Category: USA

Posted on

2025 USA Racquetball Junior Nationals Recap

Naomi Ros with the triple crown at Junior Nationals. Photo via Ken fife

USA Racquetball held its 52nd annual Junior Nationals event last week on the campus of the University of Minnesota in Minneapolis, and the event drew a solid field of top juniors from St Louis, San Antonio, Portland, Stockton, and other junior racquetball hot beds around the country.

The event has been held every year since 1974, save for the Covid year in 2020, and is one of the longest running events in the sport.

With this post, is official notification that the Junior Nationals results have been entered into the ProRacquetballStats.com database. For Juniors, we upload full bracket results for 21s,18s,16s, and 14s, but just load up winners and finalists for all age groups younger than 14U. For doubles, we load up just the finalists.

The best way to see Junior Singles winners is with the cross-year/cross-age group Matrix reports built into the site. They show all the winners for all age divisions going back to 1974. Here’s direct links for each Matrix report:

– Boys USA Junior National Singles Champion Matrix: https://rball.pro/mey

– Girls USA Junior National Singles Champion Matrix: https://rball.pro/cpf

Each full division draw can be accessed from the “event” pulldown after you enter either the Juniors or the Junior Doubles section. One Junior Nationals results in 18-20 singles draws plus another 15 doubles draws being entered into the database, so there’s a lot of new data here this week.

R2sports home page for the event, with all the full brackets: https://www.r2sports.com/tourney/home.asp?TID=46099

For 2025, congrats to your Boys Singles winners:

– Boys 21U: @DJ Mendoza

– Boys 18U: Eshan Ali

– Boys 16U: Vaishant Mangalampalli

– Boys 14U: Ayan Sharma

– Boys 12U: Ryan Joeckel

– Boys 10U: Michael Glenn

– Boys 10Udb: Elijah Machado

– Boys 8U: Jasur Pridatko

– Boys 8Umb: Saharsh Gorthy

– Boys 6UMB: no event in 2025

– Boys 8Umb: Zane Horner

– Boys 6Umb: Xavier De La Torre-Berrera

Congrats to your Girls singles winners:

– Girls 21U: Naomi Ros

– Girls 18U: Sonya Shetty

– Girls 16U: Aanshi Thakur

– Girls 14U; Shreya Chandel

– Girls 12U: Aaradhya Raja

– Girls 10U: Sloka Marivada

– Girls 10Udb: Sylvie Hatcher-Ross

– Girls 8U: Sylvie Hatcher-Ross

– Girls 8Umb: Sasha Rai

– Girls 6Umb: Almira Pridatko

Congrats to your Boys Doubles winners:

– Boys 21U: Cole Sendrey & DJ Mendoza

– Boys 18U: Eshan Ali & Juan Herrera II

– Boys 16U: Grant Williams & Evan Whitley

– Boys 14U: Lucas Frost-Biskup & Ayan Sharma

– Boys 12U: Aiden Townsen & Noah Jackola

– Boys 10U: Michael Glenn & Damien Gil

Congrats to your Girls Doubles winners:

– Girls 21U: Naomi Ros & Ava Kaiser

– Girls 18U: Victoria Rodriguez & Sonya Shetty

– Girls 16U; Aarya Shetty * Aanshi Thakur

– Girls 14U: Audrey Reed & Violet Kennedy

– Girls 12U: Aaradhya Raja & Yana Alegria

– Girls 10U: Maryam Bukhari & Sloka Marivada

And Congrats to your Mixed Doubles winners:

– Mixed 21U: Cole Sendrey & Naomi Ros

– Mixed 18U: Eshan Ali & Sonya Shetty

– Mixed 16U: Vaishant Mangalampalli & Aarya Shetty

– Mixed 14U: Ayan Sharma & Shreya Chandel

– Mixed 12U: Noah Jackola & Aaradhya Raja

– Mixed 10U: Michael Glenn & Sloka Marivada

(Apologies for any typos: these were hand typed into this post)

—-

Note: there are some combined divisions at 2025 nationals, especially in the 10s, 8s and 6s. I determined the champions when age groups were combined by looking at head to head results to “name” an age group champion. In some cases there are uncontested winners for younger entrants who competed with the next higher age group.

—-

Here’s some quick commentary on the Singles champions by grouping.

Boys Singles;

In 21U, Mendoza held off Sendrey in a battle of Texas junior IRT regulars to give Mendoza his first Junior title. The GOAT @Kane Waselenchuk was on hand to cheer on his pupil. in 18U Eshan Ali took his 6th career junior title. Vaishant Mangalampalli moved up as the reigning 14U champ and took 16U in his first shot. Ayan Sharma returned to the winner’s circle for the first time since 2018. Both the 10U and 12U winners were first timers; congrats to Michael Glenn and Ryan Joeckel. Jasur Pridatko repeated as 8U champ. Lastly the two multi/double bounce champs were first timers as well: Elijah Machado in 10UDB and then Gorthy, Saharsh in 8UMB.

