Category: Doubles

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2023 World Singles & Doubles Preview

Kane is Back. Photo US Open 2019, Photographer Kevin Savory

NOTE: just after publishing this, the LPRT changed the pro draw, changing someof the matchups. Unfortunately the Ladies pro section of this now is out of date.

Hello Racquetball Fans! Welcome to 2023 World Singles and Doubles, being held in and around Highland Ranch, Colorado. It will be the biggest indoor tournament of the year, an event two years in the making which boasts a huge prize purse and one of the most rare events in the sport: Pro Mixed Doubles. This event is the first event of the new LPRT 2023-24 season, and it marks the beginning of the second half of the IRT’s 2023 season, and holds intrigue across the board for both tours.

R2 Sports App link: https://www.r2sports.com/tourney/home.asp?TID=39922

Both pro tours have healthy attendance. There’s 56 men and 35 women in Denver, numbers not approached on either side since the last US Open. Most of the top 20 on both sides is present, and the Men’s side features the triumphant return to the court of 14-time #1 Kane Waselenchuk after a 10 month absence due to an injury sustained last September.

The big question mark, of course, is Kane’s fitness and match prep. He played in Outdoor Nationals a few weeks ago, but outdoor doubles is a vastly different experience than indoor pro singles. He’s now nearing 42 years of age, coming off a full-blown Achilles heel injury, and nobody (besides him) really knows how he’ll be prepared for a pro singles event. Especially one at altitude. It isn’t as if he forgot how to play the sport, and if he makes a deep run in Denver I’ll simultaneously be surprised and not surprised. I honestly don’t know what to predict; an early exit or a title, or something in-between. I do know this: Kane generally has played with a chip on his shoulder after long absences, looking to make a statement, so opponents beware.

We’re previewing the IRT, LPRT, and Mixed Pro draws here. There are also “Open” Doubles on both sides with strong draws, but which won’t “count” as pro events since they’re not full pro purses, as well as the regular Open singles draws for the non-top 10 players.

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IRT Men’s Singles preview

There’s two rounds of qualifiers into the main draw of 32; the top 16 players got byes into the 32s, and everyone else had to play at least one qualifier.

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Qualifiers that look interesting:

– Nick Riffel vs @Juan Jose Salvatierra could be a tough match, assuming former touring pro Riffel gets past his round of 128 match.

– Cole Sendry vs @Edwin Galicia is a nice test for the USA U18 up and coming player.

– Erick Trujillo should have the advantage over Bolivian doubles specialist Roland Keller , but this is no cakewalk for either player.

– Former IRT top 10 player @Carlos Keller Vargas projects to face former Intercollegiates champ @Erik Garcia for a spot in the main draw.

– Maryland’s own @Dylan Pruitt , if he can get past Canadian national team member @Naman Gaur , projects into @Erick Cuevas Fernandez in a match that could go either way.

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Round of 32 matches to watch for:

– #9 @Adam Manilla vs Waselenchuk; Manilla is the unlucky top 10 player who gets Kane in the first round. These two played in the tournament where Kane got injured last fall, with Manilla losing 11,7. Since then, Adam has played well and is on home courts. But I’ll pick Kane to advance here.

– #12 Thomas Carter projects to get qualifier @Diego García in the round of 32, another non-full time playing pro who can do some damage. These two played at PARC in April in Guatemala and Garcia came out on top, one of several impressive wins for the young Bolivian-turned-Argentine in that event. I’ll go with Garcia with the upset here.

– #13 Alan Natera versus #20 Sam Bredenbeck could be tight; how far has Sam’s singles game come in the past few months? Natera is climbing up the ranks quietly, and will be favored to advance.

– #14 Jaime Martell projects to play countryman Trujillo, if Erick can advance past Roland. I think Martell can handle him, but this is potentially a tight match.

– #10 newlywed Andres Acuña is the unlucky player to get the last of the big names coming out of qualifying; Keller. These two also played in Guatemala at PARC, a 4-game win for Keller, and I think Carlos will upset the Costa Rican again here.

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Projecting the 16s; here’s some possible great matches:

– #8 Samuel Murray plays the winner of Manilla/Waselenchuk. If Kane gets by Adam, he runs into fellow Canadian Murray, who he has utterly dominated during their careers. Kane won their last meeting in NY in 2022 1,1. A bad potential matchup for Sam, and I’ll favor Kane to continue his mental and physical dominance here.

– If Garcia gets by Carter, he runs into #5 @Eduardo Portillo , another player he beat at PARC. Look for Garcia to make a deep run in Denver.

– #6 Andree Parrilla projects to face always-the-dark horse #11 @Javier Mar . Mar owns the career h2h 5-3 and has won the last two meetings, and I always like Mar to get the upset win.

– The winner of Keller/Acuna he plays into #7 @Alejandro Landa , and both opponents offer intrigue here. Landa-Acuna bad blood history is well documented, while Keller-Landa have met just three times in 10 years. The question for Landa is always health; he’s been bedeviled by injuries for a while. Upset watch here.

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Quarters prediction:

– #1 Conrrado Moscoso over Waselenchuk. Here’s where I think the Kane train derails in Denver. Moscoso is #1, he’s battle tested, he’s used to playing at altitude, and he’s game ready. If Kane wins this … he wins the event and gives us all pause as to the current state of the game.

– #4 @Rodrigo Montoya over Garcia: the upset-laden run ends at the hands of the top Mexican.

– #3 Daniel De La Rosa over Mar. We havn’t mentioned DLR yet; he has a pretty straightforward draw to the quarters, then projects to meet one of two top Mexican players (Mar or Parrilla) that he knows well and should move on.

– #2 @Jake Bredenbeck over Keller (or Acuna, or Landa). We also havn’t mentioned Jake yet; his two openers look very straightforward, and he’ll get his first test here. whoever moves on from the #7/#10 section should be the underdog against Jake.

Semis and Final:

– Moscoso over Montoya: they always play tight, but Moscoso has figured out early-career troubles playing Rodrigo and now has won 6 of their last 8 meetings (and one of those losses was his head-banging forfeit in Florida in 2022).

– DLR over Jake: unpopular opinion, since Jake won their last meeting … but DLR is still 13-3 lifetime over Jake. That being said, Jake’s 2023 has been spectacular, and his ascension to #2 is well earned. But DLR should be on a mission here; he is behind on points, and needs to start winning events to give himself a shot at a third pro title at year’s end. I think he starts here.

Final: A rematch of the 2021 World Singles & Doubles final; Moscoso vs DLR. In 2021, DLR won 7,13 for the title, but things are a bit different since then. They’ve only met twice since, in two successive finals earlier this year. DLR topped Conrrado in Austin in January, then the result flipped at the Lewis Drug two weeks later. Who has the advantage with fast concrete courts and altitude negating the effects of the slower ball? I sense Moscoso wins here.

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Ladies Singles Preview

NOTE: just after publishing this, the LPRT changed the pro draw, changing someof the matchups. Unfortunately the Ladies pro section of this now is out of date.

Just as Kane is returning to the men’s tour after a long absence, so does the Ladies tour have a former top player returning after some time away. Veronica Sotomayor is in the draw for the first time since Feb 2022 and will be looking to shake things up. She’s the player everyone wants to avoid in the draw.

Round of 32 matches of intrigue:

– @Sheryl Lotts vs Nancy Enriquez in the 16/17 matchup should be solid. Former top 10 player Nancy gets surprise wins often, and Lotts returns to the tour after months away, but with a ton of playing under her belt in her new Florida digs.

