Montoya wins the double in Severna Park
Photo Kevin Savory 2022 Portland IRT event
There were no officially sanctioned events this past weekend, but there was an event that used to be an IRT stop that still drew a slew of top males that’s worth recapping. It was the 2024 Capital Classic, held at the Severna Park Club just outside of Baltimore.
I’ve played at this club many times and have good memories of it. I once made a 30+ age group final there and took one the better players in the area to an 11-9 breaker before losing. It was at this club that my good friend Ben Hale taught our young racquetball playing friend Travis Woodbury how to drive a stick shift …. in my car … because I was inside drinking beer and he had drawn the short stick to drive us back to Arlington that night.
This club, and this event, used to be an IRT stop, taking over for the long-serving Laurel Sportfit club when it became a Covid casualty. It continues to be the regular stop in December for the LPRT but it seems like funding for the men has gone away. This club will always hold an important point of IRT history: it was on these courts that Kane Waselenchuk tore his Achilles heel in September 2022, drastically changing the course of the tour for the next two years.
That being said, the club and the area serve as home for a few former touring pros (@Mario Mercado, Sebastian Franco, and @Mauricio Zelada) and when players of that calibre play, others make the drive. Or, as was the case this weekend, extend their visa stay a week after last week’s Spokane event and pick up another event. This included IRT #2 @Rodrigo Montoya Racquetball and his doubles partner @Javier Mar, who formed the two top seeds in singles and the favorite team in doubles for the weekend.
In Men’s Open Singles, the Kelley brothers drove down from Jersey and each got an international round of 16 opponent. #9 Joe fell to Bolivian #8 Subieta, but #7 Sam got past Colombian #10 @set Ceballos. Excellent Ohio player Victor Migliore blanked New York’s Aaron Dardani in the opening round, while top Maryland amateur #5 John Behm silenced NC’s Sanz.
In the quarters, the two traveling tour pros Montoya and Mar, plus the two local former top-10 touring pros Mercado & Franco all advanced. Mercado labored over Migliore 14,14, while Montoya dropped a game to Subieta, but all advanced.
In the semis, Montoya outlasted home town favorite Franco in a hard-hitting display of power racquetball, while Mar outclassed the always-tough Mercado to setup a 1-v-2 final, ironically a rematch of the round of 16 match in Spokane. In that final, Montoya didn’t let his partner get started and won 8,8
Men’s Doubles Review:
There were eight teams that ended up playing in two RR groups, giving the players and the fans a ton of action. In group 1, top seeds Montoya & Mar swept the group, but were certainly pressed by Sam Kelley & Set Cuballos in the group final. Meanwhile, local boys Franco & Mercado took their group … but nearly were upset in the group final by joe Kelley & Migliore.
In the winner-take-all final, Montoya & Mar won going away 6,11 for the Montoya double.
Congrats to your Pro Singles winner on the weekend: Kane Waselenchuk
Kane wins his 127th career Tier 1 IRT title. We’ll talk about the final and the point implications later on.
R2 Sports App home page for event: https://www.r2sports.com/website/event-website.asp?TID=44845
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Let’s review the notable matches in the Singles draw.
Singles Match report in the PRS database: https://rball.pro/tbe
In the 32s: A last minute draw change jumbled the lowest 7-8 seeds from where they stood monday, and led to just a couple of compelling matchups in the opening round.
– Mexican U21 Gastelum upended USA junior Cody elkins 10,10 to earn a shot at Kane
– Alonso took out Antone 13,4; the USA national team member made him sweat in game one for sure.
– The biggest result, and biggest shock to me: Martell easily beat Garcia 4,10. That’s tough for Garcia, who I think was the only South American to make the trip.
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In the 16s:
– Alonso took out Jake in a tough 11-9 breaker. I don’t think this is an upset necessarily based on the way both have been playing, and it gives you some pause to ask, “just how good is Alonso?” If he played regularly, is he top 4? Too high?
– Trujillo took out Martel, also in a breaker. This isn’t an upset by seed, but it is a notable result b/c Trujillo has had some losses recently to his fellow countrymen. This is a solid win over a solid player and gives Trujillo’s top 10 ranking a boost.
– Montoya edged his doubles partner Mar in a breaker. No surprise they went to a 3rd game; even if one is the #2 seed and the other is in the 20s, these two are neck and neck talent wise.
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In the Quarters
– #1 Kane cruises past Natera 6,4. He’s just getting warmed up.
– Great win by Acuna, downing Alonso 2,13. I thought for certain we were going to see another Alonso-Kane matchup, but the Costa Rican had other thoughts.
– Parrilla had a typical 7,13 win over Manilla. Both control players tried to out control the other, and Andree was better at it.
– Montoya set down Trujillo 12,3. After a close first game, the powerful Rodrigo went to town and advanced with ease.
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In the Semis
– Acuna kept it close b/c he has a game plan against Kane that we’ve seen before, but just not a good enough one y et. kane advances 10,7
– In the other semi, two players who have played each other dozens of times over the years faced off again, and this time Parrilla took out Montoya 9,6 to move into the final.
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In the Finals, we got an interesting matchup. Kane and Andree have a history playing each other. One of their first meetings was a 0,0,0 embarrassment at the 2016 US Open when Andree was a budding player on the competing WRT. They met in the final of Chicago a few months later and Parrilla pushed Kane in at least one game, showing a bit of a gumption at the time. They’ve usually played close games, albeit mostly Kane wins … then Parrilla got an 11-10 finals win over Kane in January 2022 for a big win.
