WOR “Triple Crown” Report created

Tisinger was a two-time Triple Crown winner in 2016, winning 3 singles and 3 doubles crowns in one season. Photo 2018 Vegas 3WallBall event by Mike Augustin/Game Changer Photo

After by the finish of WOR – World Outdoor Racquetball]’s 3Wall Ball] tournament, there was a great conversation in the Keep Racquetball Great forum (which was founded by outdoor enthusiast Norm McNutt and which has a heavy outdoor racquetball focus) about whether anyone has won the “Triple Crown” of the three major outdoor events. Florida outdoor player and big event sponsor Jeff Wright posted all the winners of all the events going back to start the discussions.

Well, I thought that was a great report idea. So I created it. I also put in placeholders for all the winners of the pro events to make the report work, leveraging Wright’s work and backfilling from R2 Sports App as needed.

Outdoor Nationals is the original “major,” having started in 1974. Vic Leibofsky‘s Beach Bash started in 2007, following on from a huge Scott Hirsch-run event on the same courts in 2004, and of course MC Vegas has spearheaded the 3WallBall event that has run in Las Vegas since 2010. So the triple crown report starts in 2007 to show the winners of all the events alongside each other to the best extent possible.

So here they are. The Outdoor “Triple Crown Reports.”

– Men’s Singles: http://rball.pro/74BC5A

The grand-daddy event of them all has never seen a player take all three titles. Rocky Carson did five “doubles” winning both Outdoor Nats and Vegas, and missed out on a 6th in 2013 when the Vegas final was cancelled due to wind. The dominance of Robert Sostre on one-wall in Florida has made it hard for others to break through. Best chance of a triple-crown winner going forward probably is Nick Montalbano, who has made the Beach Bash finals and has a 3-wall singles win, but he is not known for traveling to the California event.

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Women’s Singles: http://rball.pro/7A730A

Future outdoor hall of famer Janel Tisinger-Ledkins is the only person to hold a singles “Triple Crown,” having won the singles titles in all three events in 2016. Rhonda Rajsich has a double, having won Beach Bash one-wall and outdoor nats 3-wall in the same 2015 season. The women’s singles event has been lagging at Marina Park the last few years, making it hard to see a pathway forward for any one to make a new run at the crown. Hollie Scott might be my choice to do this in the future, having shown her quals on the one-wall and being young enough to have years of competition in her future.

Doubles technically have four “majors” each year, since Vegas now offers both one-wall and three-wall. All four of these events are shown in the doubles reports below:

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Men’s Doubles: http://rball.pro/5A37EA

We’ve had some men win the “double,” meaning two of the majors in a year:
– Rocky Carson in 2014 won Outdoor Nats and Vegas 3-wall.
– Daniel De La Rosa and Alvaro Beltran did the same double in 2019 as a team.
– Beltran also did the California/Vegas double in 2011 with two different partners.
Robert Sostre did an interesting double in 2016, winning both doubles competitions in Vegas in the same year.
– Joe Young did the double in 2015, winning both Beach Bash and Outdoor Nationals, quite an achievement.

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Women’s Doubles: http://rball.pro/70C819

Again, Tisinger did the triple crown in 2016 (the same year she won all three singles titles). That’s a hell of a year. Six major outdoor titles in one season.

Meanwhile, Michelle De La Rosa has done the triple crown twice; in 2014 and 2015. Players who have done the double:
– Carla Muñoz Montesinos took Outdoor Nats and Vegas 3-wall in 2019
– Anita Maldonado won both 1-wall majors in 2019 as well.
– Rajsich did the double in 2014 along with mDLR
– Jasmine Suarez took both 1-wall majors in 2013
– Aimee Roehler Ruiz did the double with Tisinger in 2016
– Michbo Herbert did a unique double in 2018; winning one-wall Beach bash as well as Vegas 3-wall.

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Mixed Doubles: http://rball.pro/AB9D4B

The DLR husband/wife team pulled off the triple in 2019. The pair also pulled off double wins in 2014, 2016 and 2017. All told, they have won 11 mixed double major titles together since 2014 and are an amazingly dominant team.

Players who have done doubles:
– Rajsich and Rick Koll did the double at Vegas in 2018, winning the mixed 1-wall and 3-wall titles.
– Sostre in 2013
– Ruiz did a one-wall major double in 2016, winning both Beach Bash and 1-wall Vegas.
– Greg Solis did the double with Tisinger in 2011

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Hope you enjoyed this as much as I did putting it together!

TagsInternational Racquetball TourLPRTUSA RacquetballFederación Mexicana de RaquetbolHashtags #racquetball#proracquetball#outdoorracquetball#irt#lprt#wor

3WallBall Vegas Wrap-up Part II

In Part II we’ll cover the rest of the pro divisions.

Congrats to your Pro winners on the weekend:
– 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 & Aime Brewer
– Mixed 1-wall Doubles: Rick “Soda Man” & Rhonda Rajsich

– Men’s 3-wall Singles: Andree Parrilla
– Women’s 3-wall Singles: Paola Longoria.

Great weekend for the #1 female player in the world Longoria, who gets a double win in Singles and Doubles.

Before we get started, please keep Kelani Lawrence in your thoughts. She was assaulted over the weekend at the Wynn and suffered potentially permanent eye damage. There’s more information on her page and on LPRT’s page. I hope justice can be served and that the touring pro and former National champion can recover fully.

R2 Sports App home page for event: https://www.r2sports.com/website/event-website.asp?TID=34945


3-Wall Women’s Pro doubles Review
PRS Match report: http://rball.pro/8CFCB3
This 7-team draw picks up in the quarters:
– Adriana Riveros / Jessica Parrilla won a close one against two fellow LPRT touring pros in Kelani Lawrence / Hollie Scott.
Paola Longoria & Janel Tisinger-Ledkins were pressed but held on against fellow LPRT touring pros Brenda Laime Jalil and Masiel Rivera Oporto 12,12.
– #2 seed Rhonda Rajsich picked up a last minute doubles replacement in Erica Williams and didn’t miss a beat on the court, cruising past Jessica Chen and Katie Neils 3,8.

In the semis:
– The #1 seeds and defending champs Michelle De La Rosa and Carla Muñoz Montesinos got into action and faced one of the surprise revelations of this event Riveros, teamed with outdoor veteran Jessica Parrilla. The top pair was pushed in game one 15-12 then took over in game two to advance to the final 12,6.
– The #1 player in the world teamed with one of the best ever to play the outdoor game were not to be stopped, as Longoria/Tisinger dominated the #2 seeds Rajsich/Williams to move to the final and setup a stellar title match.

In the finals, the defending champs took the first game, but Longoria and the legendary outdoor player Tisinger-Ledkins took the second and third games to claim the title (12),9,5


3-Wall Mixed Pro doubles Review
PRS match report; http://rball.pro/838C55

A great 15-team draw here. Lets get started in the round of 16, which featured several big-time names fall:
Nick Riffel and Katie Neils shocked two of the best players in the world in Paola Longoria and Alvaro Beltran, downing them in two games to move into the quarters. With all due respect to Riffel and Neils, I’m just not sure how two of the best doubles players in the world (both with excellent outdoor creds) conspired to lose.
Alex Landa and Lawrence blitzed past the #4 seeded team of Thomas Gerhardt and Aime Brewer 3,7 in a match that featured three Virginia residents.
– The #3 seeded team of Robert Sostreand Carla Muñoz Montesinos was stretched to a breaker by the brother/sister Parrilla pair of Jessica and Andree Parrilla, but held on to advance.