– Lexi York takes on Cris Amaya in a tough opener for both. York gets a ton of playing time with the Bredenbeck brothers and could surprise the tour regular Amaya.

– #4 Erika Manila vs Sotomayor: a semis-quality matchup in the round of 32 isn’t fair to either player, but Sotomayor had to play someone to start. Manilla’s last match on tour was a 3,7 loss in the round of 16 in the season’s final event, one which didn’t affect her season ending ranking but which had to leave a bad taste. Meanwhile, Vero basically trains all week with the likes of Ortiz, Vargas, Lotts, and Sudsy Monchik and is game ready. Upset watch here; I would not be surprised if Sotomayor handles Manilla’s power and sends her packing early.

– #11 Gaby Martinez faces Maricruz Ortiz in a match she should win, but which gives Ortiz another chance to show how far she’s progressed.

– Two top US juniors in @Naomi ros and @Shane Diaz take on top 10 pros in Natalia Mendez and Carla Munoz respectively, but I don’t expect them to get upsets on tour just yet.

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Round of 16 matches to watch for

– In the 8/9, Mendez and Munoz are set to battle. Mendez is trending down while Carla is trending up, and I favor the Chilean here.

– Brenda Laime takes on east-coast rival @Kelani Lawrence in a new budding rivalry. They’ve played 4 times in 10 months, splitting them 2 and 2. Laime has gotten wins at the majors, and has very quietly ascended to her current #5 ranking, and could continue making noise on tour. Laime to advance.

– #6 Maria Jose Vargas takes on #11 Gaby in a semis-quality meeting between two of the top four ladies in the world right now. Vargas has just been on fire since her return to the tour, and I favor her for another deep run.

– 7/10 is Jessica Parrilla vs Samantha Salas Solis , who have played each other for years. Salas holds the upper hand though, and should move on here.

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Quarters prediction:

– #1 @Montse Mejia over Munoz. This is no walkover; Carla played Montse tough in Virginia at this juncture, the match going 12,12, and has some career wins. But Montse is #1 now for a reason, and moves on.

– #5 Laime over Sotomayor: I think Vero’s run ends at the hands of the classical power/pinch game of Laime.

– #6 Vargas over #3 Alexandra Herrera ; amazing how tides shift; Herrera was 0-for-career against Vargas until early 2022, when she put it all together and couldn’t lose to anyone. But now, Herrera is slipping, with several round of 16 losses and is in jeopardy of getting pushed out of the top 3 for the first time in years.

– #2 Paola Longoria over Salas: Longoria has looked vulnerable of course, but not against her long-time doubles partner, over whom she holds a commanding h2h career lead (68-3). She’ll move on, then the real tournament starts.

Semis and Finals picks:

– #1 Mejia over #5 Laime. It wouldn’t shock me if Laime gets a win here, but I expect Mejia to hold serve and return to the finals. These two play similarly, but Mejia’s got a better overall pinch/pass game plus can handle Laime’s power.

– #6 Vargas over #2 Longoria. I think Vargas has the confidence to win, and will build on the last few meetings against her long-time antagonist.

Finals: Mejia over Vargas. I think Montse is relishing the chance to get a title as #1 for the first time.

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Mixed Pro Doubles Preview.

No fewer than 28 mixed pro doubles teams are set to compete, and racquetball fans are looking forward to this rarity. The defending champions from the 2021 event are back together and are the #1 seeds: Salas & Montoya. The similarities to prior Mixed Pro events pretty much ends there, as teams are jumbled and seedings done using a combination of USAR ranking points and past experiences.

Here’s the opening round matches I’m liking:

– #16 Sam Bredenbeck & Lexi York vs #17 Galicia and Gaby: an interesting contrast in styles here; Gaby should win the right sided battle with Lexi, but Sam can overpower Galicia. Look for this one to be close.

– #24 Kane & Michelle Key versus #9 @Kadim Carrasco and Laime: Carrasco and Laime are both solid doubles players, but so is Key as the reigning US National doubles champ. Kane is Kane, and in doubles can be pretty brutal to line up against on the backhand as a right-handed player. Don’t let #24 fool you (Kane has literally never played mixed before, knocking down their seeding): this is a tourney favorite.

– #14 Acuna/Ortiz versus #19 Sotomayor & @Jose Daniel Ugalde . Ugalde has some solid doubles experience (he made the finals of 2022 PARC men’s doubles) and can hang with Acuna. Sotomayor should win the right-side battle with the younger Ortiz. That kind of split usually means close tiebreaker.

– #23 Samuel Murray & @Frederique Lambert versus #10 Carter & Lawrence: a tough matchup for both teams, as the under-seeded Canadians feed into the all-USA Carter/Lawrence team. The big question here is how game-ready is Lambert right now? She’s now down to seemingly only playing a couple times a year during her medical residency. The former #2 LPRT player still is tough to beat, so expect a tiebreaker here.

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Round of 16 matches I like:

– #24 Kane/Key over #8 Natera/Munoz: I like the Kane & Key matchup over the husband-wife team of Natera and Munoz, even though Munoz is every bit as good a doubles player as Key.

– #12 Garcia/Vargas over #5 Manilla/Manilla. This will be an unpopular opinion, but I think the matchup for the reigning US Mixed doubles titlists and home-town favorites here is a tough one. Garcia is every bit as good as Adam on one side, and Vargas is better than Erika on the other. Power matches power here, so the match will come down to shot making and mental fortitude.

– #3 Portillo/Herrera over #19 Ugalde/Sotomayor. The inclusion of the lefty Herrera, who will match up against Ugalde, counter balances Portillo blasting away against Sotomayor on both players’ forehand. Herrera is tough to beat in doubles, as is Lalo, and they have the edge.

– #7 DLR/Scott over Murray/Lambert. DLR and Scott are probably under-seeded here given their combined exploits on the court. DLR is inarguably the best doubles player in the world indoor or out, and will take over this match. Murray’s no slouch though, so it’ll come down again to how match-ready Lambert is.

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Quarters Prediction:

– #1 Montoya/Salas over Waselenchuk/Key. A great quarter final that I look forward to watching. Salas is probably the 2nd best right-sided ladies doubles player out there (behind Mejia), and she’ll trump Key in that battle. Montoya has just as much power as Kane on the left side, so this match should be close.

– #4 Mar/Mejia over #12 Garcia/Vargas. This is a great match, but I can’t get over two of the best individual doubles players in Mar/Mejia getting beat here.

– #3 Portillo/Herrera over the #6 Parrilla brother/sister combo: I think this all Mexican battle goes according to seeds.

– #2 Moscoso/Longoria over #7 DLR/Scott. Longoria makes the difference here, winning the right-sided battle with Scott as DLR does all he can to counter the shot-making of Conrrado

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Semis and Finals:

– #4 Mar/Mejia over #1 Montoya/Salas. Just a hunch, but the two doubles partners Mar & Montoya cancel themselves out, leaving the newly crowned #1 player to take over against her veteran Mexican rival.

– #2 Moscoso/Longoria over Portillo/Herrera; Longoria is just too tough to lose at this juncture, as is Moscoso.

Final: Moscoso/Longoria over Mar/Mejia. I think Paola and Montse cancel themselves out, but Moscoso has the edge over Mar and that makes the difference.

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Look for Streaming in the regular places for both pro tours. Follow IRT and LPRT on Facebook and sign up for live notifications.

Thanks to the Tourney Director Jim Hiser for putting this event on! Also for attendees there’s a great History of Racquetball/Museum exhibit done with the help of Jim Easterling and @Randy Stafford’s efforts.

