Category: LPRT

Congrats to your Pro winners on the weekend:

– Singles: Maria Jose Vargas

– Doubles: Montse Mejia & Alejandro Herrera.

TL/DR executive Summary: Vargas finishes off the most dominant season on tour since the end of Longoria’s dominant run in the 2019-20 season, making the final of every event and winning all but one this season. Also, 3 of the 4 semi-finalists were Argentines, including a career run from Valeria Centellas to the pro final.

R2 Sports App home page for event: https://www.r2sports.com/website/event-website.asp?TID=54043

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

Singles Match report in the PRS database: https://rball.pro/d9335b

In the 16s, there were no real upsets, as all the top seeds cruised to victories against lower seeds and a few of the teenagers who made the trip.

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In the Quarters

– Vargas took out Munoz 4,10

– Mendez upset Herrera 14,9. I know this wasn’t an “upset” by seed, but historically Herrera has been the better player.

– In a monumental upset, #3 Gaby Martinez was upset by #6 Valeria Centellas in an 11-10 thriller. This is her career best win, and she makes the semis for just the second time in her career.

– Mejia cruised past Amaya 6,1.

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In the Semis

– Vargas downed her Argentine teammate Mendez without much trouble to get to the final for the 7th straight event.

– Centellas, one day after beating Gaby 11-10, beats Montse 11-10 to set a new “career best win” mark and to make her first pro final, ever.

In the all-Argentina finals, Centellas finally ran out of gas and Vargas blew her out 8,0 to take the crown.

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Points Implications of results

Vargas easily finishes #1, and by virtue of Longoria’s absence Mejia should take over #2 to finish the season. Centellas’ big run jumps her to #6 for the season, easily a career-high ranking. Munoz’ quarter final run gets her back into the top 10 for the end of the season, while Annie Sanchez’ absence dumps her out of the top 10 and she misses out on a first pro top-10 finish.

Here’s a link to my Rolling 2year Calendar XLS, which I use to approximate the points after each event. It is not exact but it’s usually close enough to the actual rankings, which @Ryan Rodgers does with @R2 Sports App on behalf of the tour after each event, to allow some quick post-event analysis before the rankings post.

https://docs.google.com/spreadsheets/d/16o0aE4YophvlQdezlMVj_dqPRUoDQqwE5-LtsLbOncg/edit?usp=sharing

When the tour publishes its final rankings, I’ll correct this xls, capture the data and do year-end data capture and posting.

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Doubles review

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

Mejia & Herrera blasted Vargas & Centellas 3,2 to prevent a double title for Vargas on the weekend.

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Open Singles, other notable draws

– Atlanta’s Maurice Miller won the Men’s Open singles draw.

– Miller and Troy Warigon took the Men’s Open Doubles draw.

– Costa Rican’ teenager Larissa Faeth beat out three members of team Guatemala to take Women’s Open singles

– Christopher Ruano / Suresh Vemulapalli beat two former contemporaries of mine, when I used to actually play racquetball at something of a high level, topping Jeff Wilson and Rich Benderoth for the Combined 75+ doubles title.

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Next up?

Per our handy master racquetball calendar …

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

This coming weekend is the final IRT event of the season, 2026 Gateway City Pro/Am in St. Louis. I’ll be doing podcasting work with @Brian Pineda this week, preview videos for the streaming, etc. Then the last event of the “season” will be US Junior Nationals later this month.

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tags

Well, it has been a minute since the Ladies Professional Racquetball Tour was in action, but here we are with one last event for the 2025-26 season. This is the 2026 LPRT Northern Virginia Invitational, being held at the Worldgate Club in Herndon, VA. This has always been one of the nicest clubs in the DC-area, just a few minutes from Dulles Airport and the flagship of a work/shopping complex that is home to more than a few tech firms that you may have heard of.

