2024 APCON 3WallBall Beach Bash Preview

Michelle Key in a solid position for some one-wall doubles titles. Photo 2022 Outdoor Nats via Fitzsimons

Welcome to the 17th annual Beach Bash one-wall outdoor event, the first of the three “majors” on the WOR – World Outdoor Racquetball annual calendar. This is the 17th iteration of this event, which started in 2004 as one of the first ever events run by the newly formed WOR organization. It was renamed to Beach Bash for Cash starting in 2007, and has run in mid-March every year (save for Covid) since. Eventually the “Cash” moniker was dropped, so now we just call it Beach Bash.

This year’s event is shaping up to be an outdoor-specialist’s paradise, as a schedule conflict has taken away the top IRT touring pros who have regularly been playing outdoor events over the past few years. This also means that titles are up for grabs that have been dominated by johnny come lately IRT guys for the past few years.

This is also the first event of the 2024 Outdoor Cup series, a year-long program awarding cash and prizes to the best performing outdoor players in the three majors. We’ll report on the standings after the event finishes.

Here’s a quick preview of the pro draws. We’ll do Singles, Doubles, Mixed in that order:

Men’s Pro Singles:

Nine players entered into one-wall singles, which is a tough test of racquetball skills and endurance. The last 8 titles here have been won by either DLR or Sostre, so we’ll have a new winner for the first time in a decade. Javier Trujillo is the 1-seed, but for me the two favorites might be in the lower half of the draw in @David Blatt and @Yasmani Perez . I’m looking for Blatt (aka “The Hulk” or “The Hulkster”) to take the title. I love outdoor nicknames.

Women’s Pro Singles:

There’s 6 players in women’s one-wall pro, all six of which who are well-known LPRT touring pros or outdoor champions. Veronica Sotomayor is the 1-seed and the defending champ, having blown through the draw last year and topped the 3-time defending champ Scott. From the bottom half, look for Florida outdoor specialist lefty @Chanis Leon to battle with future outdoor Hall of Famer Michelle Key early. I like Kelani Lawrence to make the final but for Vero to repeat.

Men’s Pro Doubles:

With defending champs DLR and Mar missing, last year’s finalists Robert Sostre and @Benny Goldenberg get the #1 seed. However, the draw makers did them zero favors, with a top-heavy bracket that features a slew of dangerous teams. #4 isEric Faro and Dave Blatt, two very accomplished one-wallers. The top-half also has future WOR HoFamer Rocky Carson and Alejandro Barcelo as the #5 seed, and honestly i’d take either the #8 (San Antonio one-wallers @Dj Mendoz and Brennen Jennings or #9 seeds @Dylan Pruitt and @Mark Harmon over half the teams in the bottom half of the draw head to head. Whoever comes out of the top will have earnover half the teams in the bottom half of the draw head to head. Whoever comes out of the top will have earned the final .

The bottom half features two solid Florida-based one-wallers in Trujillo & Perez as the #2 seed; they’ll have to contend with a couple of one-wall legends in their half of the draw in Bobby Morales & Richie Miller. Miller is an 8-time finalist in pro doubles here, and is playing with experienced outdoor vet Thomas Gerhardt . Lastly, the #3 seed features two bruisers with enough girth to completely fill the court in @JYoung Joe and @Rick Koll, who feature a combined bench press north of 800 lbs and enough power to go through a bucket of balls in their matches.

Prediction? I think Benny & Iceman prevail over Gerhardt & Miller.

Women’s Pro Doubles:

A wide-open division of 5 tough teams. Lawrence (last year’s winner with Scott) is teamed with Parrilla as the #1 seed but (if they can beat Florida’s Leon/Allue) will have to contend with Sotomayor and excellent doubles player @Maria Renee Rodriguez to repeat. In the bottom half it will be Arizona vs New York (well, NY/NJ) with Key teaming with @Katie Neil taking on last year’s finalist @Aimee Roehler teamed with the very tough Delia Silva .

I like Lawrence & Parrilla to take out Roehler/Silva in the final.

Mixed Pro Doubles:

This year’s Mixed competition will look completely different from last years, in that seven of the eight semi-finalists from 2023 are missing this year. The sole-returner is Sostre, and he’s teamed with Lawrence as the #1 seeds and favorites. They’re going to be tested early though, as husband-wife team of @Sudsy Monchik and Sotomayor are late entrants and seeded dead last, set to play into the #1 seeds for what will make for a juicy quarter final. The 4/5 match features two of the better one-wall NYC ladies in Silva and Kathy Guinan , teamed with Blatt and Mighty Joe Young respectively. The top half is loaded.

The bottom half features three-time Mixed pro Beach Bash champ Key along side multi-winner Koll to form a formidable #2 seed. They project to face a very solid #3 seeded team of Carson & Parrilla, two veteran pros who can certainly get results in one-wall.

Prediction? Whoever wins the 1/8 quarter will top Carson & Parrilla in the final.

In CPRT 40+, which counts towards the Outdoor Cup standings, 13 teams are battling it out in a division that includes a slew of famous names. @Marty Hogan is in this draw, teamed with Iggy @IIgnacio Espina as a very dangerous #6 seed. Semi finalsits last year Max Heymann and @Seran Ramkissoon are the #3 seeds. Last year’s finalist Joe Young is with his pro partner Koll as the #2 seeds. But The team to beat is #1 Richie Miller with last year’s finalist Gerhardt.