Thanks to the main sponsors Keith Minor and Kwm Gutterman . 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.

Coincidentally, if you’re interested in playing Fantasy Racquetball for this event, the links to the brackets are advertised on LPRT’s main page. The winner each week gets free swag!

Associations

International Racquetball Tour

LPRT

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Outdoor Cup Series Standings Update

Hollie Scott continues to hold the top spot in the LPL Financial cup . Photo from 2020 3WB via Steve Fitzsimons

Hello Outdoor fans! Now that Outdoor Nationals is in the books, here’s a look at the updated standings in the 2023 Outdoor Cup Series for both the women (sponsored by LPL Financial ) and the Men (sponsored by KWM Gutterman Inc. ).

As a reminder, the Cup series is a year long competition amongst outdoor professionals, awarding weighted points in Singles, Doubles, Mixed, and CPRT in all three Outdoor “Majors” (meaning, Beach Bash, Outdoor Nationals, and 3WallBall). The winners each year get cash awards and Vegas hotel perks.

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LPL Financial Women’s Cup Standings

After Outdoor Nats, your top 5 are:

1. Hollie Rae Scott

2. Carla Munoz

3. Kelani Lawrence

4t. Janel Tisinger-Ledkins

4t. Montse Mejia

Hollie retains the top spot by taking the Mixed Pro title in Huntington Beach, and she holds a sizeable lead by virtue of her three Beach Bash finals performance in March. Munoz jumps from #7 to 2nd place by virtue of her Pro Doubles title and her Singles finalist performance. Lawrence was a doubles finalist in California and slightly improved on her #4 standing post Beach bash. Tisinger-Ledkins and Mejia both had identical finishes in Huntington and are now tied for 4th in the standings. Mejia, playing outdoor for the first time, took the Singles title while future WOR Hall of Famer Janel took the doubles title.

Three players who were top 5 post Beach Bash (Sotomayor, Herrera, and Roehler) fall out of the top 5 by virtue of missing the event, but still have a chance this fall in Vegas to gain ground.

Scott will be difficult to catch in Vegas, especially given her prowess playing one-wall, and looks like a shoe-in for the top prize. Munoz is well positioned for 2nd place, but still can be caught with a strong Vegas showing by Lawrence.

Link to the standings: http://rb.gy/9m7bn

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KWM Gutterman Men’s Cup Standings

After Outdoor Nats, your top 5 are:

1. Daniel de la Rosa

2. Josh Tucker

3. Rocky Carson

4. Micah rich

5. Greg Solis

De La Rosa stays on top thanks to his Mixed doubles win and finals appearance in Men’s Doubles. Tucker’s two titles (Pro Doubles and Mixed doubles) power him from unranked to a strong #2. Carson treads water at #3. Rich’s mixed finals appearance jumps him from outside the top 20 after Beach Bash to the top 5 now. Lastly, Solis’ CPRT title with Tucker gives him enough points to sneak into the top 5.

Mar, ranked #2 after Beach Bash, remains in the top 10 but just barely. Several other east-coast or one-wall specialists who skipped Huntington have gotten bumped outside the top 10, but many come to Vegas and will improve on their standings.

Daniel has a nearly insurmountable lead at the top of the Cup series, but the #2 finisher remains well in question. The odds of Tucker traveling to Vegas seem slim (he’s never played 3WB), so Carson, Rich, and Solis have a chance (if they attend in October) to make up ground and finish in the money.

Link to the standings: http://rb.gy/pev2i

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Thanks to the Cup series sponsors, thanks to the tournament directors of these majors, thanks to the individual tournament sponsors of course, and thanks to team 3Wall Ball (Mike Coulter, Peggine Tellez, Jen O’Meara, et al) for all you do for outdoor racquetball.

For Reference/reading this Friday:

– https://3wallball.org/ for the 3WallBall team.

– https://3wallball.org/…/huntington-beach-outdoor…/ for the Outdoor Nationals home page, which includes links to the streams, draws, and the 150-page Media Guide/Broadcast Binder.

– https://3wallball.org/…/3wb-world-outdoor-championships/ for the info page for 3WallBall Las Vegas, including logistics, Hotel discount codes and registration links. We’re already over 100 registrants and growing more every day. Do NOT miss out on getting your hotel reservations! Once the discount block is gone, the prices will skyrocket like they did last year as last minute events are announced in Vegas.

See you in Vegas!

Posted on

49th Outdoor Nationals Recap

Tucker wins his 4th ever Outdoor National’s doubles title. Photo 3WB via unk photographer

Congrats to your winners on the weekend:

– Men’s Pro Doubles: Brandon Davis and Josh Tucker

– Women’s Pro Doubles: Carla Munoz and Janel Tisinger-Ledkins

– Mixed Pro Doubles: Daniel de la Rosa and Hollie Rae Scott

– Men’s Singles: Danny Lavely

– Women’s Singles: Montse Mejia

– CPRT: Josh Tucker and @Greg Solis

R2 Sports App home page for event: https://www.r2sports.com/website/event-website.asp?TID=40547

ProRacquetballStats.com Match Reports by ro division:

– Men’s Pro Doubles: https://rball.pro/djy

– Women’s Pro Doubles: https://rball.pro/ve3

– Mixed Pro Doubles: https://rball.pro/zoq

– Men’s Singles: https://rball.pro/woy

– Women’s Singles: https://rball.pro/bci

Triple Crown Reports:

– Men’s Pro Doubles: https://rball.pro/j47

– Women’s Pro Doubles: https://rball.pro/2vv

– Mixed Pro Doubles: https://rball.pro/y43

– Men’s Pro Singles: https://rball.pro/86z

– Women’s Pro Singles: https://rball.pro/x8g

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Lets do a quick recap of the pro draws.

Men’s Pro Doubles,

Tucker & Davis take the title back, having won it together in 2018. They played lights-out ball to upset the #1 seeds and 2-time defending champs Micah rich and @Jason Newberg in the semis to advance to the final. Rich & Gies might have been a bit fatigued from their epic comeback in their quarter final, where they scored 11 straight after going 0-8 down in the breaker against @Alvaro Beltran and Kane Waselenchuk . Alvi & Kane were fortunate to even get to the quarter, facing a match point against in their opener against SoCal veterans and long-time doubles partners @Michael Myers and Tim Herman before moving on 11-10.

From the bottom half, @Chris McDonald and Brian pineda shocked the #3 seeds and 2-time champs Rocky Carson and Jay Ustarroz by taking a “perfect” match 14,(14),10to advance to the semis. They couldn’t take out #2 Daniel de la Rosa and Alejandro Landa though, who advanced to the final.

The final couldn’t be closer; 14,(14),9 to Davis & Tucker, showing how little there was between these teams on the day.

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Women’s Pro Doubles:

Both the top seeded teams cruised into the finals without really even being pressed in a game, and then faced off on Sunday. #2 Munoz and Tisinger got white-washed in game one, taking a 15-0 donut against the #1 seeds Kelani Lawrence and Hollie Rae Scott . Both the top seeded teams cruised into the finals without really even being pressed in a game, and then faced off on Sunday. #2 Munoz and Tisinger got white-washed in game one, taking a 15-0 donut against the #1 seeds Kelani Lawrence and Hollie Rae Scott . It didn’t look great for them in game 2 either, as they fell behind 14-8 and faced match point against. But a questionable hinder call gave a replay, then they saved a couple more match points against (with another questionable hinder that could have been called an avoidable), then suddenly they went on a run … and took game two 15-14. In one of the more incredible turnarounds i’ve seen, Munoz & Tisinger took the breaker 11-7 and pulled a win out of the jaws of defeat for the title.

