Category: Amateur

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2025 Canadian Nationals Recap

Huge double gold weekend for Iwaasa. Photo 2015 Portland IRT event by Kevin Savory

This past weekend, Racquetball Canada held its all-encompassing National championships in Burlington, Ontario. National titles and National team spots were handed in in Singles, Doubles, and Juniors. Here’s a quick summary of the winners and a recap of the surprising results in the Adults.

Congrats to your 2025 Canada National Open Singles winners on the weekend:

– Men’s Singles: Coby Iwaasa

– Women’s Singles: Frederique Lambert

Congrats to your 2025 Canada National Open Doubles winners on the weekend:

– Men’s Doubles: Coby Iwaasa and Kurtis Cullen

– Women’s Doubles: Frederique Lambert & Michelle Morissette

Congrats to Iwaasa in particular, getting the double Gold at Nationals for the first time ever. Also props to double-gold winner Lambert, who continues her run atop Canada racquetball despite a full time Medical career.

(Reminder: Canada doesn’t separately compete Mixed Doubles as US & Mexico does, instead selecting the international Mixed partners from the qualified pool)

Congrats to your 2025 Canadian Junior National Singles Champions:

– Boys 21U: Nathan Jauvin

– Boys 18U: Leyton Gouldie

– Boys 16U: Kyrylo Tkach

– Boys 14U: Oren Gouldie

– Girls 21U: Ofelia Wilscam

– Girls 18U: Chloe Jauvin

– Girls 16U: Kaitlyn Couckuyt

– Girls 14U: Talia King

We’ll do some commentary for each of the groups down below.

Trackie Sports App home page for event: https://secure.racquetballcanada.ca/entry-list/matches/1014510/4625/0/F/

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Men’s Open Singles

PRS report: https://rball.pro/a74e99

We had a relatively huge upset in the Men’s Open finals, with long-time #2 @Coby Iwaasa topping #1 Samuel Murray in four games for the title. This is the first time Sam has been dethroned as Canada’s national singles champion since 2017, and its Coby’s first title since 2015. These two have met in the finals of the last 18 straight national-level events in Canada (qualifiers and nationals), and this is just the second time Iwaasa has taken a match from Big Sam in that span (Iwaasa topped Murray for his 2015 title).

Webb & Cullen made the semis as #3 and #5 seeds.

See https://rball.pro/879898 for a list of all Men’s Canada National finals.

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Women’s Open Singles

PRS report: https://rball.pro/5deb35

Dr. Frederique Lambert won her 5th straight Canadian National title, and her 7th overall dating back to 2015, by beating 3-time runner up @Juliette Parent in the final. The women’s field was a bit thin this year, missing a couple of perennial competitors in Keay and Richardson who are normally semis/finals competitors.

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Men’s Doubles:

PRS Report: https://rball.pro/7254d9

The Men’s draw was opened up early by an injury to #1 seeds and 2024 champs Trevor Webb & Christian Pocsai, which opened a pathway for the 2023 champs Iwaasa & Cullen to the throne. This is Iwaasa’s 5th National doubles title and Cullen’s 2nd. They topped 3-time champions the Murray brothers Sam & Tommy in the semis to earn their spot in the final, where they defeated the newbies @Leyton Gouldie and @Asher Pocsai.

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Women’s Doubles:

PRS Report: https://rball.pro/d603c8

Lambert and @Michele Morissette combined to take their fourth straight National title together. Each now owns 6 titles overall (Lambert won two others earlier in her career, and Morissette won two in the late 2010s with Keay. They topped a small round robin group for the title.

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Boys Junior Results.

Matrix report of all Canadian Junior boys champs: https://rball.pro/ny4

Nathan Jauvin took the 21U title, his 8th career Junior title in Canada. He wins 21U in his last year of eligibility to compete a sweep of the five main age groups in his career. Leyton Gouldie tacked on a gold in 18U to his silver in Adult doubles, repeating as champ. Kyrylo Tkach got his first 16U title after winning twice at the 14U level. Lastly. a younger member of the Gouldie family Oren Gouldie repeated as 14U champ.

