Dylan Pruitt took the singles title and played well in the team events. Photo 2022 Beach Bash via Rick Bernstein
The Louisiana crew in Monroe held their annual Warhawk Open last wekeend, a well-attended event that draws from all over the southeast every year and continues to host IRT touring pros annually. This year, in a fun twist, the organizing group got with World Team Racquetball’s head Mike Kinkin to host an the 2nd iteration of the WTR team racquetball competition with some dignitaries on hand to watch and participate.
Two of the alumni teams from last year’s inaugural event were on hand: the Dovetail Thunderbolts and the KWM Gutterman Kingz, and they were joined by four new teams with increasingly awesome logos: the Texas Outlaws, the Culligan Waterboys, the Louisiana Lasers, and the Mississippi River Hogs. There were two competitions: a Pro version and an Amateur version.
Here were the team rosters (pulled from https://www.worldteamracquetball.com/ along with Kinkin’s help)
4 Pro teams:
KWM:
– Jaime Martell Racquetball
– Austin Cunningham
– @Naomi Ros
Coach: Kane Waselenchuk
Dovetail:
– Eduardo Portillo Rendon (hurt)
– @Maria Renee Rodríguez
– @jordan Walters
Culligan Waterboys
– Robby Collins
– Dylan Pruitt
– Annie Sanchez (last minute replacement for Erika)
Louisiana Lasers
– Cristina Amaya Cassino
– Maurice Miller
– Troy Warigon
Additionally, 6 amateur teams competed:
Texas Outlaws (amateur)
– Marcus Zuniga
– David Mendoza
– DJ Mendoza (coach)
– William J. Craig
Mississippi River Hogs (amateur)
– @Tim Risler (coach)
– Bradnado Turnquest
– Bob Jackson
– Michael Yourell
Culligan Waterboys (amateur)
– David Kerr Jr.
– @Blake Lockwood
– Craig Clement
Kings (amateur)
– @David Anastasio (coach)
– Raymond Flowers
– Chris Kendrick
– Matt Ray
Dovetail (amateur)
– Mike Kinkin
– David Graves
– Joey Limocello
– Steve Semones (coach)
Lasers (amateur)
– Brian Acuna (coach)
– Al Schof
– Kip Atwell
– Shawn Dedebant
(apologies for any typos here)
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Lets recap the Team events and then the conventional divisions.
Pro Team event:
– In the top semi, #1 seed Dovetail took down the Louisiana Lasers, while the #2 seeds KWM ousted the pink-clad Culligan Waterboys.
In the final, KWM took advantage of a hobbled Portillo (nursing an arm injury he got in Chicago) to take the title.
Amateur Team Event:
– The Texas Outlaws squeaked by the Waterboys 11-10 to earn the final from the top-side, while KWM’s amateur team tried to emulate their pro counterparts with a solid win over Dovetail’s amateur side in the other semi.
– In the final, KWM made it two for two on the weekend with an 10,10 win over Texas.
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Men’s Open/Pro Singles:
– #1 seed Pruitt held serve, topping USA Junior national DJ Mendoza in one semi.
– #2 Robbie Collins took out former IRT touring pro Maurice Miller in the other semi.
In the final, Pruitt got a very solid win over the #15 ranked IRT pro Collins, winning an 11-9 tiebreaker thriller for the singles title.
———————–
Men’s Open Doubles:
– Mendoza teamed with his junior national coach Collins to form a solid lefty/righty pair, and delivered the title. In the final they beat the top amateur team of Pruitt & Austin Cunningham in a breaker.
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Bravo to all the team owners and those who participated. Can’t wait to see the next iteration, and I can only hope we get the same quality team names and logos as we got here.
HoFamer Sostre takes home 3 golds. Photo Steve Fitzsimons 3WB 2020
Hello Racquetball fans. The first Outdoor “Major” of the 2025 season just finished up on the sunny courts of Garfield Street in Hollywood, Florida, and here’s a recap.
Congrats to your Pro winners on the weekend:
– Men’s Pro Doubles: McDonald/Sostre
– Women’s Pro Doubles: Key/Maldonado
– Mixed Pro Doubles: Sostre/Maldonado
– Men’s Pro Singles: No event this year.
– Women’s Pro Singles: Michelle Key
Executive Summary: A great showing for NY this weekend, with double pro golds for Sostre & Maldonado. Michelle Key also took home two titles, and Floridian Chris McDonald won his first ever Beach Bash title.
R2 Sports App home page for event: https://www.r2sports.com/website/event-website.asp?TID=46008
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Reports on ProRacquetballStats.com:
Match reports for 2025 Beach Bash:
– Men’s Pro Doubles: https://rball.pro/fd1c7d
– Women’s Pro Doubles: https://rball.pro/04cc18
– Mixed Pro Doubles: https://rball.pro/c8e4bf
– Men’s Pro Singles: No event this year
– Women’s Pro Singles: https://rball.pro/e55d02
Triple Crown Reports for all past WOR major champions:
– Men’s Pro Doubles: https://rball.pro/3lj
– Women’s Pro Doubles: https://rball.pro/zoa
– Mixed Pro Doubles: https://rball.pro/obz
– Men’s Pro Singles: https://rball.pro/9ey
– Women’s Pro Singles: https://rball.pro/h27
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Lets run through the draws, recapping the action.
——————
Men’s Pro Doubles:
So, I’m part of the 3WB seeding team and have helped in the past. Seeding outdoor events is really difficult. There’s practically no points you can really depend on, pros flow in and out year by year, top players who miss an event one year suddenly aren’t ranked at all, while players who happen to live in areas where there’s plenty of sanctioned one-wall events get over-seeded just by virtue of being able to play events. Often times we seed a team 11th, knowing that they’re better than the 11th best team and knowing they’re likely to beat the 6th seeded team, and that ends up being the fairest way to do a draw. Sometimes we tweak seeds slightly so that four players who flew a 1000 miles who are from the same club don’t play in the first round. It isn’t ideal to do these manipulations, and every year it leads to arguments, but there’s too many factors that just can’t be worked around.
Unfortunately, a confluence of events in this draw led to the final being competed by the #7 and #9 seeds. I’m sure some will look at this and talk about how incompetent the TDs are. Well, i’m sure they gave it a lot more thought than you might think, so cut them some slack.
Blatt & Rolon (the 2018 winners and constant presences at the back-end of one-wall major events) were seeded 9th, and, true to form, when they met the #1 seeds Montoya & Mar … not only did we get a quality match, we got an upset in what probably should have been at worst the semi final in the pro draw. Rolon & Blatt then cruised past Morales & Heymann to get to the final.
In the final, The #7 seeds Chris Mcdonald and Robert Sostre (who should have probably been seeded higher but likely placed at #7 knowing that they’d be the favorites over the #2 seeds anyway) ended up topping the #9 seeds in a breaker for the title. It’s McDonald’s first ever one-wall pro title, while Sostre wins his 6th career Beach Bash pro doubles title (fun fact: Sostre has made the final here in 11 of the 15 pro doubles events ever held).
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Women’s Pro Doubles:
Michelle Key and outdoor legend @Anita Maldonado were not threatened as the #1 seeds, cruising to a title. In the final, they topped outdoor specialists Katie Neils and Aimee Roehler.
With the win, Key gets her fourth career Women’s Doubles title here, and extends her amazing collection of Pro Doubles outdoor major titles to 19.
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Mixed Pro Doubles:
Taking advantage of a last minute withdrawal that cost the Mixed draw its #1 seeds, New Yorkers Erika Tinalli & Brian Romero cruised into the final with solid wins over Arizona’s Key/Anderson and fellow NYers Blatt/Guinan. However, they fell in the final to the experienced Sostre/Maldonado team
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Men’s Pro Singles:
There was no Singles event on the men’s side this year, the first time since 2014 that the draw didn’t field enough players to be held. Both of last year’s finalists and the 2023 finalist attended the competing Warhawk Open, 4-time champion DLR is out of the sport, 3-time champ Sostre is north of 50 and saves his body for the four doubles divisions he generally enters. Lets hope we don’t have fixture congestion and can get a full draw in 2026.