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Mixed Pro Doubles

#1 @Daniel De La Rosa showed why he’s the best outdoor player in the land, especially in mixed, by winning his 19th outdoor major mixed pro title. He hasn’t been beaten in pro mixed outdoor since 2018, and he’s picked right up with his new partner Hollie Scott where he left off with his old one. In the final they topped Rich playing with @Danielle Maddux , in a rare Outdoor Nationals appearance for the Arizona native.

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Men’s Singles

@Danny Lavely put his name on an illustrious list of players who have won the Singles title at Outdoor Nationals by winning the final against Arizonian Alonzo Tavares 6,1.

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Women’s Singles

Never played outdoor before? No big deal, said newly crowned LPRT #1 Montse Mejia , who took out multi-time champ Rhonda Rajsich in the quarters, 3-time beach bash singles champ Scott in the semis, and then in the final #1 @Carla Munoz , who had won the last four major 3-wall singles titles in a row. A fantastic showing for Mejia.

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Other Major Draws in California:

– CPRT was won for the 2nd year in a row by Solis and Tucker, giving Tucker a nice “double” on the weekend. They topped 3-wall specialists Scott St Clair and @Tony Burg in the final.

– Men’s 75s was taken in a walk-over by tourney director Osberg and Luis Avila when the Arizona pair of Medina and Gerheart couldn’t show.

– Men’s 100 featured some controversy as detailed in social media, but was taken by the CPRT finalists St. Clair & Burg over the father-sun NoCal duo of @Jim Durham and Tom Durham

– Men’s Open was taken by the duo of Davis & Pineda; pro winners and semi-finalists. They topped the McDonald brothers Jack and Greg in the final.

– Beltran and Emmett Coe took the Men’s Paddleball “Upper” title

– James sales and @KKatie Neil took the Mixed Paddleball upper title.

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Thanks for all the streaming on the weekend from the LPRT crew, with JT R Ball ‘s technical setup and primarily Craig Lane “Clubber” and Mike Peters on the mike, two WOR Hall of Famer’s really providing awesome and nuanced commentary .

Thanks to the Tourney Directors Geoff Osberg and Jesus Ustarroz for putting this event on! They’ve been running this event now since 2012 and they’re part of a core group of SoCal players who keep the heartbeat of Marina Park alive.

Thanks once again to all the sponsors, especially 3Wall Ball , @kwKwm Gutterman , Keith Minor , Pro Kennex , @Melissa’s, Joe Splathead and GearBox .

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Next up?

Per our handy master racquetball calendar …

https://docs.google.com/…/1V6OTid6rZ356voXVkoV2sN7KMMb…/

We’ve entered the official, real “off-season” of racquetball, and don’t have a major event for a month. But the next event coming is massive: its World Singles & Doubles in Denver, featuring both pro tours and the rarely seen Mixed Pro Doubles.

We’ll do all the accounting for the Outdoor Cup series and publish a status of updated standings post Outdoor Nats later this week.

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3Wall Ball

@worWorld Outdoor Racquetball

USA Racquetball

Posted on

49th Annual Outdoor Nationals preview

Can Micah Rich make it 3 in a row in Huntington? Photo Mar 2022 by Steve Fitzsimons

Welcome to the Outdoor Nationals, being held at the Marina Park outdoor courts in Huntington Beach, where it has been since 2006. This year’s event is presented by PROKENNEX , one of the sport’s biggest outdoor sponsors, as well as 3Wall Ball . Additionally we have Keith Minor ‘s continual support via KWM Gutterman Inc. , frequent Vegas sponsor Melissa’s, Gearbox , Splathead Sportsgear , and my old friend Mark Bloom and his law firm Bloom Injury Law , taking a break from padel to support his first love; racquetball.

It has been a tumultuous year for Marina Park and its players, as a redevelopment effort threatened the courts altogether. Thanks to the nationwide community for its support, and for the players who represented our sport at the July 12th hearing (not the least of which being junior Victoria Rodriguez , who by all accounts gave a fantastic presentation that may have prevented even reconstruction).

This is the 2nd leg of the Outdoor cup Series: see https://3wallball.org/lpl-financial-ladies-cup/ and https://3wallball.org/kwm-gutterman-mens-cup/ for the current standings.

Also, go to 3WB’s Outdoor Nationals page here https://3wallball.org/…/huntington-beach-outdoor…/ for links, including a link to the 2023 Outdoor Nationals Broadcast Binder, put together by yours truly. It has 120 player profiles, all the WOR rules, past tournament winner history, WOR HOF, etc. https://3wallball.org/…/Outdoor-Nationals-2023… for a direct link. If you want a MS Word copy or if you see any information needing updating DM me.

By the time you read this, the matches have already begun. My apologies for the tardiness. The draws were still being worked on up until the beginning of the event and I had some pressing time issues this week both personally and professionally.

R2 Sports App link: https://www.r2sports.com/website/event-website.asp?TID=40547

The overall draw for this event is down from last year, and down from past years, a continuing trend in our sport.

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We’ll do quick observations on the major pro draws:

– Men’s Pro Doubles: 13 teams are signed up, including some fascinating names. 14-time indoor pro tour champ @Kane Waselenchuk is making his return to competitive racquetball nearly 10 months to the day after tearing his achiles heel in a pro stop in Maryland. He’s teamed with Alvaro Beltran , owner of 12 major outdoor pro doubles titles, but are seeded 8th and play into the #1 seeds and 2-time defending champions Micah rich and Jason Newberg . It will definitely be a must-watch stream saturday at 12:20pm PST, but I expect the #1 seeds to advance; Rich will dominate Alvaro on the left, and I’m not sure Kane can impose his will enough from the right to make a difference on the massive Marina courts. Rich/Geis project to face 2018 champs Brandon Davis and Josh Tucker in the semis.

From the bottom half, @Daniel de la Rosa has parted ways with Beltran obviously, breaking up a partnership that lasted 10 years and earned them six major outdoor titles together, on top of numerous indoor pro, national, and international titles. He’s teamed here with his now-USA racquetball doubles partner @Alejandro Landa , who is new-er to outdoor but is still a capable doubles player. I can see them out-lasting #3 Rocky Carson and Ustarroz in the semis by just wearing down Jay to force a 1v2 final.

Look for Rich/Geis to 3-peat.

—-

Women’s Pro Doubles: Eight teams are here competing, but we’ll have a new champ for 2023 as the 4-time defending champion team of @Carla Munoz and Key Michelle have split up (at least for this event). Key is not present, so Munoz has picked up WOR legend and future Hall of Famer Janel Tisinger. They’re the #2 seeds, but they’ll be tough to beat. Speaking of future Hall of Famers, Rhonda Rajsich is back in action, having missed the last couple of outdoor majors. She’s teamed with @Danielle Maddux as the #3 seeds.

Look for Munoz/Tisinger to top #1 seeds and last year’s runner’s up @Kelani Lawrence and @Hollie Scott in the final.

—

Mixed Pro Doubles: The #2 team of Greg Solis and Tisinger has won this title 5 times together, the first being in 2011. But they’re #2 here behind the Mixed pro juggernaut that is De La Rosa. DLR has won 5 out of the last 6 mixed pro titles here, all with his former partner Key. Now he’s partnered with Scott, they’re the #1 seeds, and they’re the prohibitive favorites here. They won both Vegas 1-wall and Beach Bash together, and DLR is really tough to beat in mixed.