Special recognition to Ash Murphy, who made the final in 8U, 8Umb and 10Udb. Also a shoutout to David Rada in 14U, who came in as the #30 seed out of a 32 player draw and made a run to the final as a complete unknown. They often say that in Junior draws, the hardest matches are the first round and the final, since kids show up out of nowhere and make huge runs quite frequently.

—————–

Girls Singles quick recaps.

Reigning US Adult and 2024 18U champ Naomi Ros moved up to 21s and took the title, setting the stage for the possibility of 7 straight junior titles for Ros since her naturalization in the US. Sonya Shetty took 18U, her 5th national title. Aanshi Thakur repeated as 16U junior titleist. We had first time winners in both 14U and 12U in Shreya Chandel and Aaradhya Raja respectively. Marivada Sloka took 10U, her 3rd junior title. Sylvie Hatcher-Ross took both the 10Udb and the 8U title. Sasha Rai, 2-time defending 6Umb champ, moved up to take the 8Umb title. Lastly newcomer Almira Pridatko won the 6Umb.

—–

Multi-title winners

The following players took home the coveted “Triple Crown,” winning singles, gender doubles, and mixed doubles this year:

– Eshan Ali (18U)

– Ayan Sharma (14U)

– Michael Glenn (10U)

– Naomi Ros (21U)

– Sonya Shetty (18U)

– Aaradhya Raja (12U)

– Sloka Marivada (10U)

The following players took home the “double,” winning both Singles and a Doubles title in their age groups:

– DJ Mendoza (21U)

– Aanshi Thakur (16U)

– Shreya Chandel (14U)

These players took the “Double Double,” winning both Gender and Mixed doubles titles.

– Vaishant Mangalampalli (16U)

– Shreya Chandel

—

Phew. that’s it for Junior Nationals. Congrats to all the 2025 winners. The National team includes the two singles finalists and the doubles winners in each division; those players have first right of refusal to represent Team USA at Junior Worlds later this year in the Dominican Republic.

Next up on the racquetball calendar? 2025 Outdoor Nationals, teaming with 3WallBall this year in Huntington Beach! We’ll preview and recap that event as we always do.

Posted on

LPRT Sweet Caroline Recap

Brenda Laime wins her 4th doubles title on the season. Photo US Open 2019 Kevin Savory

Congrats to your Pro winners on the weekend:

– Singles: @Maria Jose Vargas

– Doubles: @Brenda Laime Jalil and Natalia Mendez Erlwein

Vargas finishes off her season with a win, while Laime wins her 4th pro doubles title of the season. Longoria had already clinched the year end title. More in the points section later.

R2 Sports App home page for event: https://www.r2sports.com/website/event-website.asp?TID=49103

——————

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

Singles Match report in the PRS database: https://rball.pro/61cdf6

—————-

In the 32s, two of the best U21 players in the world (Bolivia’s Camila Rivero and USA’s Naomi Ros) topped LPRT tour vets Rodriguez and Synhorst to move on).

—————-

In the 16s, chalk. All top 8 seeds moved on in the season’s final event. The only round of 16 to even go to a tie-breaker was in the 7/10 match, with @Kelani Lawrence advancing over Christina Amaya.

—————-

In the Quarters, again chalk but with some closer matches.

– With @Alexandra Herrera now dropped to the #8 spot, the 1-8 is tougher than it normally is, and indeed @Paola Longoria had to go to the breaker to move past the lefty Herrera 6,(9),2.

– #4 @Ana Ana Gabriela Martínez cruised past #5 Mendez in two.

– #3 Vargas crushed Laime 6,2 in a battle of hard hitters.

– #2 @Montse Mejia wasn’t too troubled in advancing past Lawrence 7,6

—————

In the Semis, the clear-cut top four players on tour have separated themselves at this point, with a massive gap in the points ranking between #4 and #5. Herrera used to be part of this upper group, and Manilla’s hip injury continues to prevent her from even playing, else we’d be closer to a “big 6” rather than our current “big 4.”

And, true to form, when you have a group of closely matched players, week in and week out you just never know who’s gonna win. And this weekend, we got two upsets in the semis.

– Gaby took out Longoria by the surprising scoreline 3,12 to get to her second final of the season. If Martinez hadn’t missed an event this season, she might e pressing for #2 on tour.

– Vargas flipped the script on Mejia in the 2/3 semi final, winning an incredibly streaky match 6,(3),1.

In the Finals, Vargas powered past the Guatemalan 8,5. Gaby entered the event a little under the weather but made it to the final before running out of gas.