Kane jumped out to a massive first game lead, ahead 10-0 at one point, and he honestly looked miffed when Parrilla finally got a point and ruined his donut. Well, that wasn’t going to be where Parrilla stopped … he ran off ten unanswered points himself to tie the game and Kane had to press to win it 15-14. Game two was one-way traffic for the Mexican, who crushed Kane 15-3 to force a breaker.
Fun fact: on the IRT, when players split the first two games, the player who won the second game has the advantage, having won 51% of the time. So advantage momentum, albeit only slightly. Kane had none of that, crushing Parrilla 11-3 to win the match. Andree scored 32 total points, Kane 29 … but it was the points at the end that counted. The end of the match was a little testy, with Andree having some words for Kane on his way out of the court, which were returned in turn.
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Points Implications of results.
Kane regains 1st place on tour, for the first time in several years. The last time he was #1 on tour, the best I can tell, was at the 2021 US Open. He has about a 90 point lead on #2 Moscoso, but we know that Moscoso is now out for the rest of 2024. Parrilla now sits third and Kane has him by about 377 points. That’s huge; the next event to drop was Boston in Nov 2023, which Parrilla won, so that means he’s defending winner’s points/400 points. Montoya has dropped to 4th, just a handful behind Parrilla, and has a quarter and semi to defend the rest of the way out.
But the 377 gap is massive: if there’s just one more tier 1 (which is worth 400 for winning, 501.33 if its a tier1+), Kane basically has the year end title already sewn up. We know about Pleasanton in November; maybe we get Pelham Memorial increased to Tier 1 in December, but it was a Satellite last year. So amazingly Kane is in pole position to win the year end title
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Open Singles, other notable draws
– With no Pro doubles, the Open Doubles came down to the four best pros playing, with Mar/Garcia topping Sendrey/Gastelum in the final.
– In Men’s Open, doubles partners Sendrey and Gastelem both advanced to the final and then double forfeited.
– Arizona’s Susie Boulanger & Damian Zamorano took the Mixed Open Doubles final in a walk-over.
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Thanks for all the streaming on the weekend, especially from broadcasters Favio Soto, Pablo Fajre and the IRTLive crew
Can we get another Alonso run? Photo via Alonso Twitter page
Hello racquetball fans! It’s been a minute since we were talking about the Men’s pro tour (last tier 1 stop: May in Canoga Park), but they’re back in action at a site that the Men’s tour has never visited before (at least for a Tier 1): Spokane, Washington.
Washington has been host to the IRT in the past, but not for more than a decade.
Seattle has hosted a dozen big-time events over the years, and in the late 80s/early 90s Seattle hosted the “Grand Nationals” event that was often the sole major of the year. Famously, in 1988 the tour rolled into Seattle to finish off the season at the CityFed Grand Nationals, with the year end title completely up for grabs; the players on tour knew that the final major would have a massive amount of points awarded, and any one of the top 5-6 players entering that event could win the year end title. the #1, #2 and #4 ranked players all fell in the quarters, and #3 seeded @Ruben Gonzalez topped #5 @Egan Inoue for the tournament win and year-end title.
Because it’s been some months since the IRT was in action, we’ve seen a bit of movement in the rankings, so the projected quarterfinals may look a little different than you’d expect. We’re also seeing a bit of a thinner draw due to the geographic location of the event and the difficulty some international players have in getting there. However, that all said, we’re going to see some excellent matches all the way through.
The most obvious Top player missing is #1 Moscoso, who suffered an arm injury while training over the weekend, basically the day before he was set to board a plane to come to the USA. He’s set to have surgery this week and could be sidelined for the rest of the season, a dagger to his chances of finishing #1 for the first time. Also missing is current #10 De La Rosa and #12 Sam Murray, the latter somewhat surprisingly given the few Tier 1 events we are set to have in 2024. In Conrrado’s absence, Kane ascends to the #1 seed for the first time since the 2021 US Open. He’s in the driver’s seat to win the 2024 title right now, years after he last won it at the end of the 2019-2020 season.
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Let’s preview the draw. Here’s some notable matches I’m looking at. The draw was re-made at the very last minute because of the dropping out of Kadim Carrasco due to travel issues thanks to Milton (lots of South Americans fly through Florida as a transfer point) which scattered every round of 32 and 16 matchup.
In the 32s:
– #12 @Carlos Ramirez takes on #21 John Wolfe , who toured for a brief period a few years back. Ramirez very quietly has now risen to #16 in the rankings and is the #12 seed here by virtue of several absences, and he’s done so mainly by his consistency attending events on tour. He’s made three round of 16s in his career 15 events and his best ever result may have been a 2022 win over Gastelum. He has a solid opportunity to get into another round of 16 here.
– #13 @Jordy Alonso vs #20 @Wayne Antone Racquetball : Antone was set to play Carrasco before he dropped out; now he has to fend with a guy who put an “L” on Kane and made a tour final earlier this year. Antone’s solid, but Alonso has the ability to beat basically anyone if he’s on.
– #14 Cole Sendrey gets a fun one against Canadian National #19 @Lee Connell. The Canadian has been around the block and is old enough to be Cole’s dad, but can still play. Sendrey will need to focus to win this match.
– #11 Robert Collins vs #22 @Gatlin Sutherland. This is a fun one: Collins was just named the US Junior National team coach (well deserved by the way), and Sutherland is a regular on the US Junior National team. How will the player do against the coach? This is Sutherland’s pro debut. he’s had some success in US Junior nationals event (one title back in 2014, made the finals of 16s two years ago, and he owns 4 junior national doubles titles), but he’ll have his hands full with veteran Collins.