The Boys 14U draw was, by far, the largest draw at this event, with nearly 20 competitors as compared to the handful of juniors in most other draws. I’m not sure if there was a wave of middle schoolers picking up the sport in Canada or not, but it’s great to see and I hope that class continues.

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Girls Junior Results.

Matrix report of all Canadian Junior boys champs: https://rball.pro/5zu

The 21U awarded a champ for the first time in several years, with Ofelia Wilscam moving up from last year’s 18U title to claim the 21U title over Mercy Coughey. Canada definitely had a weird “gap” in their Girls Junior ranks, skipping 18U and 21U for a couple of years, but they seem “back” now. Chloe Jauvin won her 7th Junior title and she’s won in every age group available so far during her career. Kaitlyn Couckuyt repeated as 16U champ and has now won 3 straight Junior national titles. Talia King is a first-time junior national champ in 14U.

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That’s a wrap for Racquetball Canada Nationals for 2025. We’ll be back next fall with their qualifier.

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Next up?

Per our handy master racquetball calendar …

https://docs.google.com/spreadsheets/d/1V6OTid6rZ356voXVkoV2sN7KMMbIP9SZd0MssH_nPGU/edit?usp=sharing

There’s an IRT satellite in New Mexico next weekend, then the LPRT has a spot at an old stoping ground of mine in Herndon, VA. Later this month is Outdoor Nationals, which has teamed up with @3wallball this year.

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USAR National Indoors 2025 National Championships Wrap-up

Erika Manilla with two national titles in 2025. Photo 2021 US Open via Kevin Savory

Congrats to your US National Team winners on the weekend:

– Men’s Singles: @Daniel De La Rosa over @Jake Bredenbeck

– Women’s Singles: Naomi Ros over Hollie Scott

– Men’s Doubles: @Rocky Carson / @David ” Bobby” Horn

– Women’s Doubles: @Michelle Key / Erika Manilla

– Mixed Doubles: Erik Garcia / Erika Manilla

Exec Summary: Erika Manilla double-qualifies. DLR retains his US National singles title. Michelle Key returns to the team with her doubles win. Horn returns to the time for the first time since 2019, while both Garcia and Ros secure their first ever National team spots.

Lastly, Carson qualifies for what I believe is his 22nd US National team, returning to the team after a three year hiatus. He qualified for his first team in 2000, then was a near annual member for the entirety of the 21st century before semi-retiring from competing two years ago.

The 2025-26 US National team is now set. The winners above along with the singles finalists have first right of refusal for the next set of international events: The World Games in August 2025 in China and the annual PARC tournament next spring in a site TBD (usually Guatemala City).

R2 Sports App home page for event: https://www.r2sports.com/tourney/home.asp?TID=46012

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Let’s review the notable matches in the draws.

Men’s Singles

Match report in the PRS database: https://rball.pro/f0e28f

Former IRT touring pro and now pickleball professional returned to racquetball for the first time since Worlds last August to repeat as US National singles champion. Despite being the defending titlist, he was for some reason seeded third here, but eased his way through Ayan Sharma, Sam Bredenbeck, Bobby Horn, and then beating Jake Bredenbeck in a rematch of the 2024 championship.

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Women’s Singles:

Match report in the PRS database: https://rball.pro/b7da98

It was great to see long-time US National team member Rhonda Rajsich competing; we havn’t seen her since an LPRT stop in Arizona a couple years ago. She fell to Hollie early. A last minute withdrawal of four-time Nationals finalist Lawrence opened up the bottom half of the draw, and Texan Naomi Ros took full advantage, topping her fellow recently-matriculated junior Annie Sanchez in the semis to secure her first spot on the Adult national team. She didn’t stop there, beating defending national champ Scott in the final to give her both the 18U national title and the Adult team national title simultaneously, something that has only been done twice in the history of the sport (Michelle Gould in 1989 and Jack Huczek in 2001).