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Women’s Pro Singles:
Just three women entered the Pro singles here, with the draw missing a slew of names who typically play here. Munoz, Parrilla, Scott, Laime, Lawrence: all past finalists or semi-finalists.
In the end, @Michelle Key took her first Beach Bash singles title, improving on her finalist finish last year, topping Miami’s @Chanis Leon in the final.
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Other Notable draws:
– CPRT 40+ Doubles: Sostre/Harmon took out McDonald/Miller for the title, Sostre’s 3rd on the weekend.
– Men’s 75+: Rodrigo Montoya teamed with San Antonio’s Phillip Beverly to take the 75+ combined, beating Mar & Perez in the final.
– Men’s 100+: Stratton Woods in the house! Northern Virginia residents Allan Small and Suresh Vemulapalli beat teams that included legends Rocky and Beltran to take the 100+ combined title.
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Some additional commentary here.
Unfortunately, for the second year in a row Beach Bash ended up caught in a bit of a fixture congestion issue with too many racquetball events in March. Last year’s early Easter date pushed up PARC, which caused Beach Bash to be held on the same weekend as the IRT pro stop Shamrock Shootout, which caused all sorts of angst in the industry.
This year the Warhawk Open in Louisiana fell on the exact same date, and then when the new World Team Racquetball concept was added, players who have historically played BB instead flocked to ULM. Beach Bash’ attendance was just 125 players at R2, which is shocking for an event that usually sells out well in advance and pushes past a player cap. A slew of regular ladies tour players were missing, and the draws suffered. It’s unclear why so many of the regular outdoor ladies pros were missing this weekend, but the ladies and mixed draws really suffered for it.
The WTR event’s presence led to some nasty back and forth on social media between major sponsors, stuff that’s becoming all to common in our sport, and stuff that we just can’t afford to happen. Inevitably one guy gets pissed and pulls funding, then suddenly we’re out events and the sport continues to decline.
Could someone have moved their event? Maybe, but remember everyone has to work within the parameters of their host sites. Warhawk is on a college campus with availability set months in advance; Beach Bash is on public courts that have to be arranged with permits months in advance. It’s just a shame that the sport has a bunch of major events inside of a few weeks in March (two IRT events, and LPRT event, HS Nationals, Beach Bash, and Warhawk Open) but basically two events in the next two months (PARC in April, Nationals in May).
We do talk about a fixture scheduling call in the sport, but in the end we always work around what the IRF and USAR does as a default. But, maybe we can try to work together in the future to avoid this stuff.
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Thanks to the Tourney Directors Peggine Tellez , Jen O’Meara , @Mike Coulter, @vic Vic Leibofsky and the entire 3Wall Ball crew for putting this event on and ensuring the legacy of outdoor majors.
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Next up?
Per our handy master racquetball calendar https://docs.google.com/spreadsheets/d/1V6OTid6rZ356voXVkoV2sN7KMMbIP9SZd0MssH_nPGU/edit?usp=sharing
Intercollegiates is next weekend at NC State. Then, PARC in April, USA Nationals (and Canada Nationals) in May. Not much else going on at this stage.
Hello fans. My good friend Sudsy Monchik and I talk racquetball all the time. Maybe not as much lately, but we frequently catch up on important events, the state of the sport, pro tours, USAR, etc etc.
Sudsy suggested, hey, why don’t we frigging tape these conversations? We’re often talking about topics that cut to the heart of where our sport is right now, and we try to mix in stats and opinion from one of the most decorated and involved names in the sport. So lets see if you guys like to listen in to the kinds of stuff we talk about on the regular.
So, here’s the first cut.
You can listen in (the first one was a zoom audio, though we could try saving video for subsequent ones) here:
For those of you want to read instead of watch, here’s a transcript (lightly edited for clarity).
Sudsy & Todd discussion –
International Youth movement in Racquetball at the IRT Shamrock Shootout
⏰Tue, 03/18 13:00PM · 24mins
Transcript
Todd Boss
All right, you ready?
Sudsy Monchik
Ready.
Todd Boss
Sudsy, how are you doing?
Sudsy Monchik
Doing good, doing good, Todd. Driving to my real job.
Todd Boss
Yeah, I’m on lunch break for my real job. So this works out for both of us.
Sudsy Monchik
But we both love racquetball so much that we can’t help it
Todd Boss
That’s right. So here’s the context of today’s conversation.
Are we seeing the next generation of pros, and does it matter based on the state of our sport?
For some Background, when I did the recap of last weekend’s Shamrock Shootout, I noted that a ton of U21 or junior world champions were in Chicago competing. Just to run through them really quickly:
– We had reigning U21 champion Joel Alexis Acha
– You had the world U21 semifinalist Trujillo and Barrios.
– You had the USA U21 champion Benjamin Horner.
– You had the reigning U18 champ and Jonathan Flores, who made a huge impact. We’re going to talk about him in a sec.
– You also had the likes of Sendrey, Mendoza and Herrera Jr., who are top junior national players in the U.S.
– You had top Mexicans like Gastelum here
– And, you had a couple of a little bit older recent Junior World champions, former Bolivians now turned Argentinians, Miranda and Garcia.
Well, that’s a lot of U21 players, and many are starting to get real results on tour.
So the question I have for you, Sudsy is this: Is this the next generation of talent on tour?
Sudsy Monchik
I think clearly you just named a bunch of really talented players, but the thing that jumps out at me is that you didn’t name nearly as many Americans. It’s clear that the level of play of these South American and Mexican Central Americans is so much greater right now than what we have to offer, and that’s that’s something that really bugs me. You know that that hurts my soul, but it is what it is.
When you say next generation, I think that’s connected to the age, right? You said 21 but historically we’ve seen that at like 18 and 19 years old, right?
Sudsy Monchik
When players get into their 20s it’s kind of like, ‘well we’re not really seeing much different now,’ so like I’m looking at who’s 17,18,19 and who is out there, traveling to play tournaments. You have to be playing events and you can’t do it in your hometown, home city, or home country.
The first thing I did when I got to Ecuador; I said, ‘let me see the budget you guys have to get out of here and play internationally.’ You have to get out, you have to play other players, you have to deal with other game styles, and you have to experience adversity and uncomfortableness.
There’s no doubt it’s the “next generation” but how would you define “next generation?”
Todd Boss
Well, if you look at the players who have been ranked in the top 10 as of late,
I’ll just run through them quickly. At the end of last season:
– Kane was 43
– Conrado was 29
– Adam Manilla 29
– Sam Murray’s 31
– Rodrigo 28
– Andres Acuna 29
– Jake’s 33
– Natara is 29
– Martel is 32
– Thomas Carter is 28.
These are the players that you see day in and day out reaching the quarters and semis. Where are the young guns?
Even someone who we think is kind of young is Eduardo Portillo, he was 25 at the end of last season and he’s already turned 26. You know, these are not the young kids. These are not 22 year olds flowing through. So the tour has been dominated by players in that are kind of getting old.
That’s what I thought was notable about the total volume of young players in Chicago.
Sudsy Monchik
Yeah, it was great. I would counsel the young guys to take advantage of it while they can now, because those older guys and players need to really start considering how they are going to parlay their racquetball career into what’s next, right? Like, is it sustainable for a 33 year old to continue to travel around trying to be a professional racquetball player?
I think it’s turning into a young man’s game. Now that seems a little opposite of what you just said, right? I think that the younger generation certainly need to focus and kind of maximize the time they have now because it goes fast. It doesn’t last a long time.
I think the bigger question is, when do you really start seeing those guys you just mentioned, the mid twenties and up, say, it’s time for me to look at what’s next.
Todd Boss
I think you already see it. We know Montoya has an engineering degree. Same with Javier Mar. They’ve been top players for a while, but full-time.
Sudsy Monchik
But there’s not enough stops right now for them to “tour full time.”
If the IRT is successful the first thing they’re gonna do is release like double digit tour stops If we see that happen then that’s a great start especially for the younger generation but when you say “they don’t tour” I mean how many stops were there last year?
Todd Boss
That’s a good point. There were only six stops last year.