The Ladies tour has not had an event since January, a huge amount of time to be off, and a sign of the difficulties pro racquetball faces these days. The LPRT has lost half a dozen tournaments in the last few years alone; we used to have a slam in South Carolina at the Sweet Caroline Open, the Boston Open was a spring fixture, Malia Bailey used to get the crew together in Chesapeake at the end of every season, the Battle at the Alamo in San Antonio was a long-running LPRT stop, and of course for years the season ended with a Super Max slam in Kansas City thanks to Randy Root. All of these events are now gone for one reason or another, and the tour has struggled to get replacements.

The draw in DC is just 15 pros, and for the first time that I can remember there’s a bye in the round of 16 of a pro event. Hopefully the tour can rebound and put together a good slate of events for the fall.

#1 Maria Jose Vargas has officially sewn up the #1 ranking for the season; she has an unassailable lead at the top of the standings. We’ll cover her title and its implications in our season wrap up later this month. However, there’s still top 10 spots to jockey for, and the ladies in attendance are set to finish their season on a high note.

R2 Sports App link: https://www.r2sports.com/website/event-website.asp?TID=54043

draw size, observations

top 10 players missing; #3 Longoria (pregnant, work or both), #6 Laime (who just recently graduated grad school, congrats), #9 Lotts.

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Let’s preview the draw.

round of 16:

– Munoz vs MRR (ahem, Josey) in the 8/9 is a fun one.

– Teenager Costa Rica phenom Larissa Faeth takes on Tier 1 winner Alexandra Herrera.

– the newly minted Hall of Famer @Rhonda Rajsich battles @Valeria Centellas, who is now up to #8 in the rankings and is seeded 6th here.

– Stephanie Synhorst, new Northern Virginia resident with her USMC-related transfer to the Pentagon, takes on Amaya.

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Projected Qtrs:

– Vargas over Munoz, a frequent 1-8 matchup

– Herrera over Mendez. They’ve played 12 times across LPRT and IRF, and though Mendez got her the last time they played (2025 PARC), Herrera h olds a commanding lead in their meetings.

– Gaby over Valeria: Centellas has been impressing, but Gaby still is the better player here.

– Mejia over Amaya

Semis:

– Vargas over Herrera: Maria Jose is too powerful.

– Mejia over Gaby in a battle that’s been fought for more than a decade.

Finals; Vargas takes out Mejia to finish the season with another title.

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Doubles review

Just 5 teams entered, but world’s two top teams are seeded 1 and 2. Look for Vargas/Centellas to meet Mejia/Herrera and for Vargas to take the double.

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

Thanks to the Tourney Directors X and X for putting this event on!

Thanks to our main sponsors X and X and X; it goes without saying that without you and your support, we don’t have a sport.

Congrats to your Pro winners on the weekend:

– Singles: Maria Jose Vargas

– Doubles: Montse Mejia & Alexandra Herrera

– Pro/Am Doubles: Natalia Mendez & Larissa Faeth

TL/DR Executive Summary: Vargas wins again, in dominant fashion, never truly challenged in this event. She’s now won 5 of the last 6 LPRT events and is starting to truly take over on tour. See https://rball.pro/499ce2 for a list of all finals to see how dominant Vargas has been as of late.

Meanwhile, the Mejia/Herrera doubles team won their third straight doubles title, and should be near returning to the top. See https://rball.pro/4d751c for all LPRT doubles finals.

R2 Sports App home page for event: https://www.r2sports.com/website/event-website.asp?TID=47436

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

Singles Match report in the PRS database: https://rball.pro/4d751c

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In the 32s

– Acosta played her second event of the season, her 28th on tour.

– Recently elected USAR hall of famer @rhonda rajsich played, beating NorCal’s Erica Williams in the first round before being relegated to referee duty in the 16s.

– Costa Rican’ junior phenom Larissa Faeth got a solid win over MRR before falling to Herrera. Faeth is the 2-time defending 14U junior world Champion and has also been representing CR in Adult events, and per insiders seems to really have what it takes to make a splash on tour, and soon.

– We got a rare appearance from Lucia Gonzalez, who won a slew of Junior World titles in her career (7 in total, plus all her Mexican junior titles), but whose pro career never materialized. She took out Stephanie Synhorst before falling to Gaby 12,4.