I like Miller/Gerhardt to take the draw over Young/Koll in a chalky 1-2 final.

there’s also big 75+ and 100+ divisions, and Paddle ball features a slew of top NYC teams. It should be a fun weekend.

Streaming will be handled by the LPRT team this weekend onsite. Please be patient with the streaming: the Garfield Street courts are in a notoriously bad wifi area, and sometimes streaming can be spotty. They can take certain precautions, but shared hotspots can get overwhelmed quickly.

Thanks as always to Tourney Directors and sponsors who make this event happen. Specifically, Peggine Tellez , Mike Coulter , @33Wall Ball, Abel Perez , Kwm Gutterman , @Dovetail and Mike Kinkin , @Age Solutions and Andy Gomer , LPL Financial , @Rick Koll and his Sodaman franchise, all the racquet companies that support the sport, and others who I may have missed.

2023 Outdoor Cup Series Results.

With the completion of the 2023 3Wall Ball Outdoor Championships in Las Vegas two weekends ago, the year-long Outdoor Cup Series have completed. Here’s a recap of the winners and the narrative of how the results changed over the course of the season.

The LPL Financial Women’s Cup and the Kwm Gutterman Men’s Cup both awarded cash prizes and other benefits to the top 2 finishers across the three outdoor majors this year (Beach Bash, Outdoor Nationals, and 3WB).

Congratulations to the prize-winning finishers;

LPL Financial Women’s Cup Final winners:

1. Hollie Scott

2. Monserrat Mejia

KWM Gutterman Men’s Cup Final winners:

1. Daniel De La Rosa

2. Rocky Carson

Links to the final standings are here online:

– Ladies; https://docs.google.com/…/1LFzkzQQZU0mNLQ…/

– Men: https://docs.google.com/…/1uNa…/

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Lets delve into the top 10 for each cup, talk about how each finished.

Ladies:

1. Hollie Scott

2. Montserrat Mejia

3. Carla Munoz

4. Kelani Lawrence

5. Alexandra Herrera

6. Janel Tisinger-Ledkins

7. Michelle Key

8. Erika Manilla

9. Brenda Laime Jalil

10. Aimee Roehler

Scott took the title wire to wire in 2023, winning two titles at Beach Bash (Women’s Doubles and Mixed) along with making the singles final. From there she took another title at Outdoor Nationals, plus two more in Vegas, and won the cup with a commanding lead. 2nd place finisher Mejia missed Beach Bash but took her LPRT #1 talents to outdoor starting in Huntington Beach, where she took the singles title in her first ever outdoor appearance. She followed that up with a singles/doubles double in Vegas to just squeak past 3rd place Munoz for the money position. Carla just missed out on 2nd place for the second year in a row, taking the one-wall Pro doubles in Vegas and the Women’s pro doubles title in California. The only other touring pro to compete in all three majors was 4th place finisher Lawrence, who took the Beach Bash doubles title with Scott and had several other finals in the three wall competitions the rest of the way.

Future Hall of Famer Tisinger-Ledkins missed Beach Bash but took a title in Outdoor Nationals and came in 5th. LPRT #5 Herrera came in 6th, despite missing Outdoor Nationals. She took the Women’s doubles title in Vegas with Mejia and had two other finals along the way. Last year’s winner Key struggled with injuries and missed the first two events, but played well in Vegas and made both Mixed finals with partner Kane Waselenchuk to finish in 7th place. LPRT #6 Manilla made a slew of semi finals but never advanced any deeper, finishing in 8th place. Current LPRT #3 Laime took the one-wall pro title in Vegas, but struggled in the doubles events other wise in Vegas as compared to last year to finish in 9th place. Rounding out the top 10 was USA Racquetball Hall of Famer Roehler, who was a finalist in Florida in March in doubles and had a slew of results in Vegas to finish in 10th place.

Other notable finishers include:

– Teen-ager Victoria Rodriguez , who finished 12th and who competed in all three competitions and took a Paddleball title in Vegas.

– new mom Erica Williams bowed out of pro events in Vegas but played all three majors this year to finish 14th.

– Veronica Sotomayor was in 2nd place after Beach Bash, where she took a title and a final. However she could not travel to either of the subsequent majors to compete for the crown.

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Now lets talk about how the Men finished. Here’s the final top 10 standings:

1. Daniel De La Rosa

2. Rocky Carson

3. Rick “Soda Man” Koll

4. Eduardo Portillo

5. Benny Goldenberg

6. Robert Sostre “Ice Man”

7. Alejandro Landa

8. Greg Solis

9. Alvaro Beltran

10. Kane Waselenchuk

Like his partner Scott, De La Rosa (DLR) went wire-to-wire for this title, winning 7 of the 8 titles he competed in this year. The sole blemish on his outdoor major resume this year was in the Men’s Pro Doubles final in Huntington Beach, where he and Landa lost to @Josh Tucker and newlywed Brandon Davis in the final. Daniel now holds 29 major Outdoor titles to go along with his likely 3rd straight International Racquetball Tour pro title this year. He’s already on the short list for best outdoor player of all time; is he also on the short list for best indoor/outdoor combo player of all time? A player firmly in these same outdoor GOAT conversations is certainly Carson, who finished 2nd in this cup series competition on the back of his excellent CPRT results all year. He won CPRT in Florida with Sudsy Monchik , lost in the semis in California with regular partner @Jesus Ustarroz , and went to the final with Ustarroz in Vegas.

