Category: WOR

Congrats to your winners on the weekend:

• Men’s Pro 3-wall Doubles: Daniel De La Rosa/Alvaro Beltran
• Women’s Pro 3-wall Doubles: Michelle De La Rosa/Carla Munoz
• Mixed Pro 3-wall Doubles: Daniel De La Rosa/Michelle De La Rosa
• Men’s pro 1-wall Doubles: Adam Manilla/Nick Riffel
• Women’s Pro 1-wall Doubles: Victoria Rodriguez/Katie Neils
• Mixed pro 1-wall Doubles: Rick “Soda Man” Koll/Michelle De La Rosa
• Men’s 3-wall Singles: Mario Mercado
• Women’s 3-wall Singles: Carla Munoz
• CPRT Pro Doubles: Robert Sostre/Greg Solis
• Paddleball Men’s Doubles: Daniel De La Rosa/Alvaro Beltran
• Paddleball Mixed Doubles: Brenda Laime/Emmett Coe
  
  Quite the amazing weekend for the De La Rosas in particular; Daniel entered and won three divisions (3-wall pro doubles, 3-wall mixed doubles, and Paddleball), while Michelle entered and won three divisions herself (3-wall pro doubles, 3-wall mixed and 1-wall pro mixed). 6 divisions, 6 titles. Bravo.
  
  R2 Sports App home page for event: https://www.r2sports.com/website/event-website.asp?TID=37761
  
  Special thanks to the major sponsors for 2021’s 3WB event KWM Gutterman, AGE Solutions, and Pro Kennex. Thanks as always to tournament host and sponsor Mike Coulter MC Vegas and to Tournament director Peggine Tellez, (and all the volunteer staff for 3WB) who worked so tirelessly all weekend to coordinate on-site.

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ProRacquetballStats.com links to match reports for all the pro divisions:

• Men’s Pro 3-wall Doubles: http://rball.pro/D204CC
• Women’s Pro 3-wall Doubles: http://rball.pro/48852E
• Mixed Pro 3-wall Doubles: http://rball.pro/D90DBF
• Men’s pro 1-wall Doubles: http://rball.pro/693F45
• Women’s Pro 1-wall Doubles: http://rball.pro/FE0189
• Mixed pro 1-wall Doubles: http://rball.pro/CDB793
• Men’s 3-wall Singles: http://rball.pro/43291F
• Women’s 3-wall Singles: http://rball.pro/6FF3B2

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Men’s 3-wall Pro doubles recap;

17 teams competing in this draw, and the big storyline was the seeding. 2021 outdoor champs Gies/Rich were seeded just 11th, outdoor legend and two-time outdoor national champs Carson/Ustarroz were seeded 10th, and some really tough top indoor pros were stuck in the 16/17 play-in. You have to beat them all to win, as they say, and the seeding made for some really compelling early matches.
In the 16/17 play in, Alex Landa and Sebastian Fernandez were not able to overcome the outdoor experience of Brian Pineda (playing with Eduardo Portillo Rendon) and lost 5,13.

In the 16s, some notable matches:

• #1 seeds Daniel De La Rosa and Alvaro Beltran, for the 2nd year running, faced a significant challenge in the first round, having to take on the experienced Pineda playing with the quickly learning Lalo. The defending champs were down early, but rallied to run to a first game win 15-11 and then held on in game two to move on.
• Solid win by the #8 seeded NorCal team of Walter Ramos and Israel Torres.
• #5 dark horses Emmett Coe and Rick Koll advanced past two IRT touring pros in Adam Manilla and Nick Riffel with ease 7,6
• The #4 seeds from Florida were upset by a drastically under-seeded #13 team of Brandon Davis and Alejandro Barcelo.
• #3 Robert Sostre and Daniel Lavely held serve against two tough veterans of outdoor Greg Solis and Charlie Pratt Racquetball to move on.
• The most ridiculous under-seed of the event, #11 Jason Newberg Geis and Micah Rich, upset the #6 seeded team of tough Formulaflow partners Mario Mercado and MoMo Zelada in a breaker.
• Nor Cal tough doubles players David ” Bobby” Horn and Jose Diaz took out the legendary Rocky Carson/Jesus Ustarroz team in a breaker.
• And the biggest upset of the day was the #2 seeds Tommy Medina and Thomas Gerhardt losing to the upstart team of Patrick Allin and Alan Natera Chavez 2,13. The #2 seeds looked completely lost in game one, then rebounded to push the envelope in game two but ultimately couldn’t push it to a breaker.
  