In the quarters…

– #1 seeds and defending champion De La Rosa team cruised past Adam Manilla / Erica Williams in what reportedly was the first time Michelle De La Rosa picked up a racquetball racquet since last year’s Vegas event.
– #5 Riffel & Niels continued their upset ways, shocking the #2 men’s player in the world Landa, playing with 2019 US national amateur champ Lawrence, to move into the semis.
– Sostre & Munoz were pushed but won in two closer games over Californian outdoor vets Majeed Shahin and Tisinger.
– In the shock result of the round, Mario Mercado & Riveros showed just how much outdoor they’ve picked up this week by stunning outdoor legends Rajsich and Rick Koll in a tiebreaker.

In the Semis…
– #1 seeds DLRs moved into the final with another dominant performance, this time topping Riffel/Neils 7,7
– Mercado & Riveros got another upset win over two seasoned outdoor pros, dominating the Sostre/Munoz team 5,7 to move to the final. Mercado has really stepped up this tournament with a number of impressive wins, and Riveros really has shown affinity for the outdoor game.

In the finals, the Husband/Wife DLR team blasted the upstart South Americans 8,0 to repeat as titlists and make Daniel the double winner on the weekend for the second year running.


1-Wall Men’s Pro doubles.
PRS Match Report: http://rball.pro/B11B77
9 teams in action here. Picking up action in the qtrs:

– #1 Sostre/ William Rolon were pushed hard by #8 Jake Bredenbeck and Jeremy Mcglothin before advancing 12,14. Jake really showed his outdoor prowess this weekend and I hope he continues to play in outdoor events going forward.
– #4 Stockton buddies Jose Diaz & David Horn advanced over two Northern Virginia players Saul Rivera & Raul Berrios.
– Outdoor specialists Ignacio Espinal and Servando Daniels held serve against the impressive Bolivian team that had caused so much havoc in the 3-wall division Marcelo Vargas & Mercado to advance.
– An all east-coast battle resulted in two guys with DC-area ties Gerhart and Dylan Pruitt advancing as the #2 seeds over Richard Miller/Joe Kelley.

In the semis:
– It took an 11-9 breaker but the one-wall experts Sostre/Rolon advanced over the 209-pair Diaz/Horn.
– #2 seeds Gerhardt and Pruitt held serve over Iggy/Servando to setup a 1-2 final.

In the final, the New York one-wall legends were pushed to a breaker but overcame the #2 seeds to repeat as champions.


1-Wall Women’s Pro doubles
PRS Match Report: http://rball.pro/50A63F

The 3-team round robin draw played out to seed, with the top two seeded teams both beating the #3 seeded team of Anita Flores and Vicki Onesti to setup a Sunday winner-take-all final.

In the final…Kelly Gremley & Aime Brewer outlasted #2 seeds Sonja Septon and Susie Boulander to take the title.


1-Wall Mixed Pro doubles
PRS Match Report: http://rball.pro/EF30DE

The top two seeded teams advanced to the final to setup a great match between four top one-wall pros.

In the final, tournament host Soda Man and Rajsich dethroned Munoz and held serve as the #1 seed, taking out Carla and Rolon in a tiebreaker final.


3-Wall Men’s Pro Singles
PRS Match Report: http://rball.pro/1A78E0

The most brutal test in outdoor is 3-wall singles being played on the extra long and wide courts of Vegas, and spectators were treated to amazing shows of athleticism all weekend on both the Men’s and Women’s side.

In the 16s of the Men’s draw, a couple of notable matches:
– Bolivian Vargas took out IRT vet Manilla in a breaker.
– Riffel blitzed the #5 seed Texan Abel Perez 3,4 to move on to the quarters.

In the quarters… we got some big time upsets as the two top seeds fall.
– #1 seed Rolon was crushed by Bolivian newcomer Vargas 7,3. Vargas has been a revelation this tournament, playing with abandon on the outdoor courts and really showing what a force he can be on the court.
– #4 Dan Lavely held serve against the upset-minded Riffel to advance.
– #3 Diaz made quick work of fellow Californian Shahin to advance.
– It took a tiebreaker, but top IRT pro Parrilla took out #2 seeded Thomas Gerhardt to move on.

In the semis:
– Vargas continued his winning ways, topping Lavely to make the final.
– Parrilla outlasted Diaz, with both players demonstrating their dominant 3-wall serves.

In the final, Parrilla made short work of the Cinderella Bolivian, downing him 5,8 to take the title.


3-Wall Women’s Pro Singles
PRS Match Report: http://rball.pro/001E7E

The four LPRT pros in the draw held serve in the quarters to advance to a star-studded semi finals.

In the semis…
– #1 Rajsich held on to advance over Munoz 13,6.
– #3 Longoria downed her country-woman #2 seed Parrilla in a breaker to move on.

In the final, Rhonda put on a clinic in game one to win 15-4, but then Longoria woke up and demolished her long-time LPRT rival in games 2 and 3 to win the title. Final score (4),4,4.


A huge shoutout to the whole 3Wall Ball crew for putting this event on under difficult circumstances. MC Vegas, Peggine Tellez,, Soda Man and the whole Las Vegas crew; our hats are off to you and the community thanks you.

Thanks for all the streaming on the weekend, especially from broadcasters Dean DeAngelo Baer, Pablo Fajre and the IRTLive crew . Thanks also to the LPRT regular broadcast crew including Timothy Baghurst, Jerry J Josey Jr., and Tj Baumbaugh

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Next up? Well, next up is … up in the air. Both pro tours have some upcoming events on the schedule; will they happen? Everything is tbd.

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tags and hashtagsInternational Racquetball TourLPRTWOR – World Outdoor RacquetballUSA RacquetballFederación Mexicana de RaquetbolReaching Your Dream FoundationFormulaflowHashtags #racquetball#proracquetball#outdoorracquetball#irt#lprt

3WallBall 2020 Vegas Wrap up, Part 1

Waselenchuk came up short in the final, but impressed everyone with his adjustment to the outdoor game. Photo Mike Augustin/Game Changer Photo

Note: my wrap-up is so big that i’m going to break it up into two parts. Today we’ll review the great Men’s 3-wall pro doubles draw, then tomorrow wrap-up the rest of the event.

Congrats to your winners on the weekend:

– 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 & Aime Brewer
– Mixed 1-wall Doubles: Rick “Soda Man” & Rhonda Rajsich

– Men’s 3-wall Singles: Andree Parrilla
– Women’s 3-wall Singles: Paola Longoria.

Another stellar weekend for the De La Rosa household, who get back to back event victories in Men’s and Mixed.

R2 Sports App home page for event: https://www.r2sports.com/website/event-website.asp?TID=34945

Here’s a review of the tournament, calling out interesting results round by round.

3-Wall Men’s Pro doubles:
PRS Match Report: http://rball.pro/953FFE

The round of 32 had some “upsets” by seed, but probably not by talent, as this tournament featured a ton of non-outdoor regulars with little in the way of outdoor ranking points.