DLR/Scott will get an early test, as Landa is paired with first-time-playing-outdoor and newly crowned LPRT #1 Montse Mejia , and their semi possibly against #4 Munoz/Tucker will be awesome. From the bottom, Solis/Tisinger will have to deal with Rich early; he’s paired with Maddux for a juicy quarter, feeding into the multi-title holding pair of Rick “Soda Man” Koll and Rajsich. Lots of good matches here.

Look for DLR/Scott to win out.

—-

Men’s Singles: 3wall singles in Marina Park is not for the faint of heart; only 3 signed up to try this year. Danny Lavely (last year’s finalist), Mike Orr , and Alonzo Tavares . Look for Lavely to make it 7 winners out of 7 years in this division that was once dominated for the better part of 4 decades by just two men: Carson and Brian Hawkes .

Women’s Singles: The women’s pros weren’t scared off by the big courts in HB: eight pros are in Women’s singles to try to knock off two-time defending champ and #1 seed Munoz. Included in that group is Mejia, former 5-time champ Tisinger, former 4-time champ Rajsich, and multiple outdoor singles champ Scott. It’s going to be a dog fight, but i’d expect Munoz over Scott in a rematch of last year’s final.

—-

CPRT:

The CPRT draw is stacked, with Tucker/Solis as the #1 seed but who might have to fend off Tom Durham/Jason Geis to get back to the final. That is, if Durham/Geis can hold off Koll/Beltran. From the bottom, multi-pro titlists Carson/Ustarroz are always a threat here, but @Scott St Clair and Tony Berg are double tough as a team.

Lets go off-chalk; i’m going with Durham/Geis over St. Clair/Berg in the final.

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Other Draws:

The Men’s Open is basically a pro-lite draw, with a slew of top teams. Combined 75+ looks tough, 50+ has pros playing, Centurion too. Lots of solid ball this weekend.

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Look for Streaming being provided by home-town JT R Ball . Follow the World Outdoor Racquetball page for live streaming updates, which are pretty well shared for this event in WOR and in KRG.

Thanks to the long-time Outdoor nationals Tourney Directors Geoff Osberg and Jesus Ustarroz for putting this event on!

Associations

– WOR, wholly owned by USA Racquetball

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IRF Central American & Caribbean Championships wrap-up

A first ever international title for Portillo. Photo US Open 2019, Photographer Kevin Savory

The IRF hosted a regional tournament for the first time since 2018 as the Central American & Caribbean games were held this past week in the Dominican Republic. Technically the actual sporting event is based in El Salvador, but the racquetball component was sent over to the DR thanks to a lack of facilities in the host city/country.

This is the 9th iteration of these games that have had a racquetball component. The first one was in 1990, when Mexico hosted the event and its two singles components were won by Raul Torres and Hilda Rodriguez of Mexico, two very early pioneers of Mexican racquetball. In fact, Mexico has always dominated this competition, winning 12 of the previous 16 singles titles.

see https://rball.pro/ppk and https://rball.pro/jq9 for lists of past singles winners.

Congrats to your winners on the weekend:

– Men’s Singles: Eduardo Portillo

– Women’s Singles: @Paola Longoria

– Men’s Doubles: @Rodrigo Montoya and @Javier Mar

– Women’s Doubles: Montse Mejia and @Alexandra Herrera

– Mixed Doubles: Eduardo Portillo and Paola Longoria

A clean sweep for team Mexico; five events and five titles. Portillo gets the double, as does Longoria.

R2 Sports App home page for event: https://www.r2sports.com/website/event-website.asp?TID=41377

Match Reports in the PRS database post-load:

– Men’s Singles: https://rball.pro/8y5

– Women’s Singles: https://rball.pro/fbe

– Men’ Doubles: https://rball.pro/bze

– Women’s Doubles: https://rball.pro/i4r

– Mixed Doubles: https://rball.pro/85r

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Lets review the five main draws:

Men’s Singles: In an all-Mexican final, and a rematch of Mexican Nationals from earlier this year, Portillo got a very solid win over countryman and #1 seed Rodrigo Montoya 7,11,13. Lalo wins his first ever international title. Recognition to Guatemala’s Edwin Galicia , who upset DR’s Ramon De Leon to get to the semis. Also shout out to Cuba’s Maikel Moyet for a solid win over former IRT touring pro Felipe Camacho in the knockouts.

Women’s Singles: Guatemala’s @Gaby Martínez upset newly crowned LPRT #1 @Montse Mejia in the semis, but couldn’t vanquish the long-standing #1 @Paola Longoria in the final. Longoria wins her 5th straight title in this competition. Props to CR’s Maricruz Ortiz for making the semis.

Men’s Doubles: this tourney was always coming down to Mexico vs Costa Rica in doubles, the two teams with significant pro experience, and the final did not disappoint. Team Mexico Montoya/Mar tookt he title over Andres Acuna and @Gabriel Garcia , but not without stretching the current top pro team to 5 games in the final.

Women’s Doubles: Team Mexico featuring the new power house team of Mejia and Herrera battled back from two games down to topple Team Guatemala, featuring the long-time partnership of Ana Gabriela Martínez and Maria Renee Rodriguez .

Mixed Doubles: Team Mexico featuring Portillo and Longoria had to dig pretty deep to top Team Guatemala featuring Galicia and Martinez, coming back from 2-1 games down to take the title in the 5th.

All three doubles finals went 5 games and must have made for fantastic viewing.

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There wasn’t a whole lot of streaming on the weekend; apparently per JT R Ball the tv rights were owned by the host country and all we got were some guerilla feeds from people onsite.

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Next up?

Per our handy master racquetball calendar …

https://docs.google.com/…/1V6OTid6rZ356voXVkoV2sN7KMMb…/

Next up on the calendar is the World Outdoor Racquetball Outdoor Nationals at Marina Park! This great event has been going on since 1974 and we help promote/support the event with data and broadcast materials.

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tags

International Racquetball Tour

LPRT

International Racquetball Federation

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2023 USA Junior Nationals Recap

2023 USA Junior Nationals Recap

The 49th iteration of @USA Racquetball Junior Nationals was held this past weekend in Pleasanton, CA, crowning a slew of top juniors US champions and qualifying them to represent the USA at Junior Worlds in November in (I believe) Bolivia. Every year since 1974 (save for the 2020 covid year) the USAR (or its predecessor) held Junior Nationals and named national champs.

r2sports home page for all the brackets:

https://www.r2sports.com/tourney/home.asp?TID=40456

A reminder on our data entry policies for juniors: we put in full brackets for 14+ and older divisions, just the finalists for younger divisions, and just the finalists for doubles.

The finalists of each Singles division and the Champions of each Doubles division qualify for the US Junior National team, and have first right of refusal to compete at Worlds in November.