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Men’s Doubles:

Match report in the PRS database: https://rball.pro/bdb054

Grizzled veteran Rocky Carson teamed with Bobby Horn (playing in his home club) to shock the defending US National doubles champions De La Rosa/Fernandez in the semis, then finished off their title-run by beating the Bredenbeck brothers in the final. It’s the fourth time in the last five years Jake & Sam have been losing national finalists. Horn returns to the team for the first time in 6 years, while Carson makes the team just a few days before he turns 46, a level we havn’t seen on the team since the Ruben Gonzalez glory years.

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Women’s Doubles:

Match report in the PRS database: https://rball.pro/7b93c3

Just three teams entered this year’s Women’s US team qualifying, and 2023 champions Manilla & Key held firm to re-qualify for 2025 by beating their two rivals. They certainly had to work for it, with the “final” going 5 games against Scott & York.

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Mixed Doubles:

Match report in the PRS database: https://rball.pro/c377cf

As has become tradition, the Mixed Doubles event was the first to play to completion, and it started off with a huge upset. Defending Mixed National champs De La Rosa & Scott were upended by #5 @Robbie Collins and Annie Sanchez (nee Roberts) in the semis in four games. Perhaps DLR’s time away from the sport showed in his play, but they went one-and done. Collins & Sanchez couldn’t complete the deed, falling in the finals to #3 seeds Erika Manilla & Erik Garcia for the title. Manilla recaptures her Mixed title won in 2023 with her brother, while Garcia qualifies for his first ever National team.

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Other notable draws:

– Men’s Open: @Ty Hedalen repeated as Men’s Open champ, beating the visa-less Veronica Sotomayor in the final.

– Women’s Open: 15-yr old Andrea Perez-Picon, who switched to compete in Mexico for the 2024 season, swept through the Women’s Open RR group, defeating her sister Estefania in the final. In case you’re wondering, non-US citizens can compete in non-US Team qualifying at US Nationals … as well as dual citizens.

– Men’s Open Doubles: Rocky didn’t get enough doubles work winning the National title, so he competed in Open Doubles with Charles George and took that title too.

– Women’s Open Doubles: Hometown favorites Angela Grisar and Erica Williams took the Women’s Open Doubles title.

– Mixed Open Doubles; The Perez-Pincon brother/sister team of Alejandro and Andrea out-pointed Mark Frank & Veronica Sotomayor to take the Mixed Open title.

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Thanks to the Tourney Directors from @USA Racquetball for putting together 2025’s National event. Congrats to the Hall of Fame inductees, the others recognized at the annual awards, and for those 175 or so players traveling to compete.

Thanks to the Tourney Sponsors this year, which included WIS International, Gearbox/Rafael Filipini, KWM gutterman/Keith Minor, FixmyRacquet.com, RacquetX, and AGE Solutions/Andy Gomer.

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Next up?

Per our handy master racquetball calendar …

https://docs.google.com/…/1V6OTid6rZ356voXVkoV2sN7KMMbI…

We have Canadian Nationals next weekend, then a slew of events in June, including a LPRT event in DC, Outdoor Nationals, and US Junior Nationals.

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tags

@USA Racquetball

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2025 USA Racquetball Intercollegiates wrap up

A quick post to recap 2025’s Intercollegiates tournament, a 50+ year tradition in the United States.

Congrats to the individual winners:

– Men’s Intercollegiate Singles Champ: Cole Sendrey, Texas A&M

– Women’s Intercollegiate Singles Champ: @Ella Boaz, University of Missouri.