—————-

Points Implications of results

With the win, Vargas made up the ground she was trailing Mejia for #2 on the season and now the two players are in a virtual dead heat for the #2 year end spot. It will come down to point fractions and who was able to win a game in an eventual loss; we’ll keep an eye out for hte final season rankings. No other changes in the top 16 came from the season ender, with the exception of the absent Carla Munoz missing points for the second straight event and now dropping all the way to #16. She’ll face an up-hill climb to get back to the quarters next season.

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/…/16o0aE4YophvlQdezlMVj…/edit…

—————-

Doubles review

Match report in the PRS database: https://rball.pro/46a919

Laime and Mendez finish off the title as the #1 seeds, topping Vargas and Centellas in the final. Thus, 3 of the four finalists were Argentine, and all four are Bolivian-born players who have left to represent other South American federations.

Meja and Herrera, who dominated the pro doubles circuit last season (they won 6 of the 7 doubles titles in the 23-24 season) won just once together this year as Laime became the top dog. Laime had 4 titles this year with 3 different players. Vargas switched partners, moving from Mendez to Centellas, and managed to make the final in 6 of the season’s 7 events but could garner just one title. Meanwhile, the reign of Longoria/Salas seems over; they made just two finals this season as both players are facing career choices going forward.

—————-

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

——————

Next up?

Per our handy master racquetball calendar …

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

Next week is USA Junior Nationals, the last of the big USAR events of the season.

——————-

tags

@LPRT

Posted on

LPRT Sweet Caroline Open Preview

Longoria has sewn up the year end title. Photo via Fran Davis Racquetball

Right on the heels of the Northern Virginia Invitational, the traditional season ending event for the LPRT is upon us: the Sweet Caroline Open. Normally held in Greenville, SC, at the club that serves as the home for the LPRT’s official Hall of Fame, this year due to club renovations (thankfully that, and not yet another historic racquetball club closing) being held at the Dowd YMCA in Charlotte, NC. The ladies of the tour drove south down 95, passing through my hometown in Richmond, before heading into North Carolina proper.

R2 Sports App link: https://www.r2sports.com/website/event-website.asp?TID=49103

Basically the same set of ladies who competed last weekend in DC, with a couple of changes at the tail end of the seedings. However, thanks to some major ranking shakeups, the quarters project to be completely different than last week.

With her finals finish last weekend, Longoria has sewn up the year end title, her 14th. The top 8 finishes are mostly set; only a huge run of upsets would change the final season rankings from where they sit now. There’s a bit of room in the 9-10-11 spots where someone could nab a “top 10” finish for the season, if the players cared about such a thing. So, a bit to play for this weekend.

——————————

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

There’s just 2 matches in the 32s, and both could be interesting. In the 16/17 MRR takes on reigning US National champ @Naomi Ros in a good test for our young champion. Meanwhile, in the 15/18 matchup, the reigning U21 world junior champ from Bolivia @Camila Rivero is in town, taking on tour vet @Stephanie Synhorst.

——————————-

round of 16:

– I’d like to see what Ros can do against Something-time Mexican champ @Paola Longoria (I don’t have any idea how many Mexican national titles Paola has, thanks to shoddy record keeping at the FMR, but I do know she’s won every title save for one since 2014, and likely every title from around 2008-2014, so i’d estimate it at either 16 or 17).

– With Herrera all the way down at #8, she faces #9 Parrilla for a shot at Paola.

– All Argentine grudge match between Mendez and Centellas, in a battle of the long-time representative and the player they’re trying to replace her with.

– Laime got upset early last week; can she hang with hard-hitting Salas to live up to her seed?

– Lotts plays into Vargas, and she can hang with the big hitting Argentine.

——————————

Projected Qtrs:

– Longoria over Herrera: the time where Alexandra could beat Paola seems now past.

– Gaby over Mendez: We never seem to talk about Ana Gabriele Martinez’ draw until suddenly she’s in the semis, taking on Paola.

– Vargas over Laime: Laime seems to either make the final or lose in the first round.

– Mejia over Lawrence. With her win last week Montse moves up to #2 and takes on the American Kelani, who has a couple hour’s drive from her Va Beach home to get to Charlotte for this one.

Semis: I like the top four seeds once again

– Longoria has another close one against Gaby but moves on

– Mejia has the hot hand, Vargas knows she’s out of the title race and loses.

Finals; Longoria finishes off her season with a title in the last event.

——————————-

Doubles review

Longoria & Salas take the weekend off from doubles, which paves the way for Mejia & Herrera to get a title, even if they’ve been supplanted in the rankings.

Posted on

LPRT Northern Virginia Invitational Recap

Mejia wins the battle, but Longoria wins the war. Photo unk.