Sudsy Monchik
Yeah, I mean, Mark Frank and I, we played more local events.
Todd Boss
No, it’s a good point. Pivoting a little bit, almost every one of these top U21 players we mentioned is from South America. So for them to get to the United States is tough. You lived in Ecuador so you tell me, how long of a flight is it from Buenos Aires or from in or from the middle of Bolivia to get up here so they can even compete?
Sudsy Monchik
Yeah, it’s a full day, it’s a full day of travel. You said Argentina; just to get to Miami and then from Miami go wherever, that’s eight or nine hours. From Bolivia, same thing, seven or eight hours. Not to mention, depending on the city you’re from within that South American country, you might have to make a connection. It’s a full day of travel.
I did it from Ecuador for seven years. And we were actually a lot closer where it was easier for me from Ecuador because one of the major airports went right to Miami. That was wheels up, wheels down in about four hours. But within the country, I still had a three hour drive to get to that airport. So it’s a full day.
The biggest benefit that these players have, Todd, is that their governments financially support them.
Now, I don’t know how many people know this: the tour is actually used as a training/practice platform for these players. All these international countries are more interested in the medals at the international events. Pan American Championships, World Championships, Pan Am Games, World Games. That is more valuable to them in the country and they use the tour, both IRT and LPRT, as training mechanisms to prepare them for those.
Todd Boss
What you just said is absolutely consistent with the conversations I’ve had with the previous commissioner, Pablo Fajre. I won’t name names, but a couple of seasons ago, we were looking at the end of the season rankings and it was going to be really close as to who won, right? And there was an international player who was prominently involved in the race, if that person did really well, they could have finished number one.
Pablo told me that, not only did that player have no idea where he stood in the rankings, but he couldn’t have cared less whether he is number one on tour, because of exactly what you just said. His country, his federation, and his priorities were in order, Winning worlds, Winning the Pan Am games, winning PARC, and then winning whatever other regional competition there was. Then if he happened to come up and take home four grand for winning a pro tour event, great. Four grand is the equivalent of like three months wages in Bolivia, which is obviously a lot. But that’s kind of an interesting mindset for people in this country to consider.
Sudsy Monchik
It’s a fact. I mean, you know, me, I played my whole career, it was all about professional titles, right? It was about that. In fact, the era of the Cliff, Sudsy, Ellis, Mannino; We didn’t do the international thing. Rocky was the only one that did it, and he openly admits he did it for the health insurance.
The US open title was less valuable to these countries than a bronze medal at one of the international events, because that’s how their government funds the team, entirely based on results at the international events.
Todd Boss
So that puts a different spin or a different color on why you see international participation in some of these tournaments. Another side note, oftentimes you’ll see a pro event, whether it’s an IRT or an LPRT event, and you’ll see like the entire Guatemala national team there suddenly, right? This weekend in Chicago, you didn’t see a single Guatemalan player there that I can remember. And it’s because their federation chooses to send the team to get practice for an upcoming international.
Sudsy Monchik
Correct, exactly how it works. So when I had the Ecuadorian Racquetball budget, we get a budget at the beginning of the year from the Olympic Committee, and then we pick and choose the events we’re going to go to to use as training platforms. That’s it, period. Yeah. So Guatemala just didn’t choose to fund this one.
Todd Boss
I’m going to ask you a different, more difficult question. If the next generation is predominantly Bolivian and Mexican, how can they flourish if there’s no pro events in Bolivia or Mexico?
Sudsy Monchik
That’s their biggest obstacle. They need to be able to get out. But here’s the thing, Todd, getting out used to be coming to the US or Canada because we were the best. They don’t have to do that now. They can go around South America, Mexico, Central America and deal with better players.
The travel and getting out is what will help them to be more well-rounded to have to deal with being uncomfortable, right? Like take Conrado. Conrado is a rock star superstar in his little country and little city in Bolivia. And like he’s in his comfort zone. But when he gets out and comes out here, it’s very different. So if they don’t have enough travel events (and I do think rumor has it there might be a planned international professional event or not. I don’t know yet, we’ll wait and see. Hopefully the IRT is making that happen), they still will do that internally. So they’ll pick and choose where to go, when to go and how to go.
But still, yeah, I think it’d be great if there were more events. I think it’d be great for the IRT, for the LPRT and they’re working behind the scenes to do that. But who it really hurts is our players, our next generation of players here in the States.
Todd Boss
We talked about our new generation. There were four good examples playing in Chicago. That was Cole Sendry, DJ Mendoza, who were both on the 18U national championship team that played in the last worlds. Plus you had U21 champ, reigning champ, Benjamin Horner. And we also had a lesser known player who played in 18Us in high schools this year, Juan Herrera Jr.
No, they’re not the only top juniors that get out and about. There’s other names out there, especially in the NorCal area where you have like Prasad and Chauhan and players like that who are winning junior national titles, but almost never travel.
But, What is their impact? We’re not talking about those American players right now as pushing for top 10 spots. We’re talking about Trujillo, who’s ranked in the top 10. We’re talking about Gastelum and Miranda, who show up and get wins. And then there’s the kid we’re going talk about in a moment, Jonathan Flores, who looks like he might be the next big thing. What’s going on with U.S. juniors here?
Sudsy Monchik
Yeah, we’re well behind and I think it started years ago and Todd, I mean, you followed my career, and of course Kane’s results speak for themselves. When you go to international junior tournaments, you have to win gold medals.
Are USA juniors winning gold medals and championships and matches? No they’re not. I think we’re a little bit too much of, “Oh, you’re doing great.” Like kind of mediocrity and like, that’s acceptable. But who’s winning? That’s what I want to see. Who are the gold medalists? Those are the next best players, and those are the players doing everything in their power to be the best they can be or the next best player in the world.
It goes back to, well, what’s their motivation? USA isn’t funding them, right? What if the U S Olympic committee said, “Hey, Cole and DJ, if you guys go win a gold medal at the junior worlds, we’re going to pay you a couple of thousand a month and give you health insurance” for being on team USA, maybe they would be more inclined or have the ability, the resources to do everything in their power to wake up every day with that goal in mind.
Or, maybe they’re doing that anyway and we just have a talent gap right now. Because of the years of these other countries doing it, right?
Todd Boss
Yeah. A hundred percent agree.
All right, one more player I want to talk about is Jonathan Flores, Bolivian, two-time 18U Junior world defending champion. I’m just going to read you a couple, some of his recent exploits. He’s now played a handful of pro events. I’m going to start a year ago in Minneapolis.
– In March of 2024, he flies in, and he plays the Hall of Fame event in Minnesota, loses in 32s to Jake Bredenbeck.
– Two weeks later he enters the Lombard event, beats Jake 5,7, turns around and beats Robbie Collins and then in the 16s takes a game off of Kane before he loses 11-7 in the tiebreaker
We don’t see him again in the states, and he wins Junior Worlds 18U without too much trouble.
He shows back up here a couple weeks ago in Minnesota.
– He beats Javier Mar,
– Then he loses 11-10 to Andree Parrilla in the 16s
– A week later he’s in Chicago he beats Diego Gastelum easily
– then in the 16s he trashes the number four seed Alan Natera 9,6
– He faces Andree Parrilla, beats him 15-4 in the first game and then had the match on his racket and loses another 11-10.
The Parrilla match we just saw was a match that, as I wrote and I think that you believe, he really should won to put himself in the semis.
So, what do you make of Jonathan Flores?
Sudsy Monchik
How old is he?
Todd Boss
He’s just finished his 18 year season so he’s playing in his age 19 year.
Sudsy Monchik
Yeah, so one other time in the history of my career, did I ever look at a player and say, that’s different. And that was about Kane Waselenchuk. It was when Kane was 18 or 9 in Chicago. And Cliff said, “hey, take a look at this kid, what do you see?”
I watched about five points of Kane. And I said, “that’s different. He reminds me of us.” That was my exact quote, Todd. And I’ve never said that about any player in the history of the sport, except Kane.