  In the qtrs, some solid matches:
• #1 seeds DLR and Beltran cruised to wins in games ones and three, but seemingly took off game two against NorCal specialists Ramos and Torres. Final score: 2,(6),0. I might be wrong, but i’m not sure Ramos/Torres even served in the breaker. The lefty power of Ramos and lanky getting ability of Izzy powered them to a game two win, but the champs hunkered down for the breaker win to move on.
• The #13 seeded team of Davis/Barcelo kept cruising, dominating against the #5 seeded team of Coe/Koll to move into the semis 12,2 The first game was close, but in game two Davis/Barcelo got into a nice rhythm of forcing awkward shots out of both competitors from the backhand side, with Barcelo hitting bomb after bomb from the deep forehand side to move on.
• Four outdoor specialists, including one Hall of Famer, played a really entertaining match in the #3/#11 quarter, with your defending Outdoor National champs Geis/Rich moving on. They squeaked by in game one 15-14 over Sostre/Lavely, then dropped game two in fast fashion. But they refocused in the breaker, overcoming Lavely’s amazing getting ability and Iceman’s smart one-wall-inspired shot making to move into the semis.
• The #7 seeded Area-code 209 team of Horn/Diaz squeaked past a shocked Natera/Allin team in game one 15-14, mounting a furious come back to steal the game after Natera/Allin served for it four times. Then, in game two a back and forth affair came down to just a few mistakes from the losing side; NorCal represented in the semis.
  
  The semis featured two dominating performances from the two pre-tournament favorites:
• #1 DLR/Beltran controlled the match from the get go, forcing the issue primarily to Barcelo on the right hand side and advanced with relative ease 9,7. Their game plan was to isolate and avoid the dangerous Davis and be opportunistic with their attacking shots, and they were successful.
• #11 Geis/Rich dominated the Stockton duo of Horn/Diaz 3,10 to move to the final. Game one was a blur of excellent technical outdoor racquetball, and though Diaz/Horn were able to make game two closer, the Southern California duo won out. Horn has been nursing a shoulder injury, which was not unknown to his opponents, and they forced him to hit lots of uncomfortable shots and took advantage.
  
  In the final…we got the rematch of the July outdoor nationals pro final, and the fans were treated to a pretty special performance from Daniel De La Rosa. Geis/Rich came out firing, worked Alvaro on the left side and limited their mistakes and surprised the #1 seeds 15-11. But game two and three was another story; DLR brought the pressure to Geis on the serve and was a man on a mission in the front court, hitting every shot he was presented. The second game was a blur 15-5, and the domination continued into the breaker. The top pair ran out to a fast 5-0 lead before Geis/Rich even got in the box, and despite their best efforts the top players ran away with the game 11-6.
  
  Great win for the top Mexican duo, who defend their 2020 3WB title and pad their ever-growing list of indoor and outdoor titles together.

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Men’s 3-wall CPRT Doubles re-cap
We didn’t preview the CPRT, but it turned into a really solid pro-quality draw with some streaming on the weekend, so here’s a recap:

• The #1 seeds Koll/Beltran were taken out by the Florida outdoor specialists Joe Young and Marcos Gravier in the quarters in what some would view as an upset, but Young/Gravier are highly experienced veteran outdoor players and ground out the win.
• The #9 seeds were joined in the semis along with the other top 3 seeded teams, which include a slew of the top outdoor pros in the land.
  In the semis:
• The #4 seeded team of Allin & Gerhardt controlled the power shots of Young & Gravier to move into the final.
• The #3 team of dual hall of famers Greg Solis and Sostre took out the two-time outdoor nationals pro doubles champs Carson/Ustarroz in a spirited tiebreaker.
• In the final, the Sostre/Solis team came back from a quick game one defeat to blow out Allin & Gerhardt 11-0 in the breaker to take the title.

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Women’s 3-wall Pro Doubles re-cap
Last minute withdrawals of several top players thinned the women’s pro doubles draw to just a 3-team round robin. In the RR final though we got an excellent match between the defending champion team of Michelle De La Rosa and Carla Muñoz Montesinos taking on the decorated Janel Tisinger-Ledkins teamed with Arizona’s Katie Neils.