Congrats to your Pro winners on the weekend:

– Singles: Montserrate Mejia

– Doubles: Maria Jose Vargas & @Valeria Centellas

Exec Summary: Mejia denies Longoria and wins her 8th career title, now sitting in 12th place alone. Nonetheless, Longoria secures the 2024-25 year end title, her 14th.

R2 Sports App home page for event: https://www.r2sports.com/website/event-website.asp?TID=48794

——————

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

Singles Match report in the PRS database: https://rball.pro/11b4f8

—————-

In the 32s, a couple of notable results:

– Sanchez took out MRR to move on.

– Synhorst topped the veteran Acosta in a solid win

—————-

In the 16s, just a couple of notable matches to mention:

– Lexi York took #5 Herrera to a breaker but fell

– The sole upset was #11 Parrilla taking out #6 Laime.

—————-

In the Quarters

– #1 Longoria did what she normally does against #8 Lawrence, grinding out a solid win

– #4 Gaby made fast work of #5 Herrera.

– #3 Mejia took out her long-time rival Parrilla 8,7

– #2 Vargas was pushed by her former doubles partner Mendez but advanced 2,11

—————

In the Semis

– Longoria came out on top of a close 13,14 match against Gaby, who always seems to play Paola tough.

– In the increasingly tough 2/3 battle, Mejia came out on top over Vargas in a breaker. She advances to her 3rd straight final in as many chances after going months without doing so.

In the Finals, Mejia had it going on this day, winning13,5 to take the title, her 2nd in the last three events.

—————-

Points Implications of results

Despite losing in the final, Longoria has officially sewn up her 14th career pro title. She has an insurmountable 334 point lead in the season-to-date standings, and with just one non-Grand slam event remaining she cannot be caught. Longoria returns to the top after missing out on the last two year end titles, and heads into the new season with a commanding lead, having made the final of all 6 stops thus far this season.

In other interesting rankings movement: going by Season-to-date standings, Mejia has not yet sewn up #2 but is close to doing so, but should jump Vargas for that slot in the year end event. Mendez has made a huge jump and projects to finish 5th. After years of being in the top 4, Herrera looks to slip all the way to #8. Munoz’ absence here costs here dearly; she’s projecting to finish #13 now. Lastly, three players are tied with the exact same number of points for 14th place (York, Lotts, and Synhorst), which will make the last event super interesting if they all attend.

Here’s a link to my IRT 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

—————-

Doubles review

Match report in the PRS database: https://rball.pro/40849b

Centellas got her first pro doubles title in nearly 5 years, teaming with Vargas to take out the Longoria/Salas team.

——————

Next up?

Per our handy master racquetball calendar …

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

The Ladies are right back at it, driving down I95 from DC to get to Charlotte for the season-ending Sweet Caroline Open, normally held in Greenville SC but moving this year due to club renovations.

——————-

tags

@lpLPRT

Posted on

LPRT Northern Virginia Invitational Preview

Mejia is still in the hunt but needs big results. Photo Kevin Savory US Open 2019

Welcome to the penultimate LPRT event of the season, the 2025 Northern Virginia Invitational, being held at the Worldgate club in Herndon, VA. Worldgate is right down the road from Dulles Airport in the DC suburbs and was a flagship health club in the DC area for years, with a large indoor racquet sports presence (the club also has or had indoor tennis and had hosted Squash pro tournaments in the past).

It was bought by a large chain in the DC area called Sport & Health, whose owners acquired most of the major racquetball playing clubs in the 1990s and early 2000s and then systematically destroyed the racquetball culture of the area by removing dozens of courts or outright closing racquetball-centric clubs (such as the one where I was the club pro at for a decade). Now they’ve rebranded as a new club name and sold off some assets like Worldgate, who regained their independence and continue on with a handful of courts, some of the few remaining in the DC area.

The LPRT hasn’t been in Northern Virginia for nearly a decade, having last held an event in Arlington in Dec 2015 (the historic Crystal Gateway club, which was gutted to make way for an indoor rock climbing gym). The last time they were in Herndon was in May 2015, which is crazy to think of since long-time LPRT commissioner @TJTj Baumbaugh not only lives down the road from Worldgate but who remains employed by the Sport & Health chain as a master Personal Trainer. You can’t make club executives support the sport, as it turns out, even when you demonstrate programming is healthy and active.

R2 Sports App link: https://www.r2sports.com/website/event-website.asp?TID=48794

We’re getting down to the tail end of the season. The Ladies haven’t been in action for more than 3 months; last event was in March in Boston. We’ve been waiting since that time to see how the rest of the season would shake out; now we seem to have our answer. We have this tier 1 and then the final event of the season, the Sweet Caroline event that’s being played in Charlotte this year as a regular Tier 1 event as well (not its typical Grand Slam points). That generally means 240 points to the winner as the most points that a player may gain per event.