Today, Flores, from what I see with my eye and experience right now, after a healthy Kane and a healthy Conrrado, is the most talented, best all-around player in the sport, period. Now, does that mean he’s the third ranked player in the world? No. I think that all things being equal, weapons, tools, ability, he’s got it. What I don’t know, does he have a dog in him? Is he a fighter? Is he tenacious? Does he have balls? As far as skill, ability, talent, he’s on a different level. Let’s not forget Daniel, too right? But Daniel just isn’t playing right now.
Once he learns how to play, how to win and close those matches out, He’s the most talented player in the world after the first two guys. I just said, I just don’t know if his DNA is made up to now go put it all together.
Todd Boss
I agree. And, then going back, of course, to the first part of this conversation, he lives in Bolivia. So he’s facing a day long flight every time just to get up here, you know, those flights are not cheap. And is he going to have the same kind of priorities as Moscoso?
Is it more important for Flores to win Pan American Racquetball Championship versus come up here every time there’s a pro event and try to win? I guess it remains to be seen, but what I worry about is exactly what I worry about with all these all these Bolivians. I’ll throw the likes of Garcia and Miranda in there as well, even though they are now represent Argentina.
Sudsy Monchik
Can I represent Poland? I’m going to go represent Poland, playing a tournament. I’m Polish. Filipino too.
Todd Boss
I mean, who was it that Woody Clouse represented in one year? A small country in Africa. Eritrea?
Sudsy Monchik
You’re a better speller and much smarter than me, you tell me.
Todd Boss
Yeah, well anyway, so that’s what I wanted to talk about today. Sudsy, any parting words before you crash your car?
Sudsy Monchik
I think there’s a ton of great talent and players out there. Hopefully, the IRT keeps doing what they need to do. To really showcase these players, you know, and see truly who is or who will be the next best player in the world, because until Kane Waselenchuk hangs up his sneakers, it’s still not close.
So I would love to see what’s next. And I would tell a lot of these young guys that, you know, if that’s what they want, they need to do everything in their power to make sure that they can reach that goal and I know these countries support them. If that’s training and coaching and getting out and playing, do that.
But again, Todd, you and I both know, we don’t know what what they’re made of. It’s easy to “hit a ball, get a ball, see ball,” but like, what are you made of when the dust settles and you know you got to go to a dark place to try to get to that finish line? I’m telling you when I saw Flores, I was watching, you know, one of the top three players in the world in the moment, and he didn’t even win that match so whatever that tells you.
Todd Boss
Sounds good. All right, thanks, Sudsy. Drive safe.
Jake wins his third.
Photo Kevin Savory 2020 USAR national doubles
Congrats to your Pro winners on the weekend:
– Singles: Jake Bredenbeck
– Doubles: Rodrigo Montoya Racquetball & Javier Mar
Jake comes out on top of a weird, upset-filled event to win his 3rd career Tier 1 title and to retire the Glass Court club in style. Montoya & Mar cruise to the doubles title despite Montoya’s shoulder injury limitations.
R2 Sports App home page for event: https://www.r2sports.com/website/event-website.asp?TID=47136
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Let’s review the notable matches in the Singles draw.
Singles Match report in the PRS database: https://rball.pro/ac96ab
Before we get started, A quick comment: there were a TON of top U18 and U21 internationals in this draw, and if I wasn’t bearish on the future of pro racquetball I’d be pointing at this event as a sign of the future. Competing in Chicago included:
– 2024 U21 World Champ Acha
– 2024 U21 semi finalists Trujillo and Barrios
– 2024 U21 USA Junior National titlist Horner
– 2024 U18 World Champion Flores
– 2024 U18 USA National team members Sendrey and Mendoza
– 2024 U18 USA Junior Nats quarter finalist Herrera II
– 2023 U21 World Champion Gastelum
– 2019 U18 World champ Miranda
– 2022 U21 World champ Garcia
That’s a lot of players who are all in their early 20s or younger, and they should represent the next big wave of players in this sport. Unfortunately a huge chunk of them are South Americans who can’t just hop a flight to get up here to compete, so I wonder what will come of them in their quest to move up the pro ranks. Perhaps we’ll see more of the likes of Flores, Miranda, Garcia, and Acha given the taste of success they’re having. I hope so.
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In the 64s:
– @Sam Murray kicked off his return to pro racquetball with a pretty dominant win over a tough Bolivian junior opponent in @hector Barrios 5,3
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In the 32s:
– Reigning u21 champ @Jhoel Alexis Acha got the match of a lifetime, playing King Kane and losing 4,6.
– @Sam Bredenbeck let 18U junior Cole Sendrey know just how far he has to go to compete, overpowering the Texan 13,6 to move on.
– Old WRT rivals Martel & Horn had a battle for the ages, with Horn running out of gas in the breaker.
– Thomas Carter destroyed @Kadim Carrasco 2,0 to move into the next round.
– Reigning 18U champ @Jhonathan Flores made a statement in his win over u21 international Diego Gastelum 7,6. I thought this would be closer, and it does not bode well for the collective U21 international crew, many of whom were here this weekend. Flores seems primed to destroy that competition for the next three years.
– Murray cruised past Montoya 11,6. We had a tip from a tour official that Montoya may not even play singles here, so this is not a surprising result necessarily. I did not get a chance to see him this weekend, but his competing through the doubles finals is a good sign.
– Trujillo made fast work of Mendoza, not giving the USA junior national a chance.
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Lastly, My friends at the IRT are not going to like this this take.
Argentine Diego Garcia was forfeited out of this draw because he showed up 12 minutes late to his match. You see, the tour changed the draw Wednesday night to accommodate one more player’s last minute entry, despite a registration deadline days before and most international players’ plans settled weeks before, a change that forced me to re-write much of my preview and to re-do all the match seeds. But this change also changed a bunch of published start times for players, including Garcias from 5pm to 3pm, a change relayed to him via a group text message that he missed. By the time someone told him … he rushed to the club but got there 12 minutes late.
So, to restate this; you have one of the most exciting junior players in the world who flew halfway around the world to play in one of the 7-8 pro racquetball events that will even happen this year, and you forfeit him because he’s sitting in his hotel room 10 minutes away from the club unaware that you’ve changed the draw on him with 12 hours notice. How dumb is that? What if Garcia stops coming up here because of this? You think the tour is better off not having one of the best players in the world investing the time and money to compete? This was an absolutely terrible decision, one that seems like it could have been worked around for the sake of the sport. Its not like there’s another event next week and its no big deal that he got forfeited; it probably cost a month’s wages for him to fly up here and compete.
We can’t afford to lose top players right now because someone was obstinate and refused to be flexible. Not over a hundred dollars of prize money for the winner. Have a player liaison, someone who speaks Spanish and who can help these guys navigate the situation. I thought Garcia had a real solid chance of getting to the quarters here; instead he’s dumbfounded by getting forfeited out of an event because he didn’t get a text message for a draw change that shouldn’t have happened.
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In the 16s:
– Jake solidly got past Martell
– Flores destroyed #4 Natera 9,6. Tough draw for Natera his first time in the top 4, but Flores is the real deal.
– Murray crushed Miranda 5,8 in a match I thought could go the other way due to Murray’s rust. I guess not.
– Mar was in control of his match of Alonso when he retired at the very end of game two. Mar looks dangerous this weekend for sure.
– Portillo made fast work of Trujillo 5,6. Portillo sure looks solid since he started flight school, and he’s now a danger for the semis or better every time he plays.
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In the Quarters
– Jake got a game one win over Kane, then the #1 seed retired. He tweaked something last week, and it was still bugging him, and in the post-game interview Kane said he knew he was going to have to forfeit at some point, and played until he figured he couldn’t go any further without injuring himself more significantly. During the match, Kane definitely seemed to take some awkward lunges at balls that Jake was hitting, as I looked for evidence of a point in time that led to the injury. His mobility was off for sure, and the last couple of points he mailed in before withdrawing.
– Parrilla survived a game against the Bolivian junior phenom Flores 11-10, a match he frankly should not have won. Flores blew him out in game one, then the two played neck and neck racquetball for the rest of game 2 and 3. Flores had match point on his serve and blew a wide-open forehand into the ground to give the ball to Andree, who converted and advanced.