– Manilla continued her comeback efforts, blasting Mexican veteran Nancy Enriquez before falling to #2 Mejia.

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In the 16s:

– Annie Sanchez got her best career win, and her first pro quarterfinal, topping Colombian turned Italian Cristina Amaya.

– Carla Munoz, who has slipped in the rankings after taking a few events off mid 2025, got a solid win over #5 Mendez to push back towards the top 10

– York pushed Centellas in the 7/10 match before ultimately falling 10,12

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In the Quarters, seeds took over, as all top four seeds won. Longoria had the hardest go of it, having to face her former vanquisher Herrera, who’s on the downslope from her peak a few years ago. Gaby was pushed to double digits in one game, otherwise the top four seeds advanced without opponents reaching 10 in any game.

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In the Semis:

– Vargas crunched Martinez 6,9. Vargas has really taken over on tour.

– Longoria-Mejia needed nearly 2 hours, and needed to go to 10-10 in the breaker before a winner was determined. The two split games, then were neck and neck in the breaker before a mini-run from Mejia gave her match point at 10-7. Longoria saved it, then ground out 3 points to put it at 10-10 … where Mejia got a gutsy side-out on a fly-ball kill shot. Longoria wasn’t out of her own bag of tricks, crushing a cross court to get back match point on her racquet, which she took with a well-struck deep court forehand kill for the win. Someone had to lose, and it was Mejia.

In the Finals, anticlimactic after the semis, as Vargas won her 3rd in a row, and 4th of the season, crushing Longoria 4,5 to leave no doubt. She’s won 5 of the last 6 events (making the final in the other), and has opened a massive lead atop the standings.

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Points Implications of results

Here’s a link to my LPRT Rolling 2year Calendar XLS, which I use to approximate the points after each event. It may not exactly match the LPRT’s standings, but should be close enough to gauge post-event results in the immediate.

https://docs.google.com/spreadsheets/d/16o0aE4YophvlQdezlMVj_dqPRUoDQqwE5-LtsLbOncg/edit?usp=sharing

Vargas, on the strength of 3 in a row and 5 of the last 6, has opened a massive lead atop the standings. She’s up by more than 500 points now to 2nd place (Longoria, who overtakes Mejia with the head to head win). But, Vargas will need to have something catastrophic happen to be caught this season at this point.

Other notable movement: Sanchez should enter the top 10 for the first time, and Munoz should be right on the cusp at #11. Lawrence, who seems to have quit the tour lately, will drop to #15.

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Doubles review

Match report in the PRS database: https://rball.pro/fd24f8

Mejia and Herrera beat Vargas & Centellas for the title for the 3rd straight event running, but they had to work for it. They squeaked by Manilla/Key in the quarters, then had to outlast the solid new-look team of Longoria/GAby in the semis to make it there.

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Other Notable Draws:

– The LPRT ran a super-fun looking event called the “Pro/Am Doubles,” where pros teamed up with “Open players,” which usually means low-end/younger pros, for a fun pro/am division. It was taken by Mendez & Faeth, who took out Mejia and Mexican junior Yanna Salazar. Great idea, hope to see more of this in the future.

– The Men’s Open was not complete as of this writing, but is headlined by top-10 IRT pro Alan Natera, in town supporting his wife Carla Munoz. I may regret writing this, but its hard to imagine him losing this draw.

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

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Next up?

Per our handy master racquetball calendar …

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

Next week is an IRT satellite event at the long-running Carl Myers event in Kansas, then the week after that is the annual Lewis Drug pro-am in Sioux Falls, the long-running event that’s a huge favorite of players on tour.

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tags

@LPRT

The pro first event of the 2026 season us, as the ladies head to Tempe for a long-running event in the Arizona Open. Legendary coach Jim Winterton has organized the event once again and has a solid draw of ladies pros in town.