Heading into this event, #1 Longoria holds a bit more than a 400 point season to date advantage over Vargas at #2, so while she hasn’t sewed up the year end title just yet, the odds are she can put herself out of reach with a sufficiently deep enough run this weekend. Vargas or Mejia would have to make the finals here and in the last event of the season, win one of them, and have Longoria forfeit out of both events to have any shot at the title.

That being said, lets preview the draw. There’s 20 ladies here but the entire top 10 is present and a big chunk of the 11-20. There’s basically zero rookies or first timers here.

In the 32s:

– Sanchez- MRR is a nice test for Annie to see how she’s progressing.

– Acosta-Synhort as well.

——————————-

round of 16:

– How far has Sanchez come as a player? She’s gotten some impressive wins lately; now she gets a test against the #1 Longoria

– Herrera-York could be interesting: Lexi continues to improve

– Parrilla-Laime may be the best match of the round

– Mendez-Salas in the 7/10 matchup will be a battle of two players who have seen each other for years.

– Vargas may have to play new National team doubles partner Centellas in the 16s.

——————————

Projected Qtrs:

– Longoria-Lawrence; Kelani continues to run into Paola, and continues to edge closer.

– Martinez-Herrera: two former tier1 winners clash in the quarters. Gaby might be ranked #2 on tour had she made the season opening Grand Slam.

– Mejia-Laime; two bashers bring their power game in a drive serving feast.

– Vargas-Mendez: all the Argentines in one quarter.

Semis:

– Longoria over Gaby

– Mejia over Vargas

Finals; Longoria sews up the title with a win over Mejia.

——————————-

Doubles review

The doubles seeding is a little interesting: thanks to some missed events this year long-time #1 Longoria & Salas are now the #4 seeds. Laime & Mendez together are #2 despite very little time together, and Vargas’ new Argentine partner Centellas is the #3 seed. Mejia & Herrera remain #1 but will now have to face their long-time rivals in the semis, not the final. I still see Mejia & Herrera winning.

———————————

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.

Posted on

USAR National Indoors 2025 National Championships Wrap-up

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

Congrats to your US National Team winners on the weekend:

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

– Women’s Singles: Naomi Ros over Hollie Scott

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

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

– Mixed Doubles: Erik Garcia / Erika Manilla

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

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

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

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

——————

Let’s review the notable matches in the draws.

Men’s Singles

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

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

—————-

Women’s Singles:

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

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

—————-

Men’s Doubles:

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

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

—————-

Women’s Doubles:

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

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

—————-

Mixed Doubles:

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

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

—————-

Other notable draws:

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

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

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

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

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

—————–

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

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

——————

Next up?

Per our handy master racquetball calendar …

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

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

——————-

tags

@USA Racquetball

Posted on

2025 USA Racquetball Intercollegiates wrap up

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

Congrats to the individual winners:

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

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

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

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

———————–

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

————-

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

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

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

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

Congrats to all the individuals and team champions!

Posted on

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.

Posted on

2025 EVE Promotions 2025 Beach Bash Recap

HoFamer Sostre takes home 3 golds. Photo Steve Fitzsimons 3WB 2020

Hello Racquetball fans. The first Outdoor “Major” of the 2025 season just finished up on the sunny courts of Garfield Street in Hollywood, Florida, and here’s a recap.

Congrats to your Pro winners on the weekend:

– Men’s Pro Doubles: McDonald/Sostre

– Women’s Pro Doubles: Key/Maldonado

– Mixed Pro Doubles: Sostre/Maldonado

– Men’s Pro Singles: No event this year.

– Women’s Pro Singles: Michelle Key

Executive Summary: A great showing for NY this weekend, with double pro golds for Sostre & Maldonado. Michelle Key also took home two titles, and Floridian Chris McDonald won his first ever Beach Bash title.

R2 Sports App home page for event: https://www.r2sports.com/website/event-website.asp?TID=46008

——————

Reports on ProRacquetballStats.com:

Match reports for 2025 Beach Bash:

– Men’s Pro Doubles: https://rball.pro/fd1c7d

– Women’s Pro Doubles: https://rball.pro/04cc18

– Mixed Pro Doubles: https://rball.pro/c8e4bf

– Men’s Pro Singles: No event this year

– Women’s Pro Singles: https://rball.pro/e55d02

Triple Crown Reports for all past WOR major champions:

– Men’s Pro Doubles: https://rball.pro/3lj

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

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

– Men’s Pro Singles: https://rball.pro/9ey

– Women’s Pro Singles: https://rball.pro/h27

——————

Lets run through the draws, recapping the action.

