With the end of the 2024 3Wall Ball championships also comes the conclusion of the 2024 Outdoor Cup series for the season. The cup series, which are sponsored by KWM Gutterman Inc. on the Men’s side and by @LPL Financial for the women, are a year-long competition for pro players who compete in all three outdoor “Majors” (which are Beach Bash in March, Outdoor Nationals in July, and Vegas 3WB in Sept).
Here’s a recap of the final standings.
Men’s Outdoor Cup Final top 5:
1. Eduardo Portillo Rendon , 1332 points
2. Kane Waselenchuk , 1281 points
3. Chris McDonald, 1153 points
4. Robert Sostre , 1015 points
5. Alvaro Beltran , 1015 points.
Top 5 finisher discussion: usually the winner of these cup competitions is the player who did the best across all three competitions, rewarding consistency across 1-wall in Florida, then big-court 3-wall in Huntington Beach, and then 40×20 3-wall plus 1-wall in Vegas. This year though, we saw all top 5 finishers do all their damage in just two of the three events, pipping those who did manage to play all three in the end.
This competition went to the very end; if Lalo hadn’t won the pro doubles final, Kane would have taken the cup. Winner Portillo took home 3 titles this year; singles at OutdoorNats, the big 3-wall doubles title with Alvi in Vegas, plus the one-wall mixed title with Herrera. He alos had a one-wall doubles final and made the semis of every other pro division he entered. He’s put his name out there as the next big thing in Outdoor for sure. 2nd place Kane left Huntington Beach in 2nd place after his two titles there, but a couple of early exits in Vegas cost him the points he needed to win despite his and 3rd place finisher McDonald’s dominant Vegas CPRT win. Floridian and 3rd place McDonald probably could have won this cup if he had any results in his home-state Beach Bash, but he still leaves 2024 with a slew of titles. 4th place finisher Iceman Sostre was tied for 1st after a two-title beach bash performance, but had to miss Outdoor Nationals and suffered a couple of very early upsets in Vegas. Lastly, 5th place Alvi probably is more happy with a Vegas pro doubles title than a cup title, but his win in Vegas propelled him from 19th after HB to 5th here.
Notables in the 6-12 range: Rocky Carson was in 1st place after HB and should have been a shoe-in, but he only played two of the points-earning divisions in Vegas and suffered an uncharacteristic round of 16 upset loss in Men’s Pro Doubles to seal his fate in this competition. @Javier Mar finished 7th despite only playing in Vegas; he won men’s doubles, made the final of both Men’s and Mixed 3-wall doubles, and for me is now the best one-wall player in the world. @Benny Goldenberg was tied for 1st after a two-win Beach Bash, but suffered a couple of exits in the 16s in Vegas. #9 @Rodrigo Montoya Racquetball only played in Vegas and is a relative outdoor newbie, but did team with Mar to take one-wall doubles. Lastly #10 DJ Mendoza , the Beach Bash Singles winner, played all three events this year, the highest ranking player to do so, but failed to have the doubles impact he needed along the way to push for this title. #11 @Thomas Gerhardt played in all three events with solid results, and #12 @Adam Manilla was the lowest-cup ranked event winner with his Vegas mixed title.
—–
Women’s Cup Top 5
1. Brenda Laime Jalil , 1088 points
2. Michelle Key , 1070 points
3. Carla Muñoz , 913 points
4. Kelani Lawrence , 746 points
5. @Alexandra Herrera , 600 points
Discussion: Like with the men, we didn’t know who was going to take the Cup until the end of Sunday in Vegas. Laime was in two sunday finals and only had to win one of them to claim the cup, and that’s exactly what she did, winning the Mixed 3-wall with Manilla to also claim the cup. Manilla also took Women’s doubles in California plus the 1-wall women’s doubles title in Vegas this year and really made a statement about the pecking order of outdoor players. 2022 Cup winner Key just missed out on the title, winning a title in each of the three majors but suffering early upsets in most of the Vegas events to cost her the points she needed. Key was 2nd after Beach Bash and 1st after Outdoor Nationals, but was caught by Laime in the end. 3rd place Munoz just couldn’t overcome missing Beach Bash this year, but still took three titles between California and Vegas. Lawrence took home a title in Florida and was in 1st place in the Cup standings after Beach Bash, but her two finals in Vegas weren’t enough to move her further up the chain.
Notables outside of top 5: #6 Katie Neils took home her 3rd major doubles title in Florida and made the finals in California . #7 @Montse Mejia only played in Vegas but made the Mixed final and two semis. #8 @Paola Longoria won the Vegas women’s doubles with partner Key, enough to power her into the top 10. California junior @Victoria Rodriguez finished 9th, and last year’s cup winner @Hollie Scott made the one-wall final in Vegas to slip into the top 10.
—-
The top finishers of both cups won $1000 plus a suite-stay at The STRAT Las Vegas . 2nd place won $250 and some additional merch.
—-
Here’s links to the full points worksheets in Google XLS:
– Men: https://rball.pro/c5y or
– Women: https://rball.pro/zvw
or
https://docs.google.com/spreadsheets/d/1gpMyYigsDvwwP5Hk-X3BEiyVZaKjL4X1RhB5UjByXv4/edit?usp=sharing