In the 16s, we saw a number of top seeds fall.
– #1 Daniel De La Rosa & Alvaro Beltran handled the Alex Landa / Sudsy Monchik team 13,8 to avoid their biggest tripping point on the way to the final.
– Relative unknowns Cesar Chavez & Jeremy Mcglothin upset two top-10 seeds to advance to the quarters, taking out teams with veteran outdoor players such as Ignacio Espinal and Thomas Gerhardt.
– Jake Bredenbeck and Brian Pineda played outstanding racquetball to take out two-time Outdoor National doubles champions and #5 seeds Rocky Carson and Jesus Ustarroz in a tie-breaker. Jake proved quite adept at translating his power game into outdoor success, while Pineda on the right hand side gave off a shot-making clinic to drive the upset.
– The #4 team of Paddleball legend Emmett Coe and tourney host Rick Koll held serve and advanced past the veteran California-based doubles team of Tim Herman and Mike Myers.
– IRT veteran Mario Mercado teamed with relative unknown Bolivian Marcello Vargas Aguilar to take out last year’s semi finalists and outdoor veteran #3 seeds Floridians Roy Hernandez and Marcos Gravier. The two Bolivian natives played solid ball and had great court coverage and could be a dark horse for more upsets.
– #6 seeded outdoor veterans Brandon Davis and Alejandro Barcelo cruised into the quarters with ease.
– Two IRT veteran indoor players (and college buddies) in Adam Manilla and Nick Riffel teamed up to oust WOR Hall of Famer Mike Peters and fellow Huntington Beach outdoor veteran Patrick Allin 12,8 to be shock quarter finalists.
– Lastly, the big one. IRT #1 Kane Waselenchuk and his frequent indoor doubles partner Ben Croft took on the #2 seeded team of WOR hall of famer Robert Sostre and experienced indoor and outdoor pro David Horn. Lots of build-up to Kane’s appearance here, with outdoor specialists questioning whether the duo could adjust to the outdoor game, while indoor fans questioning why anyone would predict that Kane would lose, anywhere.

Game one was a shock to the system: Sostre could not miss and Croft/Kane looked like the outdoor novices that they are, and the #2 seeds won 15-2. With Michelle De La Rosa and Sudsy on the mike for streaming, they watched as Kane literally learned how to play outdoor throughout game 2, suddenly working the angles and hitting the kinds of outdoor-only shots that would be anathema indoors. What looked like it was going to be a two game blowout suddenly went to the tie-breaker. There, the novices picked on Sostre while serving, forcing him to hit backhands and forcing the #2 seeds to change tactics, but to no avail. The newbies cruised to an 11-4 tiebreaker win and put a shot across the bows of the outdoor world.

In the Quarters, a couple of shock results:
– #1 seeds DLR and Beltran made quick work of the upstart Chavez/McGlothin team 2,3.
– Despite downing the #5 team in the 16s, one of the two of Bredenbeck/Pineda failed to report in time for their quarter final match and the #4 team of Coe/Koll was given a walkover into the semis. The reported reason? “Too much Las Vegas.”
– The #6 team of Davis/Barcelo blitzed the all-Bolivian team of Vargas/Marcello in game one, then had to mount a furious comeback to take game two and advance 1,14. The second game featured great shot-making from both sides, with the prowess of Davis in particular proving the difference.
– Croft & Kane made quick work of two fellow IRT touring pros relatively new to outdoor in Manilla & Riffel to move on.

The semis featured two fantastic matchups:
– The top half featured two teams of outdoor veterans in the #1 vs #4 matchup.
– The bottom semi featured two of the best outdoor specialists out there in Davis/Barcelo versus perhaps the best current doubles team in the world (indoor or outdoor) in Kane/Croft. One team had to budge; which would it be?

In the end, both matches were anti-climactic, with the #1 seeds winning 3,5 and the Kane/Croft team blitzing to a 3,7 win to setup the final that everyone wanted.

In the final, the sport and all the neutrals got the match they wanted, and they were not disappointed. Kane/Croft won a back and forth first game that could have gone either way, then DLR/Beltran pulled away with consistency and by working the left side of the court. In the breaker they continued their dominance, running out to a 10-5 lead before a fantastic shot from the champ extended the match. Kane & Ben pulled back a couple more points, but an error on a service return sealed the win for the #1 seeds. DLR/Beltran defeat Waselenchuk/Croft (12),9,8 to repeat as champions.

But nobody is walking away from this tournament without recognizing just how well Kane and Croft played to get to the final. Here’s hoping this is just the latest chapter in these two teams’ rivalry, indoor or out.

——we’ll post part II tomorrow.——-

TagsInternational Racquetball TourLPRTWOR – World Outdoor Racquetball3Wall Ball3WallBall Outdoor World Championships2020 3WallBall Outdoor World Championships2020 3WallBall World ChampionshipsUSA RacquetballRacquetball CanadaFederación Mexicana de RaquetbolFederación Boliviana De Raquetbol – FeboraFederación Boliviana de RacquetballRacquetball ColombiaFederacion Colombiana de RacquetballReaching Your Dream FoundationFormulaflowBeastmade ApparelRacquetball Warehouse

Hashtags #racquetball#proracquetball#outdoorracquetball#irt#lprt

3WallBall Vegas Event 2020 Preview

De La Rosa had a fantastic 2019 Vegas event, can he repeat in 2020 with the massive influx of competition? Photo 2019 outdoor Nationals by Mike Augustin/Game Changer Photo

The time has come for the event we’ve been talking about for months now. The largest event of 2020; its the 11th annual 3WallBall event on the grounds of the STRAT hotel in Las Vegas.

600 players among three racquet sport disciplines are signed up, with play set to start Thursday Morning. More than 330 racquetball players are entered,

I’m bummed; I have been planning on attending for months but had to pull out of traveling last minute, so i’ll be listening in on the streams all weekend with the rest of you.

This is set to be quite the unique event; a number of top touring pros on both the Men’s and Women’s side are set to make their outdoor debuts, which will make for a highly entertaining draw and fantastic matches all weekend.

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R2 Sports App link: https://www.r2sports.com/website/event-website.asp?TID=34945

Your defending champs are as follows:
– Men’s 3-wall Doubles: De La Rosa/Beltran
– Women’s 3-wall Doubles: De La Rosa/Munoz
– Mixed 3-wall Doubles: the De La Rosa husband/wife combo

– Men’s 1-wall Doubles: Sostre/Rolon
– Women’s 1-wall Doubles: Maldonado/Stephen
– Mixed 1-wall Doubles: Montalbano/Munoz

– Men’s 3-wall Singles: Montalbano
– Women’s 3-wall Singles: Rajsich

Not all of these teams are back together this year, and the talent depth in all the draws should make it tough for repeats this year.

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Lets preview the draws. 3-Wall Doubles first.

First up, the Mens Pro 3-wall doubles draw, which has had the most “buzz” associated with it thanks to the influx of top players from the IRT playing outdoor competitively for the first time ever. And what a draw we have. 23 teams that include 8 of the top 10 indoor players and a large slate of the best outdoor players in the world.

The big pre-tournament buzz was where to seed, in particular, #1 player in the world Kane Waselenchuk and his regular doubles partner Ben Croft, neither of whom have a ton of outdoor experience. True to form, WOR has stayed true to their own ranking system and gave the two (along with the Alex Landa / Sudsy Monchik pairing) bottom seeds, which will make for some pretty interesting round of 16 matches.

here’s some matches to watch for in the 32s
– #21 Jake Bredenbeck / Brian Pineda vs #12 Sergio Rivera/ Dylan Pruitt ; shoutout to some of my DC-area local players, who go up against the basher in Jake and a long-time outdoor aficionado in Pineda.
– #13 Wayne Antone Racquetball / Andree Parrilla vs #20 Tim Hermann / Mike Myers: an interesting match-up between a long-time doubles partnership in Herman/Myers and the two up and coming players in Antone/Parrilla, who have little experience playing with each other. How much does outdoor experience and team chemistry play into a match-up? Look for the upset here.
– Long-time buds and IRT touring regulars Adam Manilla and Nick Riffel team up to take on #10 MoMo Zelada and Danny Lavely in what could be a tight opener.