——————

Men’s Pro Doubles:

So, I’m part of the 3WB seeding team and have helped in the past. Seeding outdoor events is really difficult. There’s practically no points you can really depend on, pros flow in and out year by year, top players who miss an event one year suddenly aren’t ranked at all, while players who happen to live in areas where there’s plenty of sanctioned one-wall events get over-seeded just by virtue of being able to play events. Often times we seed a team 11th, knowing that they’re better than the 11th best team and knowing they’re likely to beat the 6th seeded team, and that ends up being the fairest way to do a draw. Sometimes we tweak seeds slightly so that four players who flew a 1000 miles who are from the same club don’t play in the first round. It isn’t ideal to do these manipulations, and every year it leads to arguments, but there’s too many factors that just can’t be worked around.

Unfortunately, a confluence of events in this draw led to the final being competed by the #7 and #9 seeds. I’m sure some will look at this and talk about how incompetent the TDs are. Well, i’m sure they gave it a lot more thought than you might think, so cut them some slack.

Blatt & Rolon (the 2018 winners and constant presences at the back-end of one-wall major events) were seeded 9th, and, true to form, when they met the #1 seeds Montoya & Mar … not only did we get a quality match, we got an upset in what probably should have been at worst the semi final in the pro draw. Rolon & Blatt then cruised past Morales & Heymann to get to the final.

In the final, The #7 seeds Chris Mcdonald and Robert Sostre (who should have probably been seeded higher but likely placed at #7 knowing that they’d be the favorites over the #2 seeds anyway) ended up topping the #9 seeds in a breaker for the title. It’s McDonald’s first ever one-wall pro title, while Sostre wins his 6th career Beach Bash pro doubles title (fun fact: Sostre has made the final here in 11 of the 15 pro doubles events ever held).

——————

Women’s Pro Doubles:

Michelle Key and outdoor legend @Anita Maldonado were not threatened as the #1 seeds, cruising to a title. In the final, they topped outdoor specialists Katie Neils and Aimee Roehler.

With the win, Key gets her fourth career Women’s Doubles title here, and extends her amazing collection of Pro Doubles outdoor major titles to 19.

——————

Mixed Pro Doubles:

Taking advantage of a last minute withdrawal that cost the Mixed draw its #1 seeds, New Yorkers Erika Tinalli & Brian Romero cruised into the final with solid wins over Arizona’s Key/Anderson and fellow NYers Blatt/Guinan. However, they fell in the final to the experienced Sostre/Maldonado team

——————

Men’s Pro Singles:

There was no Singles event on the men’s side this year, the first time since 2014 that the draw didn’t field enough players to be held. Both of last year’s finalists and the 2023 finalist attended the competing Warhawk Open, 4-time champion DLR is out of the sport, 3-time champ Sostre is north of 50 and saves his body for the four doubles divisions he generally enters. Lets hope we don’t have fixture congestion and can get a full draw in 2026.

——————

Women’s Pro Singles:

Just three women entered the Pro singles here, with the draw missing a slew of names who typically play here. Munoz, Parrilla, Scott, Laime, Lawrence: all past finalists or semi-finalists.

In the end, @Michelle Key took her first Beach Bash singles title, improving on her finalist finish last year, topping Miami’s @Chanis Leon in the final.

——————

Other Notable draws:

– CPRT 40+ Doubles: Sostre/Harmon took out McDonald/Miller for the title, Sostre’s 3rd on the weekend.

– Men’s 75+: Rodrigo Montoya teamed with San Antonio’s Phillip Beverly to take the 75+ combined, beating Mar & Perez in the final.

– Men’s 100+: Stratton Woods in the house! Northern Virginia residents Allan Small and Suresh Vemulapalli beat teams that included legends Rocky and Beltran to take the 100+ combined title.

——————

Some additional commentary here.

Unfortunately, for the second year in a row Beach Bash ended up caught in a bit of a fixture congestion issue with too many racquetball events in March. Last year’s early Easter date pushed up PARC, which caused Beach Bash to be held on the same weekend as the IRT pro stop Shamrock Shootout, which caused all sorts of angst in the industry.

This year the Warhawk Open in Louisiana fell on the exact same date, and then when the new World Team Racquetball concept was added, players who have historically played BB instead flocked to ULM. Beach Bash’ attendance was just 125 players at R2, which is shocking for an event that usually sells out well in advance and pushes past a player cap. A slew of regular ladies tour players were missing, and the draws suffered. It’s unclear why so many of the regular outdoor ladies pros were missing this weekend, but the ladies and mixed draws really suffered for it.

The WTR event’s presence led to some nasty back and forth on social media between major sponsors, stuff that’s becoming all to common in our sport, and stuff that we just can’t afford to happen. Inevitably one guy gets pissed and pulls funding, then suddenly we’re out events and the sport continues to decline.