– Mar crushed Murray 5,1 who finally showed some rust and fatigue.
– So much for being #2: Acuna was whitewashed by Portillo 3,0 in a beatdown.
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In the Semis
– Jake and Andree played their typical dogfight, with jake advancing 11,12
– Lalo pulled a rabbit out of his hat, coming back from a deep hole in the tiebreaker to beat Mar 11-9 and move into the final.
In the Finals, I would have put money on Lalo to continue his dominance, but it was jake who blew off the doors of the Mexican, winning 11,3 for his third career pro win.
Jake joins a small group of 3-time winners on tour that includes Parrilla, Strandemo, Ed Andrews, and Alvaro Beltran.
With the win, Jake will catapult himself up to #3 on tour, still behind Kane and Acuna. Lalo has moved up to #7, and Alonso up to #9. Mar now sits at #10 which may be a career high for him as he never plays a full schedule.
Meanwhile, Manilla’s injury costs him; he’s down to #8. But Moscoso is getting crushed; the knee injury that caused him to miss this week now has him all the way down at #14.
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Doubles review
Match report in the PRS database: https://rball.pro/3d9832
Montoya & Mar didn’t drop a game en route to their 9th pro doubles title together.
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Open Singles, other notable draws
– Gastelum beat Barrios in the Open singles final. Sendry & S.Bredenbeck semis
– Team Argentina Miranda & Garcia took Open Doubles, beating the Lazenby brothers form St. Louis in the final.
– Ava Kaiser took the women’s Open RR singles, then teamed with Jake Wilkins to take the Mixed Open Doubles.
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Thanks for all the streaming on the weekend, especially from broadcasters Richard Eisemann and Carrie Reitmeire.
Thanks to everyone at the Glass Court facility for the decades of support for Pro Racquetball. This was your swansong, and we will miss you.
Next week we get the first Outdoor Major of 2025, the Beach Bash in Hollywood Fl. We also get the WTR doing an event at the Warhawk Open, and the Bolivians will compete in the 2nd leg of their two-leg event series to determine its national champions and international representatives.
Murray returns to the IRT after more than a year away. Photo via us2019 Kevin Savory
Welcome to the 40th annual iteration of this event, and unfortunately the last iteration, as the Jaskier family has made the difficult decision to close the famed Glass Court Fitness club in Lombard after decades of ownership and operation. The unique “fishbowl court that is surrounded on all sides by viewing areas and sports equipment will host its final pro event, and the tour will lose a mainstay in its schedule. This club closing was followed just this morning with news that Recreation Atlanta will also be closing, another dagger for independent court ownership in our sport.
This is the 40th iteration of the tournament, now sponsored by Papa NIcholas coffee, and for the last 11 it has been associated with the IRT. Chicago as a town has been a major player in the Men’s pro racquetball world, thanks to the likes of Dan Jaskier , Dave Negrete , @Geoff Peters , and the Klimaitis family, who have donated time, money, and attention to the sport for decades. Chicago was the long-time host of the Halloween Classic, held the Motorola Pro Nationals in the mid 2000s, and held a bunch of NRC and Catalina nationals back in the hey dey of the sport late 70s/early 80s.
There’s something in the water specific to the Lombard club too, as we’ve seen all sorts of crazy results here in the last decade on tour. Here’s a sampling:
– in 2024, Jhonathan Flores went on a tear, beating a ton of top pros to make the quarters out of nowhere.
– in 2022, @Rocky Carson went on his last big run, making his last final as a #8 seed by beating then-#1 DLR before falling to Kane.
– in 2021, Jake beat then #1 Landa for one of his best career wins and got to the final.
– in 2018, a crazy tournament resulted in a final between Parrilla and Horn, each vying for their first title. Parrilla won, and it remains the only final Horn ever made on tour.
– in 2017, Parrilla made his first career final as a #14 seed, beating DLR, Landa and Carson along the way.
Despite all these great runs from players not named Waselenchuk, Kane has won 7 of the 10 titles competed here since 2015, and enters its last event as the dominant #1 seed this season and clear favorite to win another title, especially given that his two biggest rivals on tour (Moscoso and Montoya) both took major injuries last week in Minnesota. Moscoso is completely out of the Lombard event with his knee issue, as he hopes it heals up for his Bolivian Nationals later this month and then for PARC in mid April. Meanwhile, Montoya may just go through the motions in Chicago, depending on just how bad he injured his shoulder.
There’s 37 entered into the singles draw this weekend (one last minute entry that forced a draw-redo at the final hour and which forced some rewrites of this preview at the last second): having these back-to-back IRT events makes for great draws, as internationals can get two events in for the price of one flight.
Top 20 players missing: #5 Manilla still out with a shoulder tweak from earlier this year, #6 Moscoso as discussed above. The rest of the top 20 is here and playing, and the round of 16 will be stacked. Also returning here for the first time in more than a year is Samuel Murray, who has zero points and gets the #35 seed, and plays right into #3 Montoya .. who may or may not be too hurt to play. Read on.
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Let’s preview the draw. Here’s some notable qualifying matches that i’m looking forward to:
In the round of 64, there’s 5 matches with some of them involving our own Jr National team members.
– U21 champ Acha has a winnable match against Mexican De Alba
– US National team member Grant Williams gets a good test against Bolivian @esteban Reque.
– USA juniors Horner and Herrera II meet for a spot in the 32s.
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– Lastly, long-time touring vet Sam Murray is back on tour after more than a year away. Murray WON his last IRT appearance, thus breaking a number of the queries on the website which assume that a player lost their last match on tour. HE’s back, he has zero points, and is seeded 35th so he gets an opener. He gets the tough junior bolivian Hector Barrios, but should advance.
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In the Round of 32:
– Kane should get his start against reigning U21 champion Acha, a nice touch.
– In the 16/17 matchup, a fun on between the younger Bredenbeck brother Sam and prolific tournament player Cole Sendrey. This should be an interesting test for both players. They’ve never met in a pro or national setting. Sam has more firepower, but Sendrey has the game to beat him.
– Martell-Horn. Wow, is it 2015 on the WRT? These two players met in 2010 in Martell’s IRT debut in San Diego, and the last time of their 10 meetings was in 2019 at the US Open. They’re 5-5 against each other lifetime, but Martell has been more active on tour lately, so advantage Jaime.
– Carter- Carrasco is an interesting matchup of long-time touring pros who don’t get to play that often. Thomas has won their last 3 meetings and should advance here.
– Gastelum vs Flores: wow, this is a potential U21 World final. These two amazingly met last year in this exact same event (in Open, not Pros), a Gastelum win, but Flores has come a long way since, and has significantly better wins. A reminder: Flores made the quarters here last year and took a game off of Kane. Flores might be one of the best 10 players in the world, if only he toured full time.
– Murray-Montoya. If Montoya isn’t 100% (as I suspect he is not), then this is an upset in the making. Does Rodrigo even finish the match? He could barely swing a racquet on Saturday, and now he’s forced to face a Tier1 winner and long-time top 10 player in Murray? I think Sam advances here, and Montoya doesn’t finish the match.
– Trujillo-Mendoza. Well, this is a statement match. Trujillo may be in the top 10 now on the IRT and rising fast, but he keeps taking losses to players in his age group. Lost to Miranda last week, lost to Acha in U21 in December, Lost to Sanchez at Mexican Jr Nats in 2024, lost to Hernandez at MexNats24. But on the flip side, Trujillo has some great adult wins that bolster his current #9 ranking. Meanwhile, Mendoza has not been able to break through in US Junior Nationals, but got a very solid win over Acha last week. Is Mendoza taking a leap forward, or is Trujillo going to plaster him here?
– Acuna vs Castillo: this was set to be Acuna vs Murray until a last minute draw change: now Acuna gets a far, far easier path into this draw as the #2 seed for the first time.
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round of 16:
– Sendrey may get a first meeting against the King, for the wonderful opportunity of losing 2,4.