Congrats to the Singles champions

Boys 21U: @Krish Thakur

Boys 18U: Nikhil Prasad

Boys 16U: @Eshan Ali

Boys 14U: Nathan Rykhus

Boys 12U: Alejandro Robles-Picon

Boys 10Udb: Chris Nelson

Boys 8U: Luke Vanderbeek

Boys 8Umb: Luke Vanderbeek

Boys 6U: Jasur Pridako

Girls 21U: Annie Roberts

Girls 18U: @Naomi Ros

Girls 16U: Sonya Shetty

Girls 14U: Andrea Perez-Picon

Girls 12U: Lexie Sikorski

Girls 10U: Anna Sikorski

Girls 10Udb: Marivada Sloka

Girls 8Umb: Marivada Sloka

Girls 6Umb: Sashi Rai

And congrats to the Doubles champions:

Boys 21U: Iain Dunn / Paul Saraceno

Boys 18U: Josh Shea / @Vedant Chauhan

Boys 16U: Eshan Ali / @London Townsend

Boys 14U: Nathan Rykhus / Vaishant Mangalampalli

Boys 12U: Alejandro Robles Picon / Ayan Sharma

Girls 21U: Shane Diaz / Graci Wargo

Girls 18U: @Heather Mahoney / @Naomi Ros

Girls 16U: Sonya Shetty / Victoria Rodriguez

Girls 14U: Andrea Perez-Picon / Aanshi Thakur

Girls 12U: Lexie Sikorski / Anna Sikorski

Girls 10U: Sloka Marivada / Sameera Rai

Mixed 21U: DJ Mendoza / Annie Roberts

Mixed 18U: Cole Sendry / Naomi Ros

Mixed 16U: Eshan Ali / Sonya Shetty

Mixed 14U: Nathan Rykhus / Andrea Perez-Picon

Mixed 12U: Jacob Gutierrez / Lexie Sikorski

Mixed 10U: Noah Jakola / Anna Sikorski

Congratulations to all your triple crown winners on the weekend: Eshan Ali, Nathan Rhykus, Naomi Ros, Sonya Shetty, Andrea Perez-Picon, Lexie Sikorski, Anna Sikorski, and Marivada Sloka. Singles, Doubles, and Mixed. That’s a great weekend.

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The best ways to see all the Junior singles winners in one place are via the Junior Matrix Reports at the website.

Click here: https://rball.pro/mey for the Boys Junior winner’s matrix for all USA junior titles, dating back to 1974.

Click here: https://rball.pro/cpf for the same report for the Girls.

However, for each of the singles draws you can see all the match results by pulling down the event at the main Junior home page. Go here, then hit the event pulldown: http://rb.gy/rnps1f

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Thanks to the streaming teams who helped out all weekend. Thanks to the local tournament directors, the Junior Committee, and all the USAR staff who made tournament happen.

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Next up?

Per our handy master racquetball calendar …

https://docs.google.com/…/1V6OTid6rZ356voXVkoV2sN7KMMb…/

The Central American & Caribbean games started up while Junior Nationals were finishing; we’ll recap that event upon its completion. After that, we’ll write our annual LPRT season recap with a deep dive into each player’s finish.

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IRT 12th Annual Costa Rica Open Recap

Montoya a double winner in Costa Rica. Photo Kevin Savory 2022 Portland IRT event

There was an IRT Tier 3 (aka an IRT-400 in the new parlance) in Costa Rica that had a really solid draw, a slew of touring pros, and a ton of international players from central and south America. This was as big of a draw as I can recall seeing in CR, and the competition was solid.

Here’s a recap.

Congrats to your winners on the weekend:

– Singles: Rodrigo Montoya

– Doubles: Rodrigo Montoya & Javier Mar

R2 Sports App home page for event: https://www.r2sports.com/tourney/home.asp?TID=41192

We don’t track non-tier1s in the database, but we do like to cover events that feature top talent.

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Lets review the notable matches in the Singles draw.

The draw went perfectly chalk to the quarters (actually, all the way through). None of the top 8 seeds were even pushed to a breaker until the quarter finals.

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In the Quarters

– #1 @Rodrigo Montoya made fast work of his younger Mexican teammate Erick Trujillo 5,3. After Trujillo’s loss at Conade a few weeks ago, he has some work to do if he wants to become the heir apparent of Mexican Racquetball.

– #4 Andres Acuna got a very solid win over #5 @Javier Mar 3,11.

– #3 Alejandro Landa , who toppled former IRT touring pro and long-time Costa Rican international Felipe Camacho in the 16s, went breaker to beat USA international Thomas Carter and move on. Carter had beaten the veteran Alvaro Beltran in the 16s, in Alvi’s return to competitive singles racquetball after his elbow injury in Las Vegas last fall.

– #2 @Andree Parrilla took out country-man Alan Natera in two.

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In the Semis

– #1 Montoya beat home-town favorite #4 Acuna 10,9.

– #2 Parrilla held serve against #3 Landa, grinding out game one 15-10 before running away with game two 15-1.

In the Finals, two long-time adversaries went at it again, and Montoya came out on top 14,5. Montoya has started to dominate this head to head rivalry, which has led to his passing Parrilla on the IRT rankings board.

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Doubles review

The top touring pros all played pro doubles, with the consensus #1 team in the world Montoya/Mar ending up on top. The beat Parrilla & Natera in the final.

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Men’s Open, other draws

– Carter took out Natera to win the Men’s Open singles draw,

– Guatemalans José Cáceres / Alexander Sierra took the Men’s Open Doubles RR but fell to Costa Rica’s Oscar Montejo / Antonio Sanchez in the playoff final.

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tags International Racquetball Tour

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LPRT Battle at the Beach Recap

the LPRT has a new champion. Photo via LPRT feed, via @CoachMaripa

Congrats to your winners on the weekend:

– Singles: Montse Mejia

– Doubles: Montse Mejia & Alexandra Herrera

For the first time since June of 2011, the LPRT has a new #1 as the LPRT wraps up its 2022-23 season. More on that later. Here’s the list of all LPRT #1s heading into this season, to which Mejia has now added her name:

https://www.proracquetballstats.com/…/lprt_year_end…

R2 Sports App home page for event: https://www.r2sports.com/website/event-website.asp?TID=31744

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Lets review the notable matches in the Singles draw.

Singles Match report in the PRS database: https://rball.pro/3ua

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In the 16s:

– Jessica Parrilla got a nice win over Natalia Mendez in the 8/9 game. Mendez sinks to her lowest ranking since her debut season in 2016-17.

– In one of the matches of the round, #12 Maria Jose Vargas comes back from a game down to topple Brenda Laime , who had made the finals of the two previous pro events. From finals to one-and done, that’s what the depth on tour is starting to look like.

– #13 Kelani Lawrence dominated #4 Erika Manilla 3,7 on her home courts to move on. Manilla has to be wondering what happened; the cement courts in Chesapeake should have worked to her favor, even if she was playing someone who grew up on those courts.

– #14 Valeria Centellas beat #3 Alexandra Herrera for the second time in three months, matching her career best win.

– #6 Angelica Barrios continues to show why she’s a player nobody wants to face, taking out the previous event’s champion Ana Gabriela Martínez in the 16s in a tie-breaker.

– #7 Carla Munoz ground out a solid win over #10 Samantha Salas Solis 11-9 in the breaker to put a cap on her best ever pro season.

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In the Quarters

– #1 @Paola Longoria , who knowingly went into this event knowing only a better showing than Mejia would retain her crown, dominated #8 Parrilla to move on.

– #12 Vargas made fast work of home-town favorite Kelani 7,1 to setup a crucial semi-final showdown with Paola.

– #6 Barrios shut down any chance of a deep run from Centellas, defeating her fellow Bolivian native 13,8 to move into the semis.

– #2 Montse Mejia , who is also perfectly aware of the stakes in Virginia, held serve 12,12 against a very solid Munoz to move into the semis and keep the possibility of a winner-take-all final alive.

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In the Semis, a heartbreak and a new champion is crowned:

– Vargas took out Longoria for the 2nd time this season in a close 14,12 match. Heartbreak for Longoria, as the loss costs her the title.

– Mejia dominated games one and three, losing focus in game two, and advances over Barrios 3,(13),1.

Mejia played her semi final before Longoria, so upon hearing of Paola’s loss, Mejia knew she had guaranteed herself the year end title. The LPRT has a new #1 player.