Long-time 3WB sponsor Soda Man came in 3rd in the cup competition this year, powered by a great CPRT win with Beltran over Carson/Ustarroz in Vegas. Portillo, who finished 2nd in last year’s cup, had to miss Outdoor Nationals this year but still took the 1-wall pro doubles final in Vegas to finish 4th. Portillo’s winning doubles partner in Vegas Goldenberg also made the final in Florida and finished 5th in the standings in the end despite focusing primarily on 1-wall competitions.

Benny’s beach bash finalist partner and WOR Hall of Famer Sostre finished right behind Benny in 6th; he and William Rolon were 1-wall pro doubles finalists in Vegas. Landa teamed up with DLR and was able to net enough points playing with the top player to finish 7th nearly on his pro doubles results in two events. Hall of Famer Greg Solis came in 8th; he took the Outdoor Nationals CPRT title with Josh Tucker and made the Vegas 3-wall singles final, losing to Alan Natera . The legendary Alvaro Beltran came in 9th in the Cup standings, taking CPRT in Vegas while missing Beach Bash while recovering from his dislocated elbow suffered last year. Finally, coming in 10th is none other than the 13-time IRT champ Waselenchuk, who has discovered one-wall and is loving it apparently, and powered his team to both Pro Mixed doubles finals in Vegas.

Other notable men:

– Brandon Davis’ wedding took out a ton of top Southern California talent from 3WB, and cost a number of the attendees (including Davis himself) at a higher spot in the standings.

– Josh Tucker stood in 2nd place after two Doubles titles in July; he finished 11th overall by only playing one of the Outdoor majors this year.

– Micah Rich and Jason Geis both sat in the top 10 after Outdoor Nationals, but fell to 16th and 20th overall by missing Vegas.

– Javier Mar was 2nd overall after a great Beach Bash, but fell to 22nd.

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That’s it for the Outdoor Cup Series.

next up? The 2023 Pan Am Games! We’ll do a knockout round preview once the round robins are done.

3WallBall 2023 Recap

DLR enters 4, wins 4 divisions in Vegas. PHoto from 2019 Outdoor Nationals by Mike Augustin

The 2023 Kwm Gutterman 3Wall Ball Outdoor Championships are in the books. It was a fun, long weekend in Las Vegas on the grounds of The STRAT Hotel, Casino and Skypod , with players from all over the country competing in Racquetball, Paddleball, and Handball.

Congrats to your Pro racquetball division winners on the weekend:

– Men’s Pro 3-wall Doubles: Daniel De la Rosa & Alejandro Landa

– Women’s Pro 3-wall Doubles: Monserrat Mejia & Alexandra Herrera

– Mixed Pro 3-wall Doubles: De La Rosa & Hollie Rae Scott

– Men’s Pro 1-wall Doubles: Eduardo Portillo & Benny Goldenberg

– Women’s Pro 1-wall Doubles: Brenda Laime Jalil & Carla Munoz

– Mixed Pro 1-wall Doubles: De La Rosa/Scott

– Men’s 3-wall Singles: Alan Natera

– Women’s 3-wall Singles: Mejia

A big weekend for De La Rosa, who entered 4/won 4 divisions (3 pro racquetball divisions plus a paddleball division too). DLR teamed with Scott to win both

Mixed pro titles and, for the first time ever, do a clean sweep of all four mixed pro titles from the three outdoor majors. A fantastic achievement. Mejia took

the 3-wall singles/doubles double, her second straight 3-wall outdoor singles title.

Also Congrats to the winners of the other major Racquetball divisions held this weekend:

– CPRT Pro Doubles: Alvaro Beltran & Rick “Soda Man” Koll

– Combined 75+ Men’s Doubles: Cesar Chavez & Landa

– Centurion/Combined 100+ Men’s Doubles; Tony Burg & Scott St. Clair

– Men’s Open Doubles: Chavez & Emmett Coe

– Women’s Open Doubles: Sonja Septon (competed as a King of the Court)

– Mixed Open Doubles: Mike Harmon & Sarah Noye

– King of the Court Legends competition: Keith Minor

And Here’s the winners of the non-racquetball disciplines competed this weekend

– Paddleball Men’s Doubles: Daniel De La Rosa/ Emmett Coe

– Paddleball Mixed Doubles: Victoria Rodriguez/ Emmett Coe

– Handball 3-wall Big Ball Men’s Doubles: Anthony Hernandez / Tywan Cook

– Handball 1-wall Big Ball Men’s Doubles: Tywan Cook / Michael Christopher:

– Handball 3-wall Big Ball Men’s Singles: Anthony Hernandez

– Handball 1-Wall Big Ball Men’s Singles: Tywan Cook

A triple crown for Brooklyn’s Cook, and a double Paddleball title for Coe, which should be no surprise given the number of national titles he holds.