Could someone have moved their event? Maybe, but remember everyone has to work within the parameters of their host sites. Warhawk is on a college campus with availability set months in advance; Beach Bash is on public courts that have to be arranged with permits months in advance. It’s just a shame that the sport has a bunch of major events inside of a few weeks in March (two IRT events, and LPRT event, HS Nationals, Beach Bash, and Warhawk Open) but basically two events in the next two months (PARC in April, Nationals in May).

We do talk about a fixture scheduling call in the sport, but in the end we always work around what the IRF and USAR does as a default. But, maybe we can try to work together in the future to avoid this stuff.

——————

Thanks to the Tourney Directors Peggine Tellez , Jen O’Meara , @Mike Coulter, @vic Vic Leibofsky and the entire 3Wall Ball crew for putting this event on and ensuring the legacy of outdoor majors.

——————

Next up?

Per our handy master racquetball calendar https://docs.google.com/spreadsheets/d/1V6OTid6rZ356voXVkoV2sN7KMMbIP9SZd0MssH_nPGU/edit?usp=sharing

Intercollegiates is next weekend at NC State. Then, PARC in April, USA Nationals (and Canada Nationals) in May. Not much else going on at this stage.

——————-

tags

USA Racquetball

WOR – World Outdoor Racquetball

3Wall Ball

Posted on

IRT 2025 Shamrock Shootout Recap

Jake wins his third. Photo Kevin Savory 2020 USAR national doubles

Congrats to your Pro winners on the weekend:

– Singles: Jake Bredenbeck

– Doubles: Rodrigo Montoya Racquetball & Javier Mar

Jake comes out on top of a weird, upset-filled event to win his 3rd career Tier 1 title and to retire the Glass Court club in style. Montoya & Mar cruise to the doubles title despite Montoya’s shoulder injury limitations.

R2 Sports App home page for event: https://www.r2sports.com/website/event-website.asp?TID=47136

——————

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

Singles Match report in the PRS database: https://rball.pro/ac96ab

Before we get started, A quick comment: there were a TON of top U18 and U21 internationals in this draw, and if I wasn’t bearish on the future of pro racquetball I’d be pointing at this event as a sign of the future. Competing in Chicago included:

– 2024 U21 World Champ Acha

– 2024 U21 semi finalists Trujillo and Barrios

– 2024 U21 USA Junior National titlist Horner

– 2024 U18 World Champion Flores

– 2024 U18 USA National team members Sendrey and Mendoza

– 2024 U18 USA Junior Nats quarter finalist Herrera II

– 2023 U21 World Champion Gastelum

– 2019 U18 World champ Miranda

– 2022 U21 World champ Garcia

That’s a lot of players who are all in their early 20s or younger, and they should represent the next big wave of players in this sport. Unfortunately a huge chunk of them are South Americans who can’t just hop a flight to get up here to compete, so I wonder what will come of them in their quest to move up the pro ranks. Perhaps we’ll see more of the likes of Flores, Miranda, Garcia, and Acha given the taste of success they’re having. I hope so.

—————-

In the 64s:

– @Sam Murray kicked off his return to pro racquetball with a pretty dominant win over a tough Bolivian junior opponent in @hector Barrios 5,3

—————-

In the 32s:

– Reigning u21 champ @Jhoel Alexis Acha got the match of a lifetime, playing King Kane and losing 4,6.

– @Sam Bredenbeck let 18U junior Cole Sendrey know just how far he has to go to compete, overpowering the Texan 13,6 to move on.

– Old WRT rivals Martel & Horn had a battle for the ages, with Horn running out of gas in the breaker.

– Thomas Carter destroyed @Kadim Carrasco 2,0 to move into the next round.

– Reigning 18U champ @Jhonathan Flores made a statement in his win over u21 international Diego Gastelum 7,6. I thought this would be closer, and it does not bode well for the collective U21 international crew, many of whom were here this weekend. Flores seems primed to destroy that competition for the next three years.

– Murray cruised past Montoya 11,6. We had a tip from a tour official that Montoya may not even play singles here, so this is not a surprising result necessarily. I did not get a chance to see him this weekend, but his competing through the doubles finals is a good sign.

– Trujillo made fast work of Mendoza, not giving the USA junior national a chance.

——————————–

Lastly, My friends at the IRT are not going to like this this take.

Argentine Diego Garcia was forfeited out of this draw because he showed up 12 minutes late to his match. You see, the tour changed the draw Wednesday night to accommodate one more player’s last minute entry, despite a registration deadline days before and most international players’ plans settled weeks before, a change that forced me to re-write much of my preview and to re-do all the match seeds. But this change also changed a bunch of published start times for players, including Garcias from 5pm to 3pm, a change relayed to him via a group text message that he missed. By the time someone told him … he rushed to the club but got there 12 minutes late.

