Manilla wins Girl's U16 at 2015 USA Racquetball Junior Olympics

Erika Manilla defeated Jordan Cooperrider, 15-12, 15-4, to win the Girl's U16 title Saturday at the 2015 USA Racquetball Junior Olympics hosted by the In-Shape Sport West Lane Club in Stockton, California. It was a repeat of last year's final, and in fact the third straight final Manilla and Cooperrider have played, as they also met in the U14 division final in 2013. But Cooperrider won both their previous final matches, so Manilla's win was a measure of revenge.

Cooperrider started well, and was up 9-5 in game one. But Manilla seemed to take it to another gear after that as she began drive serving well, and won 25 of the next 32 points to take the match. Cooperrider and Manilla teamed up in doubles and won the Girl's U16 title.

In the Girl's U18 division, Lexi York defeated Brittany Click, 15-10, 15-7. The win keeps York undefeated with one match to go, as the U18 is a round robin between five girls. Click has only one loss, as does Karina Quintanilla. York and Quintanilla play Sunday, and if York wins, she's the champion with Click second. If Quintanilla wins, then it will be a three way tie between them, and the tie-breaker rules will come into effect.

Kaitlyn Boyle could repeat in Girl's U14, as she defeated Elena Dent, 15-14, 15-0, in the semi-finals Saturday. The win sets up a repeat of last year's final, as Briana Jacquet, last year's runner up, won the other semi-final against Nikita Chauhan, 15-5, 15-0.

If you want to win a racquetball tournament in Stockton, generally you're going to have to beat a Rojas, and that's the case in the boy's divisions, as each of the Boy's U12, U14, U16 and U18 finals has a Rojas in them. Mauro Rojas is in both the U16 and U18 finals and Antonio Rojas is the Boy's U12 and U14 finals. Antonio will play the same opponent in both finals: Akul Ramayani.

In Boy's U14, Ramayani was runner-up last year, so Rojas will have his work cut out for him. In the semis, Ramayani defeated Sahil Thakur, and Rojas beat Mitchell Turner, 15-4, 15-1.

Mauro Rojas needed a tie-breaker to get to the Boy's U16 final, as Kevin Vazquez won the first games of their match. However, Rojas came back to win games two and three to get the final, winning 10-15, 15-5, 11-4. In the final, Rojas will face Jordan Barth, who defeated Wayne Antone IV, 15-12, 15-6, in the other semi-final.

Barth had a slow start, as Antone went up 6-0 in game one. But the current World Junior Boy's U14 Champion didn't panic, as Barth switched gears and began hitting lob nick serves to the left side that he described afterwards as his "go to serve." They were very effective against Antone, as Barth tied game one at 9-9, and then went on to win it, 15-12.

In game two, they were tied at 2-2 and then Barth again pushed ahead, going up 14-4. Then Antone scored a few points playing like he had nothing to lose. But when Antone hit a drive serve to the left side, Barth's return was called good, which Antone disagreed with, so much so that he got a technical for his protest, making the score 14-6. Antone skipped his return of Barth's next serve, ending the game at 15-6.

The Boy's U18 division finalists were determined on Friday, and Mauro Rojas plays Sam Bredenbeck for the title with Thomas Carter and Jake Birnel squaring off for third.

The 2015 USA Racquetball Junior Olympics concludes Sunday at the In-Shape Sport West Lane in Stockton, California.

2015 USA Racquetball Junior Olympics
Stockton, California

Boy's U14

Semi-finals

Akul Ramayani (Poughkeepsie, NY) d. Sahil Thakur (Tracy, CA)
Antonio Rojas (Stockton, CA) d. Mitchell Turner (Salem, OR), 15-4, 15-1

Final

Akul Ramayani (Poughkeepsie, NY) v. Antonio Rojas (Stockton, CA)

3rd place

Sahil Thakur (Tracy, CA) v. Mitchell Turner (Salem, OR)

Boy's U16

Semi-finals

Mauro Rojas (Stockton, CA) d. Kevin Vazquez (Miami, FL), 10-15, 15-5, 11-4
Jordan Barth (Cold Spring, MN) d. Wayne Antone IV (Eugene, OR), 15-12, 15-6

Final

Mauro Rojas (Stockton, CA) v. Jordan Barth (Cold Spring, MN)

3rd place

Wayne Antone IV (Eugene, OR) v. Kevin Vazquez (Miami, FL)

Boy's U18

Final

Mauro Rojas (Stockton, CA) v. Sam Bredenbeck (Marine On St Croix, Minn.)

