Category: Amateur

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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)

——————–

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.

———————–

Men’s Open/Pro Singles:

– #1 seed Pruitt held serve, topping USA Junior national DJ Mendoza in one semi.

– #2 Robbie Collins took out former IRT touring pro Maurice Miller in the other semi.

In the final, Pruitt got a very solid win over the #15 ranked IRT pro Collins, winning an 11-9 tiebreaker thriller for the singles title.

———————–

Men’s Open Doubles:

– Mendoza teamed with his junior national coach Collins to form a solid lefty/righty pair, and delivered the title. In the final they beat the top amateur team of Pruitt & Austin Cunningham in a breaker.

———————–

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.

———————-

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).

———————-

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).

—-

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.

—————–

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.

————

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.

—–

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/

—

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.

—

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.

—

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.

——————-

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.

———————-

Men’s Doubles:

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

———————-

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.

—————

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.

—

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.

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2024 Mexican Junior Nationals Recap

This past weekend featured the 2024 Mexican Junior National tournament in Monterrey, Mexico. Mexico is the last of the “big 3” North American countries to hold its Junior Nationals, and the results of these events determine the national team members that will represent their country at the upcoming World Juniors in Guatemala in Late November/Early December.

Here’s a quick recap of the qualifiers and some commentary.

Mexican Junior tournament and qualification goes as follows: the entrants play a double elimination draw; the winner of the winner’s bracket is the champion and Junior National titlist, while the winner of the loser’s bracket is the 2nd player to join the delegation. This consolation bracket champ often is not the winner’s bracket finalist, and the format gives players hope of getting back on the team even with an early loss (read down for more). Mexico does not play any official doubles competitions at its junior nationals; the singles qualifiers will form the doubles teams at Worlds (unless something’s changed this year, because they played a full set of Mixed doubles divisions but not gender doubles.).

R2 site for 2024 Mexican Jr Nationals: https://www.r2sports.com/tourney/home.asp?TID=42398

Congrats to the following Boys singles finalists for team Mexico:

(click here https://rball.pro/olf for a Matrix of all Mexican boy’s titlists loaded into the database currently, dating to 2012)

– Boys 21U: Sebastian Hernandez & Erick Trujillo.

– Boys 18U: Jorge Gutierrez & Eder Renteria

– Boys 16U: Nicholas Galindo & Sebastian Ruelas

– Boys 14U: Brian Axel Sanchez & Santiago Castillo

– Boys 12U: Max Soto & Alejandro Robles Picon

– Boys 10U: Kerman Damian Gracia & Santiago Gullen

– Boys 8U: Daniel Alejandro Ayala & Yacu Hernandez

– Boys 8Udb: Enrique Rivera & Massimo Loretto Bustillo

Commentary on the older divisions:

Boys 21U gave us a big surprise early, as #2 seed and 10th ranked IRT player @Erick Trujillo was shocked by little-known @Christhian Sanchez in the opening round, knocking him from title contention. Sanchez then topped Luis Renteria (who was on the 18U team last year) to open some eyes before falling to Hernandez. Last year’s champion and #1 seed Diego Gastelum cruised to the final but was topped by 2022 18U champ @Sebastian Hernandez. Gastelum then got knocked out by Trujillo for the second team spot in the consolation final; Trujillo won 7 straight loser’s bracket matches to secure his spot in Guatemala.

Boys 18U featured a repeat winner in @Jorge Gutierrez, who did not drop a game and won the final 2,4,2. It’s the fourth straight junior national title for Jorge, to go along with several junior world titles. Gutierrez might be better than any of the 21U players right now, but has just one IRT appearance (in 2022 as a 16yr old). Lets hope he can find his way to some pro events soon. Eder Renteria , who owns 6 mexican junior titles himself. secured the 2nd national team spot as he moves up to 18U.

Boys 16U’s champ Nicholas Galindo hadn’t won a junior title in Mexico since 2016, but lived up to his seeding and knocked off last year’s champ and #1 seed

Sebastian Alejandro Ruelas in the final. Ruelas salvaged the second national team spot by taking the consolation bracket.