In the title match, Neils (the least experienced player on the court) made her presence known and handled the right hand side, matching Munoz shot for shot, but the defending champs squeaked by with a 15-14 game one win. That opened the flood gates, and Tisinger-Ledkins/Neils couldn’t stop the train in game two. mDLR and Munoz defend their title 14,4.

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Mixed 3-wall Pro Doubles re-cap
A star-studded draw was featured in the Mixed doubles draw, including several Hall of Famers and several top touring indoor pros.
In the quarters:

• NorCal duo of Williams/Ramos played solid ball to squeak past Alejandro Landa and Aimee Brewer.
• Team Formula Flow (Zelada and Brenda Laime Jalil) upset the #3 seeded team of Riffel/Neils.
• A tough opener featured Hall of famer vs Hall of Famer, with the team of Greg Solis and Tisinger-Ledkins taking out the #2 seeded team of Sostre/Munoz. Solis/Tisinger-Ledkins is quite a decorated team; they’re a 5-time winner in Huntington Beach and won the pro mixed in Vegas in both 2010 and 2011.
  In the semis:
• Defending champs DLR and mDLR cruised past the NorCal duo of Ramos/Williams 5,1
• Solis/Tisinger-Ledkins thwarted efforts by the indoor specialists Zelada and Laime to move to the final 12,6.
  In the final, Daniel continued his sharp-shooter ways and drove the conversation, and the husband-wife pair won going away 8,8 to capture their 13th major mixed pro title together.
  
  Side note: kudos to Tisinger-ledkins for playing and competing this weekend at … 8 months pregnant. Fantastic showing for someone with obvious mobility limitations to still compete at such a high level.

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Men’s 3-wall Singles Recap:

Forfeits and injuries plagued the Men’s pro singles draw, with just one match managing to get played before the final. In the final, two IRT touring pros in Alan Natera and Mario Mercado faced off for the title. Mercado has a bit more outdoor experience than Natera and it showed, as he took the crown 13,7.

Women’s 3-wall Singles Recap:
Two California outdoor specialists in Erica Williams and Victoria Rodriguez attempted to dethrone the reigning Outdoor Nationals singles champion Carla Muñoz Montesinos. Munoz and Williams held serve against Rodriguez and competed for the title. Williams shocked the LPRT touring pro in game one with a 15-13 win, but Munoz turned the tides and raced away with the next two games to win the title. Final score: (13),6,4.

Men’s 1-wall Pro Doubles recap
Natera & Pratt upset the #1 seeded team of Daniel Lavely and Jeremy Mcglothin to move into the final. There they met the college buddy duo of Adam Manilla & Nick Riffel for a one-wall power racquetball shootout final.

In that final, the four IRT pros battled it out with a display less about one-wall tactics and more about brute force, with the lefty/righty Coloradans coming out on top 10,9.

Women’s 1-wall Pro Doubles recap

The top seeded team of Rodriguez/Neils took out team Virginia (TJ Baumbaugh & Aimee Brewer) to win the 4-team round robin and the title.

Mixed 1-wall Pro Doubles recap
The top two seeds advanced to the title game, with Rick “Soda Man” Koll teamed up with Michelle De La Rosa at the top. The bottom of the draw was packed, but team Virginia Gerhardt/Brewer advanced to make the final.

In the final… Koll/mDLR outlasted Gerhardt/Brewer 15-13 in the first game, then ran away with it to take the title 13,1. This is Koll’s 4th mixed pro one-wall title out of the last 5 years.

Paddleball Pro Doubles
We don’t normally cover much besides racquetball here, but 3WB features paddleball events that get tons of crossover between regular racquetball players and top paddleball pros from Southern California.
In the Men’s pro paddleball doubles, DLR/Beltran took out the athletic team of Emmitt Coe and Sebastian Fernandez to take the title.

In the Mixed pro paddleball doubles, Brenda Laime teamed up with perhaps the best paddleball player in the nation in Emmett Coe to top the legendary Aaron Embry and his San Diego partner Roxanne Rehling to take the title.

Thanks for all the streaming on the weekend, especially from broadcasters Dean Baer, Favio Soto, Pablo Fajre and the IRTLive crew
Thanks for all the streaming on the weekend, especially from broadcasters Timothy Baghurst, Jerry J Josey Jr., JP Edwards and @Tj Baumbaugh]

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Next up?