– And of course, the Kane/Croft and Sudsy/Landa openers, both of which are happening later in the afternoon Thursday.

Projected 16s; and we have some doozies. We’re highlighting three potential match-ups in particular:

– #1 Daniel De La Rosa / Alvaro Beltran versus #17 Landa/Monchik. Well, the defending champs get a test right out of the gate. I’d have rather seen this match-up in the quarters, but I think DLR/Beltran move on.
– #5 Rocky Carson / Jesus Ustarroz, who have two Outdoor national titles playing together, return to action as a pairing and likely face off against the Jake/Pineda pairing.
– #2 Robert Sostre and David ” Bobby” Horn projected to face the King Kane/Croft partnership. What a match, and what a bummer for the #2 seeds right out of the gate. The hall of famer Sostre is better known for his one-wall prowess, but he’s accomplished in all outdoor disciplines as well. Look for this to be tight, but for Kane/Croft to move on.

Projected Quarters: they could be awesome
– #1 DLR/Beltran over #8 Gerhardt / Jordan Walters
– #5 Carson/Jay over #4 Emmett Coe / Rick Koll ; this is a tough one, featuring four accomplished outdoor players and a player in Koll who is frequently in the semis and finals of pro draws in these major outdoor tournaments.
– #3 Marcos Gravier / Roy Hernandez over #6 Brandon Davis / Alejandro Barcelo . This is a great match-up of outdoor specialists who may not be well known names to the “indoor racquetball” fan, but who are all among the best of their trade in the outdoor game. I like the top Florida pair to move on here, topping a team that includes one of the best up and coming outdoor singles players out there in Davis.
– #15 Kane/Croft over #7 Mike Peters / Patrick Allin ; the hall of famer Peters will certainly make this an entertaining match to watch for the neutrals, but the firepower of Kane/Croft should persevere.

My semis:
– #1 DLR/Beltran over #5 Carson/Ustarroz; this was the outdoor nationals final in both 2016 and 2017, but the #1 team has stepped up their game and has proved to be very difficult to beat, indoors or outdoors. I think the #1 team moves on to the final.
– #15 Kane/Croft over #3 Gravier/Hernandez: if there’s a spot where the indoor specialists get tripped up, its here. It will not be a surprise to any outdoor player if the talented Florida duo shock the world here. That being said, I don’t think Kane is to be stopped and the pair will have worked out all the outdoor adjustments they need by this point.

Finals: DLR/Beltran over Kane/Croft; this is the match-up everyone wants to see, and I’m glad it doesn’t happen til the final. It would be a fitting final for this event, for the size of it and for the buzz. These two teams have faced off in multiple major events: this was the 2017 US Open final (what many call the best ever racquetball match), the 2018 World Doubles final, the 2018 US Open final, and the 2019 US Open final. DLR and Beltran took the 2018 final in dominant fashion but have otherwise fallen to Kane/Croft.

Not this time; their outdoor experience leads them to a win over Kane/Croft in a fantastic match.

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Women’s 3-wall doubles preview

There’s 7 teams here, and a possible draw change for the #2 seeds, which list Rhonda Rajsich and Samantha Salas Solis playing together. Salas recently underwent shoulder surgery and is not attending, so its hard to predict out this draw. Is Rhonda replacing her partner? Or is there to be a forfeit?

All 7 teams are filled with top LPRT players and there should be great competition all around.

I like the #3 seeds Paola Longoria and Janel Tisinger-Ledkins, returning to competition after a forced layoff, to advance to the final irrespective of who Rhonda might pickup as a partner, set to face the #1 seeds and defending champs Carla Muñoz Montesinos and Michelle De La Rosa.

In what should be a fantastic final, the four players (two of whom are basically outdoor specialists) should put on a great display of talent. In the end, I like Longoria/Tisinger to take the crown.

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Mixed 3-wall doubles preview

A robust 15-team Mixed draw should make for amazing watching, especially in the top half of the draw, which is stacked.

Here’s some round of 16 matches to watch for:
– #13 Landa/ Kelani Lawrence take on #4 Gerhardt/ Aime Brewer in a match filled with players with Virginia connections. Its an interesting pairing for Landa and it should be interesting to see how this match goes, especially given that both Gerhardt and Brewer are huge outdoor specialists.

– #3 Sostre/Munoz take on #14 brother/sister combo Andree and jessica Parrilla: i cannot say that i’ve seen these two play before as a team; how well will they play together? They face off against an incredibly accomplished duo in Sostre/Munoz; a great match.

Projected qtrs:
– #1 and defending champs DLR/DLR possibly take on Jake Bredenbeck and Hollie Scott
– #12 Alvaro Beltran playing with Longoria likely set to take on Landa/Lawrence in a great matchup of regular pros.
– #3 Sostre/Munoz vs #6 Tisinger/ Majeed Shahin; an excellent display of outdoor play, with one of the best females ever to play outdoor in Tisinger against the hall of famer Sostre.
– #2 Rajsich and Soda Man taking on the winners of a fascinating play-in involving two all South American teams.

My semis:
– DLRs over Beltran/Longoria; but expect it to go the distance.
– Sostre/Munoz over Rajsich/Koll

Final: DLRs repeat.

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Lets run through the one-wall doubles events.

Men’s One-wall doubles Pro has 9 teams, head lined by the Sostre/Rolon team that will be hard to beat. But look for an interesting dark horse team in Jose Diaz and David Horn in the upper bracket looking to make noise. On the bottom side of the draw look out for one-wall florida outdoor specialist Ignacio Espinal and his partner Servando Daniels to make the final. I like Sostre and Rolon to repeat.

There isn’t an official One-Wall “pro” division for Women, but there is a good 3-team RR to determine the title. Look for Virginia outdoor player Aime Brewer, teamed up with Kelly Gremley to take the title as the #1 seeds.

Mixed One-Wall doubles: 6 teams here; i like the #2 seeds of defending ch amp Munuz teamed with one-wall specialist Rolon to top the Rajsich/Koll team in the final.

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Lets look at the 3-wall Singles draws:

On the Men’s side: a 13-man draw is set to play out that will guarantee a new champ, as both of last year’s finalists are missing. #1 seed William Rolon projects to have a tough quarter final match against IRT tour regular Adam Manilla, and #2 seed Thomas Gerhardt will be the unlucky quarter finals opponent of #4 ranked touring IRT pro Andree Parrilla.

There’s also a slew of solid outdoor-capable players in this draw from all over the country who could make noise. Derek Izzi, Nick Riffel, Dan Lavely and Majeed Shahin all are threats to make the semis. A last minute withdrawal of the unknown #3 seed gives the dark horse outdoor specialist Marco Antonio Mijares a bye into the quarters and a clean path to the semis.

I’m predicting Rolon advances to the final, Parrilla upsets Gerhardt and also advances to the final, but Rolon takes the title.