3rd place

Thomas Carter (Murrysville, PA) v. Jake Birnel (Bellingham, WA)

Girl's U14

Semi-finals

Kaitlyn Boyle (Beaverton, OR) d. Elena Dent (Lumberton, NC), 15-14, 15-0
Briana Jacquet (Phoenix, AZ) d. Nikita Chauhan (San Ramon, CA), 15-5, 15-0

Final

Kaitlyn Boyle (Beaverton, OR) v. Briana Jacquet (Phoenix, AZ)

3rd place

Nikita Chauhan (San Ramon, CA) v. Elena Dent (Lumberton, NC)

Girl's U16

Final

Erika Manilla (Centennial, CO) d. Jordan Cooperrider (Palm Harbor, FL), 15-12, 15-4

3rd place

Hollie Scott (Lynden, WA) d. Kristine Holman (Salem, OR), 15-2, 15-1

Girl's U18 - Round Robin

Lexi York (Milwakie, Ore.) 3-0
Brittany Click (Huffman, TX) 3-1
Karina Quintanilla (Harlingen, TX) 2-1
Kara Piepenbrink (Tampa, FL) 0-3
Aadhilakshmi Balasubramanian (Belle Mead, NJ) 0-3

Boy's U18 Doubles - Round Robin - Sunday matches

1st - Thomas Carter (Murrysville, PA) & Kyle Ulliman (Westerville, PA) v. Sam Bredenbeck (Marine On St Croix, Minn.) & Jake Birnel (Bellingham, WA)

3rd - Luis Avila (Wilmington, CA) & Justin Ide (Beaverton, OR) v. Hayden Farmer (Trophy Club, TX) & Carlos Reyes (Janesville, WI)

5th - Lukas Le (Arlington, TX) & Nicholas Pavloski (Kingwood, TX) v. Eric McEnnis (Port St. Lucie, FL) & Trevor John (Reno, NV)

Boy's U16 Doubles

Semi-finals

Jordan Barth (Cold Spring, MN) & Justus Benson (Sun Prairie, WI) d. Ellis Syke (Coon Rapids, MN) & Noah Little (Ayden, NC), 15-6, 15-9
Wayne Antone IV (Eugene, OR) & Kevin Vazquez (Miami, FL) d. Justin Ide (Beaverton, OR) & Gavin Usher (Portland, OR), 15-11, 15-8

Final

Jordan Barth (Cold Spring, MN) & Justus Benson (Sun Prairie, WI) v. Wayne Antone IV (Eugene, OR) & Kevin Vazquez (Miami, FL)

3rd Place

Ellis Syke (Coon Rapids, MN) & Noah Little (Ayden, NC) v. Justin Ide (Beaverton, OR) & Gavin Usher (Portland, OR)

Boy's U14 Doubles

Final

Julian Singh (Pleasanton, CA) & Mitchell Turner (Salem, OR) d. Brian Barberis (McKinney, TX) & Nick Birnel (Bellingham, WA), 14-15, 15-10, 11-2

3rd place

Ben Baron (Phoenix) & Tommy Andraos (Laguna Niguel, CA) d. Micah Farmer (Trophy Club, Texas) & Lucas Shoemaker (Bettendorf, IA), 15-10, 15-5

Girl's U16/U18 Doubles - Round Robin - Sunday matches

1st - Jordan Cooperrider (Palm Harbor, Fla.) & Erika Manilla (Centennial, Col.) v. Hollie Scott (Lynden, WA) & Lexi York (Milwakie, Ore.)

3rd - Karina Quintanilla (Harlingen, Tex.) & Daniela Torres (San Antonio, Tex.)

5th - Kristine Holman (Salem, Ore.) & Madison Kerzel (Salem, Ore.) v. Alanna Shea (Cortland Manor, NY) & Reena Sheth (Amawalk, NY)

Girl's U14 Doubles - Round Robin

1st - Brian Jacquet (Phoenix) & Kaitlyn Boyle (Beaverton, OR) - 2-0
2nd - Graciana Wargo (Clearwater, FL) & Elena Dent (Lumberton, NC) - 1-1
3rd - Nikita Chauhan (San Ramon, CA) & Megan Carver (Spokane, WA) - 0-2

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