No rest for the weary; Alvaro and De La Rosa head straight to San Luis Potosi for the 2021 Mexican National doubles event next weekend. Then a couple weeks after that we have a combo IRT/LPRT event in Arizona that will feature pro mixed doubles, a rare treat for fans.

tags
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R2 Sports App link: https://www.r2sports.com/website/event-website.asp?TID=37761
The 12th Annual 3WallBall Outdoor Tournament is upon us. Held on the grounds of the STRAT hotel on the Las Vegas Strip, this tournament has grown to now be the second largest annual racquetball tournament in the world (trailing only the US Open in terms of participation). This year is no different, as the tournament will host roughly 440 players for the 2021 iteration.

Your Pro defending champions from last year:

• Men’s 3-Wall Doubles: Daniel De La Rosa & Alvaro Beltran
• Women’s 3-Wall Doubles: Paola Longoria & Janel Tisinger-Ledkins
• Mixed 3-Wall Doubles: Daniel De La Rosa & Michelle De La Rosa
• Men’s 1-Wall Doubles: Robert Sostre & William Rolon
• Women’s 1-Wall Doubles: Kelly Gremley & Amie LeBrun Brewer
• Mixed 1-Wall Doubles: @Rick “Soda Man” Rick Koll & Rhonda Rajsich
• Men’s 3-Wall Singles: Andree Parrilla
• Women’s 3-Wall Singles: Paola Longoria

3-Wall Doubles Pro Previews

The 2021 Men’s Pro 3-Wall division will feature the defending champs (Daniel De La Rosa/Alvaro Beltran) as well as their vanquishers from this past summer’s Outdoor Nationals ( Jason Newberg Geis / Micah rich), as well as past Vegas winners Rocky Carson/Jesus Ustarroz, past Outdoor Nationals champs (Greg Solis, Brandon Davis, Robert Sostre), and a slew of the best outdoor players from Florida, New York, California, and beyond. It should be a highly competitive event.

The 2021 Women’s Pro 3-Wall division will also feature its defending champs, as Paola Longoria has committed to returning to defend her title with Tisinger-Ledkins. They’ll be challenged by the 2019 Vegas winners Michelle De La Rosa/Carla Muñoz as well as multi-time past champion and outdoor legend Rhonda Rajsich.

The 2021 Mixed Pro 3-Wall defending champs (the De La Rosa husband/wife team) will defend their 2021 title and try to build on their record 12 major outdoor titles together. They’ll be challenged by some tough teams, including the frequent Rajsich/Rick “Soda Man” Koll pairing, the two-time defending finalists Sostre/Muñoz team, a dark-horse challenging team of Tisinger-Ledkins/Solis, and a very interesting mother-son team of Martha & Jack McDonald.

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1-Wall Doubles Pro Previews

The one-wall Pro Doubles crowns for all divisions (Men’s, Women’s, and Mixed) seem set to go to new teams in 2021, as the 2020 champion teams are either not present in 2021 or are not defending their titles.

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Pro Singles Preview:

We’ll have a new Singles pro winner this year, as 2020’s winner is not here. The Women’s Singles division looks stacked, with four entrants (Longoria, Rajsich, Tisinger-Ledkins, and Muñoz) owning major outdoor singles titles. Longoria is the favorite every time she takes the court, but she’ll face stiff competition.

King of the Court

This year’s competition features a fun new event, King of the Court. 3WB’s team has invited a slew of legends of the sport to compete in a “King of the Court” singles division. Participants include former touring pros such as Doug Cohen, Bret Harnett, Egan Inoue, Todd O’Neil, and Ben Koltun. They’ll be joined by outdoor legends such as Craig “Clubber” Lane, Rick “Soda Man” Koll, and Jesus Ustarroz, and will face off against a slew of current outdoor stars for the title.

On a personal note, yours truly Todd Boss will not only be in Las Vegas for this event helping to stream and to do meet and greets, but i’m actually playing. For the first time since I believe 2003, I’m entered into a racquetball tournament.