Missouri gets its third Intercollegiates champion, following @John Dowell’s title in 2023 and Hall of Famer @Jerry Hilecher , who won the very first intercollegiate title held in 1973. Sendrey wins Texas A&M’s first ever individual title, defeating 2024’s champion @Benjamin Horner in the final. Chicago legend @Tim Sweeney remains the sole 4-time Intercollegiate champion in the history of the sport, though we’ve had several 3-time winners (Andy Roberts, Jack Huczek, Ben Croft, Barb Faulkenberry, Tammy Brockbank, Kristen Walsh, and most recently @Carla Muñoz .

Memphis State (now the University of Memphis) remains the leader in individual singles titles, with 12 on the Men’s side and 7 on the Women’s side, having dominated the collegiate level of the sport for much of the 70s and 80s.

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In the team competition, Oregon State swept all three team events (Men’s, Women’s, and Combined). This is the first team sweep since Missouri did it in 2022, and is Oregon State’s 2nd such team sweep (they first did the deed in 2013).

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I maintain a list of all the individual and team champs at this Google xls, now updated for 2025:

https://docs.google.com/…/1vDHJFTDyxlKXpaLKn7…/edit…

You can see more about the history of all the Intercollegiate champions (and not just the #1 gold divisions) at this history link at USAR’s website:

https://www.usaracquetball.com/…/Intercollegiate-champions

Congrats to all the individuals and team champions!

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2025 Warhawk Open and World Team Racquetball Event #2 Recap

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.

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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.

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2025 Campeonato Nacional FMR (aka Mexican Nationals) Recap

Trujillo teamed with Hernandez to win his first Adult national title. Photo Kevin Savory/US Open 2021

The FMR, aka the @federacion Mexicana de Raquetbol, held its 2025 National championships at the famous FitMax courts that have defined the Chihuahua racquetball scene for decades. This event serves to select the Mexican National team that will compete for this year’s slate of International Racquetball Federation – IRF events that Mexico is eligible for, namely the upcoming PARC event in Guatemala.

Interestingly, the federation already decided its two participants for the upcoming 2025 World Games, discussed with the team that played in Worlds last fall and determined to be the male and female who advanced the furthest in Singles. That ended up being 13-time pro champ Paola Longoria (who won) and @Eduardo Portillo Rendon (who made the semis ahead of his teammate Parrilla).

That may have played a part in the smaller draws here, and some missing top names. Defending champ Parrilla was not present; per a source he has been battling an injury and had a trip already planned that ended up conflicting with the event once the FMR settled on a date. Also missing from this event on the Men’s this year were long-time competitors DLR (converted to USA), Landa (retired), Beltran (retired), Alonso, Natera (converted to Chile), Garay and Estrada (stepped back), Polo Gutierrez (stepped back), former top juniors like Gutierrez & Sanchez, Christian Longoria (only played doubles), and a slew of frequent IRT players like Nieto, Valadez, Erick Cuevas Fernandez, Arteaga, and a few other lesser known players. All these guys used to make this a full round of 32 draw and would result in crazy results.

Lets recap what happened in Chihuahua for those that did come.

Men’s Open Singles Recap.

PRS report: https://rball.pro/077f23

Tourney director @Favio Soto predicted that the home court would play a role here, and it definitely did, with 5 of the 8 quarterfinalists hailing from this area, 3 of the 4 semi-finalists, and both finalists. #12 seed @Javier Mar, who never seems to rate a top seed at these events, cruised past fellow IRT touring pros Carlos Ramirez and Erick Trujiollo in the first two rounds before downing #1 seed @Eduardo Portillo

in the semis to make the final from the top-side

The bottom half of the draw was appreciably thinned for #2 seed Rodrigo Montoya Racquetball , who handled Martell in the quarters and then U21 starlet Javi Sebastian Hernandez in the semis who setup a final against his long-time doubles partner. In the final, Montoya took three close games over the classy Mar to claim the National title, his 3rd.