Bryan Axle Sanchez repeated in 14U. In 12U, Max Soto moved up from 12U to take the crown. Interestingly, four-time USA junior national champ Alejandro Robles Picon competed in Mexico and secured the second 12U national team spot. He won USA’s 12U last year. In 10U, Kerman Damian Gracia wins his 2nd junior title. New winners were had in both 8U and 8Udb.

—-

Congrats to the following Girls Singles finalists for team Mexico:

(click here: https://rball.pro/qcm for a Matrix of all Mexican Girls’s titlists loaded into the database currently, dating to 2012)

– Girls 21U: Ivanna Balderama & Angela Veronica Ortega

– Girls 18U: Yanna Salazar & Cynthia Gutierrez

– Girls 16U: Miranda Bazzara & Andrea Perez Picon

– Girls 14U: Danna Portillo & Danna Hernandez

– Girls 12U: Grissel Gómez Rubio & Michelle Gomez

– Girls 10U: Lia Montserrat Gonzalez Perez & Lia Medrano

– Girls 8Udb: Jocelyn_Dominguez_Chavez & Andrea_Carrasco

Commentary on the older divisions:

21U sees a changing of the guard, as 2-time defending champ Maria Gutierrez ahs aged out, and last year’s finalist and #1 seed Leonela Osorio failed to secure one of the two spots. Instead they go to @Ivanna Balderrama , who moved up to 21U for the first time this year and who hadn’t won a junior title since 2019. The 2nd spot goes to frequent LPRT tour player @AAngela Veronica Vera Ortega .

In 18U, defending champ Cynthia Gutierrez was upset by rising 17yr old @Yanna Salazar , runner-up last year in 16U. Salazar topped Gutierrez both in the round robin stage and then again for the title. Last year’s 16U title winner Trujillo failed to secure a team spot as she moved up to the competitive 18U division.

In 16U, Miranda Bazzara, the 14U titlist two years ago, took the division as the #1 seed. In the semis she took out last year’s 14U champ Farias, and then in the final, she topped Andrea Perez Picon, who like her brother is switching to represent Mexico for now, or for this year (if they have dual citizenship, they can continue to play for/represent either country I believe).

in 14U, last year’s finalist Danna Portillo went a step further and secured the title. In 12U, Grissel Gomez Rubio dethroned the defending champ Michelle Gomez. Lastly we got new winners in 10U and 8U divisions for Mexico.

———————–

Congrats to all the Mexican Junior National title winners for 2024, and congrats to the National team qualifiers as well.

Congrats to Favio Soto for another successful Mexican national tournament.

International Racquetball Tour

@LPRT

Federación Mexicana de Raquetbol

International Racquetball Federation – IRF

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Canadian Nationals 2024 Recap

Murray continues his reign atop Canadian Men’s Racquetball. Photo 2019 US Open Kevin Savory

This past weekend, @Racquetball Canada held its all-encompassing National championships in Calgary. Unlike other countries where singles, doubles, and Juniors are held separately, Canada now has them all on the same weekend. So we have a ton of titlists to cover.

Congrats to your 2024 Canada National Open Singles winners on the weekend:

– Men’s Singles: Samuel Murray

– Women’s Singles: @Frederique Lambert

Congrats to your 2024 Canada National Open Doubles winners on the weekend:

– Men’s Doubles: @Christian Pocsai and @Trevor Ward

– Women’s Doubles: Frederique Lambert & Michele Morissette

(Canada doesn’t separately compete Mixed Doubles, instead selecting the international Mixed partners from the qualified pool)

And, Congrats to your 2024 Canadian Junior National Singles Champions:

– Boys 21U: Christian Pocsai

– Boys 18U: Leyton Gouldie

– Boys 16U: Raphael Guillemette

– Boys 14U: Oren Gouldie

– Girls 18U: Ofelia Wilscam

– Girls 16U: Kaitlyn Couckuyt

– Girls 14U: Ariana Buller

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/1000485/4657/0/F/

——————

Men’s Open Singles

PRS report: https://rball.pro/d6m

Murray wins his 6th straight Canadian Nationals title and his 18th Canadian National-level singles event in a walk-over win against his frequent finals rival #2 seed Coby Iwaasa , who couldn’t reschedule some work-related exams and forfeited the final. This event featured the fun return of former Canadian great Roger Harripersad, two-time Canadian champ in 1985 and 1989.