R2 Sports App link: https://www.r2sports.com/website/event-website.asp?TID=47436

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I’m going to do the preview a little different this time, since to me there’s now a very clear-cut line between the top 4-5 players on tour and the rest of the draw. I’m going to call out some storylines to watch instead of playing out the entire draw.

– Mexican junior Mariafernanda Trujillo is set for just her second ever LPRT appearance after a long junior career; she’s still 21U eligible.

– Former top junior and a constant dark-horse when she plays Lucia Gonzalez is here, and she has a relatively winnable first round to get to the 16s.

– Newly elected Hall of Famer Rhonda Rajsich is playing in her home town; she says she’s playing the tour full time this season; can she get back to the top 10?

– Costa Rican phenom Larissa Faeth is here with a good shot at getting into the 16s.

– Erika Manilla is here, but runs into the #2 seed in the 16s. Coming back from zero points is super tough.

– Semis: hard not to predict the top 4 to the semis in Vargas, Longoria, Mejia, and Gaby.

– Vargas has won three straight, and I think she’s winning here again.

– Longoria is #3, but I like her for the final.

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Doubles review

There’s interesting teams here: Longoria no longer has her long-time partner Salas to depend on here, so she’s partnered with Gaby and they’re just the #4 seed. Watch out for that pair. Manilla & Key are seeded dead last but would probably cruise to the US national title right now. Munoz and Rajsich are the #6 seed; i’d be deathly afraid of this team in Outdoor; can they make it happen in indoor?

prediction: Herrera/Mejia over Longoria/Gaby in the final

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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, Sandy Rios, Jerry J Josey Jr., and Tj Baumbaugh on the mike, calling the shots!

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.

Associations

@lprt

Congrats to your Pro winners on the weekend:

– Singles: Maria Jose Vargas

– Doubles: Montse Mejia & Alexandra Herrera

TL/DR Executive Summary: Vargas extends her lead atop the LPRT rankings with a solid win in singles, while the world’s top doubles team wins another.

R2 Sports App home page for event: https://www.r2sports.com/website/event-website.asp?TID=51202

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

Singles Match report in the PRS database: https://rball.pro/3f08be

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In the 32s, just a handful of matches as just 19 ladies entered this event. The tour was definitely missing some of its younger competitors, away at Junior Worlds, but the tour is also missing several touring regulars from the recent years past who seem to have either stepped away due to injury or priorities.

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In the 16s:

– In the 8/9, Lotts pressed Centellas but fell.

– Laime crushed Munoz 2,5 in the 6/11 matchup

– Herrera held on against veteran Parrilla, winning 9,12

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In the Quarters

– The big s hock was Mendez taking out Gaby Martinez 13,11; that’s a solid win for Mendez.

– Vargas was pressed by her Argentine teammate Centellas but won 11,11

– Mejia had to go breaker to beat her doubles partner Herrera.

– Longoria cruised past Laime 1,6, perhaps looking to make a statement against a player who’s beaten her in the past.

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In the Semis

– Vargas took out Mendez , but not before dropping the first game 15-2 in a crazy scoreline.

– Longoria got some revenge against Mejia from the last event, winning 7,9.

In the Finals, Vargas won with relative ease 6,12 to claim her 14th career LPRT title. She’s now in 10th place all time.

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Points Implications of results

Despite making the finals over Mejia, Montse leapfrogged Paola for #2 on tour for the time being, as points expiration from last year conspired against the GOAT. No other major movement in the top 10 other than Kelani Lawrence continuing to fall; she’s apparently quiet retired.

Here’s a link to my LPRT Rolling 2year Calendar XLS, which I use to approximate the points after each event. It is not exact but it’s usually close enough to the actual rankings, which @Ryan Rodgers does with @R2 Sports App on behalf of the tour after each event, to allow some quick post-event analysis before the rankings post.

women

https://docs.google.com/spreadsheets/d/16o0aE4YophvlQdezlMVj_dqPRUoDQqwE5-LtsLbOncg/edit?usp=sharing

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Doubles review

Match report in the PRS database: https://rball.pro/38e8b2

Mejia and Herrera held serve against Manilla &* Longoria in the opener and then went on to win it, to claim their 15th pro doubles title together.