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Women’s Open Singles Recap:

PRS Report: https://rball.pro/98caa3

Unlike with the men, where home-town players From Chihuahua dominated play, the top four ladies all currently live in the same place: Monterrey. The top four seeds, all top-8 players on the @LPRT tour, advanced as expected to the semis.

Longoria topped her doubles partner Salas in one semi, while Mejia topped her doubles partner Herrera in the other, to setup the third straight meeting between Montse and Paola for the National title. And, like the previous two meetings, Longoria came through with the win, claiming her 11th title in the last 12 years and what is probably her 13th or 14th career title (our records only go back 2008).

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Men’s Doubles Recap:

PRS report: https://rball.pro/4841f8

The u21 team of Trujillo & Hernandez overcame Portillo/Martell to make the final from the bottom side, then shocked the #1 seeds Montoya & Mar, who were making their 8th straight final but who got upended by their youthful rivals for their first title.

Women’s Doubles Recap:

PRS Report: https://rball.pro/22ebc2

Only four teams entered, and we got the same final that we normally get on tour: Longoria & Salas vs Mejia & Herrera. Longoria & Salas reversed the trend from the last two years this time around and secured the title, earning Longoria a double on the weekend. It is (I believe) their 16th national title together.

(Note: Mexico doesn’t hold mixed doubles competitions like the USA; they select their mixed team from the qualified players ahead of each event).

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Congrats to all 2025’s Mexican National champs.

Next up on the racquetball calendar? Next weekend features @USA Racquetball High School Nationals in Portland as well as an @International Racquetball Tour satellite event in New Mexico.

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2024-25 Canada National Selection Event – Winter Event Quick Recap

Last weekend, Racquetball Canada held the second of its two annual selection events, which help seed nationals and serve as qualifiers for upcoming international events. Though the 2025 Canadian National teams that will represent Canada at the 2025 PARC (Guatemala City in April and the World Games in China in August) have not yet been announced, we now have a good idea who will do the representing based on these two events.

Website for results: https://secure.racquetballcanada.ca/…/1014509/50101/0/M/

Here’s a quick recap

Men’s Open

prs report: https://rball.pro/f0f8fe

For the 17th time in the last 18 Canada Men’s Open events held, the singles final was @sSamuel Murray versus @Coby Iwaasa . And for the 16th time, Sam prevailed, winning in four games to secure the title (his 20th career Canadian nationals-level title, tying him for 2nd all time).

Women’s Open:

prs report: https://rball.pro/acf42e

@Frederique Lambert cruised to a title from a thinned field missing a couple of big names in Canadian racquetball, winning the 5-person round robin competition with a comprehensive sweep of all five games. @Juliette Parent came in 2nd.

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With their respective wins, and with their wins last fall, both Murray and Lambert presumably have locked up the two Canadian slots for the 2025 World Games in China; they’ll be the singles entrants and will play Mixed Doubles together.

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5th Annual Average Joe’s Tournament Recap

Jake with the double in Jersey. Photo Kevin Savory 2020 USAR national doubles

This past weekend was a fun annual tradition; the racquetball-mad Kelley brothers hosted their 5th annual Average Joe’s Event at their custom built court on their property in New Jersey.

Last year’s event was plagued with issues, when a foot of snow hit the Kelley house and wreaked havoc on the electricity.

So, what happened in 2025? Well, four current or former touring pros showed up on the Kelley’s doorstep, which pushed 2024 champ Sendrey down to be the 5th seed. Your top 8 seeds in singles were: Sebastian Franco, Jake Bredenbeck, Momo Zelada, Sam Bredenbeck, Cole Sendrey, Joe Kelley, Jose Flores, and Kyle Ulliman.

Ulliman fell in the 8/9 game to co-host and 2023 champ Sam Kelley; the rest of the seeds went through unscathed. All four top seeds took care of business in the quarters to face off in the semis. There:

– In the top half, Franco moved past Sam Bredenbeck

– From the bottom half, Jake took care of Momo to give us a 1v2 final.

