PARC XXVII Pan Am Championships - Doubles Day 2

We'd been looking for our first big upset at the XXVII Pan American Racquetball Championships in Santa Cruz, Bolivia, and it came late Sunday in men's doubles, as the Dominican Republic team of Luis Perez and Junior Rodriguez took out Americans Jose Rojas and David Horn, 15-10, 15-13.

If the Dominicans win their last preliminary match on Monday, which is against the winless team from Uruguay, they will be the 2nd seeds in the elimination draw and in good position to leave Santa Cruz with medals round their necks.

On the women's side, a big shout out to two strong performances by Guatemalans Maria Renee Rodriguez & Gabriella Martinez, who've lost their first two matches in tie-breakers, including a a loss to Bolivian veterans Jenny Daza and Carola Loma, who defeated them 9-15, 15-7, 11-8, on Sunday.

The Guatemalan team players are both juniors, although quite good ones, as Martinez is the current Junior World Champion in Girl's U14. Still being a good player at 14 is different from being a good player at, say, 24.

Another women's doubles match of note, Canadians Frédérique Lambert and Josée Grand'Maître defeated the Argentine team of Maria Jose Vargas and Véronique Guillemette, 15-8, 15-4. The match is notable not simply because it features two players in the top 6 on the women's pro tour (Vargas is 3rd and Lambert 6th), but because Guillemette used to play for Canada, and was a silver medalist in doubles at the 2008 World Championships wearing red and white.

In fact both Argentine doubles players were born outside Argentina, as Vargas grew up in Bolivia.

Monday will be the last day of the preliminary round, and there could be some real upsets that day as the highest seeds in the groups will be playing off. The preliminary round results will determine the seeding for the elimination round that will begin Wednesday.

There will be live streaming of the elimination round semi-finals and finals on April 18 and 19 via the IRT Network.

XXVII Pan American Racquetball Championships
Santa Cruz, Bolivia - April 12-19, 2014

Women's Doubles

Group A

Veronica Sotomayor & Maria Paz Muñoz (Ecuador) d. Mariana Tobon &
Mariana Parades (Venezuela), 15-9, 15-7
Susana Acosta & Samantha Salas Solis (Mexico) - BYE

Group B

Rhonda Rajsich & Janel Tisinger (USA) d. Melania Sauma & Sofia Soley (Costa Rica), 15-11, 15-6
Maria Cespedes & Merynanyelly Delgado (Dominican Republic) d. Irene Caballero & Giulia Barboni (Panama), 15-11, 15-9

Group C

Jenny Daza & Carola Loma (Bolivia) d. Maria Renee Rodriguez & Gabriella Martinez (Guatemala), 9-15, 15-7, 11-8
Cristina Amaya & Carolina Gomez (Colombia) d. Pamela Sierra & Paula Padilla (Honduras), 15-10, 15-5

Group D

Frédérique Lambert & Josée Grand'Maître (Canada) d. Maria Jose Vargas & Véronique Guillemette (Argentina), 15-8, 15-4
Carla Muñoz & Maria Paz Riquelme (Chile) d. Raquel Perez & Johan Martin (Puerto Rico), 15-2, 15-4

Men's Doubles

Group A

Cesar Castillo & Cesar Castro (Venezuela) d. Fernando Rios & Jose Daniel Alvarez (Ecuador), 15-9, 15-13
Daniel De La Rosa & Edson Martinez (Mexico) - BYE

Group B

Luis Perez & Junior Rodriguez (Dominican Republic) d. Jose Rojas & David Horn (USA), 15-10, 15-13
Joaquin Solera & Pablo Sauma (Costa Rica) d. Gustavo Farrel & Diego Vognione (Uruguay), 15-4, 15-6

Group C

Daniel Maggi & Shai Mazuri (Argentina) d. Francisco Troncoso & Mauricio Suarez (Chile), 15-2, 15-4
Tim Landeryou & Pedro Castro (Canada) d. Miguel Santiago & Jayson Jordan (Puerto Rico), 15-4, 15-4

Group D

Ricardo Monroy & Roland Keller (Bolivia) d. Pedro Manolo Sandoval & Edwin Garcia (Guatemala), 15-5, 13-15, 11-4
Sebastian Franco & Alejandro Herrera (Colombia) d. Selvin Cruz & Sergio Baires (Honduras), 15-8, 15-12

Follow the bouncing ball....