So, to restate this; you have one of the most exciting junior players in the world who flew halfway around the world to play in one of the 7-8 pro racquetball events that will even happen this year, and you forfeit him because he’s sitting in his hotel room 10 minutes away from the club unaware that you’ve changed the draw on him with 12 hours notice. How dumb is that? What if Garcia stops coming up here because of this? You think the tour is better off not having one of the best players in the world investing the time and money to compete? This was an absolutely terrible decision, one that seems like it could have been worked around for the sake of the sport. Its not like there’s another event next week and its no big deal that he got forfeited; it probably cost a month’s wages for him to fly up here and compete.

We can’t afford to lose top players right now because someone was obstinate and refused to be flexible. Not over a hundred dollars of prize money for the winner. Have a player liaison, someone who speaks Spanish and who can help these guys navigate the situation. I thought Garcia had a real solid chance of getting to the quarters here; instead he’s dumbfounded by getting forfeited out of an event because he didn’t get a text message for a draw change that shouldn’t have happened.

—————-

In the 16s:

– Jake solidly got past Martell

– Flores destroyed #4 Natera 9,6. Tough draw for Natera his first time in the top 4, but Flores is the real deal.

– Murray crushed Miranda 5,8 in a match I thought could go the other way due to Murray’s rust. I guess not.

– Mar was in control of his match of Alonso when he retired at the very end of game two. Mar looks dangerous this weekend for sure.

– Portillo made fast work of Trujillo 5,6. Portillo sure looks solid since he started flight school, and he’s now a danger for the semis or better every time he plays.

—————-

In the Quarters

– Jake got a game one win over Kane, then the #1 seed retired. He tweaked something last week, and it was still bugging him, and in the post-game interview Kane said he knew he was going to have to forfeit at some point, and played until he figured he couldn’t go any further without injuring himself more significantly. During the match, Kane definitely seemed to take some awkward lunges at balls that Jake was hitting, as I looked for evidence of a point in time that led to the injury. His mobility was off for sure, and the last couple of points he mailed in before withdrawing.

– Parrilla survived a game against the Bolivian junior phenom Flores 11-10, a match he frankly should not have won. Flores blew him out in game one, then the two played neck and neck racquetball for the rest of game 2 and 3. Flores had match point on his serve and blew a wide-open forehand into the ground to give the ball to Andree, who converted and advanced.

– Mar crushed Murray 5,1 who finally showed some rust and fatigue.

– So much for being #2: Acuna was whitewashed by Portillo 3,0 in a beatdown.

—————

In the Semis

– Jake and Andree played their typical dogfight, with jake advancing 11,12

– Lalo pulled a rabbit out of his hat, coming back from a deep hole in the tiebreaker to beat Mar 11-9 and move into the final.

In the Finals, I would have put money on Lalo to continue his dominance, but it was jake who blew off the doors of the Mexican, winning 11,3 for his third career pro win.

Jake joins a small group of 3-time winners on tour that includes Parrilla, Strandemo, Ed Andrews, and Alvaro Beltran.

—————-

Points Implications of results

To see the IRT rolling points simulation go here:

https://docs.google.com/spreadsheets/d/1z6eg6NJT6fjGMfRRyKTNLShAiDoz0TzzmQCt1_SbNBo/edit?usp=sharing

With the win, Jake will catapult himself up to #3 on tour, still behind Kane and Acuna. Lalo has moved up to #7, and Alonso up to #9. Mar now sits at #10 which may be a career high for him as he never plays a full schedule.

Meanwhile, Manilla’s injury costs him; he’s down to #8. But Moscoso is getting crushed; the knee injury that caused him to miss this week now has him all the way down at #14.

—————-

Doubles review

Match report in the PRS database: https://rball.pro/3d9832

Montoya & Mar didn’t drop a game en route to their 9th pro doubles title together.

—————-

Open Singles, other notable draws

– Gastelum beat Barrios in the Open singles final. Sendry & S.Bredenbeck semis

– Team Argentina Miranda & Garcia took Open Doubles, beating the Lazenby brothers form St. Louis in the final.

– Ava Kaiser took the women’s Open RR singles, then teamed with Jake Wilkins to take the Mixed Open Doubles.

—————–

Thanks for all the streaming on the weekend, especially from broadcasters Richard Eisemann and Carrie Reitmeire.

Thanks to everyone at the Glass Court facility for the decades of support for Pro Racquetball. This was your swansong, and we will miss you.

——————

Next up?

Per our handy master racquetball calendar …

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

Next week we get the first Outdoor Major of 2025, the Beach Bash in Hollywood Fl. We also get the WTR doing an event at the Warhawk Open, and the Bolivians will compete in the 2nd leg of their two-leg event series to determine its national champions and international representatives.

——————-

tags

@International Racquetball Tour