R2 Sports App home page for event: https://www.r2sports.com/website/event-website.asp?TID=40677

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Match Reports in the database by division (racquetball divisions only)

– Men’s Pro 3-wall Doubles: https://rball.pro/2hq

– Women’s Pro 3-wall Doubles: https://rball.pro/u28

– Mixed Pro 3-wall Doubles: https://rball.pro/fy6

– Men’s Pro 1-wall Doubles: https://rball.pro/usc

– Women’s Pro 1-wall Doubles: https://rball.pro/m12

– Mixed Pro 1-wall Doubles: https://rball.pro/tkt

– Men’s 3-wall Singles: https://rball.pro/b9t

– Women’s 3-wall Singles: https://rball.pro/13m

Here’s the Triple Crown reports in the database, showing all the winners of all divisions over the years.

– Men’s Doubles Triple Crown Report: https://rball.pro/pdb

– Women’s Doubles Triple Crown Report: https://rball.pro/5pw

– Mixed Doubles Triple Crown Report: https://rball.pro/bhn

– Men’s Singles Triple Crown Report: https://rball.pro/49e

– Women’s Singles Triple Crown Report: https://rball.pro/hl6

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Here’s a recap of the draws. Because of the number of divisions to cover, we’ll run through in narrative format instead of round-by-round.

– Men’s 3-wall Pro Doubles: De La Rosa won this title for the 6th time in 7 years, teaming this year with the very improved Alex Landa to take the title over last year’s finalists Manilla & Riffel. Adam and Nick, as they did last year, rolled into the final playing smart, tactical racquetball and were not seriously challenged until the final. DLR continues to show why he’s the best all-around player in the world, killing everything in his reach and leading his team to victory.

There were a couple of notable early round matches. In the opener, #13 seeds Chris & Jack McDonald absolutely pulverized the #4 seeds Waselenchuk & Beltran 8 & 4, surprising the crowd who turned out to watch two legends of the sport. Chris (who has made the pro final in Men’s doubles three times in his career) was just lights out and the brother-brother team created a tactical nightmare for the IRT veterans, who had no answers for McDonald’s pace and aggression. In the quarters, 1-wall specialists Sostre & Goldenberg faced the 3-wall veterans Solis & Allin and played a fantastic, brutal 11,(11),10 match in the 95-degree sun. There was little between the teams on the day, and the crowd was treated to an awesome match.

– Women’s 3-wall Pro Doubles: 10 of the currently ranked top 17 LPRT pros were in Las Vegas, and the pro draws were littered with the sport’s top females mixing it up with outdoor veterans. In the pro doubles, current #1 Mejia, relatively new to outdoor, continues to impress, taking her first outdoor pro doubles title with the improving Herrera. They topped Scott & Lawrence in a tightly-contested 11-8 final.

– Mixed 3wall Pro Doubles: the final pro match competed at the event lived up to its billing as the highly anticipated rematch of DLR/Scott & Kane/Key (full of all sorts of interpersonal overtones) became a highlight show of shot-making from all parties. DLR and Scott ground out a 15-10 win in game one, then ran away with it in game 4 as DLR finger-wagged his way through one kill shot after another. Nonetheless, Kane and Key were an impressive team, and Kane will only improve in the 3-wall discipline going forward. It’s fantastic having the 13-time IRT pro champ here, and I hope he continues to play the outdoor majors.

– Men’s One wall Pro Doubles; The ever improving Lalo Portillo joined forces with NY-one wall veteran Goldenberg to grind out a title over the #1 seeds and multi-time champions of this event Sostre & Rolon in a slugfest on the show-court.

– Women’s One Wall Pro Doubles: Munoz won her second straight Vegas One-wall pro ladies doubles title, teaming with Laime to take a strange final over the eventual 3-wall champs Herrera & Mejia. After edging them 11-10 in game one, they blew out the two top LPRT pros 11-1 in game two for the win. This was a great division, with each of the 6 teams featuring a past pro doubles outdoor champion.

– Mixed One Wall Pro Doubles: The semis of the Mixed one-wall pro doubles tournament featured men who had combined for a grand total of 20 year end IRT #1 titles (between Kane, Cliff Swain , and DLR). The action on the court bore that out. Waselenchuk, who recently relocated to San Antonio and who has been playing with the big one-wall community there, showed just how quickly he’s picking up the discipline, but the more experienced outdoor player DLR drove his team to the win.

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Other Rball divisions:

– CPRT Pro Doubles: Alvaro Beltran & Rick “Soda Man” Koll outlasted Rocky Carson and Jesus Ustarroz in the CPRT final, with the two veteran IRT champions battling it out on one side while the west coast outdoor specialists battled it on on the other.

– Combined 75+ Men’s Doubles: Cesar Chavez & Landa: Chavez and Landa ground out a tough win over the Gainesville-based McDonald brothers Chris & Jack in one of the very last matches played on Sunday.

– Centurion/Combined 100+ Men’s Doubles; @Tony Burg & Scott St. Clair, who are tough enough in 40+ or 75+, cruised to the 100+ win.

– Men’s Open Doubles: Chavez & Emmett Coe: SoCal’s Chavez got the double, pairing with Coe to take the Open title. They topped Dj Mendoza & Rhys Andersen in the final.

– Women’s Open Doubles: Sonja Septon took the Open Doubles title … how did she do that by herself you ask? Well, because the competitors played it as a “King of the Court” style where each of the 6 entrants played a full doubles match paired with each of the other 5. It gives everyone a ton of play. LPRT commissioner @TTj Baumbaugh came in 2nd.

– Mixed Open Doubles: Mike Harmon & Sarah Noyes from Florida took the 4-team mixed open draw, with NorCal’s @Walter Ramos and Erica Williams coming in 2nd.