—

In the Finals, Mejia handled Vargas in game one, capitulated in game two, then dominated her in game three. Final score: 7,(3),3

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Points Implications of results

As noted, Mejia moves to #1 for the end of the season. Vargas’ result moves her well up from #12 for the year end results. There’s not a ton of movement in the last event among the rest of the tour regulars. We’ll save the analysis for our season-ending recap post.

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Doubles review

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

Mejia & Herrera finished the season the same place they started it; with a doubles title. They saved match point against in the final against team Argentina Vargas & Mendez, then blew them away in the breaker to give Mejia a double for the weekend.

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Open Singles, other notable draws

– Amaya got a nice win over Centellas to claim the women’s Open singles title.

– There was a 10-team Mixed pro exhibition that featured a ton of the ladies pros playing with local Men; Gaby Martinez and Natalia Mendez made the final with partners James Stone & Doug Innanen respectively, then shared the title.

– @Dylan Pruitt took out Rich Benderoth in the men’s open singles final.

– Abraham Pena & @Dj Mendoz took a solid Men’s open doubles draw.

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Thanks for all the streaming on the weekend, especially from broadcasters Timothy Baghurst , Jerry J Josey Jr. ., and Tj Baumbaugh

Thanks to the Tourney Director Malia Bailey for putting this event on!

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.

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Next up?

Per our handy master racquetball calendar …

https://docs.google.com/…/1V6OTid6rZ356voXVkoV2sN7KMMb…/

Next up is USA Junior Nationals, being held this year in Pleasanton, CA. Then, July features the Central America & Caribbean Games, WOR Outdoor Nationals, and the National Senior Games in Pittsburgh.

We will print up a recap of the 2022-23 LPRT season once the final season standings are published, as we do every year.

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tags

LPRT

Posted on

LPRT Battle at the Beach Preview

All she has to do is win, and the title is hers. Photo Kevin Savory US Open 2019

(apologies for the late preview; i know that the matches have already started by the time you read this)

Welcome to the 2022-23 season-ending LPRT tournament, the 2023 LPRT Battle at the Beach in Chesapeake VA. This is Hall of Famer Malia Bailey ‘s long-time home club and where current US national team member Kelani Lawrence grew up playing, and has long been a great tournament host for Virginia and regional events.

The 2023 pro stop brings on significant additional weight: for the first time in more than a decade, the title race comes down to the final event of the season. Current #1 Paola Longoria still sits at the top spot, but she’s behind #2 Montse Mejia in “season to date” points, and thus the pressure is on for this event. There’s just a 26 point difference between the players heading into the event, which implies that Longoria must basically finish one round better than Mejia to take the title. In other words, if Mejia loses in the quarters, Longoria must make the semis at least to take the title. If both players lose in the same round, Mejia will take the crown.

The last time the LPRT title race was this close was 2010-11, when Rhonda edged Paola by 27 points … but the kicker was that Paola missed one event that season to receive the Athlete of the Year in Mexico. The last time the IRT was this close was in 2006, when the entire season came down to the last match of the last tournament (when Kane Waselenchuk topped Jack Huczek to claim the title).

Racquetball fans are hoping for a similar situation this weekend; 1 v 2 for the season title.

R2 Sports App link: https://www.r2sports.com/website/event-website.asp?TID=31744

There’s 22 players in the event, a bit small for a grand slam draw but in line with the 20-25% reduction in pro draws we’ve seen this year as our sport continues to transition to a new phase..

Of the top 20 in the world currently, the entire top 10 is here as expected. Several players in the 15-20 range are missing, including Hollie Scott (w/D with late injury), Lotts (who has not played in a pro or top amateur event since Dec 2022), MRR, and Enriquez.

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Lets preview the singles draw. ther’es 5 round of 32 matches, only one of which looks like it could be competitive (Lawrence vs @Maricruz Ortiz). We’ll pick up in the 16s.

We’re now to a point in the tour where there’s at least 5 players who I feel can win week in/week out (Longoria, Mejia, Herrera, Gaby, and Vargas). And then there’s 3 other women who have made finals this season (Laime, Manilla, Barrios). That’s a great depth on tour we havn’t really seen in a while.

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round of 16:

– In the 8/9 match we get Natalia Mendez versus Jessica Parrilla ; both players were top 4-5 players but have been pushed down this year thanks in part to unlucky matchups with players like Vargas returning to the fold, but also just getting pushed down slightly by the rise of players like Laime this year. Leoni has owned their h2h recently so I’ll go with the Mexican to advance.

– The match of the round will be #5 Brenda Laime vs #12 @Maria José Vargas . Both are finals-quality opponents, only one can advance. I’ll go with Vargas, despite Laime having the hot hand and making the finals two events in a row.

– #4 Erika Manilla takes on #13 Lawrence on her home courts: Manilla should advance but Kelani at home is tough. Expect a breaker here.

– #6 Angelica Barrios vs #11 Ana Gabriela Martínez ; another solid round of 16, very IRF-style match between two players who have both won major international singles titles. I’ll go with Gaby here.

– #7 Carla Munoz vs #10 Samantha Salas ; Munoz has beaten her twice in a row, but both were close breakers and I feel like Salas has caught her breath and is holding steady after a couple seasons of decline. Look for another 11-8 breaker.

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Projected Qtrs:

– Longoria over Parrilla; Paola is 18-0 over Parrilla in all competitions lifetime.

– Vargas v Manilla; they’ve met at this juncture in the last two LPRT events, a Vargas blowout and then a scintillating 11-10 Manilla win. What happens now? Chesapeak is cement courts, which favors the power players, but both are power players. Vargas has great history here; she won in 2019 on these courts. I’ll go with Vargas.

– Herrera vs Gaby: I sense a lost season for Herrera, who went from the heir apparent to an also ran inside of 9 months. Not sure where she goes from here.

– Mejia over Munoz: in limited history, Mejia is 3-1 lifetime.

Semis:

– Longoria over Vargas: I think Paola rises to the pressure and puts the onus on Mejia to beat her for the title.

– Mejia over Herrera: these two long-time doubles partners know each other well, but Mejia has come to rule their h2h recently.

Finals;

we get 1 v 2 for all the marbles, and I think Montse takes it.

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Doubles review

10 teams playing doubles in Chesapeake, including the two top teams Longoria/Salas and Mejia/Herrera. We don’t track doubles rankings as closely, but it seems like a long shot that Paola/Sam will be caught for the 2022-23 doubles title irrespective of what happens here. Despite pipping the two veterans for the Mexican national title earlier this year, Montse/Alexandra have just one pro doubles title this season.

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Look for Streaming in the regular places; follow the LPRT on Facebook and sign up to get notifications when they go Live.

Look for Timothy Baghurst , Jerry J Josey Jr. ., and Tj Baumbaugh on the mike, calling the shots!

Thanks to the Tourney Director Malia for putting this event on!