On the Women’s side, four top LPRT touring pros are entered and should all advance to make for some great semi final action. #1 seed and defending champ Rhonda Rajsich should advance over #4 munoz, while in the bottom half world #1 Longoria returns to outdoor for the first time in years and should advance past #2 seed Jessica Parrilla.

In the final, I’ll favor Longoria over the outdoor legend Rajsich, despite Rhonda’s experience. Longoria is no stranger to outdoor and will play away any sense of rust in the discipline by the time she reaches the final.

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Phew! that might be the longest preview i’ve ever written.

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Look for Streaming in the regular places; both the LPRT and the IRT are streaming. Follow both organizations on facebook and sign up to get notifications when they go Live.

Look for Dean DeAngelo Baer, Favio Soto, Pablo Fajre and the IRTLive crew all weekend on the mike streaming one court, and look for Timothy Baghurst, JP Edwards and Tj Baumbaugh on the mike, calling the shots!

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Tags

International Racquetball Tour
LPRT
International Racquetball Federation – IRF
Pan American Racquetball Confederation – PARC
UnitedHealthcare US OPEN Racquetball Championships
WOR – World Outdoor Racquetball
USA Racquetball
Racquetball Canada
Federación Mexicana de Raquetbol
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Hashtags #racquetball #proracquetball #outdoorracquetball #irt #lprt

10th WOR Vegas 3-wall Wrap-up

Daniel De La Rosa a 3-time pro winner on the weekend. Photo via GameChangerPhoto/Mike Augustin

Congrats to the winners on the weekend:

Men’s 3-wall Pro Singles: Nick Montalbano
Women’s 3-wall Pro Singles: Rhonda Rajsich

Men’s Pro Doubles 3-wall: De la Rosa/Beltran
Women’s Pro Doubles 3-wall: De la Rosa/Munoz
Mixed Pro Doubles 3-wall: De la Rosa/De la Rosa

Men’s Pro Doubles 1-wall: Rolon/Sostre
Women’s Pro Doubles 1-wall: Maldonado/Stephen
Mixed Pro Doubles 1-wall: Montalbano/Munoz

R2 Sports App link: https://www.r2sports.com/website/event-website.asp?TID=30648

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As you can see from the winner’s list, a fantastic weekend for, in particular, Daniel De La Rosa, who takes home three pro titles (plus a fourth Combined 75+ title with Mike Peters). Its always a good weekend when you don’t lose. Also congrats to Nick Montalbano, Michelle De La Rosa and Carla Munoz, each of whom took home two pro titles.

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Quick review of the 8 draws (the Match report for the event out of the PRS database is the rball.pro URL listed in each case)

Men’s 3-wall Pro Singles: http://rball.pro/E09A46

Relative Outdoor newcomer Andres Acuña proved himself to be a quick study, defeating 2018 outdoor national champ Luis R Avila in the quarters then dominating outdoor legend William Rolon in the semis to make the final from the bottom half. Defending champ and #1 seed Nick Montalbano took out Virginia-based Thomas Gerhardt in the semis of the top half to return to the one-wall final.

In the final, Montalbano split the first two games against Acuna, who was playing just his second outdoor tournament ever and acquitted himself pretty well. In the tiebreaker though, the experience of Montalbano wore down Acuna and he defended his Vegas title from 2018.

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Women’s 3 wall Pro Singles: http://rball.pro/F95463

Ceci Orozco upset two higher seeds in tiebreakers to make the singles final from the bottom half, defeating outdoor specialist Michelle Herbert in the quarters then LPRT vet Adriana Riveros in the semis. Rhonda Rajsich was taken deep into a tiebreaker to oust former LPRT top-4 player Jessica Parrilla in the top half.

In the final, Rajsich dominated Pratt to take the singles Vegas title 1,2. This is Rhonda’s first ever Vegas singles title, and her first WOR singles title in any major since 2015.

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Men’s Pro Doubles 3-wall: http://rball.pro/082B26

Huge upset right out of the gate in the bottom half, as the #2 seed of Rick Koll and Emmett Coe was upset 11-10 by the team of IRT veteran Charlie Pratt and Vegas resident Thomas Moore. Pratt/Moore then went out 11-10 themselves to outdoor legend Greg Solis and Joe Young. This opened the door for the #3 seeded team of Robert Sostre and Chris McDonald to get to the final. There, they met the #1 seeded Daniel De La Rosa and Alvaro Beltran, who cruised past two talented teams to get to the final.

In the final, Sostre/McDonald saved match point in the 2nd to force a tie-breaker, but DLR/Beltran ran away with it to win the title 11-3 in the breaker. The Mexican duo repeat as champs here and take their 3rd major WOR doubles title in the last two years.

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Women’s Pro Doubles 3-wall: http://rball.pro/57847B

Seeds held to the final, setting up the anticipated rematch of last year’s 11-10 final between the #1 seeds Rajsich and Michelle Herbert versus #2 Michelle De La Rosa and Carla Muñoz Montesinos.

In the final, another tiebreaker and another tough match, but t his time mDLR/Munoz came out on top. Final score 13,(10),6. They win their 3rd major outdoor title in the past two seasons.

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Mixed Pro Doubles 3-wall: http://rball.pro/2D1CE5

The draw was completely chalk to the final, with #1 seeds/defending champs Koll and Rajsich ousting #4 seeded Jacqueline Paraiso-Larsson and Coe in the top half semi, while #2 seeded husband/wife De La Rosa pairing took out #3 Sostre/Munoz pairing in the bottom semi.

In the final, the DLRs turned the tide from last year’s final and swept to a 4,12 win over Koll and Rajsich.

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Men’s Pro Doubles 1-wall: http://rball.pro/144D5C

The #1 seeds and one-wall specialists Sostre/Rolon cruised into the final by virtue of a walk-over and a dominant semis win. There, they met the #6 seeded team of Floridians Jeffrey Palmer and Garry Smith who upset the 3rd seeds in the quarters then took out the 7th seeds in the semi.

In the final, the New York duo won a solid match over the upset minded Florida pairing, taking the title 11,13.

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Women’s Pro Doubles 1-wall: http://rball.pro/E03013

This was the first event competed, and was done in a flash Thursday afternoon. All three RR matches were played and the first champion was awarded on the tourney’s first day.

The Brooklyn-based duo of Anita Maldonado and Susan Stephen took out the top seeded team of Munoz and Michelle Herbert to take the title.

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Mixed Pro Doubles 1-wall: http://rball.pro/673E67

Seeds held to the final, but not without some drama. #1 Seeds Koll/Rajsich got dominated in game one of their semi and had to save match point against before advancing in a tiebreaker over Coe and Katharine Neils. In the bottom half, #2 Montalbano & Munoz got stretched to a tiebreaker by Young/Stephen but blanked the #6 seeds 11-0 to move onto the final.

In the final, Montalbano & Munoz blitzed to the title, beating the #1 seeds 7,2 to take the title.

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Congrats to all who competed; it looked like a great event and great weather from all the streaming.

Next up! The big one. The UnitedHealthcare US OPEN Racquetball Championships. I cannot be in attendance this year, but hope to do more than just a preview and wrap-up of this huge event. I hope to do daily posts to review the qualifying and the rounds as they happen. The draws look amazing; more than 90 men and 40 women entered into the pro draws. Awesome!