#10 @Jaime Martell Racquetball vs #23 @Diego Garcia . The last minute seed change has the most impact on Martell, who has a career high seeding here only to get drawn against Garcia. Last time Diego showed up an an IRT event, he took out two top seeds and took a game off of Montoya in the quarters before falling, and at the last Worlds he beat Acuna straight up and fell 11-9 in the fifth to Jake. I see Garcia moving on.
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round of 16:
– #1 Waselenchuk vs #16 @Diego Gastelum ; Kane gets started with a decent tie; Gastelum is no pushover, being the 2023 U21 world champ and with a handful of wins over IRT top 10 player Trujillo in the last couple of years. He’s probably best known for taking Jake to a 15-14 game one loss at the 2023 Worlds event out of nowhere, shocking those in attendance who had never seen him before. That being said, for Kane this isn’t the same as running into someone like Alonso, and he should move on.
– #9 @Thomas Carter vs #8 @Alan Natera: These two meet again. They were 8 & 9 at the last IRT event, and Natera cruised to an 8,6 win. I see a similar result here.
– #4 @Jake Bredenbeck vs #13 Alonso. Jake is the unfortunate recipient of the Alonso matchup, a player who beat Kane, Collins, Martell, and Montoya at the last IRT event. Is Alonso the new Landa on tour? For those who don’t remember, Landa didn’t tour regularly until deep into his 20s, but would periodically show up at pro stops and knock off top-seeded players with ease. I see Alonso doing the same now.
– #7 @Erick Trujillo vs Garcia: these two faced off twice at the 2022 Worlds u21 junior championship, with Garcia winning in the group stage and then in the U21 final. Both games went the distance, all 5 games. Trujillo didn’t get to #7 by accident and has some wins on tour for sure, but so does Garcia. I still like the dark-horse here.
– #2 Rodrigo Montoya Racquetball vs #15 @javier Mar; the luck of the draw pits long-time doubles partners and good friends Montoya & Mar together at this stage, instead of two rounds subsequent. The last time they played, Rodrigo got the better of his friend in 2023 in Minnesota, but Mar absolutely has beaten him in the past. Mar has struggled with injuries for some time, but seems to be healthy and is coming off a solid 3WB event. I still think Montoya is the favorite but it could be close. Upsets frequently happen when two people this close play.
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Projected Qtrs:
– #1 Waselenchuk over #8 Natera; Kane over powers the Mexican turned Chilean.
– #13 Alonso over #5 Acuna: Jordy is too much of a shotmaker for Acuna to handle.
– #3 Parrilla over #6 Manilla: both players have straightforward paths to the quarters thanks to the last minute schedule change, and Parrilla is gifted a semis slot.
– #2 Montoya over #23 Garcia: they met in 2023 World Singles in Denver as mentioned above, and Montoya won in a breaker. I’d expect a similar result here.
Semis:
– Kane over Alonso. Kane will have learned how to beat Jordy, will be on the gas from the get go, and won’t lose to the same guy twice.
– Montoya over Parrilla: just too much firepower at this point in both players’ careers.
Finals;
– Kane over Montoya: you hate to predict against the best player of all time, but if there’s a player who has both the game and the mentality to beat him, I think its Rodrigo. When they played in Minnesota, Kane won 14,(7),2 in a match that was a lot closer than the score indicated. The first game was a coinflip and Montoya cruised in game two before letting his concentration slip a bit in the breaker. Kane never lets his concentration slip, and still has the power and shot-making ability to counter even the athletic Montoya.
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Doubles:
There’s no pro doubles here, but there is an Open doubles that’s gotten some late prize money, so look for some of the traveling pros to pour into Open doubles to try to earn a bit more cash. Mar & Garcia as #1 seeds and I like them over #2 Sendrey/Gastelum in the final.
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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, Samuel Schulze, Pablo Fajre and the IRTLive crew all weekend on the mike, calling the shots! Thanks to Favio for giving me an advance copy of the draw and for being a fan.
Thanks to the Tourney Director Rich Carver for putting this event on!
Thanks to our main sponsors @mche property Services and the @Spokane Athletic club; it goes without saying that without you and your support, we don’t have a sport.
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.
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.
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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.
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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.
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Here’s links to the full points worksheets in Google XLS:
Portillo made a major outdoor statement this weekend in Vegas. Photo from 2022 3WB via Stephen Fitzsimons
The 15th annual 2024 KWM Gutterman 3Wall Ball Outdoor Championships are in the books. It was a fun, long weekend in Las Vegas on the grounds of The STRAT Las Vegas . This year featured the introduction of World Team Racquetball and a ton of new champions in the desert.
Congrats to your Pro Racquetball division winners on the weekend:
– Men’s Pro 3-wall Doubles: Alvaro Beltran /Eduardo Portillo Rendon
– Women’s Pro 3-wall Doubles: Michelle Key / Paola Longoria
– Mixed Pro 3-wall Doubles: Adam Manilla / Brenda Laime Jalil
– Men’s Pro 1-wall Doubles: Javier Mar / Rodrigo Montoya
– Women’s Pro 1-wall Doubles: Carla Munoz / Brenda Laime
– Mixed Pro 1-wall Doubles: Alexandra Herrera / Eduardo Portillo
Beltran wins his 11th Vegas 3-wall Men’s pro doubles title, with his 4th different partner. He continues to be one of the absolute best outdoor players in the game, even after the end of his indoor touring pro career. He won the first Vegas event with Gies, won a slew of titles with DLR, won four with Rocky, and now with Lalo. Speaking of Lalo, he takes two major titles in Vegas, as does Brenda Laime, who won her second major pro doubles title of the season with Carla.