– Martell vs Jake: Jaime goes from one all-WRT meeting (Horn) to another one with Jake. These two played nearly 10 times on the old pro circuit, with Jake winning nearly all of them (career 10-1 on WRT And IRT). Last time they met was in 2023, a 1,4 beatdown by Jake. However, these two players are going in opposite directions right now. I still think Jake wins, but don’t be surprised if Jaime pulls an upset here.
– For his troubles of getting a career high ranking and seeding at #4, @alan Natera
likely faces off against one of the best Juniors in the world in Flores. And I think he is in jeopardy of losing to Flores, who has the hot hand right now and can get this win.
– Thanks to the presumed inj-fft of Montoya, the #3-#14 matchup opens up and turns into an interesting youth versus veteran matchup of Murray vs Miranda. I think Miranda is hot and can beat Murray, but Sam is also one of the best tacticians on tour. I’ll go with youth over rust and predict the Argentine (who should have been in the semis last week) to advance.
– Mar vs Alonso, a great matchup of tactical experts from Mexico. Both took unexpected upset losses to early 20s South Americans last week and will be looking to rebound. Alonso seems like the fairer bet to move on here. I have no record of these two meeting in a pro or nationals event, but its likely they’ve played at some local tournament over the many years they’ve been competing.
– Portillo-Trujillo; Lalo is the most dangerous 10 seed we’ve seen in a while. If Trujillo gets here, Lalo is just too good.
– Acuna – Garcia: another difficult matchup for the new #2 seed. Garcia beat him at Worlds last year in the group stage, and took a game off him at the Pleasanton pro stop. Garcia is hot, with comprehensive wins over Alonso and Jake last week, and I can see an upset here.
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Projected Qtrs:
– Kane over Martell
– Parrilla over Flores: Andree always plays well at this club and has some sentimentality for the area.
– Miranda over Alonso: playing a hunch
– Lalo over Garcia; Lalo may only be the #10 seed but he’s playing far better than it.
Semis:
– Kane d Parrilla in a rematch of a final here years ago.
– Lalo ends Miranda’s run.
Finals; Kane beats Portillo in a rematch of the Lewis Drug Pro Am. Scores are like 7,10.
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Doubles review
If, as I suspect, Montoya drops out, the #1 Montoya/Mar pair will open up the top-side, likely for last week’s WBF-benefactors Trujillo & Alonso, who are seeded fourth and could cruise into the final from the topside.
From the bottom half, the best matchup may be in the quarters as Parrilla/Portillo have to face Miranda/Garcia, a great Mexico vs Argentina matchup. I like the winner of that to the final, and to eventually win. Lalo is too good on the doubles court and I favor him and Andree to win the title.
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Hope you tune in this weekend, join the new IRT Club to support the tour and get access to more courts, and generally support what looks like it could be a great event with some fresh new faces making noise.
Annie (Roberts) Sanchez with her best career pro result.
Photo 2019 Junior Nationals, photographer Kevin Savory
Congrats to your Pro winners on the weekend:
– Singles: Paola Longoria
– Doubles: Montse Mejia and Alexandra Herrrera
Longoria pulls a rabbit out of her hat to win the singles final, and in doing so wins her 115th career Tier1 title. Mejia and Herrera take advantage of a Longoria-less doubles draw to cruise to another title.
R2 Sports App home page for event: https://www.r2sports.com/portfolio/r2-event.asp?TID=47428
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Let’s review the notable matches in the Singles draw.
Singles Match report in the PRS database: https://rball.pro/9b76dc
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In the 32s:
– Bolivian Junior national champion Camila Rivero provided the biggest upset of the first round, topping #9 Carla Muñoz in three close games. Rivero has dominated World Juniors the last two years, winning both 18U and 21U in 2023 and then following it up with another win in Guatemala last December. She’s also now representing the country in Adults, though she either missed or didn’t place in the Feb 2025 qualifier in Auroro.
– Hollie Scott cruised past Lexi York in an upset by seed
– Annie Sanchez got the best win of her career with a toppling of long-time tour veteran Jessica Parrilla in three.
– Canadian #2 Juliette Parent pressed Amaya to three games but fell.
– Lastly, another great win for @Sheryl Lotts, downing Valeria Centellas 11,11.
In the 16s:
– Longoria had to face the tricky Barrios to move on, and was stretched 13,11. Not the round of 16 she wanted, but she got the job done.
– Rivero couldn’t follow up her big win and got crushed by fellow Bolivian (at least by birth) @Natalia Mendez 4,7
– Sanchez continued playing well and pushed #6 Lawrence to 14,12 before falling. Is Annie taking a step forward professionally?
– Lotts took a game off of #2 Vargas before falling, testament to how well she’s been playing lately.
Lots of great results out of unexpected places this event. Great to see the mid-teen players who have been putting in the work get results.
In the Quarters:
– Longoria cruised past Natalia 1,10
– Herrera got a great win over Gaby 11-6 in the breaker to give her some solid confidence heading into the rest of the season. After getting wins a few seasons ago she’s been passed by Vargas in terms of player interest, but she’s still out there.
– Mejia cruised past Lawrence 5,4
– Vargas held firm against Laime, winning two close ones 14,13.
In the semis:
– Longoria blitzed Herrera 9,0 to make a statement.
– Mejia wasn’t terribly troubled by Vargas, winning 8,9
In the final, we got a rematch of the last event in Arizona, which was a close Longoria win. Mejia had other ideas this weekend, fighting back after a first game 15-12 loss to win 15-8 and took firm control of the tiebreaker. She was up 10-5, missed a sitter, then…. the mental game kicked in. Longoria got the serve back, ground out points after points … suddenly it was an 11-10 win. A complete collapse from Mejia here to give Longoria the title.
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Points Implications of results
The big movement in the rankings should be Gaby taking over #4 on tour. Alexandra, despite beating her h2h here, will fall below her and continue to play her in the quarters. Mendez’ great run of form pushes her back up to #7.
A bit further down: Riquelme up to #14, Lotts up to #16, Centellas up to #19.
Here’s a link to my Rolling 2year Calendar XLS, which I use to approximate the points after each event. It is not exact but it’s usually close enough to the actual rankings, which the tour does a couple days after each event. Sometimes I have to go back and adjust points b/c a Tier 1 turns out to be a Tier1+ or a “mini grand slam” based on points. But, it goes back years if you’re interested.
Match report in the PRS database: https://rball.pro/470ca2
Eventual winners Mejia & Herrera had their toughest match in their opener, playing Team Guatemala and winning 14,13. From there, smooth sailing, including a 12,5 win in the final over team Argentina.
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Open Singles, other notable draws
– Ros defeated Sanchez in an all-USA Jr national team final.
– The Kelley brothers ended up playing for the Men’s Open final; JKelley d SKelley.
– Sam Kelley made it a double with a win in Open Doubles with Flores
– Jolene_Sullivan_/_Tony_Prater took the Mixed Open title
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Thanks for all the streaming on the weekend, especially from the regular LPRT broadcasters
The IRT is right back in action with all the traveling internationals in what will be the last pro event at the Glass Door facility. Preview coming on Thursday.
Natera with a career best singles result in Minnesota. Photo unk
Congrats to your Pro winners on the weekend:
– Singles: @Kane Waselenchuk
– Doubles: Erick Trujillo and Jordy Alonso
Well, it was a weird one, but Kane won his record-extending 130th career title while Alonso & Trujillo won their first career doubles titles without taking the court in the semis or the finals. Lets recap the injury and upset-filled weekend in Minneapolis.
R2 Sports App home page for event: https://www.r2sports.com/website/event-website.asp?TID=47719
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Let’s review the notable matches in the Singles draw.
Singles Match report in the PRS database: https://rball.pro/c2d644
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In 64s:
– I actually thought DJ Mendoza’s win over Acha was notable. Mendoza struggled at the 18U worlds last December, losing in the RRs twice, but took out the reigning U21 world junior champ in Acha (who had to beat both Trujillo and Hernandez to do so). Great win.
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In the 32s:
– Solid win for Sam Bredenbeck beating Carrasco 11-10.
– @Diego Garcia destroyed Alonso 10,2. I keep predicting a deep run for Garcia and he gets upset early … then when i hedge in the preview, he blasts a top 10 players with ease.
