Thursday, March 31, 2016

2016 IRT Raising Some Racquet for Kids - Preview

The International Racquetball Tour (IRT) is in Ohio for the first time several years this weekend for the Raising Some Racquet for Kids tournament in Huber Heights, Ohio. The draw is small for this weekend, as there are only 22 players in Huber Heights, so two players will qualify for the Round of 16 without playing a match.

Nevertheless, the top players will be in Ohio, including IRT #1 Kane Waselenchuk, who is undefeated this season, and seemed to be playing even better in recent events. In the last IRT tournament in Lombard, Illinois earlier this month, Waselenchuk only had 19 points scored against him in four matches.

Some interesting early matches to look for include a rematch of last week’s Pan American Championship final between Daniel De La Rosa and Jake Bredenbeck, which De La Rosa won easily. But that was in San Luis Potosi, Mexico, which is over 6,000 feet and with a one serve rule. The situation will be different in Huber Heights, which is less than 1,000 feet above sea level and with the IRT’s two serve rule Bredenbeck will try to use his powerful drive serve that helped him upset IRT #2 Rocky Carson in the last IRT event.

To set up the rematch in Friday’s Round of 16, Bredenbeck will have to win his qualifying match against Kamyron Meeks on Thursday.

Also of note in the draw is former top 10 IRT player Andy Hawthorne, who is an Ohio resident. He’s up against Matthew Majxner in the qualifying round with the winner to face Jose Rojas in the 16s.

The IRT Round of 16 will be streamed live Friday from 11 AM via the IRT Network with the quarterfinals Friday afternoon from 5 PM on. Also, the semi-finals will be 11 AM and Noon Saturday with the final Saturday night at 7:00 PM. All times Eastern.

2016 Raising Some Racquet for Kids, March 31-April 3
Huber Heights, Ohio


Qualifying Round

Q8) Felip Vesely v. Jeremy Best
Q1) Sebastian Franco - BYE

Q4) Matthew Majxner v. Andy Hawthorne
Q5) Scott McClellan v. Joel Ernst

Q6) Jake Bredenbeck v. Kamyron Meeks
Q3) Mauricio Zelada v. John Craig Chisholm

Q2) Mario Mercado - BYE
Q7) Troy Warigon v. Destry Everhart

Round of 16 - Friday

1) Kane Waselenchuk v. Q8
8) Robert Collins v. Sebastian Franco

5) Jose Rojas v. Q4
4) Alvaro Beltran v. Q5

3) Daniel De La Rosa v. Q6
6) Jansen Allen v. Q3

7) Felipe Camacho v. Mario Mercado
2) Rocky Carson v. Q7

Follow the bouncing ball….

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