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Open Singles, other notable draws

– Lotts beat Sanchez for the Women’s Open RR title.

– Ohio’s Victor Migliore took the Men’s Open singles title.

– The Open Doubles was taken by two Maryland locals Ben Bleyer / Christopher Ruano

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Next up?

Per our handy master racquetball calendar …

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

We have World Juniors going on as we speak; we’ll cover the knockouts and the results next week. Then that’s a wrap for 2025.

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tags

As the Men are playing on one coast, the ladies are clear across the country, about as far away as one can get from Fullerton, visiting Severna Park, Maryland for the 33rd annual Christmas Classic. This event is being held at the venerable Severna Park Racquet club, one the last old-school hold out venues anywhere. The championship court is sunken and features stadium seating, there remains at least 6 functional courts (at least there were the last time I attended an event there), and this 33rd annual event is now one of (if not THE) longest running pro events in the sport.

R2 Sports App link:https://www.r2sports.com/website/event-website.asp?TID=51202

9 of the top 10 ladies are here, and most of the rest of the top 20 is present as well. We’re missing a couple of veteran regulars, which will give us some interesting doubles teams, but more on that in a moment.

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Let’s preview the draw. Here’s some notable qualifying matches that i’m looking forward to:

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In the 32s,

– Erika Manilla returns; the former top 4 player has struggled to get back to form since her hip issue; she faces the Canadian #2 Parent in the opener.

– Synhorts faces the ageless Brandt in the play-in to #2 Mejia.

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round of 16:

– Manilla plays into #1 Vargas: normally this would be a semis-quality match. Vargas holds the career lead 5-1 and seems the favorite to make it 6-1.

– @sheryl Lotts celebrates her career high ranking with a juicy matchup against #8 Centellas: great “show-me” match for Lotts to see if she can make the quarters.

– 5/12 Mendez-York could be upset city.

– Gaby has to play her doubles partner MRR in the opener; hate it when that happens. I once entered an out-of-town event with my partner and roommate at the time @Ben Hale; we both played open singles and open doubles. I called for start times; they forgot to put us in. So the TD gives me a start time … I ask him who i’m playing and he slowly says… Ben Hale. I’m like, “absolutely not. You forgot to put us both in and now have us playing each other in some play-in to a top seed; make the draw right, and make us play someone else.” This is TD 101; never, never have out-of-town doubles partners playing each other in the singles first round. Of course, in teh Pros … its all by points, and this happens all the time.

– Munoz-Laime is a great match in 6/11: both players play classical drive and shoot ball.

– Herrera-Parrilla is a frequently seen matchup both home and abroad

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Projected Qtrs:

– Vargas vs Centellas; doubles partners and Argentina team mates face off. Vargas should cruise here.

– Gaby-Mendez: the Guatemalan shouldn’t have any issues advancing.

– Longoria-Laime: there’s danger here for the GOAT, as Laime has put losses on her in the past. Laime is Jeckyl & Hyde: you just never know if you’re getting someone who can cruise into the finals without breaking a sweat, or a one-and-done loser.

– Mejia-Herrera: more doubles partner action, though Mejia has taken a step forward in this singles rivalry over hte past few years.

Semis: Vargas over Gaby, Longoria over Mejia.

Finals; Vargas over Longoria, though honestly these days on tour any one of the top three ladies can and will win events. If Mejia gets hot, forget it. If Longoria is “on” this weekend, she can’t be stopped.

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Doubles review

Longoria is missing Salas here, so she picked up Manilla, who has no points, and they’re seeded 7th out of 8. Taht means we get Longoria/Manilla vs Mejia/Herrera in the first round. wow. I’ll say it now; whoever wins this, wins the event.

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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, Sandy Rios, Jerry J Josey Jr., and Tj Baumbaugh on the mike, calling the shots!

Associations

@lprt