Saturday, January 25, 2014

IRT 36th Annual Lewis Pro-Am - Waselenchuk dominant

Kane Waselenchuk reached the final of the International Racquetball Tour (IRT) 36th Annual Lewis Pro-Am tournament in Sioux Falls, South Dakota with two of the most dominant wins of his career, as he defeated 8th seed Jansen Allen 11-0, 11-0, 11-1 in the quarter finals and then 5th seed Chris Crowther, 11-0, 11-2, 11-3, in the semi-finals.

Giving up six points over six games in the quarter finals and semi-finals is likely unprecedented in IRT history.

Alvaro Beltran will be Waselenchuk's opponent in the final Sunday, and Beltran also gave one of his opponents a donut in advancing to the final, as he beat Rocky Carson, 11-9, 11-4, 11-0.

They are also playing doubles in Sioux Falls, and Waselenchuk and Beltran faced off in the semi-finals with Waselenchuk and Jason Mannino getting the better of Beltran and Crowther, 14-15, 15-11, 11-9, in a close match that got heated at the end, as both sides were questioning some of the referee's calls.

After forcing the tie-breaker, Waselenchuk and Mannino jumped out to a 6-0 lead in the breaker. However, Beltran and Crowther responded with seven straight points to lead 7-6.

After going back and forth, it was Beltran and Crowther who got to match point first at 10-8. But they couldn't finish it, and with Waselenchuk and Mannino serving at 9-10, Waselenchuk hit a ball that went to the right side passed Beltran who was slightly behind Mannino.

Beltran felt he was hindered by Mannino, but the referee disagreed, and called no hinder. Both Beltran and Crowther vehemently disagreed, and Crowther's immediate reaction was to slam the ball in the referee's direction, which resulted in a technical.

Thus, the score went from Waselenchuk and Mannino serving at 9-10 to them serving at 10-9. They didn't finish off the match on the next serve, but Beltran and Crowther were clearly distracted by their disagreement with the referee and they failed to score another point.

The IRT Network will carry both the singles and doubles finals on Sunday morning with the singles final scheduled for 10:30 AM CST and the doubles final for 11:30 AM CST.

2014 Lewis Pro-Am 36th Annual
Sioux Falls, South Dakota

Quarter finals
(Seedings)

1 Kane Waselenchuk d. 8 Jansen Allen, 11-0, 11-0, 11-1
5 Chris Crowther d. 4 Jose Rojas, 11-6, 11-6, 11-3

3 Alvaro Beltran d. 6 Tony Carson, 11-8, 5-11, 11-5, 13-11
2 Rocky Carson d. 7 Marco Rojas, 11-2, 11-3, 11-9

Semi-finals

1 Kane Waselenchuk d. 5 Chris Crowther, 11-0, 11-2, 11-3
3 Alvaro Beltran d. 2 Rocky Carson, 11-9, 11-4, 11-0

Final

1 Kane Waselenchuk v. 3 Alvaro Beltran - Sunday 10:30 AM

Pro Doubles

Semi-finals


1 Rocky Carson & Jose Rojas d. 4 Jansen Allen & Tony Carson, 15-8, 15-13
3 Jason Mannino & Kane Waselenchuk d. 2 Alvaro Beltran & Chris Crowther, 14-15, 15-11, 11-9

Final

1 Rocky Carson & Jose Rojas v. 3 Jason Mannino & Kane Waselenchuk - Sunday 11:30 AM

Follow the bouncing ball….

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