– Bolivian Jhonatan Flores with a match-point saving win over Mar, great win for the reigning 18U world champ. Lets hope he continues to get to travel to the US.
– Another Bolivian international in Miranda gets a top010 win, this time over Trujillo. Probably not entirely an upset even given the seeds, but given their junior histories.
– Sendry gets a nice win over the tour veteran Collins.
– Biggest result of the round: Moscoso tweaks his knee mid-first game against Horn, then stubbornly hobbles around to “complete” the match instead of just forfeiting, giving Horn a 13,0 win and a quarter final appearance for the first time since the 2018-19 season
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In the 16s:
– Garcia with another upset, this time over Jake in his home town event.
– I thought in my prediction that Flores may have a shot against Parrilla in the 16s … and he did, losing 11-10 after not being able to convert match point.
– Miranda continues his run, topping Carter to get to the quarters. Honestly, if Garcia and Miranda lived domestically they’d be top 8 already, and would be mainstays in the quarters.
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In the Quarters
– Kane continues to cruise, setting down the Argentine Garcia 7,4.
– Solid win by Acuna over Parrilla to get back to the semis. We’re going to talk about Acuna later; you’re going to be shocked where he’s ranked after this event is done.
– Montoya pulled a rabbit out of his hat, somehow coming back from 4-10 down in the breaker despite injuring his shoulder and basically hitting patty-cake with the racquetball and keeping it in play. Miranda was in control and had no business losing, but saw the injury and couldn’t capitalize. Amazingly Rodrigo wins 11-10 and then promptly forfeits both singles and doubles.
– Natera gets a career best semis appearance with his win over Horn.
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In the Semis
– Kane was pushed by the tactical Acuna, who took a game from him but couldn’t continue in the breaker with the upset. Sometimes it’s hard to look at Acuna’s game and realize that his steadiness may make him the most likely to put a loss on Kane right now, but time and again he hangs against the King.
– Natera gets his first career final with an injury walkover against Montoya.
In the Finals, with Kane going half-speed, he lost game two but won his 130th career title.
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Points Implications of results
Well, if I have my XLS right (see link below), and this event gives out points like an IRT plus event, then the consistency and steadiness of both Acuna and Natera are going to pay off; i have Andres rising to #2 on tour, leap frogging Moscoso and Montoya, while I have Natera jumping up to #4. Moscoso’s injury here and his missing most of the end of 2024 will continue to conspire against him
Here’s a link to my IRT Rolling 2year Calendar XLS, which I use to approximate the points after each event. It is not exact but it’s usually close enough to the actual rankings, which @Ryan Rodgers does with @R2 Sports App on behalf of the tour after each event, to allow some quick post-event analysis before the rankings post.
Match report in the PRS database: https://rball.pro/b3f213
The injuries to Montoya and Moscoso took out the two top doubles teams in this draw. The last team standing ended up being Trujillo & Alonso, who got walkovers in the semis and finals to claim their first title. They did get a very solid win over No 3. seeds Acuna/Natera.
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Open Singles, other notable draws
– Hector Barrios, who curiously didn’t play Pro singles, took Open singles in a walkover against Gastelum in the final, which would have been a great match.
– Open Doubles: Garcia & Miranda unsurprisingly cruised to a title.
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Thanks for all the streaming on the weekend, especially from broadcasters Richard Eisemann and his band of guest speakers.
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.
Barrios got a win over Longoria last time she was in Boston; can she do it again? Photo via Barrios’ facebook page.
A busy weekend, and a busy month on the global racquetball calendar, sees the @LPRT returning to Boston, one of its longer running stops. The Boston Open has been run by Stewart Solomon for the benefit of the @Frontline Family Foundation annually since 2016.
27 of the best ladies in the world are in Massachusetts this weekend to battle it out. The draw is strong, with the whole top 10 present and only a couple of players from the 11-20 range out (Solis, Key) not present.
Like with the Men, a slew of internationals are here, especially from South America, to get in last minute reps for the upcoming PARC event in Guatemala, which only strengthens this draw and makes for some fun matchups.
Let’s preview the draw. Here’s some notable matches that i’m looking forward to:
Round of 32s:
– Bolivian #1 @Angelica Barrios has fallen so far down the rankings that she’s in the 16/17 match. This is a player who finished in the top 8 three years running. Tough opener for USA junior @Naomi Ros here.
– Rising star Bolivian Junior @Camila Rivero is here; she’s the 2-time defending 21U junior champion and now becoming a mainstay on the adult national team. She faces #9 Carla Muñoz , who doesn’t normally see such a tough round of 32. Upset watch here.
– Two team USA players in Scott and York have to meet in the opener. Even though Lexi York is the #12 seed, I think @Hollie Rae Scott is favored here.
– Team Canada in the house! We get rare LPRT appearances from @Ofelia Wilscam, @chloe Jauvin, and @Juliette parent, all pushing for @Racquetball Canada team slots. Juliette has the best chances of advancing, going against Racquetball TV’s Cristina Amaya Cassino .
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round of 16:
– #1 @Paola Longoria starts off her tournament with Barrios … who she’s 10-1 against lifetime … but that one loss? It was two years ago here in Boston. Interesting. I don’t think Barrios has the reps lately to press Paola, but crazier things have happened.
– In the 8/9 we project @Natalia Mendez and Munoz, if she can get by Rivero. Carla and Natalia have played a dozen times over the years, a lot internationally, and while Mendez owns the h2h Munoz has won the last couple. toss-up here.
– In the 6/11 we project @Kelani Lawrence and @Jessica Parrilla, who vets who will battle it out. Advantage Kelani.
– In the 2/15 we get two Bolivians turned Argentines in Vargas and Centellas. It’s always a little tough with doubles partner dynamics on the singles court, but Vargas shouldn’t falter here.
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Projected Qtrs:
– Longoria over Mendez. Paola is 12-0 lifetime against Natalia, and they’ve met three times in the last calendar year.
– Martinez over Herrera: neither player has a tough draw to this point, but then should have a battle. They’ve met 10 times; Gaby is 6-4 lifetime, and dominated in January 8,4 when they met at the Arizona Open.
– Mejia over Lawrence; they also met in AZ; a 0,4 beat-down for Montse.
– Vargas vs Laime: this is the toughest one to predict. On the one hand, Vargas is 5-0 against Brenda lifetime, so the prediction should be easy. But, Laime has a habit of getting out of nowhere wins, and plays a very similar game style to Vargas. If Brenda is hitting the ball, she can win this. I’ll go Vargas but in a breaker.
Semis:
– Longoria over Gaby. they’ve met 29 times across their storied careers: Gaby now has 3 wins, all three of them significant. It can happen, but the odds are against it. They usually play close, tough matches, but this time at sea level the advantage goes to Longoria (2 of Gaby’s 3 wins were at altitude, where she trains in Guatemala and has a distinct advantage).
– Mejia over Vargas. Vargas had Montse’s number for a while, but then Montse handled her in Arizona in January. I think she’s back.
Finals; Longoria over Mejia. Montse is playing well, but not well enough to beat Paola right now.
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Doubles review
There’s definitely some interesting teams and interesting draw developments here.
– Amaya and Riquelme are not playing together for the first time I can remember.
– The Guatemalan national team of Gaby & MRR is seeded 8th, which will give them an early test against Herrera & Mejia.
– With no Salas at the event, Longoria chose not to play doubles at all.
– Vargas has clearly dropped Mendez for Centellas in the Argentine pecking order; they’re #3 seeds.
– Reigning Team USA champions Scott & Lawrence are together, they’re the #5 seed.
– Mendez is teamed with Munoz and has enough points for the #2 seed, but won’t be favored to get to the final.
Prediction: #1 Herrera/Mejia vs #3 Vargas/Centellas in the final, with the Mexicans winning.
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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, Sandy Rios, Jerry J Josey Jr., and Tj Baumbaugh on the mike, calling the shots!
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!
how far can Jake go in his home-town event?