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WOR – World Outdoor Racquetball
USA Racquetball
International Racquetball Tour
LPRT
International Racquetball Federation
Federación Mexicana de Raquetbol
Federación Costarricense de Racquetball
Federación Chilena Racquetball
Fecoracquet Fecoracquet

10th Annual 3Wallball World Championships Preview

Welcome to the last major WOR event of the year, the big outdoor event held in the shadow of the Stratosphere hotel in Las Vegas, NV. There’s 280 players from 6 different countries represented and competing this weekend, and the massive draw includes most every major name in the outdoor game today.

The Vegas venue is primarily 3-wall courts, but some one-wall events are included this weekend, so we’ll note the court type both below and in the results.

@R2 R2 Sports Tournaments home page for the event: https://www.r2sports.com/website/event-website.asp?TID=30648

Lets review the draws.

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Men’s Pro Singles:
Men’s 3-wall singles is just a 6-man draw, but it includes the defending champ Nick Montalbano, the defending runner up in William Rolon and the 2018 Huntington Beach outdoor nationals champ Luis R Avila. Throw in a top east coast amateur in Thomas Gerhardt and a top indoor touring pro in Costa Rican #1 Andres Acuña and we should expect some solid matches.

I’ll predict a rematch of last year’s singles final, and a repeat win for #1 seed Montalbano.

click here for a list of all past Men’s Singles major WOR tourney winners: http://rball.pro/AA519C

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Women’s Pros Singles:

Women’s 3-wall singles features 7 pros with solid outdoor creds. #1 seed Rhonda Rajsich has multiple outdoor national championships to her name, but has never won Vegas. 3-time defending singles Vegas champ Janel Tisinger-Ledkins is ineligible to compete this year, so we’ll have a new champ. The #2 seed is one-wall specialist Floridian Michelle Herbert; she’ll be challenged in the semis by a hard-hitting LPRT vet in either Bolivian Masiel Rivera Oporto (fresh of a semis appearance in Chesapeake) or Colombian Adriana Riveros (who made the semis at the Pan American Games in August).

I’ll predict its Rhonda vs Rivera in the final, with Rhonda finally taking home a Vegas singles title.

click here for a list of all past Women’s singles major WOR tourney winners: http://rball.pro/0FE709

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Enough about singles; lets get to the doubles draws…there’s full slates of both 1-wall and 3-wall doubles events. We’ll start with the 3-wall previews.

Men’s Pro Doubles 3-wall

Huge draw; 16 teams here to compete, headlined by the #1 seeds and top Mexican pairing of Daniel De La Rosa and Alvaro Beltran. These two are the defending Vegas doubles champs, the defending Outdoor Nationals champs, and have a slew of major pro and international titles to their credit. They’re easily the most accomplished Men’s doubles team today and are the favorites here as the #1 seed.

DLR and Beltran have their work cut out for them though: they could face Rocky Carson with partner Alejandro Barcelo in the quarters, then top California outdoor players Brandon Davis and Jesus Ustarroz in the semis.

On the other side of the draw, a slew of teams with top outdoor players are present, and it could be a shootout. Top one-wall guru Robert Sostre is teamed with Chris McDonald as the #3 seed, Vegas outdoor legend Rick Koll is teamed with Paddleball legend Emmitt Coe, and you have the likes of Montalbano, Charlie PrattGreg Solis and others in the mix.

I like the #1 seed to make the final and win, but have no idea who to predict out of the wide-open bottom draw. We’ll go chalk and predict the 2-seeds make it through to the final.

Click here for a list of all past Men’s doubles major WOR tourney winners from 2006-present (we don’t have older data right now): http://rball.pro/4C7C5B

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Women’s Pro doubles 3-wall

Six teams here, and the top two seeds are the finalists from last year who competed to an 11-10 tiebreaker contest.

#1 Rajsich/Herbert should force a rematch in the final with #2 seeds Michelle De La Rosa and Chilean Carla Muñoz Montesinos, who won the Outdoor nationals in dominant fashion in California earlier this year. Standing in their way are teams featuring top LPRT player Jessica Parrilla, Hall of Famer Jacqueline Paraiso-Larsson, and an all-Virginia team of Carrie Handfinger Hoeft and Amie LeBrun Brewer in the 4th seed.

I’m predicting mDLR/Munoz take the title in another tiebreaker over #1 Rajsich/Hebert.

click here for a list of all past Women’s doubles major WOR tourney winners from 2008-present: http://rball.pro/37AA13

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Mixed Pro doubles 3-wall

A solid 8-team draw featuring both of last year’s finalists plus the finalists from Florida Beach Bash (Sostre/Herbert) as the 3-seed and the 2018 outdoor nationals finalists (Coe/Paraiso) as the 5th seeds.

I like a rematch of last year’s final and I like a repeat title for Koll and Rajsich over the husband-wife duo of DLR/mDLR.

click here for a list of all past Mixed doubles major WOR tourney winners from 2008-present: http://rball.pro/95A44A

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Now for 1-wall.

Men’s 1-wall Pro Doubles:
A 9-team slate headlined by the #1 seed duo of two of today’s best one-wall players, New Yorkers Sostre and Rolon. On the bottom half, #2 seeded DLR teams with Florida one-wall specialist Ignacio Espinal.

Hard to root against Sostre/Rolon to win this draw, but they’ll have to work for it, as t he likes of Carson and Montalbano are in the top half of this draw.

Women’s 1-wall Pro Doubles:
Three teams here, headlined by one-wall Florida specialist Herbert teaming with LPRT veteran international Munoz; they’re the favorites in a small draw that may be over by the time this publishes 🙂

Mixed 1-wall Pro doubles:
#1 seeds Koll & Rajsich the favorites to do an unprecedented second straight double (winning both the Mixed 3-wall and Mixed 1-wall doubles at this event). Standing in their way are the #2 seeds Montalbano/Munoz and #3 seeds Israel Torres/Herbert looking to get the upset.

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Be on the lookout for streaming notifications starting as soon as you read this; the tourney is already underway.

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WOR – World Outdoor Racquetball
LPRT
International Racquetball Tour
Federación Mexicana de Raquetbol
Fecoracquet Fecoracquet
Federación Costarricense de Racquetball
Federación Chilena Racquetball
Federación Boliviana de Racquetball

WOR Outdoor Nationals Wrap-Up

Both DLRs were double winners on the weekend.

Congrats to your winners on the weekend:
– Men’s Singles: Josh Tucker
– Men’s Doubles: Daniel de la Rosa/Alvaro Beltran
– Women’s Doubles: Michelle de la Rosa/Carla Munoz
– Mixed Doubles: Daniel de la Rosa/Michelle de la Rosa

It was quite a weekend for the De la Rosa household; two double winners.

See https://www.r2sports.com/website/event-website.asp?TID=30444 for all the brackets.

Follow ProKennex Racquetball who did a great job streaming all weekend. You should be able to go back and see a ton of the matches.

Lets review the draws:

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Men’s Singles:

PRS Match report: http://rball.pro/C89522

Former IRT touring pro #5 seed Josh Tucker took his first outdoor National title, defeating #7 seed Greg Solis in a walk-over final. Tucker breaks through after having come close to this title in the past (he was a losing finalist in 2014). Tucker ousted defending champ Luis R Avila in the semis in dominant fashion 12,3. Solis topped the #2 and #3 seeds to make the finals.

Tucker is the 13th ever winner of these outdoor nationals. Rocky Carson and Brian Hawkes have won 33 of the 49 titles ever contested since 1974.