——————

Women’s Open Singles

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

Lambert won her 4th straight Canadian national title, and her 6th overall, with a straightforward tournament where she did not lose a game. #2 seed and finalist Juliette Parent made her 2nd straight national final and seems to have taken the reigns as “next best” female Canadian right now from the likes of Morisste, Key, and Ramsay in the Canadian pecking order.

——————

Men’s Doubles:

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

Sam & @Tommy Murray were upset in the finals of Canadian doubles for the 2nd year running, this time by @Trevor Webb and @Christian Pocsai. Webb wins his 2nd ever title while long-time junior champion Pocsai takes his first ever Canadian adult title.

——————

Women’s Doubles:

Lambert wins her 5th Canadian National title, the first of which came way back in 2010. Morissette also wins her 5th, and the pair have won the last three straight. The Parent sisters return to the final for the first time since 2021 but are still waiting for their big breakthrough.

——————

Boys Junior Results.

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

Christian Pocsai graduates out of 18U and dethrone’s last year’s 21U champ Gauri, and wins his family’s 10th career junior title. Meanwhile, the Gouldie brothers Leyton and Oren take 18U and 14U respectively. Rafael Guillemette repeats as 16U champ, almost 20 years after Francis Guillemette took the 16U title in Canada in 1995.

——————

Girls Junior Results.

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

Ofelia Wilscam wins the Wilscam clan’s 7th junior title in 18U, after a couple of down years on the Canada junior circuilt. Kaitlyn Couckuyt moves up one division after taking last year’s 14U division and wins again. Lastly a debut jr title for Ariana Buller, two years after her older sister won 14U.

——————

That’s a wrap for Racquetball Canada Nationals for 2024. 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

In two weeks time the season ending LPRT event!

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2024 Warhawk Open Recap

Congrats to your Pro/Open winners on the weekend:

– Singles: Erick Trujillo

– Doubles: @Cole Sendrey & @Robert Collins

R2 Sports App home page for event: https://www.r2sports.com/tourney/home.asp?TID=41953

——————

Let’s review the notable matches in the Singles draw.

—————

In the 16s, we got some good first round matches for the neutrals.

– Georgia’s @Austin Cunningham got a solid win over U21 DJ Mendoza in a breaker in the 8/9 match.

– @Brennen Jennings got the win over Yacouba Keita 13,8.

– Richard Eisemann stretched #2 seed @Erick Trujillo to a tie-breaker before falling; great showing against an irt top 10 player.

—————-

In the Quarters, a couple big upsets:

– #1 Carter worked his way past Cunningham 10,9

– U18 Cole Sendry topped former IRT touring pro @Maurice Miller in two games 8,9. Solid win for Sendrey.

– Dylan Pruitt shocked lefty IRT touring veteran Robert Collins 9,12 for the biggest upset of the round.

– Trujillo was pushed a bit but moved past Jennings 11,11

—————

In the Semis

– #1 Carter held serve and downed the kid phenom Sendrey 9,7

– #2 Trujillo cruised past Maryland amateur Pruitt 6,4 to setup the expected 1-2 final

In the Finals, Trujillo topped Carter 10,7 to take the title.

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Doubles review

The top 2 seeds were upset late friday, sending a couple of unexpected teams into the final. #1 Pruitt/Cunningham were taken out by Carter & Flowers in one semi (probably not really an upset given how well Carter is playing these days), while Sendry & Collins took out Miller & Trujillo in an 11-10 thriller.

This left the two lefty touring pros facing off in the final. There, Sendrey & Collins cruised to the title, beating Carter & Flowers 3,9.

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Thanks for all the streaming on the weekend from the usual streaming sources, like Iceman and Jennings and Mendoza. It’s always good to watch some live racquetball.

Thanks to the Tourney Directors and Sponsors for making this event happen.

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Next up?

Per our handy master racquetball calendar …

https://docs.google.com/…/1V6OTid6rZ356voXVkoV2…/edit…

PARC is now underway with the group stages. I’ll put out a knockout round preview once the groups are done.

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tags

USA Racquetball

International Racquetball Tour