– King of the Court Legends competition: Keith Minor topped the IRT legends-heavy King of the Court division and won the “Belt” for next year. It was awesome to see all the KOTC competitors all weekend.

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Thanks for all the streaming on the weekend from both pro tours, especially the work all weekend from broadcasters Favio Soto and @Pablo Fajre and the IRTLive crew, as well as Jerry J Josey Jr. JT R Ball , and Tj Baumbaugh and guest stars on the LPRT feed.

Thanks to the Tourney Directors Mc Vegas for putting this event on, as well has his entire 3Wall Ball team. Peggine Tellez , Jen O’Meara , and especially @Peter McMillan worked tirelessly all weekend, along with dozens of other volunteers at the front desk and behind the scenes to make this tourney happen.

Thanks to the primary Tourney Sponsors @KWM Kwm Gutterman, PROKENNEX , @AGE Age Solutions , @LPL Financial, and Randy Root . Thanks also to the dozen other sponsors who helped either with product or finances. Without you, we do not have a pro sport, and without you we don’t have 3WallBall. Thank for all you do.

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Next up?

Per our handy master racquetball calendar …

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

We have a break in the action for most of October, then the sport’s biggest international stages is here in the Pan Am Games. The top representatives from every country will bein Chile from 10/21 to 10/26 to compete.

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tags

USA Racquetball

WOR

International Racquetball Tour

LPRT

2023 Kwm Gutterman 3WallBall Preview

Kane is back at 3WB playing some outdoor! Photo via 2020 Vegas/Mike Augustin

Hello racquetball fans. Its time for the big daddy of outdoor, the 2023 14th annual 3WallBall championships. More than 350 players are here in Las Vegas, ready to pound it out on the powder blue courts.

Yours truly is here, and I’ll be teaming up with Pablo Fajre and Favio Soto all weekend to broadcast on the IRT stream. We’ll pull in special guests along the way, but we’re looking forward to the event!

Here’s a direct link to the Media Guide/Broadcast binder, a big book of player profiles I publish every year for these events: https://3wallball.org/…/3WallBall-2023-Broadcast-Binder… . As always (as I was reminded last night when i got into Vegas) if you have corrections or updates please DM me and I’ll make them at least on the electronic version for next time.

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Previews: I’ve already written a couple of previews for this event, published on teh USA Racquetball feed.

– an event preview: https://www.usaracquetball.com/…/2023-3wallball-event…

– A player/draw preview: https://www.usaracquetball.com/…/2023-3wallball-event…

Now that the draws are out (see r2 sports home page: https://www.r2sports.com/website/event-website.asp?TID=40677 for more) we can see the matchups and make some quick predictions.

I got a sneak preview of the seeds for these events, and this year was especially tough to seed. I”m sure there are some looking at the seeds and saying, “well that’s wrong.” These draws are deep and unpredictable this year, as a number of top males in particular are missing the event for Brandon Davis’ wedding, and the female pros have all jumbled partners from years’ past.

Here’s some quick thoughts on the pro draws:

– Men’s 3-Wall Pro Doubles: I like the top 4 seeds to prevail to the semis, though Kane/Alvi may have trouble in the opener against the McDonald brothers and have a tough projected qtr against Natera/Lalo. I think Landa/DLR are the favorites, despite Landa’s outdoor inexperience, simply b/c of how dominant DLR can be.

– Women’s 3-Wall Pro Doubles: You could make a case for 4 or 5 of the 7 teams here to win. Mejia/Herrera as a 4th seed is brutal for the top seeds Munoz/Janel. Whoever wins that, wins the draw.

– Mixed 3-Wall Pro Doubles: just a completely stacked draw. Munoz for example, is one of the top Women’s doubles pros out there and is only seeded 9th. Laime made the mixed final last year with a different partner and is only seeded 10th. So look for bigtime upsets here. It will be tough to beat DLR & Scott, but look for a great semi between Kane/Key and the Manilla siblings.

– Men’s One-Wall Pro Doubles: lots of heavy hitters here, but Sostre/Rolon will be tough to top. I can’t wait to watch Chris McDonald in this format, with his “toes on the line” receiving strategy.

– Women’s One-Wall Pro Doubles: Lawrence & Scott won Beach Bash, but Herrera & Mejia are better players. Will that translate to a win on the court?

– Mixed One-Wall Pro Doubles: a really fun draw, with a ton of great names, all gunning to top DLR & Scott, who have yet to lose as a mixed doubles partnership.

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Streaming: both the IRT and LPRT streaming teams are here as always; follow both tours and sign up for live feed notifications.

Thanks to the Tourney Directors Peggine Tellez , @Mike Coulter and Jen O’Meara for putting this event on! Thanks to our main sponsors Kwm Gutterman , @prPROKENNEX and Age Solutions , @lplfLPLFinancial and Randy Root . 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.

Associations

@3Wall Ball

LPRT

International Racquetball Tour

USA Racquetball

WOR – World Outdoor Racquetball

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!

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

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.

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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.

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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.

