Paola Longoria won the 2017 Paola Longoria Experience Tournament - the first event of the 2017-18 Ladies Professional Racquetball Tour (LPRT) season on Sunday, when she defeated 2nd seed Jessica Parrilla in the final, 11-7, 11-5, 11-0, in San Luis Potosi, Mexico. Longoria, the #1 LPRT player, served well in the match, hitting 10 aces compared with Parrilla’s 4, and even when her serves weren’t aces, Longoria often forced weak returns from Parrilla.
They were close early in game one, when Parrilla actually scored the first two points to lead 2-0. But Longoria then scored 10 unanswered points to lead 10-2. Parrilla fought of two game points, and then scored five points of her own, including back to back drive serve aces - one to the right and one to the left - that made the score 10-7. However, a Longoria forehand got her the serve back, and she finished game one with a drive serve ace to the left side: Parrilla’s backhand.
Game two followed the same pattern as game one with Parrilla taking the early lead; this time it was 3-0. Then Longoria ran off 10 unanswered points to make it 10-3. Parrilla again fought off two game points before Longoria closed it out at 11-5, when Parrilla skipped a forehand shot.
Game three was all Longoria as she led from start to finish, and managed to keep Parrilla off the score board. Parrilla only served three times in the game. Longoria had more ace serves than that, as she hit four in game three, including back to back drive serve aces to the left side that closed out the game and match.
Longoria also won the doubles event, as she teamed with Monserrat Mejia to defeat Cristina Amaya and Adriana Riveros in the final, 15-8, 15-14. It looked like it was going to go tie-breaker, as Amaya and Riveros led for most of the second half of game two, but Longoria and Mejia managed to eke out the second game, although perhaps not without controversy.
Longoria and Mejia had tied it up at 14-14 after a Longoria backhand cross court pass. On the next rally, the ball was hit into the back right corner, and the ball seemed to bounce twice before either Longoria or Mejia could get to it, and they both went down to try to do so. The referee called sideout, which gave the serve back to Amaya and Riveros.
But Longoria and Mejia appealed claiming that they’d held up in attempting to hit the ball, as Amaya and Riveros were between where the ball was and the front wall. It seemed to that the referee had made the right call, especially as both Longoria and Mejia appeared to really try to hit the ball. However, the line judges both supported Longoria and Mejia’s claim, so they disagreed with the referee’s call.
On the next rally, the ball again went over into the back right corner, and there seemed to be a bit of confusion between Amaya and Riveros about who was going to retrieve it. Riveros did go for it, but her shot - presumably a ceiling ball attempt - ended up going out of the court, giving the rally, and thereby the game and match, to Longoria and Mejia.
Amaya and Riveros could have got it to a third game if Amaya had not skipped shots on back to back rallies when they led 14-12. And even those rallies were their third and fourth game point opportunities. You can’t let that many opportunities to slip by if you want to beat the best player in the world.
The LPRT will next be in action next weekend when the Toreneo Milenio 2017 Racquetbol event happens in Tijuana, Mexico, August 25-27. If you missed any of this weekend’s action, check out the LPRT YouTube channel.
2017 LPRT Paola Longoria Experience, August 18-20, 2017
San Luis Potosi, Mexico
Final - Sunday
1) Paola Longoria d. 2) Jessica Parrilla, 11-7, 11-5, 11-0
Doubles - Final - Sunday
1) Paola Longoria & Monserrat Mejia d. 2) Cristina Amaya & Adriana Riveros, 15-8, 15-14
Follow the bouncing ball….
Sunday, August 20, 2017
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