IRT - Kansas City Pro-Am / Ghost of Georgetown Quarter finals

The top 4 seeds have all made the semi-finals at the first International Racquetball Tour (IRT) event of the season: the Kansas City Pro-Am / Ghost of Georgetown tournament. IRT #1 Kane Waselenchuk beat Daniel De La Rosa in three straight games, 11-6, 11-4, 11-5, although De La Rosa played well.

They were close in game one, when Waselenchuk led 7-4, but he then ran the score to 10-4, and closed it out after De La Rosa got a couple of points to make it look more respectable.

In game two, De La Rosa scored the first two points, but then Waselenchuk scored the next 10. De La Rosa switched to lob serves to the right - Waselenchuk's backhand, and he got a couple more points before Waselenchuk won game two 11-4.

De La Rosa kept the lob serve going early in game three and led 4-1. But Waselenchuk was cutting those serves off not letting them get deeper than the receiving line, reducing the serve's effectiveness and led De La Rosa to go back to drive serves. Waselenchuk tied the game at 5-5 and then held De La Rosa there as he went on to win game three 11-5 and take the match in three straight games.

IRT #2 Rocky Carson was in complete control in defeating Marco Rojas, 11-2, 11-2, 11-3. Rojas's brother and IRT #4 Jose won in straight games against Jansen Allen, winning 11-8, 11-4, 11-8.

The first game of Rojas-Allen was close and it could have gone Allen's way. It took six game points before Rojas won it, and that was a kill shot off a ball that sailed off the back wall when Allen had a great opportunity to hit a winning pass down the right side. Not winning game one seemed to take the wind out of Allen's sails and he wasn't as sharp in game two.

Rojas continued the momentum into game three, as he took an 8-1 lead, but Allen staged a comeback to 10-8. However, Rojas won it at 11-8 with a service winner off a drive serve to the left side.

In what was the closest of the quarter final matches, Alvaro Beltran, IRT #3, beat 6th seed Ben Croft, 11-9, 11-8, 11-9. Croft played Beltran close in each game and had a lead early in game three at 5-2, but he was never able to catch Beltran late and take a game. Beltran used both his classic lob serve tight to the right side wall as well as drive serves against Croft, who drove served through the match.

The IRT Network will have the semi-finals at 4 PM and 5 PM CDT Saturday and the final at noon on Sunday.

2013 Kansas City Pro-Am - Ghost of Georgetown

Quarter finals (with seeding)

1 Kane Waselenchuk d. 8 Daniel De La Rosa, 11-6, 11-4, 11-5
4 Jose Rojas d. Jansen Allen, 11-8, 11-4, 11-8

3 Alvaro Beltran d. 6 Ben Croft, 11-9, 11-8, 11-9
2 Rocky Carson d. Marco Rojas, 11-2, 11-2, 11-3

Semi-finals - Saturday

1 Kane Waselenchuk v. 4 Jose Rojas - 5 PM
2 Rocky Carson v. 3 Alvaro Beltran - 4 PM

Follow the bouncing ball….