Weekend Round Up

IRT Network.com Open

Jose Rojas won the Open division in St Louis on weekend at the IRT Network.com Open. He beat Andy Hawthorne in the final 15-11, 15-12 and Tyler Otto in the semi-final, 15-4, 13-15, 11-10. Hawthorne also needed a tie-breaker in the semis to defeat Tony Carson, 2-15, 15-14, 11-9.

Eric Desrochers and Lee Connell won the Open doubles division by defeating Woody Clouse and Ben Koltun in the final, 15-12, 15-8. They beat Jordan McKnight and Paul Orszulak in the semis, 15-9, 15-5, while Clouse and Koltun defeated Dan Whitley and Erik Becker 15-9, 15-6.

YMCA Topeka Kansas Open

Grant Barker won the 2nd Annual YMCA Topeka Kansas Open - a Tier 4 International Racquetball Tour (IRT) event - by defeating Kevin Buehler in the final, 11-7, 11-0, 11-7. Barker beat Rosco Halsey in the semi-finals and Buehler defeated Daniel Pflaster, 12-10, 11-5, 14-16, 11-6 in the other semi.

But in doubles Buehler and Pflaster teamed up and won the event by defeating Halsey and Caleb Schraeder in the final, 15-6, 10-15, 11-8. In the semi-finals, Halsey and Schraeder had upset Barker and Chad Anderson, who were 2nd seeds, winning 11-15, 15-10, 11-8, while Buehler and Pflaster got by Armand Way and Richard Bocanegra, 11-15, 15-6, 11-7.

For the 1st time since 2003

Jack Huczek hasn't made the semis in consecutive IRT tournaments for the first time since February of 2003 - over 7 years. He occasionally failed to make the semis in that period, but never twice in a row.

But he only made the quarters of the Long Island event in January 2003 and the Coral Springs, Florida event in February of that year. In fact, those were the last of four consecutive tournaments when Huczek did not get as far as the semis. The 2002-03 was Huczek's second on tour and the last season he finished in the quarters or higher more often than advancing the semis or beyond.

Follow the bouncing ball....