Look for Streaming in the regular places; three major streamers are traveling to Las Vegas for this tournament. We’ll have streaming on the IRT feed (hosted by Dean DeAngelo Baer and Pablo Fajre), we’ll have streaming on the LPRT feed (hosted by Timothy Baghurst and Tj Baumbaugh) and we’ll have streaming hosted by JT R Ball, who is already on-site in Vegas and has been giving us great walking video tours and drone shots.
Thanks to the Tourney Director Peggine Tellez and of course to MC Vegas for all your hard work on this event.
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Tags
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AGE SOLUTIONS /Andy Gomer
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Hashtags #racquetball #proracquetball #outdoorracquetball #irt #lprt #wor

Congratulations to the Pro Champions on the weekend:

• Men’s Pro Doubles: Jason Geis & Micah Rich
• Women’s Pro Doubles: Michelle De La Rosa & Carla Munoz
• Mixed Pro Doubles: Daniel De La Rosa & Michelle De La Rosa
• Men’s Pro Singles: Jose Diaz
• Women’s Pro Singles: Carla Munoz

To review the brackets and results, see here: https://www.r2sports.com/website/event-website.asp?TID=31967

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Men’s Pro Doubles Recap
PRS Match report: http://rball.pro/6F519E

In the 16s, just one upset by seed, with the #10 team of Hall of Famer Freddy Ramirez & former IRT touring pro Nick Riffel taking out the #7 team of tourney director Geoff Osberg playing with 2018 Men’s singles pro champ Luis Avila in a tiebreaker.
In the quarters, a star-studded affair ended up going pure chalk, with all four top seeds advancing.

• #1 seeds Daniel De La Rosa and Alvaro Beltran got their title defense started with a closer-than-they-probably-wanted win over the tough team of former IRT touring pro and doubles specialist Jose Diaz playing with HB native Patrick Allin. The top seeds advance 13,14.
• #4 dark-horse team of Jason Newberg Geis and Micah Rich, who won the February Valentines Day shootout over a number of teams at this event, advanced with ease over #5 Rick Koll and Emmett Coe.
• #3 Josh Tucker and HoFamer Greg Solis were stretched to a breaker but moved past #6 team of NYC one-wall specialists Robert Sostre and Benny Goldenberg.
• #2 Rocky Carson and tourney co-director Jesus Ustarroz, themselves 3-time prior champs of this event, advanced with ease over the Ramirez/Riffel team.
  In the semis, two big upsets.
• #4 Geis and Rich took out the defending champs DLR & Beltran with a great win. The #1 seeds fought off multiple game points to take game one 15-14, then Rich and Geis cruised to a game 2 win to push it to breaker. There, the Lefty/Righty team pulled away at the death and DLR/Beltran just could not get enough shots to go down to force the issue. Geis/Rich take the breaker 11-8.
• #3 Tucker and Solis played nearly a “perfect Match,” going the absolute distance with two-time champions #2 Carson & Ustarroz. Final score: 13,(14),10.
  In the finals … veteran outdoor players Tucker/Solis took the first game, but Rich and Geis did not panic, dominating the second game to force the breaker. There, they continued to play smart outdoor racquetball and went on a run at the end to take the breaker 11-5 and take the title. Rich gets his first major outdoor title, while Geis returns to the podium at a major for the first time in a decade (he and Alvaro won the 2010 3WallBall pro doubles title).

Kudos to Rich and Geis, who may not be household names to the larger indoor community but who dominated a star-studded field this weekend.

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Women’s Pro Doubles Recap
PRS Match report: http://rball.pro/39F9C4

The defending champs and #1 seeds Michelle De La Rosa and @Carla Carla Muñoz Montesinos cruised through a 5-team RR draw that featured a slew of draws as the other four teams battled it out for 2nd place. In the end Erica Williams and Katie Neils captured 2nd place on total overall points.

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Mixed Pro Doubles Recap
PRS Match report: http://rball.pro/23766C
The top two mixed pro teams, who also met for the title in 2019, each cruised through the 5-team RR draw unscathed for their inevitable Sunday morning meeting for the title. There, the husband-wife defending champ #1 seeds Daniel De La Rosa and Michelle De La Rosa squared off against Robert Sostre and Carla Munoz.

In the final, the DLRs defended their title with a close 7,12 win over Sostre and Munoz.

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Men’s Pro Singles Recap
PRS Match report: http://rball.pro/CF8A2A
The Pro Singles featured 8 brave souls attempting to play singles on the cavernous Huntington Beach courts. The top 4 seeds advanced into the semis. There, Jose Diaz upset #1 seed hall of famer Greg Solis, thwarting his quest for an elusive singles crown, while 2018 singles champ Avila downed the left “Sweet” Lou Orosco in the other.

In the final…Jose Diaz added his name to the board of legends who have won Outdoor Nationals pro singles, topping Avila 12,11 for the crown.