This week also wrapped up the Outdoor Cup Series; we’ll cover that later in the week.
Also Congrats to the winners of the other major Racquetball divisions held this weekend:
– CPRT Pro Doubles: Kane Waselenchuk / Chris McDonald
– Combined 75+ Men’s Doubles: Patrick Allin / Lou Orosco
– Centurion/Combined 100+ Men’s Doubles; Rocky Carson / Jerry Hall
– Men’s Open Doubles: @Alejandro Barcelo / @Yasmani Perez
– Women’s Open Doubles: Susie Boulanger / Sarah Houghtailing
– Mixed Open Doubles: Kelly Gremley / Jack McDonald
And Here’s the winners of the non-racquetball Pro/Open disciplines competed this weekend
– Paddleball Men’s 3-Wall Pro Doubles: Emmett Coe / Danny Lavely
– Paddleball Mixed 3-Wall Pro Doubles: Emmett Coe / Hollie Scott
– Paddleball Male/combined 1-wall pro doubles: Kathy Guinan / William Rolon:
– Handball 3-wall Big Ball Men’s Doubles: Carlos Marin / Eddie Rocha Jr
– Handball 1-wall Big Ball Men’s Doubles: Anthony Hernandez / John Garcia
– Handball 3-wall Big Ball Men’s Singles: Anthony Hernandez vs Samzon Hernandez
– Handball 1-Wall Big Ball Men’s Singles: Eddie Rocha Jr
R2 Sports App home page for event: https://www.r2sports.com/website/event-website.asp?TID=41864
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Match Reports for the 2024 event in the database by division (racquetball divisions only): if you click on these links, you’ll get the full list of matches in each division for the 2024 event with seeding and home country. This core data feeds to all the other Pro Racquetball Stats reports.
– Men’s Pro 3-wall Doubles: https://rball.pro/ivq
– Women’s Pro 3-wall Doubles: https://rball.pro/0pa
– Mixed Pro 3-wall Doubles: https://rball.pro/3lq
– Men’s Pro 1-wall Doubles: https://rball.pro/ck2
– Women’s Pro 1-wall Doubles: https://rball.pro/hxv
– Mixed Pro 1-wall Doubles: https://rball.pro/69u
Here’s the Triple Crown reports in the database, showing all the winners of all divisions over the years.
Here’s a recap of the draws. Because of the number of divisions to cover, we’ll run through in narrative format instead of round-by-round.
– Men’s 3-wall Pro Doubles: Beltran and Portillo were stretched to a breaker in all four of their matches, but it was their semi that was most interesting to discuss. Manilla and Riffel may have been the two-time defending finalists, but many thought the power-house pair of Waselenchuk and McDonald would be the favorites here. Their semi versus eventual champs Aliv & Lalo was fascinating in terms of its strategy; after getting shellacked in game one 15-4, the Mexican duo focused a ton of its serving towards the aggressive McDonald in his advanced receiving position, and tried to force their opponents into taking offensive shots from defensive positions. It worked, and they clawed their way back into the match by playing smart and opportunistic ball. The end of the match was marred by a couple of disputed calls, but the final point was one of the better rallies you’ll see in outdoor (go to https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UE8IkVyKxcU and hour/minute 1:10). The final was a slower, tactical game between four players who were certainly trying to “play outdoor” on the outdoor courts, a slog eventually won by Beltran and Lalo.
– Women’s 3-wall Pro Doubles: Longoria wins her 4th Vegas title, nicely spread out amongst the 15 years of the event. She took the first 3-wall pro doubles title in 2010 with Keeley Franks, and won this week with the sport’s most decorated player Key. Michelle meanwhile took her 18th Women’s outdoor pro title with Longoria, though they had to survive an 11-10 thriller in the semis against Mejia/Herrera to do so.
– Mixed 3wall Pro Doubles: Laime and Manilla broke a decade-long stranglehold on the Mixed pro division from the absent DLR, cruising into the final without being seriously challenged, then taking an 11-9 thriller against Mar & Mejia.
– Men’s One wall Pro Doubles; Mar & Montoya battered their way to the One wall pro doubles title, never seriously challenged along the way. They won the final 7,5. Mar continues to establish himself as the preeminent one-wall player in the world, winning his fourth one-wall men’s pro title in the last three seasons.
– Women’s One Wall Pro Doubles: Munoz won her third straight one-wall Vegas title, and her second in a row with Laime. The duo dominated the 2023 Beach Bash champs Lawrence/Scott in the final.
– Mixed One Wall Pro Doubles: The one-wall mixed pro draw was the single most disputed of the seeding issues that we had in Vegas this year, and you can see the results of going purely by points in the results. The draw’s #2, #3, and #4 seeds failed to make the semis, the draw was won by the #10 seed, and one could make a decent argument that the #7-#10 round of 16 match could have been the final. At the end of the day, Lalo took the title with his partner Herrera, capping a fantastic week for him: he took two titles, made the final of a third, and won the WTR MVP.
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Other Rball divisions:
– CPRT Pro Doubles: McDonald and Waselenchuk may have lost in the pro semis, but they came home with a dominant win in the CPRT. The pair destroyed Beltran & Koll in the final 4,3.
– Combined 75+ Men’s Doubles: two solid players from SoCal Allin and “Sweet” Lou took the 75+ division, beating two top players from Naples Florida in the final in Barcelo and Perez.
– Centurion/Combined 100+ Men’s Doubles: Carson teamed with Hall to take out Beltran and Knox LaRue in the 100+ final.
– Men’s Open Doubles: A Florida-heavy Open draw came down to, of course, two teams of Florida players for the title. Barcelo & Perez took out Young & Hansen for the title.
