8

– Laime’s upset will drop her 3 spots from #8 to #11.

– Vargas’ return and run to the final will jump her from #15 to #12, and she’s in a good position to continue to rise.

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Doubles review

Match report in the PRS database: https://rball.pro/79b

Longoria and Rajsich race to the title, beating the reigning US champs Michelle Key and Erika Manilla in a breaker along the way. Not a good result for team USA, who could not focus on Rajsich enough to take a winnable match.

Team Argentina (Valeria CentellasValeria Centellas Valeria Centellas and Mendez) had a great run to the final, in a solid tuneup for upcoming international events.

The story of the tourney though was the shock early round loss of the reigning Mexican champs and #1 seeds Herrera/Mejia, who were upset in the quarters by Barrios & Laime. Now, Barrios is no doubles slouch; she’s a world champ in fact and just won Bolivian doubles … nor is Laime, who has proven to be a heck of a doubles player in the last year, but this is still a shocking loss.

The ladies doubles competition at the upcoming PARC is going to be wide open.

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Thanks for all the streaming on the weekend, especially from broadcasters JT R Ball , @jJerry Josey , Timothy Baghurst and others who got on the mike and helped out (@Richard Eiseman )

Thanks to the Tourney Director Jim Winterton and to the RPAA for putting this event on!

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Next up?

We’ll recap the IRT event and publish tomorrow.

Per our handy master racquetball calendar …

https://docs.google.com/…/1V6OTid6rZ356voXVkoV2sN7KMMb…/

Next weekend is a IRT satellite event in Montana and the non-sanctioned Xelani open in Miami, which should be interesting to watch since its a non-pro event with big money and limits on the entrants.

LPRT is back in action the weekend following, returning to Boston.

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tags

LPRT