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Women’s Pro Singles Recap
PRS Match report: http://rball.pro/F96427

LPRT touring pro Munoz cruised through the 5-player RR draw to capture the 2021 Women’s singles Outdoor National championship. Arizonian Katie Neils came the closest to taking out Munoz, stretching her to 14 in one game and finishing in 2nd place in the group.

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Other Notable Draws:

• Men’s 100/Centurion Doubles, the largest draw of the event, featured a ton of outdoor racquetball legends competing. In the final #2 outdoor legends Scott St. Clair & Tony Burg topped Rocky playing with @jerry Hall in an 11-10 bruiser.
• Men’s 75+ Doubles: De La Rosa, playing with HoFamer Mike Peters, cruised to the finals of 75+ doubles, where they got a walkover against #8 Thomas Gerhardt and Benny Goldenberg in the final.
• CPRT 40+: Tucker & Solis avenged their loss in the pro doubles by taking the stacked 40+ draw, topping Carson & Ustarroz in the final.
• Mixed Centurion Doubles featured the legends Greg & Martha McDonald competing in their 46th outdoor Nationals event; that’s right; they were at the very first one in 1974 and have missed just one in their careers (missed in the early 1980s for the birth of one of their sons). However, they ended up coming in 2nd place in the mixed 100+ doubles, getting edged by Butch Fish playing with Laura Morin.

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Congrats on a successful return to Huntington each to tournament directors Geoff Osberg & Jesus Ustarroz, who have been running the event for years together and did a fantastic job getting sponsors, promoting the event and running the tournament all weekend.

Thanks to all those who streamed on the weekend. Racquetball social media promoter JT R Ball first and foremost, for setting up early, getting great drone/aerial shots, and streaming/commentating all weekend. Thanks also to personal feeds from people like Erica Williams, Ranulfo Alvarez, Frank Biehl, Ruben Antilla, and many others.

Thanks to all 2021 Outdoor National sponsors, listed here https://www.r2sports.com/website/event-sponsors.asp….
A big thanks to the title sponsor Randy Root and his teamroot.com enterprise; Randy continues to be the biggest sponsor of the sport. Major thanks to presenting sponsor Pro Kennex and Mike Martinez, who continue to be a leading voice in the sport and in outdoor.
Thanks to the gold sponsors, including Melissa’s restaurant, Gearbox (the official ball of the tournament), Coca-Cola, RH enterprises, 3WallBall, Splathead, Roundabout Entertainment, KWM Gutterman and Keith Minor. Thanks to all silver sponsors including Dale (Valentine) & Todd (Entrikin)’s WTF Racquetball series, Rogue Gallery, (Mark) Bloom Injury Law, the (Rocky) Carson Real Estate Team, and Ustarroz Construction. Thanks to all bronze sponsors including the IRT, the LPRT, the Comfort Inn and Suites, the Springhill Suites of Huntington Beach, Dogz Bar & Grill, Los Compadres Auto Sales (and thanks for all you guys do for the sport yourselves), RYDF, and Alberto’s.

Thanks for all the sponsors and all you do; without you, we would not have racquetball events.

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Next up?
Next week, in Des Moines Iowa is National Team Qualifying and Junior Nationals. The draws are up here and play starts on Wednesday.. https://www.r2sports.com/portfolio/r2-event.asp?TID=37673

tags/Sponsor links
@International Racquetball Tour
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WOR – World Outdoor Racquetball
USA Racquetball
Reaching Your Dream Foundation
Splathead Sportsgear
3Wall Ball
team root/Randy Root
KWM Gutterman Inc./Keith Minor
Hashtags #racquetball #proracquetball #outdoorracquetball #irt #lprt #wor

One of the bigger non-major outdoor events on the schedule is happening this weekend, more than 90 players descending on the Nation’s capital from all over the eastern seaboard and states far and wide to compete in the annual Capital City WOR championships at the Stratton Woods park in Herndon, VA.

Stratton Woods is great example of the opportunity out there for outdoor racquetball, an example of new construction (it was built and dedicated in May 2015) that has created a community of players where there was really none before. It features four 3-wall/long-wall courts on one side of the structure and then three 1-wall courts on the other, thus attracting two unique sets of players to its tournaments from far and wide (in addition to the great local interest from the DC area community). The plans and effort was spearheaded by long-time dc area player Bill Bouie, and the plans (if you’re thinking of building your own outdoor courts) are available from USA Racquetball.