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Men’s Doubles:

PRS Match report: http://rball.pro/5F384B

The world’s top indoor doubles team of Alvaro Beltran and Daniel De La Rosa added another title to their trophy case, beating the #1 seeded team of Josh Tucker and  Brandon Davis twice en route to the title. Tucker/Davis topped #2 seeded Carson and Jesus Ustarozz in the loser’s bracket final but could not do much with the rested Beltran/DLR team in the final.

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Women’s Doubles:

PRS match report: http://rball.pro/4322B1

The top seeded team of Michelle De La Rosa and Carla Muñoz Montesinoscruised to a title, topping the team of Adriana Moncada/Hugette Keohen in the final. Moncada/Keohen upset the top seeded team of Trevino/Mahoney in their RR group to make the final.

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Mixed Doubles:

PRS match report: http://rball.pro/DADF53

The #2 seeded husband-wife team of Daniel & Michelle de La Rosa continued their recent dominance over outdoor racquetball by cruising to a title without dropping a game. They topped #1 seeds Emmett Coe and Jacqueline Paraiso-Larsson in the winner’s bracket final, then topped #3 seed Robert Sostre and Carla Munoz for the second time in the winner’s bracket final.

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A note about the brackets: Men’s and Mixed used double elimination. I currently do not load loser’s bracket matches. Instead, I call the winner’s bracket-loser’s bracket match the “final.” This leads to some oddity in the match reports; there’s going to be two losses listed for the losing finalist in the report, and the brackets will be short a couple of quarter-final matches. I have a to-do item to consider modifying the code to allow for double elimination entry, if it becomes more frequently seen in major tournaments.

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Congrats to all the WOR winners.

Next up on the Rball tourney slate is Mexican Junior Nationals this coming weekend. I have two IRT-specific season wrap up posts, which include a huge walk-through the top 30 players, so be on the lookout for that.

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WOR – World Outdoor Racquetb

2019 WOR Outdoor Championships Preview

This coming weekend is the biggest event on the annual Outdoor Racquetball calendar; its the 2019 Huntington Beach WOR 3-wall championships, presented by ProKennex Racquetball

r2sports home page: https://www.r2sports.com/portfolio/r2-event.asp?TID=30444

This year is the 46th annual version of this event, which crowns the “Outdoor Champion” for the year. For nearly all of those 46 years, it has been held at Marina Park in Huntington Beach, CA.

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Men’s Singles overview:

It is on these courts that Brian Hawkes became a legend, winning the first of his unbelievable 20 Outdoor titles in 1981. Towards the end of his career, he passed the mantle to Rocky Carson , who won the first of his 12 outdoor titles in 2002. This event has also seen other racquetball legends win titles, including the first pro champion Charlie Brumfield winning the first two iterations, Davey Bledsoe in 1978 and Marty Hogan in 1979. Californian Luis R Avila is the defending Men’s Singles champ.

click here for a history of the Men’s Singles titlists of this event: http://rball.pro/FBDCFB

Previewing this year’s event: there’s 9 men entered into the draw. I like #1 seed Avila from the top half, outdoor legend #7 seed Greg Solis to advance from the bottom, and for Avila to defend his title.

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On the Women’s Singles side, this event has been dominated by two players over the last decade; Rhonda Rajsich and Janel Tisinger-Ledkins. These two players have won 9 of the last 12 outdoor titles, and more often than not meet in the finals. But, don’t count out the dominant indoor players; #1 Paola Longoria won this event in 2009, and Jacqueline Paraiso-Larsson won it in 2010. Neither Longoria or Rajsich is playing this weekend … surprising that Rhonda (a frequent outdoor competitor) didn’t make the event. She was nursing an injury towards the end of the pro season, so perhaps she’s saving up energy for Pan Ams later this summer.

There wasn’t a Women’s singles event in 2018, and there won’t be a Women’s Pro Singles division this year either, so the defending 2017 champ (Tisinger) still holds the title.

click here for a list of Women’s singles titlists since 2006: http://rball.pro/8EC038

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However, lets talk about Doubles. Outdoor racquetball is about doubles. Here’s links to past 3-wall WOR Doubles champs (history in DB only goes to 2006): 
– Men’s Pro Doubles: http://rball.pro/F47B68
– Women’s Pro doubles: http://rball.pro/6DD510
– Mixed Pro Doubles: http://rball.pro/E1A355

We head into this event with these teams as your defending champs:
– Men’s Doubles: Brandon Davis and Josh Tucker
– Women’s Doubles: Michelle De La Rosa and Carla Muñoz Montesinos
– Mixed Doubles: Greg Solis and Janel Tisinger-Ledkins

That’s a great collection of some of the legends of the outdoor game. Davis & Tucker won last year as the #6 seed, beating the #3, #2 and #1 seeded teams along the way, including Rocky Carson and Jesus Ustarroz in the final. Michelle De la Rosa & Munoz came out of a stacked round robin group last year as the #4 seed, topping the top two seeded teams along the way. In the 2018 Mixed event, Solis and Janel held serve as the #1 seed, holding off Emmett Coe and Jackie Paraiso-Larsson in the final.

This year, who is back to defend their title? Here’s some previews of the Doubles events:

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Men’s Pro Doubles Preview:

10 teams entered this year, led by defending champs Davis/Tucker as the #1 seed. They’re going to have their hands full, as the world’s top indoor doubles team of Alvaro Beltran and Daniel De La Rosa are seeded 8th, making for one heck of a potential quarter final. If they can advance, they possibly face a doubles team in the semis that includes the #1 seed here Avila teamed with perhaps the finest outdoor singles player in the land, Robert Sostre.

On the bottom half, #2 seed Carson is teamed with Ustarroz, but will have to fight through teams that include Solis, Coe, Rick Koll and other top players teamed up in the bottom half.

I’m going to go with Beltran/DLR facing off against Coe/Koll in the final, with the indoor champs prevailing in outdoor as well.

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Women’s Pro Doubles Preview:

There’s just two pro Women’s doubles teams entered; your defending champs mDLR/Munoz and the younger team of Jazmín Treviño and Heather Mahoney (you current 14U junior national champ). These two teams are the top seeds in separate round robin groups containing a slew of Elite, A and B/C teams. I’d expect the two pro teams to come out of each RR bracket and meet in the final, where i’d expect the defending champions to repeat.

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Mixed Doubles Preview:

There’s 6 teams entered this year; last year’s defending champion team is ineligible due to Tisinger’s suspension. But the draw features last year’s losing finalists (Coe and Paraiso-Larsson as the #1 seed and the two-time champ before that in 2016-2017 husband-wife team of DLR/mDLR as the #2 seed. It should be a solid event.

I like the two top seeds to advance to the final, and I like the husband/wife De la Rosa pairing (who also took the Beach Bash one-wall mixed title earlier this year) to come out on top.

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BTW, In case you’re wondering why most of the historical links only show champs to 2006-2008 range (for all categories besides Men’s singles). that was the beginning of the use of r2sports.com for tourney tracking. If anyone has a source for 2005 and earlier results i’m all ears; DM me or email me.

