The Ladies Pro Racquetball Tour's (LPRT's) top two players will face off once again as #1 Paola Longoria will play #2 Rhonda Rajsich in the final of the at 2012 Christmas Classic in Arlington, Virginia on Sunday. Each player won her respective semi-final in three straight games on Saturday.
Longoria defeated Susana Acosta, 11-4, 11-3, 11-5, and Rajsich beat Cheryl Gudinas, 11-3, 11-2, 11-4.
Longoria and Acosta were close at the beginning of each of their games, but Longoria took control in each game and didn't let Acosta threaten her at all.
Rajsich benefitted from Gudinas's tough matches in the quarters and 16s, which both went five games, including a two and half hour battle with Maria Jose Vargas that ended only a few hours before she faced Rajsich. Thus, it was a match between a player who'd played ten tough games in the last 24 hours and one who'd played six not so tough games. Clearly, one player had the advantage.
Also, Gudinas initially seemed to be favouring her left leg. Perhaps it was a reoccurrence of her left knee trouble that led to her having surgery last fall. That might have resulted in her guessing on some of Rajsich's drive serves, making anticipatory moves to the left only to see the ball driven to the right.
LPRT Awards
The LPRT gave out its awards for the 2011-12 season, which technically wasn't a LPRT season; it was a Women's Professional Racquetball Organization (WPRO) season. But nevertheless the same players were involved, and on Saturday a few of them were honoured.
Paola Longoria was selected as the Athlete of the Year, as she went throughout the season undefeated.
Krystal Csuk was named Most Improved Player, as she rose to finish 4th in the season ending rankings, which was a personal best up from 10th the season before in only her second year as a top 10 player.
The Rookie of the Year Award went to Grace Hughes, and the Janet Myers Sportsmanship Award was given to Laura Brandt.
The Christmas Classic final will be at noon EST on Sunday, and live streamed from Arlington via the LPRT Network.
LPRT 2012 Christmas Classic
Arlington, Virginia
Semi-finals
1 Paola Longoria d. 5 Susana Acosta, 11-4, 11-3, 11-5
2 Rhonda Rajsich d. 6 Cheryl Gudinas, 11-3, 11-2, 11-4
Final
1 Paola Longoria v. 2 Rhonda Rajsich - Noon EST
Follow the bouncing ball….
Saturday, December 8, 2012
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