– Women’s Open Doubles: Susie Boulanger & Sarah Houghtailing won their group and then won the winner take all final.
– Mixed Open Doubles: Kelly Gremley / Jack McDonald took down Hansen and Lambert in the final. Not a bid first showing outdoor major for either Timmy or Frederique.
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Thanks for all the streaming on the weekend from the LPRT team of Jerry J Josey Jr. JT R Ball , and Tj Baumbaugh along with their many guest commentators like Mike D and Rolon.
Thanks to the Tourney Directors Mc Vegas for putting this event on, as well has his entire 3Wall Ball team. Peggine Tellez , Jen O’Meara , and @Peter McMillan worked tirelessly all weekend, along with dozens of other volunteers at the front desk and behind the scenes to make this tourney happen.
Thanks to the primary Tourney Sponsors @KWM Kwm Gutterman, PROKENNEX , @AGE Age Solutions , @LPL Financial, and others I missed here. Thanks also to the dozen other sponsors who helped either with product or finances. Without you, we do not have a pro sport, and without you we don’t have 3WallBall. Thank for all you do.
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Next up?
Per our handy master racquetball calendar https://docs.google.com/spreadsheets/d/1V6OTid6rZ356voXVkoV2sN7KMMbIP9SZd0MssH_nPGU/edit?usp=sharing
Next up is the 2024 Inland Empire Pro-Am IRT event in Spokane Washington in a couple of weeks.
Florida’s Chris McDonald is the top seed in multiple pro draws this weekend in Vegas. Photo 2023 Outdoor Nats via Lara
Hello racquetball fans. Its time for the big daddy of outdoor tournaments, the 2024 14th annual 3WallBall championships. More than 375 participants are in Vegas for the weekend to play, watch, and socialize on the grounds of The STRAT Las Vegas hotel.
Each year I publish a Media guide for this event; here’s a direct link to that guide for 2024. It has bios and pictures for nearly 100% of the players in pro draws, along with player profile information, career indoor accomplishments, and career outdoor achievements.
If anyone in the community has corrections or updates please DM me and I’ll make them at least on the electronic version for next time.
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Draw Previews: Here’s a quick run through of the pro draws. Disclosure: I helped the team with seeding this year, as we found that the WOR points system combined with the abnormally high number of non-regular outdoor players resulted in the need to do some manual seeding this year versus 100% depending on the points system.
Also notably this year; not enough players signed up for either singles divisions, so we’ll have no Pro 3Wall Singles champs in Vegas for 2024.
Here’s some quick thoughts on the pro draws:
– Men’s 3-Wall Pro Doubles: We’ll have a new champion this year, as last year’s champs are not defending their title. Two-time defending finalists Adam Manilla and @Nick Riffel are the #1 seeds, rightfully so after earning the final two years in a row as the underdogs. They’ll likely face a gauntlet of tough teams to get back to this year’s final, which could include Natera/Acuna in the quarters and the top doubles team in the world Mar/Montoya in the semis.
The bottom half features quite the dangerous team in @kaKane Waselenchuk and Chris MacDonald as the #2 seeds. McDonald made the finals in Vegas in 2019, the closest he’s come to a Men’s pro outdoor doubles title in his long career. Kane is coming off an Outdoor Nationals title. They’ll probably face grizzled SoCal vets Allin/Orosco in the quarters, and then will get a massive test from the winner of the 3/6 seeds Beltran/Lalo and Carson/Ustarroz, both teams of which are multi-pro champs in their history.
Prediction: Look for Manilla/Riffel to silence the doubters and beat Chris/Kane in the final.
– Women’s 3-Wall Pro Doubles: Munoz and Laime just won Outdoor Nationals, but are seeded 3rd here thanks to the two defending finalists returning intact and earning the #1 and #2 seeds. This will make for a heck of a semi on the bottom side, and I think they’ll take out #2 Scott/Lawrence here to get into the final. The top half semi should also be one for the ages, as Key/Longoria (who I think edge Tisinger/Roehler in a tantalizing quarterfinal) should take out the defending champs Herrera/Mejia to get to the final. We just saw in WTR a straight-forward win for Longoria/Key over Munoz/Laime and I think we see that again in the final
– Mixed 3-Wall Pro Doubles: This was one of the most difficult draws to seed. I could make a case for more than half the draw to be a top 4 seed. If you’re reading this and questioning why one team is seeded X and another Y and you think it should be the reverse, keep in mind we tried to make the eventual quarter finals as fair as possible. So it’s less about who’s (say) #7 and who is #2 versus what the matchup will be. I like #1 McDonald & Key to get to the semis with relative ease, topping whichever one-wall specialist team gets out of the round of 16 ahead of them, and I like McDonald/Key’s chances to top whichever indoor-heavy team comes out of the 4/5 quarter will be 50/50 at best; Longoria is a tough out in any format, but she’s alongside an outdoor newbie in Montoya. Meanwhile Mar has shown he’s nearly unbeatable in one wall, but less so in three wall. That’ll be an interesting quarter for sure. From the bottom half, I like Manilla/Laime’s chances to move on here to the final, but they have to get by Natera/Munoz first. I think whoever wins that gets past Lalo/Herrera in the bottom semi. McDonald/Key for the win.
(Caveat to one-wall brackets: these brackets and seedings may change from the brackets used for these predictions; if the brackets are changed prior to the start of the draws on Friday 9am PST, my apologies).