Associations

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USA and Canadian Nationals Recap

Lambert makes a rare appearance on the court at the 2023 Canadian Nationals. Photo unk

Congrats to your newly crowned National title winners on the weekend:

– USA Men’s Singles: Daniel De La Rosa

– USA Women’s Singles: Erika Manilla

– Canada Men’s Singles: Samuel Murray

– Canada Women’s Singles: Frederique Lambert

– Canada Men’s Doubles: Coby Iwaasa & Kurtis Cullen

– Canada Women’s Doubles: Frederique Lambert & Michele Morissette

– Canada Mixed Doubles: Christian Pocsai & Ofelia Wilscam

ProRacquetballStats.com match reports for these events:

– USA Men’s Singles: https://rball.pro/nv7

– USA Women’s Singles: https://rball.pro/r10

– Canada Men’s Singles: https://rball.pro/aiz

– Canada Women’s Singles: https://rball.pro/m1c

– Canada Men’s Doubles: https://rball.pro/d4g

– Canada Women’s Doubles: https://rball.pro/tlb

– Canada Mixed Doubles: https://rball.pro/wgy

R2 Sports App home page for USA event: https://www.r2sports.com/tourney/home.asp?TID=41063

Trackie page for Canada event: https://legacy.trackie.com/…/racquetball-canada…/486924/

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Lets review the draws.

USA Men’s first.

There were no real surprises to the Semis from the 10-man draw; we were robbed of the best quarter final match when 2-time defending USA national champ Rocky Carson announced he was skipping the event. I don’t blame him; flying halfway across the country on Memorial day weekend for a likely one-and-done against a top IRT player for someone who has played basically two tournaments all year wasn’t a strong strategy. Carson is off the national team for the first time since (I believe) 2002, an amazing stat.

In the semis, a shock upset by Adam Manilla , taking out the #1 seeded Jake Bredenbeck with relative ease in four games. A real surprise loss that has major US team ramifications for the Pan Am games (which we’ll summarize below). From the bottom, #2 Daniel De La Rosa cruised past his doubles partner Alejandro Landa to guarantee his singles qualification to the team and solidify his claim.

In the final, Manilla made a match of it, stretching the 2-time defending IRT champ to five games, but DLR persevered to claim his first ever USA singles title. Jake rebounded to take the 3rd place match over Landa, which I was initially shocked was even played given the circumstances (but read on for the likely real reason).

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US Men’s National Team/Pan Am games roster ramifications.

Your 2023-24 team qualifiers are now:

– Men’s Doubles: De La Rosa & Landa

– Mixed Doubles: Manilla

– Men’s Singles: De La Rosa & Manilla

Three players for three Pan Am Games Slots. So, absent any externalities that impact the availability/eligibility of these three players, this is your Pan Am Games Men’s team. I’d imagine that we’d line up these players exactly like this in Chile in the fall.

Now, why did they play the 3rd place match? Probably for positioning in case one of these three players cannot go to Chile. And the “order” of finishing matters when selecting the next players to go. If the USA men need a 3rd player, here’s the next in line:

– Men’s Doubles finalists from Feb: Manilla & Antone

– Mixed Doubles finalist from Feb: De La Rosa

– Men’s Singles semi finalists from May: Bredenbeck & Landa

So, next in line to be asked probably would be Jake and then Wayne, then the team would start to dig deeper. Given the import of the Pan Am Games, its not likely we’d have to; this is the crown jewel event of the sport.

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USA Women’s competition;

There were no real surprises in the 5-person Ladies draw. Lexi York did her best to upset @Rhonda Rajsich in the quarters but fell in five games. Kelani Lawrence broke her duck against Rhonda in the semis, winning in three to ensure her national team consideration. Erika Manilla had a battle against Hollie Scott that went 5 games, with Scott knowing only a win would put her into contention after early losses in doubles draws in February. In the final, Manilla took the title in an upset by seed but certainly not by LPRT current rankings. Manilla repeats as National singles champion.

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US Women’s National Team/Pan Am games roster ramifications.

Your team qualifiers are now:

– Women’s Doubles: Manilla & Michelle Key , who did not travel to Chicago this weekend to compete

– Mixed Doubles: Manilla

– Women’s Singles: Manilla & Lawrence.

So, as we thought might happen, three ladies for two spots in Chile. Someone is going to be disappointed. We can speculate now as to what the US Team committee/future US coach may decide w/r/t putting the best team forward, but that wouldn’t be fair to any of these women, who have earned their US team titles on the court.

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Canada Men’s Singles

For the 14th straight time. the final of a national Canadian tournament came down to its top two players, #1 @Samuel Murray and #2 Coby Iwaasa . There were a couple of notable down-bracket upsets, a rarity in Canadian racquetball; congrats to Kurtis Cullen for taking out #4 @Connell Lee and for #6 @Tanner Prentice to get the upset win over #3 @Trevor Webb to advance to the semis and eventually compete for 3rd place. Cullen took 3rd and capped a banner weekend for him (he also won the Doubles title; see below).

In the men’s final, Murray controlled Iwaasa to win in three 4,10,3 and claim his 4th straight National title.

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Canada Women’s Singles:

#1 Frederique Lambert won her 3rd straight Women’s singles title, and 5th overall, by downing @Juliette Parent in the final. Lambert did not cruise through this draw though, she was stretched to five games in the semis by last year’s finalist @Michele Morissette and then taken to four by the upstart Parent. Bravo to Parent for breaking through with a marquee win over Christine Keay , who had more or less solidified herself as the #2 Canadian woman over the past few years with three straight singles finals appearances at Nationals.

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Canadian Men’s Doubles:

A huge upset in the doubles final, as the Murray brothers were taken out by Iwaasa and Cullen in three. This was a rematch of last year’s final, and breaks the string of three straight Canadian doubles titles by the Murray brothers.

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Canadian Women’s Doubles:

#1 seeds Lambert & Morissette defended their Canadian national doubles title by taking the 5-team round robin group without losing a match. A 3-way tie for second resulted in Keay and Prentice being the 2nd place finishers.

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Canadian Mixed Doubles:

In a small round robin competition, @Christian Pocsai and @Ofelia Wilscam took the National mixed doubles draw title, a first for both. Unfortunately, this draw was purged of most of the top players by virtue of the workload it would have caused, something for the US to consider if/when we combine both singles and doubles qualifying into one event.

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Canadian Pan Am Games team selection discussion;

So, the Canadian team selection process may now be a bit complicated by the above results, and thanks to their poor showing at the 2023 PARC. Canada finished 6th in Men’s and 10th in Women’s in Guatemala, meaning they were no where close to the threshold for getting three players in either gender. So just two men and two women will be selected to represent Canada in Chile. But who? Here’s your player pool:

– Men’s Singles: Murray, Iwaasa

– Men’s Doubles: Iwaasa, Cullen

– Mixed Doubles: Pocsai

Technically four players for 2 spots, though there’s a clear gap between Murray & Iwaasa and the others, so one would have to think that will be the team. It normally is Murray & Iwaasa at the major IRF events and i’d have to think it’d be the same in Chile.

Canadian Women’s team selection consideration.

Here’s the qualified female players under consideration:

– Women’s Singles: Lambert, Parent

– Women’s Doubles: Lambert, Morissette

– Mixed Doubles: Wilscam

A tough decision here; both Parent and Morissette have represented Canada internationally in each of the last three years, but Lambert is the double qualifier. However, as we know Lambert is a practicing medical doctor and may very well not be able to get away for a trip as long as the Pan Am games requires. I could see a repeat of the 2023 PARC team of Parent & Morissette in Chile, but we hope to see Lambert (the former #2 LPRT player) show up at the sport’s biggest stage.

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Thanks for all the streaming on the weekend. Pablo Fajre and his IRT crew in Chicago, and @JJT R Ball and Timothy Baghurst in Winnipeg.

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Next up?

Per our handy master racquetball calendar …

https://docs.google.com/…/1V6OTid6rZ356voXVkoV2sN7KMMb…/

We have a couple weeks off until the final LPRT stop of the season in Chesapeake, where the title is up for grabs for the first time since the late 2000s.

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tags

@USA Racquetball

@Racquetball Canada