In the final, Jake took out Franco to claim the singles title.

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In doubles, Sam & Joe Kelley upset the #2 seeds from Maryland Momo & Franco early, but couldn’t take out two-time defending doubles champ Dylan Pruitt & parter Sendrey from the bottom half, putting the two young guns in the final.

The Bredenbeck’s held serve as the #1 seed, topping the team of Dixon & Flores in the other semi.

In the final, Jake made it a double for the weekend and prevented a 3-peat by Dylan by taking the title with brother Sam.

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Event Winner Archive:

Singles:

– 1st Annual in 2021: Joe Kelley over Austin Cunningham

– 2nd Annual 2022: Kyle Ulliman over Victor Migliore

– 3rd Annual 2023: Sam Kelley over Victor Migliore

– 4th Annual 2024: Cole Sendrey over Kyle Ulliman

– 5th Annual 2025: Jake Bredenbeck over Sebastian Franco

Doubles:

– 2021: (no doubles event)

– 2022: (no doubles event)

– 2023: Pruitt/Bleyer

– 2024: Pruitt/Cunningham

– 2025: Bredenbeck/Bredenbeck

That’s it for the 2025 Kelley Invitational.

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Racquetball Canada Fall Selection Event Recap

Sam Murray wins his 19th career Canadian title (photo via Rball Canada)

While us pilgrims in the US were celebrating Thanksgiving and watching football, Racquetball Canada held the first of its two “Selection” events for its national team, with the nation’s top players heading to Brandon, Manitoba, Canada for the 2024 Fall Selection Event.

Here’s a quick recap of the event with some fun stats.

Website for results: https://secure.racquetballcanada.ca/entry-list/matches/1014507/

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Men’s Open singles Recap

Match Report in PRS database: https://rball.pro/oe6

@Samuel Murray and Coby Iwaasa met in the finals for the 15th time out of the last 16 Canadian national events, continuing their collective stranglehold on the Canadian men’s scene. In this final, Murray collected his 19th Canadian title with a come-from-behind victory over his long-time rival.

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Women’s Open Singles recap:

Frederique Lambert also won her 19th career Canadian Nationals event, topping Danielle (Drury) Ramsay in the finals. Ramsay upset @Juliette Parent to get to the finals, breaking up what had been the last four Canadian national event finals.

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Next up for Racquetball Canada will be the second Selection event of the 2024-25 season next February, both of which help seed players for the May 2025 Nationals that determines their National team.

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San Luis Open 2024 Recap

Trujillo took out three tough IRT pros to take the SLP Open. Photo Kevin Savory/US Open 2021

There was another big-time non-sanctioned pro event last weekend, featuring a ton of top-level talent in the Mexican racquetball hotbed of San Luis Potosi; the 2024 San Luis Open. The pro draws were solid and we saw some big-time matchups last weekend. Here’s a run down of the action.

r2sports site: https://www.r2sports.com/tourney/home.asp?TID=45655

Men’s Open Singles:

Nearly all top 10 seeds are now household names to regular followers of the Men’s Pro game, and included a couple of players who have made huge impacts this season. The seeds held to the quarters, then we saw some fireworks.

– #1 @Andree Parrilla downed @Oscar Elias Nieto in the first QF with ease.

– In the second QF, #5 Erick Trujillo shocked #4 Jordy Alonso in four close games (they were playing international scoring rules). Alonso of course had made deep runs in both IRT events he’s entered, while Trujillo has been grinding his way into the top 8 and this is a solid win for the youngster.

– #6 Andres Acuña , probably underseeded, topped #3 Sebastian Hernandez in a five game thriller. Hernandez is no slouch: he was the 2022 18U world c hamp and is the reigning 21U Mexican champion, but has never played an IRT event.

– #2 Eduardo Portillo Rendon downed SLP local @Emir Martinez in three.

In the semis:

– Trujillo took out #1 Parrilla in four tight games, all of which went 11-9 one way or the other. A great win for Trujillo to build on.