– Men’s One-Wall Pro Doubles: Javier Mar has two Beach Bash titles and is a dangerous #2 seed here, but they’ll have to play past William Rolon , owner of four 1-wall major titles to get to the final. The top-side features #1 Lalo/Acuna, but watch out for #5 @DJ Mendoza and Waselenchuk; Mendoza won Beach Bash singles and Kane’s game is tailor made for one-wall. I see DJ/Kane taking out #1 and then winning the title in a slug-fest over Mar/Montoya.
– Women’s One-Wall Pro Doubles: Phew; there’s 8 teams here and I think 5-6 are thinking right now that they’re winning this thing. #1 Munoz/Laime won this in Vegas last year, but they’ll have to get past 2023 beach bash champs Scott/Lawrence in the semis to repeat. Key won beach bash this year with Katie Neils; they’ll face each other in the quarters on opposite teams as Key picks up Longoria. I think Key/Longoria will get past Tisinger/Roehler in the semi and will tak out Laime/Munoz in the final.
– Mixed One-Wall Pro Doubles: Sostre/Lawrence were your 2024 Beach Bash champs and will be tough to beat as the #2 seeds here; on and off-the court partners Lalo & Herrera will give a challenge in the semis … that is if they can get past NY one wall giants Goldenberg & Roehler in the quarters. From the top-side, McDonald is less known for his one-wall exploits, but he’s paired with Key and have a decent path into the semis. They’ll face a pair of touring pros with solid one-wall experience there, likely the husband-wife pair of Natera & Munoz. Look for an upset in the semis but for the Beach Bash mixed one-wall champs Sostre/Lawrence to get the 2024 one-wall pro double.
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– CPRT 40+ is nearly as deep as the Men’s Pro draw, with a high likelihood of a pro semis rematch to occur in the semis here between Waslenechuk/McDonald and Carson/Ustarroz to play for the title. #1 Beltran/Koll likely faces the lefty/righty legends Orosco/Solis in the semis to play for the title. I predict the winner of the bottom semi wins the title.
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Streaming: the @LPRT streaming team is in Vegas and is leading the way. Follow LPRT, sign up for live feed notifications, subscribe to their YouTube channel.
Thanks to the Tourney Directors @Peggine Tellez , @Mike Coulter and Jen O’Meara for putting this event on! Thanks to our main sponsors @KWM Gutterman Inc. , ProKennex Racquetball , @Team DOVETAIL , Abel Perez, LPL Financial and others I may have forgotten here . It goes without saying that without you and your support, we don’t have a sport.
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.
The first annual World Team Racquetball (WTR) exhibition was held over the last couple of days on the 3Wall Ball courts of Las Vegas, on the grounds of The STRAT hotel, and here’s a quick recap of the action.
As they say in sports, “that’s why they play the games.” My predictions were 100% wrong, and the outdoor specialists really came to play and dominate the early rounds of the competition.
To get replays, go to Youtube.com and the LPRT channel for all the videos, as the FB streaming had technical issues on Tuesday.
Match rules: the two teams played Mens, Women’s, and Mixed doubles matches. Each match was two games to 11, each win by one. The team winner is determined on total aggregate of all six games. Free substitutions were allowed throughout the matches for the Men, who had 3 guys on each team.
– Women’s Doubles: Team KWM started off super strong and took the Women’s tie 11-5, 11-7. Key and Longoria are a super-strong team and should be favorites this weekend in the pro division, and really took it to Munoz & Laime.
– Men’s Doubles: Team Eve surprised the KWM men by winning 11-7, 11-7. Adam Manilla was super solid on the right, Beltran turned back the clock a bit, while McDonald’s super aggressive approach left Waselenchuk trying to do too much from the back court.
– Mixed Doubles: heading into the tie, KWM led the match by just two points, so it all came down to Mixed. Team Eve shocked Team KWM 11-4 in the first game, meaning that KWM need to win game two AND win it by enough points to take the overall title. It wasn’t to be; Team Eve held on for an 11-9 win that was sewn up once they got to point 7 in the game.
– Women’s Doubles: the match was split, each team winning a game. Dovetail’s pair of top indoor pros Mejia & Herrera raced away to a game one win 11-6, but PK’s top outdoor pairing of Scott & Lawrence salvaged an 11-9 game two win to put the point deficit at just 3 points heading into the Men’s tie.
– Men’s Doubles: Team Dovetail came to play in uniforms that look like they were designed to camouflage its players in Jurassic Park, while PK’s players were dressed like extras in the Barbie movie. Something had to give in the battle of distractions. Surprisingly to this observer, it was the Carson/Lalo pairing that really took it to DLR/Mar, with the Dovetail men crushing the PK men 11-4, 11-6 to give Dovetail a commanding 15 point lead.
– In Mixed, the Aces had their work cut out for them. They had to make up a 15 point deficit, which meant two heavy wins (a scoreline of 11-3, 11-4 would be needed just to tie). It wasn’t meant to be. Dovetail edged PK in the opener 11-10 to guarantee a win, leaving the last game as a “dead rubber” game that PK salvaged some pride in, with an 11-8 win.
Final score: Team Dovetail wins 58-48
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Bronze: KWM vs PK.
In the consolation match, KWM’s ladies destroyed PK’s 11-0 in less than 7 minutes (including timeouts) to open the match, then hung on for an 11-10 win to open a big KWM lead heading into the Men’s match. In the Men’s we got the big DLR-Kane matchup I thought would be the final. KWM came out with Kane & Jake instead of using Mcdonald curiously: Chris barely played as his team lost 6,7. This really tightened the match heading into the Mixed tie, so there was still all to play for. In Mixed, it was almost entirely DLR and Kane as the male partners, going primarily against Scott and Key as the female partners (though Paola did start for KWM) and it was KWM that came out on top 7,6 to win the tie. Final score 57-45
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Final: Eve vs Dovetail
– Women’s Dbls: Team DT’s top indoor doubles team of Mejia/Herrera went on a mid-match tear, breaking open an early close game one to win it 11-6, then blasting out to a massive 10-1 lead in game two that threatened to put the entire final out of reach early, but credit to Munoz & Laime for clawing the match back into reaching distance with a big run. Dovetail’s ladies win 11-6, 11-7 to open a 9-point lead to start.