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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

Outdoor Cup Series 2023 Standings

Hollie Scott takes the lead in the LPL Financial cup series after Beach Bash. Photo from 2020 3WB via Steve Fitzsimons

The Cup Series is back for 2023; this is a year-long competition that captures the best performances in the three Outdoor Majors (Beach Bash in March, Outdoor Nationals in July, and 3WallBall in Vegas in September) and gives out prizes at the end of the season. This year’s prize pool features cash prizes to the top two finishers along with a complementary suite stay at The STRAT hotel in Las Vegas.

The cup series for the Women is sponsored for the second year in a row by LPL Financial ’ Rosco Halsey and Jason Hupp . The cup series for the Men is sponsored for the second year in a row by Kwm Gutterman and Keith Minor . Thanks to both parties for your continued support of outdoor Racquetball.

The first major is in the books, so let’s take a look at who’s in the lead.

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Women’s LPL Financial Cup Series Standings, Post Beach Bash

Here’s the current top 5 after Beach Bash:

1 Scott, Hollie

2 Sotomayor, Veronica

3 Herrera, Alexandra

4 Lawrence, Kelani

5 Roehler, Aimee

Hollie Scott takes a commanding lead of the Cup Series after a dominant performance in Florida, where she took home both Women’s and Mixed doubles titles and finished second in the Pro Singles. Thanks to the size of the Mixed draw, her title there was weighted more heavily and propelled her to the top. Veronica Sotomayor , who had never played outdoor before, had a fantastic debut in Florida, taking the singles title over Scott and finishing runner-up in Women’s doubles. She sits in the second spot. Top ranked LPRT pro Alexandra Herrera made the Mixed final and the pro women’s doubles semi final to secure third place. Rounding out the top five are Women’s pro doubles champ Kelani Lawrence and Hall of Famer Aimee Roehler (pro doubles finalist with Sotomayor).

Expect to see some changes in this top five though, as the second leg in California features spacious three wall courts and has not generally seen east coasters like Roehler and Sotomayor make the trip.

For the full LPL cup standings, go to this Google spreadsheet here: https://rball.pro/0b1

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Men’s KWM Gutterman Cup Series Standings, Post Beach Bash

Here’s the current top 5 after Beach Bash:

1 De La Rosa, Daniel

2 Mar, Javier

3 Carson, Rocky

4 Sostre, Robert

5 Monchik, Sudsy

@Daniel De La Rosa takes a commanding lead and is the favorite to repeat as Cup champion. He entered three and won divisions in Florida, and takes maximum points. Javier Mar sits in second on the back of being DLR’s doubles partner for the win. Rocky Carson surprisingly sits in third place; he did not enter Singles or Mixed in Florida and was upset early doubles, but got the win in the large CPRT division. Hall of FamerRobert Sostre sits in fourth with a final’s appearance in pro doubles and semis in two other divisions. And surprisingly in 5th place is a relative newcomer to Outdoor @Sudsy Monchik , who entered just one division (CPRT) but won it, and now has an outside chance at moving up were he to compete in the next two outdoor events.

For the full LPL cup standings, go to this Google spreadsheet here: https://rball.pro/3×8

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Thanks as always to the team at 3Wall Ball and @Mike Coulter for your commitment to outdoor and your continued support of the pros.

Next leg will be in July at the big daddy of them all, Outdoor Nationals. We’ll have coverage of that event and we’ll follow it up with another recap of the cup series rankings after the Marnia Park event.

APCon Beach Bash 2023 Recap

DLR wins the triple on the weekend, and gets a career Grand Slam. Photo 2019 outdoor Nationals by Mike Augustin

Congrats to your Pro winners on the weekend:

– Men’s Pro Doubles: Daniel De la Rosa & Javier Mar

– Women’s Pro Doubles: Hollie Scott & Kelani Lawrence

– Mixed Pro Doubles: Daniel De La Rosa & Hollie Scott

– Men’s Pro Singles: @Daniel De La Rosa

– Women’s Pro Singles: Veronica Sotomayor

A Triple for DLR, a double for Scott, and a shocker upset for Sotomayor. Read on.

R2 Sports App home page for event: https://www.r2sports.com/website/event-website.asp?TID=39926

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Reports on ProRacquetballStats.com:

Match reports for 2023 Beach Bash:

– Men’s Pro Doubles: https://rball.pro/6io

– Women’s Pro Doubles: https://rball.pro/4n8

– Mixed Pro Doubles: https://rball.pro/u78

– Men’s Pro Singles: https://rball.pro/0y0

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

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

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Lets run through the draws, recapping the action.

Men’s Pro Doubles:

The Men’s pro doubles draw was incredibly deep this year. Most of the round of 16 matches were coin flips, and six of them went tie-breaker. Once we settled down though into the semis, it was mostly chalk. The top 3 seeded teams advanced with straight-game wins, to be joined by the upstart 12th seeds of @Marcos Gravier and @Roy Hernandez, who took out #5 and #4 to make the semis here.

From there, it had to come down to #1 vs #2 in the final; the hall of famer Ice Man Robert Sostre paired with former BB champ @Benny Goldenberg took on the current IRT #1 De La rosa, playing this tournament with the underrated @Javier Mar. The final was a shootout between DLR and Iceman on the left hand side, with Sostre showing fast hands and Daniel showing even faster put backs. In the end the two touring pros won a solid 8,11 final to cap the weekend.