– In the other semi, Portillo eased past Acuna as one might expect based on their h2h history.

In the final, Trujillo finished the job and took out Lalo for the title. Quite an event for Trujillo, beating Alonso, Parrilla, and Portillo in succession.

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Women’s Open

Just a ho-hum local open draw: four top-10 LPRT pros plus the 2024 U21 and 2023 u18 Mexican champs. How did it play out?

In the quarters, the two junior champs fell to the touring pros, leaving us with an all-LPRT semis. In the first semi, #1 Paola Longoria cruised past #4 Jessica Parrilla in three straight games, while from the lower side #2 Montse Mejia took out her doubles partner #3 @Alexandra Herrera in four.

In the final, Mejia reversed a recent losing trend to Paola and won a 5-game thriller for the title.

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Men’s Doubles:

Portillo & Parrilla teamed up to take the doubles title, beating Alonso & Acuna in the final.

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Next up, Golden State Open! we’ll preview the draw ahead of the thursday kickoff.

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2nd Annual Xelani Open Recap

Diego with the double in Miami. Photo by Kevin Savory, 2018 US Open

2nd Annual Xelani Open Recap

We may not have had any sanctioned/official pro racquetball last weekend but we did have an excellent draw at the @Alex Zamudio hosted Xelani Open, held on the campus of the University of Miami. Here’s a recap.

r2 sports home page: https://www.r2sports.com/tourney/home.asp?TID=45108

24 players representing seven different countries and including a massive contingent from Bolivia traveled to south Florida to compete. The top two seeds were last year’s finalists Ecuadorian Jose Daniel Ugalde Albornoz and Mexican @Diego Gastelum , who went on a fantastic run to make the final in Feb 2023.

Here’s a recap of the action.

In Men’s Singles:

– The only upset by seed in the early rounds of note was Bolvian Anduari Segundo, a complete unknown to the PRS researchers, who took out #11 Colombian Andres Gomez in the 32s then top east coast amateur @Dylan Pruitt (recently relocated from Maryland to Florida) in the 16s.

– In the quarters, Ugalde went breaker to set down Bolivian youngster Miguel Arteaga before moving on. @Mario Mercado, former IRT touring pro and former IRT Tier 1 Champion, set down top Bolivian Junior @Jhonatan Flores in three (Flores is the reigning 18U world champ and took out Jake Bredenbeck at the IRT stop in Chicago earlier this year). Bolivian turned Argentine @Diego Garcia Quispe set down the upset-minded Segundo in two,

– The big upset at this juncture was #2 seed Gastelum being dominated by recently crowned Virginia state champ @Ezequiel Subieta in two 7,9. Subieta has a solid pedigree; he represented Bolivia in the 2019 World Juniors as a 14 yr old, getting upset as a top seed in the knockouts. We havn’t heard from him since, but he’s in line to be playing in his age 19 season in 2024.

– In the semis, last year’s champion went down in defeat, an upset by seed but not by talent. Mercado cruised past Ugalde 7,6. Meanwhile, the always dangerous Garcia handled the upstart Subieta 8,9 to setup a great final between two under-rated players.

– In the singles final, Garcia really took it to the veteran Mercado, winning the first game 15-2 before finishing things off 15-9.

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Open Doubles recap:

As it turned out, the top four singles seeds all teamed up to form the top 2-seeds in Doubles, and they ended up playing for the title. In the final. #2 Gastelum & Garcia split the first two games 15-14, 14-15 with the #1 seeds Mercado & Ugalde before pulling away late to win the breaker 11-7 and to give Garcia the double.

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that’s a wrap from Miami. We’ll recap the excellent SLP local event next. Next up on the rball calendar is the IRT Golden State Open, held this coming weekend in Pleasanton. For now, its the last opportunity for pros to earn points towards the 2024 year end title race, so its gonna be a big one.