– Men’s Doubles: It was “sun’s out, gun’s out” for team Dovetail, Rocky/Lalo and their sleeveless camo shirts. They came out firing against the all-blacks of Team Eve, cruising to an 11-5 game one win. Dovetail looked like they’d make the mixed tie unnecessary for a while, racing to a big game two lead before Eve’s pair of Beltran/Manilla turned the tide and won game two to give their team a chance.
– Mixed. Heading into Mixed, team DT had an 11 point lead and Eve needed a massive win to get back into things. It wasn’t to be: Carson/Mejia blew open a close first game to win 11-4 and essentially seal the match for DoveTail. The “second stringers” got to play in the second match and they played a fun 11-10 barn burner.
Final score: DT trounces Eve 62-43 for the gold medal and first place.
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Wrap-up: we got some interesting results, the on-site fans really got into it, and the first ever WTR looked like a success.
I missed who won the “MVP” of the event, but hopefully someone can fill me in to update this post after publishing.
Next up; the main 3WallBall event kicks off on Thursday! Look for a preview soon.
The 2024 3WallBall championships in Las Vegas will feature a new style of competition never before tried within the pro ranks of the sport: Team Racquetball.
Four teams have been formed by a quartet of the leading sponsors of the sport, and they’ll descend on the signature powder blue courts of 3WallBall to compete for the first ever World Team Racquetball Title.
The teams are:
The KWM Gutterman Kingz
Men: Kane Waselenchuk, Chris McDonald, Jake Bredenbeck
Women: Michelle Key, Paola Longoria
Owner: Keith Minor
Coach: Jim Winterton
Team Eve Genesis:
Men: Alvaro Beltran, Adam Manilla, Alan Natera
Women: Carla Munoz, Brenda Laime
Owner: Abel Perez
Coach: Aimee Roehler
Team ProKennex Aces:
Men: Daniel De La Rosa, Javier Mar, Robert Sostre
Women: Kelani Lawrence, Hollie Scott
Owner: Mike Martinez
Coach: Kadim Carrasco
Team Dovetail Thunderbolts
Men: Rocky Carson, Lalo Portillo, Andres Acuna
Women: Montse Mejia, Alexandra Herrera
Owner: Mike Kinkin
Coach: Fran Davis
Each team is comprised of players who have strong ties to their respective owners. For example, the ProKennex Aces with owner Mike Martinez features all ProKennex sponsored players. Mike Kinkin’s team Dovetail features players who have been on Team Dovetail in some cases since the beginning of his involvement in the sport. Keith Minor’s KWM Gutterman team features players who have been personally sponsored by Keith over the years, and lastly Abel Perez’s Team Eve Genesis features players and staff with ties to Abel’s hometown and home country.
We’ve created one-page Stat sheets for each team, downloadable/viewable for your pleasure here:
– Team KWM Gutterman is stacked, featuring the dual GOATs of the sport in Waselenchuk and Longoria. Neither have a ton of outdoor experience, but both have shown their ability to win on the 3 wall courts. Longoria pairs with the most decorated female outdoor player of all time in Michelle Key, while Kane pairs with Florida’s fiercest competitor in Chris McDonald to form quite the dynamic duo. And, if someone falls short, they have last year’s #2 IRT ranked player in hard-hitting Jake Bredenbeck to fill in. This is the team to beat.
– Team ProKennex features the most decorated outdoor doubles player in the history of the sport in De La Rosa, and he can choose between two of the best one-wall players on earth in Sostre and Mar for his doubles partner. DLR may be full time pickleball now, but he proved at IRT Worlds in August that he still remembers how to play. Their ladies are Scott & Lawrence, who regularly play doubles together on tour and for Team USA, and who both are seasoned outdoor players. DLR has the talent to will this team to win as needed, and will be a tough out especially in Mixed.
– Team Dovetail is led by reigning Outdoor Nationals champ Rocky Carson, who added his 12th major outdoor Men’s pro doubles title alongside King Kane in Huntington Beach earlier this year. He’s joined by fellow team Dovetail regulars Lalo Portillo and Andres Acuna, each with outdoor credentials to their name. Rocky teamed with Lalo to win the 2022 3WallBall pro doubles championship, while Acuna won the 2022 Outdoor Nationals singles title. They’re joined by the absolute best Ladies doubles team in the world, Montse Mejia and Alexandra Herrera, who made the finals of all seven competed LPRT pro doubles competitions last season, winning six.
– Team Eve Genesis is led by the legendary indoor and outdoor player Alvaro Beltran, who won 10 of the first 12 3WallBall pro doubles titles. He’s joined by up and coming outdoor fanatic Adam Manilla who has made the finals of Vegas the last two years and who is the #1 seed in the Pro Doubles draw this year. Team Eve also has the husband-wife team of Natera and Munoz on board; Munoz now has 10 women’s pro doubles outdoor titles in just the last five seasons. Lastly they have the services of Brenda Laime, who has quietly climbed the ranks of both the indoor and outdoor circuit.
The team competition will feature three rounds of doubles competition: one Men’s match, one Women’s match, and one Mixed match. Each match will be two games to 11. Every point counts; the winner of each match is going to be determined by total points.