And lastly, in a new wrinkle, both the Men’s and Mixed doubles entry are double elimination. This is a new one for Pro Racquetball Stats: I do not have a double elimination event in the database right now and frankly have no idea how i’m going to do the data entry. I very well may just put in the winner’s bracket matches and hope for a clean winners’ bracket-loser’s bracket final at the end so as not to complicate our logic. We’ll see how it goes; the only DE tourney I can think of was the Mexican Women’s nationals event in 2018 … which they basically abandoned once they realized that the loser’s bracket winner (Alexandra Herrera) would have had to play like 4 straight matches potentially on the final day of the event. I’ll capture the results, but may only show winner’s bracket data. We’ll see.

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WOR – World Outdoor Racquetball 
USA Racquetball
International Racquetball Tour
LPRT
International Racquetball Federation – IRF

2019 WOR – World Outdoor Racquetball Beach Bash Wrap-Up

DLR was the big winner on the weekend, taking the singles and mixed doubles titles.

Congrats to the winners on the weekend at the 2019 Beach Bash:
– Men’s Singles: Daniel De La Rosa
– Women’s Singles: Hollie Scott
– Men’s Pro Doubles: Ben Goldberg/Ryan Lopez
– Women’s Pro Doubles: Anita Maldonado/Rhonda Rajsich
– Mixed Pro Doubles: Daniel & Michelle De La Rosa

Here’s the match reports for each of the 5 pro draws on the weekend:

– Men’s Singles: http://rball.pro/14B6AD
– Women’s Singles: http://rball.pro/02E1EC
– Men’s Pro Doubles: http://rball.pro/9F60DE
– Women’s Pro Doubles: http://rball.pro/4E8CA5
– Mixed Pro Doubles: http://rball.pro/72C84B

Thanks to Vic Leibofsky for loading up all the round robin/preliminary results this year; all the matches are in the above match reports.

Here’s some quick commentary on each draw:

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– Men’s Singles: http://rball.pro/14B6AD

Top IRT touring pro Daniel De La Rosa took the title, beating defending champ and #1 seeded Robert Sostre in the final. 2018 runner-up Nick Montalbano and reigning 3-wall outdoor champ Luis Luis R Avila were both upset in the quarters.

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– Women’s Singles: http://rball.pro/02E1EC
Defending champ Hollie Rae Scott defended her 2018 title in this event in a rematch of last year’s final, again downing 2nd seeded Michelle Herbert in the final.

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– Men’s Pro Doubles: http://rball.pro/9F60DE
The Men’s pro doubles draw was the biggest of the weekend and saw some of the bigger upsets. 21 teams battled it out in the round robins to advance to the quarter final round, and along the way #2 overall seed Robert Sostre & Freddy Alfredo Benjamin Ramirez (last year’s runner’s up) were eliminated. Also surprisingly eliminated at the RR stage was Rocky Carsonwith partner Alejandro Barcelo, who somehow ended up in a grouping with both the eventual finalists (talk about a “Group of Death”).

In the quarters, defending champs and #1 seeds William Rolon and David Blatt were upset by the team of Nick Montalbano and Cliff Swain. Montalbano is the defending Vegas 3-wall singles champ and of course Cliff is Cliff, so this was a heck of a quarter final. They however ended up being no match in the semis for DLR, partnered with fellow racquetball legend Marty Hogan, in a semis match that featured a combined 11 pro IRT year end titles and 134 indoor tournament titles.

DLR and Hogan faced a round-robin rematch against Ben Goldberg and Ryan Lopez, who took out outdoor legend Rick Koll and reigning outdoor champion Luis Avila in the semis.

In the final, DLR and 61-yr old Hogan were taken out by Goldberg and Lopez 11,9, and the large traveling NY contingency celebrated together.

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– Women’s Pro Doubles: http://rball.pro/4E8CA5

In the RR section, #3 seeded Michelle De La Rosa and partner Regina Franco took time off the Pickleball circuit to blitz their way to a 4-0 RR record, securing a spot in the final.

In the semis, defending champs Michelle Herbert & Hollie Scott were ousted by Anita Maldonado and rball legend Rhonda Rajsich.

In the final, Maldonado/Rajsich avenged the RR single-game loss to take out the DLR/Franco pairing in two close games 11,13.

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– Mixed Pro Doubles: http://rball.pro/72C84B

The De La Rosa’s took out defending champs Sostre & Hebert in the final of a heavily competed draw, where 5 of the 7 matches went tie-breaker and the draw featured a who’s who of the outdoor game today. The #2 seeded team and defending Vegas one-wall mixed title team of Koll & Rajsich was upset in the first round.

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Excellent weekend for the DLRs; two titles and a final for Daniel, a win and a final for Michelle.

Next up: Bolivian Grand Slam! Look for a preview later this week.

WOR Vegas Championships Wrap-up

Rajsich was the big winner in Vegas, making 4 finals and winning 3 of them.  Photo Src: © Mike Boatman 2010

One of the “big 3” WOR events of the year was this past weekend; lets wrap up the play.  All the results are now in the www.proracquetballstats.com database, and i’ve interspersed links to the match report below per bracket. There were some upsets, and some expected match-ups for titles … all under the Vegas sun.

Men’s Singles 3-wall: In the final Nick Montalbano blew away doubles partner William Rolon 3,8 in the final. Montalbano had survived an early round upset bid by Bolivian Conrrado Moscoso, who flew to this event with doubles partner Roland Keller before heading to Minnesota for the US Open. Match Report: https://bit.ly/2NeFOXV

Women’s Singles 3-wall: It was #1 versus #2, with the two most dominant outdoor Women’s players meeting once again for a title. And once again, Janel Tisinger-Ledkins came out on top over LPRT legend Rhonda Rajsich in a tiebreaker. Match Report: https://bit.ly/2NfnNsg

Men’s Doubles 3-Wall: The biggest pro draw at the event (14 teams) came down to #1 versus #2 in the final, and it went to the current indoor World Champion team of Alvaro Beltran and Daniel De La Rosa over one-wall guru Robert Sostre and David Horn. Match Report: https://bit.ly/2NWkfQS

Women’s Doubles 3-wall: four solid teams battled it out round robin style, and in the end the match to determine the winner went 11-10. The title goes to the team of Rajsich and Michelle Herbert over Michelle De La Rosa and Carla Muñoz. Match Report: https://bit.ly/2Oom2xB

Mixed Doubles 3-wall: The #1 seeded De La Rosa husband-wife team was unseated for the title by Rajsich and outdoor legend Rick “Soda Man” Rick Koll 11-9 in the breaker. Match Report: https://bit.ly/2NSEgYB

Men’s Doubles 1-wall: The 3-wall runners up team of Sostre and Horn took out the two guys who made the singles final in Montalbano/Rolon 13,7 in a very New York-flavored 1-wall final. Match report: https://bit.ly/2Rl2I38

Mixed Doubles 1-wall: just two teams entered, but they played a tough tiebreaker. Rajsich/Koll over Tisinger and DC-native Jason Geis 11-4 in the breaker. Match report: https://bit.ly/2OmNzjb

Great weekends for, in particular, Montalbano (singles title, 1-wall doubles final), Rajsich (singles finalist, doubles 3-wall champ, Mixed 3-wall champ, and mixed 1-wall champ), Koll (Mixed 3-wall champ and mixed 1-wall champ), Sostre and Horn (3-wall mens finalist, 1-wall mens champ), Rolon (singles finalist, 1-wall doubles finalist), and Tisinger (Singles champ, 1-wall finalist).

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Next Up: the US Open! I did daily singles summaries last year and hope to be able to find the time to do that again this year. Stay tuned to a Tuesday draw preview and hopefully daily summaries starting Wednesday.