The International Racquetball Tour (IRT) is on the east coast this weekend for the Florida Spring Break tournament in Tampa. Some questions for the weekend: Will Kane Waselenchuk win another tournament? Will Rocky Carson pull off the big upset that he was so close to two weeks ago in San Diego? Will Ben Croft get back to his winning ways?
Waselenchuk hasn't lost on court since January 2009, so the first answer is probably yes. But Carson will be trying to make the second answer yes also, and deny Waselenchuk yet another victory.
Finally, Croft reached the semi-finals in the first four tournaments of the season, but only once in the last three, including a Round of 16 loss to Javier Moreno in San Diego. That's caused some of The Racquetball Blog staff to wonder if the IRT's self-proclaimed Iron Man has perhaps played too much this season.
For certain, there will be a lot of play for everyone over the next month, as the Florida Spring Break is the first of three IRT Tier 1 tournaments in a row and four in five weeks. The IRT will be in Salt Lake City next weekend, St Louis the weekend after that and then in Tijuana, Mexico April 7-10 for the Mexico Open.
This weekend the main qualifying player of note is Mike Green, the current Canadian champion, who recently regained the #1 rank in Canada. He reached the quarters in San Diego earlier in the season, when he lost in 4 games to Jack Huczek. If Green makes it through qualifying, he'll get a rematch with Huczek in the 16s.
The IRT Network will begin web-casting Florida Spring Break matches beginning Friday at 10:30 AM EST with Round of 16 matches.
2011 Florida Spring Break Pro-Am, Tampa, Florida
Round 1
Joshua Keil v. Allan Crockett
Raul Banegas v. Ivan Villegas
Geoff Goldblatt v. Dayan Yamin
Stacey Young v. Joe Linnell
Dan Case v. John Davies
Dan Lavely v. Fernando Sierra
Lee Connell v. Michael Bernstein
Vinny Carvallo v. Jose Daniel Alvarez
Toby St. Pierre v. Jorge Nassar
Teobaldo Fumero v. Ricardo Paez
James Slamko v. Jeremy Best
Brad Schopieray v. Bobby Ferreiri
Travis Aldinger v. Scott Gargasz
Mike Harmon v. Christian Wer
Wesley Miller v. Paul Orszulak
Bruno Casalvolone v. Mauro Barbosa
Round 2
David Horn v. Joshua Keil v. Allan Crockett
Francisco Gomez v. Raul Banegas or Ivan Villegas
Charlie Pratt - BYE
Geoff Goldblatt or Dayan Yamin v. Stacey Young or Joe Linnell
Tony Carson - BYE
Dan Case or John Davies v. Dan Lavely or Fernando Sierra
Mike Green - BYE
Lee Connell or Michael Bernstein v. Vinny Carvallo or Jose Daniel Alvarez
Sebastian Franco v. Toby St. Pierre or Jorge Nassar
Juan Rivas v. Teobaldo Fumero or Ricardo Paez
Alejandro Herrera - BYE
James Slamko or Jeremy Best v. Brad Schopieray or Bobby Ferreiri
Anthony Herrera - BYE
Travis Aldinger or Scott Gargasz v. Mike Harmon or Christian Wer
John Scott v. Wesley Miller or Paul Orszulak
Alex Ackermann v. Bruno Casalvolone or Mauro Barbosa
Round 3
Q8: David Horn or Joshua Keil v. Allan Crockett v. Francisco Gomez or Raul Banegas or Ivan Villegas
Q1: Charlie Pratt v. Geoff Goldblatt or Dayan Yamin or Stacey Young or Joe Linnell
Q4: Tony Carson v. Dan Case or John Davies or Dan Lavely or Fernando Sierra
Q5: Mike Green v. Lee Connell or Michael Bernstein or Vinny Carvallo or Jose Daniel Alvarez
Q6: Sebastian Franco or Toby St. Pierre or Jorge Nassar v. Juan Rivas or Teobaldo Fumero or Ricardo Paez
Q3: Alejandro Herrera v. James Slamko or Jeremy Best or Brad Schopieray or Bobby Ferreiri
Q2: Anthony Herrera v. Travis Aldinger or Scott Gargasz or Mike Harmon or Christian Wer
Q7: John Scott or Wesley Miller or Paul Orszulak v. Alex Ackermann or Bruno Casalvolone or Mauro Barbosa
Main Draw - Round of 16
Kane Waselenchuk v. Q8
Andy Hawthorne v. Q1
Jose Rojas v. Q4
Jack Huczek v. Q5
Ben Croft v. Q6
Chris Crowther v. Q3
Shane Vanderson v. Q2
Rocky Carson v. Q7
Follow the bouncing ball....
Thursday, March 10, 2011
Subscribe to:
Post Comments (Atom)
Posts
1 comment:
Quick comment; there's a typo in the post referring to San Diego Open...
Otherwise, I think this is going to be a pretty interesting little pro draw. I see all sorts of potential matchups this tourney that could be interested. For example:
* 16s: Harmon-Vanderson: Vanderson is struggling this year while Harmon just won Fla states easily. Could be an upset.
* Qtrs: Rojas-Huczek could be a tough one for Jack; they've split two pro matches.
* Qtrs: Croft-Crowther. Matchup that has ended in fisticuffs more than once.
We're also setup for a Rocky-Kane final again, and Rocky has shown himself to be rather adept at "figuring out" the game of frequent opponents. Could finally be a competitive loss for Kane.
Are you still coming to DC-area for the WPRO event coming up?
Post a Comment