As a result of the unique facility construction, we have a ton of top one-wall players from both New York and from Florida who have made the trip to compete, plus we have a set of long-wall specialists from Michigan who have traveled in. The one-wall brackets in particular are stacked with some of the best talent out there, and the 3-wall brackets feature a great combination of local players, traveling pros and IRT touring pros who will hold their own.
It should be a great event all weekend.

R2 Sports App link: https://www.r2sports.com/website/event-website.asp?TID=37467

Here’s a quick preview of all the top-level pro draws, with some observations and predictions.

Three-Wall Doubles Draws:

• Three-Wall Men’s Pro: 9 teams, and all nine of them have deep tournament quals. Even the 8/9 play-in will be tough, with an IRT touring pro in each team. I like the top seeds to hold to the semis, with #1 Gravier/Hernandez versus #4 Greg Lewerenz/ Nathan Tucker and #2 Sostre/Goldberg vs #3 Tommy Medina /Young. From there, i’m going with two upsets and for the Medina/Young team to take the final over the Michigan long-wall specialists.
• Three-Wall Men’s 75+: nearly as stacked as the 3-wall pros draw, I’m projecting Sostre/Goldenberg versus Lewerenz/Mijares in the final, with the long-wall specialist Lewerenz’s team winning.
• Three-Wall Women’s Pro Doubles: three teams of locals to battle it out; I’m liking the two tourney directors Brewer/Hoeft to take the title.
• Three-Wall Mixed Pro Doubles: Hernandez teams with Carrie Handfinger Hoeft as the #1 seed, but they’ll have their hands full to make the final. From the bottom half I like the #2 seeds Aime Brewer and Gerhardt to make a finals run and take the draw.

One-Wall doubles divisions:

• One-Wall Men’s Pro doubles: 13 teams entered, headlined by the all-world one-wall team at #1 from NYC, Hall of Famer Robert Sostre teamed with one of the best one-wall players out there in Benny Goldberg. If seeds hold and they can get past a tough possible quarter that could include Sebastian Franco, they project to face top Florida team Marcos Gravier/ Roy Hernandez in the top semis.
  The bottom half is stacked. #2 seeds Dylan Pruitt/ Thomas Gerhardt likely face a very tough quarter final against MoMo Zelada playing with Sergio Rivera . Meanwhile, the #3/#6 projected quarter features two of the best one-wall teams in William Rolon / Joe Young taking on Alejandro Barcelo teamed with Mario Mercado . I have no idea who’s coming out of this group, but I like the Barcelo/Mercado team.
  In the final i’ll go with Sostre/Goldberg over Barcelo/Mercado.
• One-Wall Men’s Elite Doubles: the top two seeds are out-of-towners, the Michigan-based duo of Cyrus Chinoy/Luis Romero are top seeds and seem like a good bet to make the final. In the bottom half, #2 seeded Floridians Seran Ramkissoon/ Michael Medina may ahve t heir hands full with a pair of New Yorkers in the opener and possibly the sneaky solid #3 seeded team of Angel Rosa / Craig Powell . I like the Michigan duo over Rosa/Powell in the final, but upsets could abound here.
• One-Wall Women’s Pro doubles: Eight teams competing with a great collection of NYC and DC area talent. It’s hard not to like the two top seeded teams ( Masiel Rivera Oporto and Ruiz from one bracket, and NYC’s Jasmine India Suarez and Delia Silva in the other) to advance out of the RR stage and meet in the final. I like Suarez/Silva as one-wall specialists to prevail.

– One-Wall Mixed Pro doubles: Eight teams here, with some fun teams that don’t normally play outdoor. The #1 team of Ruben Pagan and HoFamer Aimee Roehler Ruiz seems like a good bet, but they likely face two tough NYC one-wall specialists in Rolon and @kathy Guinan in the semis. In the bottom half i like Goldberg and Delia Silva to advance to the final and take the title.

Singles Draws:

– One-Wall Men’s Pro Singles: local Pruitt is the #1 seed, but this draw features multiple players who have taken one-wall majors in the past. I like Pruitt vs Barcelo in one semi, Rolon vs Gerhardt in the other, and Gerhardt taking out Barcelo in the final.

Streaming: no official streaming that I know of, but follow the Mid-Atlantic Outdoor racquetball group and i’m sure all individual streamers will share their feeds there.

Thanks to the Tourney Directors Amie LeBrun Brewer, Carrie Handfinger Hoeft, Maddie Melendez and Thao Le for putting this event on!

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