Hot on the heels of World Singles & Doubles was a quick Satellite event held in the old DMV, my stomping grounds. The DMV Invitational was held last weekend in Severna Park and played host to a slew of international players who stuck around state-side to play another event before heading back home.
This led to a solid 24-man IRT draw and some great action. here’s a quick recap:
Top seed Rodrigo Montoya Racquetball , who had to forfeit out of Denver’s event with an ugly-looking ankle sprain, ground out a couple solid wins to get to the final. He topped two of the best local players in Maryland in order in John Behm and then Ezequiel Subieta, who once made the Bolivian Junior national team before settling in the DC area and dominating DC/MD/VA events. Subieta topped the tourney host and former IRT Tier1 winner @sebastian Franco 7,2 to earn the shot at Montoya. In the semis, Montoya beat Sam Bredenbeck but certainly had to work for it, with Sam pushing Rodrigo 12,11 before falling.
From the bottom half, the player we keep talking about Bolivian 18U champ @Jhonatan Flores had himself a solid event, beating local favorite Zelada in the 16s and then No. 2 seed @javier mar in the quarters. He then fell to former #1 and fellow Bolivian @Conrrado Moscoso in the semis, but it was no blowout (11-7 in the third).
The final we well contested until Montoya had to retire again, losing 15-9 and retiring at 6-6 in the second. Moscoso takes the title in a Bolivia heavy field befitting a DC area event and its large Bolivian population.
——————-
Doubles:
the two top pairs of IRT tour vets and regular partners were the two top seeds, and made their way to the final without much incident. There, the No 1 Montoya/Mar pair had to forfeit out with Rodrigo’s injury, giving hte title to No. 2 Moscoso/Carrasco. This gives Moscoso the double for his troubles.
——————-
Any points are good points to earn for Moscoso right now, and these Satellite points should be enough to move Moscoso up a couple slots on the ranking, perhaps enough to get him out of a 1-16 matchup with Kane next time.
Next up on the calendar: The IRT Tracktown Open in Oregon at the end of the month.