Longoria signs with Head-Penn

Paola Longoria has signed a "long-term contract" with HEAD/Penn Racquet Sports. Previously, Longoria was with Ektelon, but our understanding is that arrangement was a tournament by tournament deal this season.

Longoria, 22, is the top ranked player on the Women's Professional Racquetball Organization (WPRO) tour. She's won 21 of the 35 Tier 1 or Grand Slam WPRO events over the past four seasons, including every event she entered this season.

Longoria, a native of San Luis Potosi, Mexico, joins fellow Mexican Samantha Salas, who teamed with Longoria to win the 2010 World Championship in doubles as well as Pan American Games gold in doubles last year, as well as her coach Fran Davis, in the HEAD/Penn racquetball group.

Longoria won her first tournament with a Head racquet last weekend, as she used the new HEAD Black Widow 160 racquet to win the SCS Title & Escrow Pro-Am in Herndon, Virgina.

A press release on the HEAD/Penn Facebook page quoted Doug Ganimm, HEAD/Penn's Manager of Indoor Promotions, as saying "we are thrilled to have Paola join the HEAD/Penn team. She is not only the most dominant women's player in the world but is a class act on and off the court. As the leading brands in the sport we look forward to providing her with the equipment she needs to further increase her competitive advantage."

For her part, Longoria said "I am very excited to join the premier racquetball equipment maker in the industry. By joining the HEAD/Penn team, I now have the best equipment on the market that will help me remain the No. 1 ranked player in the world. I’m so happy to be part of the HEAD/Penn team and look forward to achieving more titles."

The final WPRO event of the season is a Tier 3 event at USA Racquetball's National Singles Championships in Fullerton, California May 23-27. Longoria is expected to be competing there.

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