With the win, Mar repeats as Beach Bash Champion. But with this win, Daniel becomes the first male to win the career “Grand Slam” of Men’s pro doubles events (Beach Bash, Outdoor Nationals, and Vegas). Several women’s pros have done it (Rhonda, Janel, Michelle, and Aimee) but never a Male until today. H/T to Vic for this observation.

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Women’s Pro Doubles:

The 6th seeded former USA National champs Kelani Lawrence and @Hollie Scott took their first outdoor pro doubles title together by ousting the #3, #2 and #1 seeds in order. First they took out the NY pair of Ramos & Guinan, then they downed the pre-tourney favorites Munoz & Laime in the semis, before taking out the top-seeded team of Roehler and Sotomayor in the final in a breaker.

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Mixed Pro Doubles:

De La Rosa repeated as Beach Bash mixed champion, albeit with a new partner for 2023, winning the final as the #2 seed with Hollie Scott in a tiebreaker. The met two relative newbies to outdoor racquetball in the final in Eduardo Portillo and Alexandra Herrera , who took out the #1 seeds Robert Sostre and @Caridad Morales in the semis.

This win represents Daniel’s 18th Mixed pro major outdoor title, his fourth in Florida.

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Men’s Pro Singles:

Daniel De la Rosa blew through the singles draw, giving up a combined 19 points in three games to repeat as Beach Bash singles champion. He defeated #3 seed Maryland native @Pruit Dylan in the final. DLR’s adeptness at one-wall was apparent throughout the Thursday competition, mixing in soft slice lobs off of drive serves with pin-point accuracy of drive kills and angled passing shots.

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Women’s Pro Singles:

Sotomayor, who had never played outdoor racquetball prior to this event and was thus seeded last, ground out victories against @Carla Munoz (who has won both 3-wall singles titles at the last two outdoor majors) in the quarters, @Kelani Lawrence in the semis, then upset the 3-time defending Beach Bash singles champion @Hollie Scott in the finals 21-14. Sotomayor crushed her backhand all day, hitting bottom-board from shoulder height overhead serves and demoralizing her opponents. A great performance.

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Other Notable draws:

– CPRT 40+ Doubles: Well, they say you can’t teach an old dog new tricks. Tell that to the 48-yr old five-time IRT champion Sudsy Monchik , who teamed with fellow 40-something Rocky Carson to take the loaded CPRT 40+ doubles draw. They topped two tough outdoor veterans in Joe Young and Thomas Gerhardt in the final 11-8.

Two IRT legends teamed up, one with decades of outdoor experience in Rocky Carson, the other with almost none (and a broken hand to go with it) in Sudsy Monchik . They beat teams that included best outdoor players Florida has to offer in Rob Mijares , Marcos J. Gravier , the #2 seeds Rolon & Sostre in the semis, then former BB champ Joe Young paired with #1 ranked 3-wall singles player Thomas Gerhardt in the finals.

– Men’s 75+: in what turned out to be the biggest draw of the event (20) teams, the final had some familiar names and was a nice warm=up for the weekend’s pro doubles. Two-time defending Outdoor Nationals champs @MMicah rich and @Jason Geis reached the final from the top-half, while Rocky (who wons 11 major outdoor pro doubles titles .. but none in one-wall) partnered with Barcelo to reach the final from the bottom.

In an excellent final, Rocky/Barcelo took out Rich/Geis 11-7 in the breaker.

Men’s 100+: Hall of Famer Marty Hogan teamed up with the venerable @Richard Miller to take the 100+ doubles draw. They were seeded 12th out of 12 teams, and beat the 11th seeded team of Jose Nivela / Martin Gonzalez in the final.

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Paddleball Competition Review

It is worth noting that these courts were originally designed for Paddleball. So its only fitting that there were Wednesday Paddleball competitions.

– Men’s Pro Doubles Paddleball was taken by the Hulkster/Warrior combo of Rolon and Blatt, who defeated fellow NYers Ryan Lopez and @Paul Angel in the final.

– Women’s Pro doubles paddleball was taken by #1 seeds @Kathy Guina and @Jasmine Suarez , who crushed two LPRT pros in the semis and then took out Morales/Colon in the final.

– Mixed pro Doubles Paddleball: was taken by Rolon & Guinan, giving both the Paddleball double on the day, defeating Suarez/Angel in the final.

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Thanks for all the streaming on the weekend from the LPRT video crew, with @JT R Ball leading the way and bringing in all sorts of characters into the booth (including the Warrior, Sudsy, Mikey D, Vic Leibofsky and the like).

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

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 week the IRT is in Chicago, and USAR hosts Intercollegiates at Ohio State for the first time. Later this week we’ll recap the standings post Beach Bash for the 2023 Cup Series and post the results online.

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tags

Beach Bash 2023 Preview

Sostre is the #1 seed in both pro doubles draws; can he finish them out? Photo Steve Fitzsimons 3WB 2020

The time has come for the first Outdoor Major of the new year! Its Beach Bash time, held on the historic Garfield Street courts a block from the beach in Hollywood, Florida. 162 lucky competitors got in before the tourney filled up and are set to compete for the title of best one-wall racquetball competitors in the land.

This is the 15th “Beach Bash” event, dating to 2007, 16 if you include the seminal 2004 WOR One-Wall outdoor championships that served as a kickoff for WOR and the integration of outdoor communities from around the country.

R2 Sports App link: https://www.r2sports.com/website/event-website.asp?TID=39926

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There’s a ton of Pro and upper-level draws to review. We’ll run through them with some quick observations as a preview instead of my normal per-round, per-match review.