Photo Kevin Savory 2020 USAR national doubles
Welcome back to the International Racquetball Tour and the return of Men’s Pro racquetball. The first event of the new year under the new regime was well received, and now the tour is back. They’re in Minnesota, at the University of Minnesota on the same courts that held the last US Open a couple year’s back for the 2025 Minnesota Hall of Fame event. It’s the third straight year for this event, which is great news for the sport to have some continuity.
Ahead of the event, we got some news items:
– the Glass Court club in Lombard is set to close. We’ll talk more about it in our Shamrock preview in a week, but wanted to mention it here.
– The Bredenbeck brothers are coordinating a GoFundMe to finance the Team USA PARC delegation to Guatemala this year. For those who just aren’t familiar with the financial state of the sport now, USA Racquetball is to the point where they can only finance one IRF event per year, and generally speaking its going to be the major events going forward (Worlds, World Games, Pan Am Games). If you’d like to help, here’s the link: https://www.gofundme.com/f/help-team-usa-represent-in-guatemala
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This tournament is made possible this year by TD @Vallana Perrault , long time fundraising lead Karen Masberg Bredenbeck , and by headlining sponsor @KWM Gutterman and new tour majority owner @Keith Minor. Thanks for everything you do for this event and for the sport in general.
The singles draw has a solid 39 players. There’s a couple of notable absences in the draw: #4 Adam Manilla is missing and will be out for a while with a shoulder injury he suffered/aggravated in Sioux Falls, a bummer for the lefty who had just reached a career peak. His absence gives both Trujillo and Natera career high seedings in an event. It also guarantees a little bit of a jumbling of the expected matchups we usually see in the 16s and quarters, which is always good. Last event’s finalist Lalo is missing, but the rest of the top 20 is here. Even the Bolivian regulars are present, right on the tail end of their Carnival, so hopefully they got some rest on the plane.
This singles draw features a TON of South Americans coming up, including both top Argentine males, eight players from Bolivia, Colombia’s veteran Cubillos, all the top Guatemalans, plus the rest of the expected international top touring vets. Altogether 9 countries represented.
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Let’s preview the draw. Here’s some notable qualifying matches that i’m looking forward to:
In the round of 64, you don’t usually have compelling matchups, but we do here.
– US junior national member Benjamin Horner takes on Guatemalan national team member @Jose Caceres in what should be a good test.
– Reigning U21 world champ Bolivian Jhoel Alexis Acha makes his IRT pro debut, and takes on USA junior National 18U team member @DJ Mendoza. Solid match between two up and coming players.
– @Gerson Miranda faces off against Mexican 14U player Santiago Castillo in his pro tour debut.
– David ” Bobby” Horn , fresh off his APP Sacramento Open pickleball tournament last week, faces off against the tough midwest amateur Lee Meinerz . Could go either way: Meinerz is a tough out if Bobby hasn’t been training.
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In the 32s:
– In the 16/17 match a great meeting between home-town @Sam Bredenbeck
and Bolivian veteran Kadim Carrasco . Should be a good one. I like Sam here.
– @Jordy Alonso has to contend with @Diego Garcia in the opener, and should advance but this is a tough one against a tough international. I’m usually in favor of predicting upsets for the likes of Garcia in these events, but he’s struggled to make an impact outside of international events lately.
– Andree Parrilla , who has been struggling with some health issues, draws the U21 Bolivian champ Acha, and if he doesn’t watch out could take a loss here.
– #12 @Javier Mar gets the tough Bolivian Jhonathan Flores … upset watch here. In case you forgot what Flores can do, last year in Chicago he put losses on Jake, Collins, Ulliman, and Alonso, and then took a game off of Kane in the quarters. He’s the reigning 18U World champ and is set to run the 3-year U21 table.
– Top Midwest amateur @John Goth gets a winnable matchup against #14 Carlos Rodríguez
– For getting his best ever tourney seed, #6 @Erick Trujillo draws Miranda, a guy who can absolutely beat him if he’s not careful.
– the 15/18 is interesting, an all USA matchup between junior national Cole Sendrey, and his Junior National team coach Robby Collins . Can Sendrey get a win here against his coach?
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Round of 16:
– In the 8/9, Alonso vs Jake; great matchup. Jake playing for the home crowd, but Alonso on the hot streak. Tough to predict.
– Parrilla/Mar in the 5/12: brutal start to his tourney for Parrilla, who might not get here and probably falls to Mar, who he’s played dozens of times in his life and wh o matches up well against him, and who is coming off a Mexican Nationals final.
– Trujillo if he gets past Miranda projects to Thomas Carter , a good status check of the current pecking order on tour.
– Natera vs Martell: great matchup that we don’t normally get to see. I like Natera here, but Martell had a solid tourney in South Dakota.
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Projected Qtrs:
– @Kane Waselenchuk over Alonso: Jordy shocked him when they met in Canoga Park last May; there will not be another shocking.
– Mar over @Andres Acuna: seems like Mar is healthy and could go deep here.
– Montoya over Trujillo; the young player from Monterrey isn’t ready to challenge Mexico’s top dog yet,.
– Moscoso over Natera: by late Friday Moscoso should be over his jet lag, recovered from his street dancing gig, and will be rocking.
This is my dream semis by the way: Kane, the two guys who I think have the best shot of beating Kane right now in Moscoso & Montoya, and the classy Mar who has a great game to matchup against the King. We’ll see if it comes to pass. Probably not 🙂
Semis:
– Kane over Mar: we’re years past the US Open where Mar hung with Kane; last time they met it was a beat down in Pleasanton.
– Montoya over Moscoso: Rodrigo won’t be afraid of Conrrado.
Finals: Kane d Montoya in three. I think Montoya can keep it together to take a game, but not a match, off of the King.
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Doubles review
There’s some great round of 16 matches here: Martell/Carter vs Sendrey/Gastelum is one, and Alonso/Trujillo vs Garcia/Miranda (team Argentina) is another. Guatemala’s PARC presumed team is here in Salvatierra/Galicia; they take on IRT tour vets Ramirez & Collins in a solid lefty/righty matchup.
In the end though, I think the two top teams (Mar/Montoya and Carrasco/Moscoso) will be too tough to beat and will meet in the final. I like the Mexicans over team Bolivia once again.
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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.
Coincidentally, if you’re interested in playing Fantasy Racquetball for this event, the links to the brackets are advertised on IRT’s main page. The winner each week gets free swag!
Last weekend, the 37th annual @USA Racquetball High School Nationals were held at the legendary Multnomah club in Portland. Here’s a quick recap with some historical stats.
Note: the Pro Racquetball Stats database does not store this information, but I do have it in a big XLS that i’ll link to here: https://docs.google.com/spreadsheets/d/1esBFXB4YrQNorKH6peEMJfAmCgenqev9TCyOE3IFlpk/edit?usp=sharing
Singles Winners:
Boys Singles/#1 Gold: Eli McCulley from Lindbergh HS (St. Louis, MO) took out #1 seed and USA Junior National team member Grant Williams for the title.
Girls Singles/#1 Gold: Andrea Perez-Picon from Sierra HS (Mantcea, CA) repeated as High School champ, topping SoCal’s Victoria Rodriguez in the final.
Doubles Winners:
– Boys: Charlie Vonder Bruegge & Harry Bogatko from Kirkwood HS in St. Louis took the title from the top seed spot.
– Girls: Rebecca Christopher & Margaret McPheeters, also from Kirkwood, took the Girls #1 title.
– Mixed: Eli McCulley & Stella Ortwerth prevented a Kirkwood clean sweep of doubles and gave McCully a double-gold for the weekend with their Mixed title.
Team Winners:
– Overall Team: Kirkwood HS, St. Louis, MO
– Boys Team: Kirkwood HS, St. Louis, MO
– Girls Team: Kirkwood HS, St. Louis, MO
For the second year in a row, Kirkwood has run the table, winning all three team events.
Go here for the complete team standings for the 2025 event; https://www.mohsrball.com/_files/ugd/c50405_5c0d7137eb514cdbb8f977aee53edaf3.pdf
Congrats to all parties for another awesome HS nationals event, and thanks to everyone who keeps the Missouri and Portland-area HS leagues so well run. You’re doing a massive part to keeping grass roots racquetball alive in this country.