On September 14th, Brian Pineda sat with 3WallBall founder Mike Coulter to draw cards, in true Las Vegas fashion, to determine the semi-final matchups. The matches, to be held on Tuesday September 24th at 5pm Vegas time, will be:
– KWM Gutterman Kings vs Team Genesis
– Pro Kennex versus Dovetail.
As it turns out, this is a great seeding because it almost precisely follows my personal seeding of the four teams.
Here’s my predictions
– In semi #1, KWM vs Genesis, we’ll probably see Waselenchuk & McDonald overpower Beltran & Manilla in the Men’s doubles tie, while Key/Longoria will be played tough by Munoz/Laime but will prevail. In the mixed ties, I suspect we’ll see Jake & Michelle taking on the Natera/Munoz pair, and Genesis will salvage a win but will lose the match.
– In semi #2, ProKennex vs Dovetail, I suspect DLR & Mar will have a fun, tactical match versus Carson & Lalo but will prevail. Then, the ProKennex pair of Lawrence & Scott will battle hard against Mejia & Herrera but will fall, leaving it to the mixed tie. Faced with a do-or-die situation, they leave the one-wall specialist Sostre on the sidelines and go with DLR & Scott, partners on and off the court, who take on Acuna & Herrera. DLR takes over and gets the win to advance to the final.
– In the final, KWM’s Waselenchuk & McDonald take on DLR and Mar in a fantastic battle, with Pro Kennex guys winning by the slimmest of margins. Key & Longoria win the grudge match of the ladies tie, crushing Scott & Lawrence. It leads to the Mixed tie, which DLR and Scott win, but thanks to the dominant women’s victory by Key & Longoria team KWM take the title.
Tune in on Tuesday evening wherever you are for this first-of-its-kind event. It is sure to be exciting. Follow WTR on Facebook for up-to-date announcements and scheduling: play will start at 6pm Vegas time each night on 9/24 and 9/25.
Dr Krinsky was the long-time coach of the Colorado State University – Pueblo (formerly known as the University of Southern Colorado), and was one of the most successful and decorated college coaches in the sport’s history. CSU-Pueblo is a standard bearer for collegiate programs in this country, and has competed against bigger and more well-funded schools for decades. Krinsky’s accomplishments earned him entry into his school’s athletic hall of fame in 2015, an amazing achievement for a racquetball-affiliated person. He deserves consideration for the USA Hall of Fame for his contributions to collegiate racquetball and to his home program.
After a battle with cancer, Dr. Krinsky passed away on 9/10/24.
Achievements:
– 5-time Overall National Champion: Dominated as the overall national champion in the years 1998-2000, 2018, and 2019.
– 14-time Men’s Team Title: Led the men’s team to 9 consecutive titles from 2004 to 2012.
– 1-time Women’s Team Title: Guided the women’s team to their first title in 2019.
– 118 Individual Titles: Secured 118 individual titles across men’s and women’s singles and doubles events.
Honors:
– CSU-Pueblo Athletics 2015 Hall of Fame Inductee: Recognized for exceptional contributions to sports as a special contributor. See https://gothunderwolves.com/honors/csu-pueblo-athletics-hall-of-fame/dr-richard-krinsky/58 for CSU Pueblo Athletics Hall of Fame page.
Contributions:
– Recruitment: Successfully recruited numerous student-athletes from both the US and internationally, enhancing the team’s talent and diversity.
– Fundraising and Development: Led fundraising efforts resulting in the construction of the only squash courts south of Colorado Springs, significantly boosting the local sports infrastructure. This record of achievement and contribution demonstrates an exceptional career deserving of hall of fame recognition.
Thanks to @jJeremy Mcglothin for the information contained herein.
One of the legends of our sport is no longer with us. Dr. Bud Muehleisen passed away early morning on 9/8/24 from a stroke in Fridley, Minnesota.
Dr. Bud, as he was known, was one of the very first champions of Racquetball, winning the 1969 US National title after pivoting from paddleball (where he had taken the 1966 and 1968 National titles). Once he began playing racquetball, he paired with the other top paddleball champion-convert to racquetball in Charlie Brumfield to form the most dominant doubles team of the early era. The pair, who both lived in Southern California, were instrumental in the early 1970s growth of pro racquetball, and were also the first outdoor national champions in 1974.
Dr. Bud was already in his mid 30s when he pivoted to racquetball and retired from pro play in early 1977 to focus on his career and volunteerism in the sport. He still played amateur divisions and won dozens of national titles along the way. He served on the IRA board for years (IRA was the precursor to the modern day USA Racquetball organization), helped define the rules of the sport, worked with manufacturers during the sport’s 1970s boom, was a frequent contributor to National Racquetball Magazine, and was a coach/mentor for years. To this day, the “Bud Muehleisen Award” is given out every year to the best male age group player of the year.
The “Doctor” of “Dr. Bud” was for dentistry, and he practiced for decades in La Mesa, a suburb of San Diego. He never forgot his roots though, and was a frequent visitor at the US Open and other major events.
He was in the inaugural inductee class to the USAR Hall of Fame in 1974 along with Joe Sobek, who invented the sport.
There are excellent tributes to Dr. Bud in Classic Racquetball from Chelsea George, who knew him well and was of the era. His HoF bio and his wikipedia page also give great details.
Borrowing from @Sudsy Monchik’s post: Condolences can be sent to Shannon Wright and family here (506 Rice Creek Terrace, Fridley MN 55432).
USA Racquetball Hall of Fame: https://www.usaracquetball.com/about/hall-of-fame