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Men’s Pro Doubles

The biggest draw in Florida this weekend is Men’s Pro doubles, with 15 teams vying for the title. We’ll have a new champion for 2023; last year’s winning team (Mercado and Mar) has changed up; this year @Javier Mar is playing with none other than DLR and will make for a formidable team to beat as the #2 seed.

However, the bottom half of this draw is crazy deep; multi-time Outdoor National champions Jason Geis and @Micah rich are here for the first time playing one-wall; they’re seeded 10th and will have to work at it to take out the 2018 champions Blatt/Rolon in the round of 16 just to take a shot at DLR/Mar. Also lurking in the bottom half is Faro & Iggy (who won the CPRT draw last year), Joe Young (the 2015 doubles champ) playing with @Carlos Bravo, and outdoor legend @Rocky Carson , playing with Alejandro Barcelo . There are no easy matches in this lower bracket.

The #1 seeds are legendary; Robert Sostre and @Benny Goldenberg , NY’s finest, who have 5 doubles titles in this event between them. They could face 3-time winner Deida in the quarters. Watch out for dark horses Roy Hernandez and @Marcos Graviel as the 12 seeds; they may be better at long wall, but they have a decent pathway to the semis.

My Finals predictions: Mar/DLR take out Iceman and Benny in the final.

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Women’s Pro Doubles

Great matches expected throughout this draw, which features a ton of old-school and current talent. We’ll have a new champion, since last year’s team got broken up.

#1 seeds are interesting: Sotomayor and USAR Hall of Famer @Aimee Ruiz form a tough lefty-righty pair, but they’ll be pushed heavily by another lefty-righty pairing of top-4 LPRT players in Erika Manilla and @Alexandra Herrera in the semis. That is of course if Manilla/Herrera can get by the NY legends Anita Maldonado and Michele Herbert , who have won this title three times between them.

From the bottom half, @Carla Munoz (who won Vegas one-wall last October) picks up the excellent doubles player Brenda Laime and will be tough to beat. However, the 3/6 match between LPRT and USAR regular doubles partners Scott and Kelani Lawrence and the underrated Kathy Guinan and @Maira ramos could be eye opening.

Finals Prediction: Laime & Munoz top Herrera & Manilla.

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Mixed Pro Doubles preview

The DLRs have parted ways, both on and off the court, meaning that there will be a new Mixed doubles champion team going forward. Daniel is here, teamed with Scott and are the pre-tournament favorites despite being the #2 seeds. To get to the final though, they’ll have to contend with top mixed pairings like Munoz/Natera, Laime/Bleyer, Benny/Silva, and Mar/Manilla. The team coming out of the bottom half will be battle tested for sure.

Iceman is paired with Caridad Morales as the #1 seed, and they’ll face a very tough team in the semis no matter what, as that quadrant is stacked. Rich/Lawrence, Guinan/Deida, Blatt/Herbert, and Herrera/Lalo are all great teams and its a coin flip for me who advances.

Finals prediction: DLR/Scott over Sostre/Morales

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CPRT 40+ preview

Last year’s CPRT finalists Seran Ramkissoon / Max Heymann are back as the 1-seeds; they’ll be pressed by the experienced #4 seeds Geis/Soda Man to get back to the finals from the top-half.

In what should be a super-fun bottom half, two IRT legends in Carson and @Sudsy Monchik are teamed up as the 6-seeds. They’ll have their hands full to get past #3 Miller/Gravier and especially #2 Sostre/Rolon from the bottom half.

Finals prediction: Sostre/Rolon over Geis/Koll

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100+ combined: just a quick note for star power observations: Marty Hogan is in the 100+ draw with Richie Miller, and look to be the favorite in that draw despite their seeding.

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Men’s Pro Singles:

#1 seed and IRT #1 Daniel De La Rosa is back in Florida to defend his title. He cruised to the singles title here last year, won it in 2019, and is the favorite here. He has two tough one-wall players in @Nelson Deida and @David Blatt (aka the Hulkster) in his half-bracket to contend with.

From the bottom side, look for under-rated outdoor player @Ben Bleyer to make some noise; if he can get by William Rolon he could be a finalist.

In the end, I don’t see DLR losing this draw; he’s just too good a shot maker to be defeated in one wall.

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Women’s Pro Singles

#1 Seed @Hollie Scott is the 3-time defending champion in this event, but doesn’t have to contend with the likes of MRivera or Herbert this year as in years past. This year she has a whole slew of LPRT touring pros in the bracket, and will have to get by the likes of Erika Manilla and @Carla Munoz to take a 4th straight title. Don’t sleep on Veronica Sotomayor , in this draw as a 7th seed and is the definition of an upset special.

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Streaming: remember to be patient with streaming at this event, because the cell phone coverage at this site is notoriously difficult. But sign up for live streams notification at WOR and 3WallBall and of course KRG will have notifications all weekend.

Thanks to the Tourney Directors Peggine Tellez , Jen O’Meara , Mike Coulter and the whole @3Wall Ball team for putting this event on! Thanks again to Abel Perez and his company @APCON for being the title sponsor; Perez is a great promoter of the 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.

Associations not already mentioned: @World Outdoor Racquetball , WOR – World Outdoor Racquetball , USA Racquetball