Wednesday, December 7, 2016

25th Annual NES Associates LPRT Christmas Classic - Preview

The Ladies Professional Racquetball Tour’s (LPRT’s) last event of 2016 begins Friday in Laurel, Maryland, where the 25th Annual NES Associates LPRT Christmas Classic will take place. As with their last event, the Kitsap Splat, there’s a small draw this weekend, but 8 of the top 9 players will be competing in Laurel, including LPRT #1 Paola Longoria, who is undefeated this season and hasn’t lost an LPRT match since March of 2015, when Frédérique Lambert defeated her in the New Jersey Open.

Lambert has had a great start to this season, and as a result is now ranked #2 on the LPRT. Odds are that she and Longoria will face off in the Christmas Classic Final come Sunday.

However, Lambert’s path to the final won’t be an easy one, as she’ll play either veteran left hander Susana Acosta or Veronica Sotomayor in the quarterfinals, and then probably 3rd seed Jessica Parrilla or 6th Cristina Amaya in the semi-finals.

Longoria’s path to the final will likely have a semi-final showdown with either 4th seed Alexandra Herrera or 5th seed Samantha Salas, who was runner up to Longoria at this year’s US Open.

They are also playing doubles this weekend with Longoria and Salas as the top seeds and Lambert and Parrilla as 2nd seeds. They both have byes in the quarterfinals, but the other quarterfinal matches could be interesting. Amaya and Sotomayor will take on Susana Acosta and Jordan Cooperrider in one quarter with Herrera and Carla Muñoz playing Hollie Scott and Samantha Simmons in the other.

You can watch this weekend’s action live via the LPRT LiveStream channel. The Round of 16 begins at 3 PM on Friday, with the quarterfinals on Saturday at 10 and 11 AM and the semi-finals at 4 and 5 PM. The singles final will be 11 AM Sunday with the doubles final to follow.

25th Annual NES Associates LPRT Christmas Classic, December 9-11, 2016
Laurel, Maryland


Round of 32

1) Paola Longoria - BYE
16) Kelly Gremley v. 17) Amie Brewer

9) Adrienne Haynes - BYE
8) Carla Muñoz - BYE

5) Samantha Salas - BYE
12) Samantha Simmons - BYE

13) Laura Brandt - BYE
4) Alexandra Herrera - BYE

3) Jessica Parrilla - BYE
14) Hollie Scott - BYE

11) Jordan Cooperrider - BYE
6) Cristina Amaya - BYE

7) Susana Acosta - BYE
10) Veronica Sotomayor - BYE

15) Kelani Bailey - BYE
2) Frédérique Lambert - BYE

Doubles - Quarterfinals

1) Paola Longoria & Samantha Salas - BYE
4) Cristina Amaya & Veronica Sotomayor v. 5) Susana Acosta & Jordan Cooperrider

3) Alexandra Herrera & Carla Muñoz v. 6) Hollie Scott & Samantha Simmons
2) Frédérique Lambert & Jessica Parrilla - BYE

Follow the bouncing ball….

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