2021-22 LPRT Season Summary

Paola Longoria finished as the #1 player on the Ladies Professional Racquetball Tour (LPRT) for the 13th time - and 11th consecutive season. Those are LPRT records, far surpassing Michelle Gould’s seven #1s, six of which were consecutive. Longoria won 6 of the 9 LPRT events this season, and she continues to be the dominant player on the LPRT.

And yet 2021-22 was a remarkable season for other players as well. Gabriela Martinez and Alexandra Herrera both won their first LPRT titles. Indeed, Herrera won back to back events, defeating Longoria in each final, which was most impressive.

Erika Manilla also had a breakthrough season, going from #37 in 2020-21 to #6 this season, which included two semi-finals and three quarterfinals. Notably, Manilla became the highest ranked USA player not named Rhonda Rajsich since 2005, when Cheryl Gudinas finished above Rajsich.

To her credit, Rajisch, helped by four quarterfinal finishes, did finish in the top 10 this season, which was her 22nd season in the top 10, breaking the record set by Gudinas of 21 top 20 seasons.

Overall, twelve players reached the semi-finals or better in one or more of the 9 LPRT events this season. Six of those players were in more than one semi-final (or better). A further six players made it to the quarterfinals at least once.

Doubles

Paola Longoria and Samantha Salas won three of the seven LPRT doubles titles this season, and Longoria won another with Maria Jose Vargas. But Alexandra Herrera also won three titles, and did so with three different partners: Montserrat Mejia, who is her usual partner, as well as Jessica Parrilla and Erika Manilla.

Those results led to Herrera finishing as the #1 LPRT Doubles player ahead of Longoria. Salas, who missed a few events, was #3 with Manilla and Mejia #4 and #5, respectively.

Maria Renee Rodriguez, who is a strong right side doubles player, finished the season as the 6th ranked LPRT doubles player with Kelani Lawrence 7th. Natalia Mendez and Valeria Centellas, who are frequent doubles partners on the LPRT as well as for Argentina internationally, were the 8th and 9th ranked players with Jessica Parrilla rounding out the top 10.

If you sum the singles and doubles rankings to create an overall ranking, Longoria and Herrera are joint #1, as they were 1 and 2 or vice versa in the rankings. Manilla comes out 3rd overall with ranks that sum to 10 (6th in singles + 4th in doubles) with Mendez 4th (12 = 4 + 8) and Mejia 5th (15 = 10 + 5).

Best ever?

We didn’t see much of the women’s pros in years gone by, but we know that the best of them were great, so we’re hesitant to call Paola Longoria the best player ever. However, this does seem to be the best era of women’s racquetball.

Several players are threats to reach the semi-finals. Yet if Longoria is in the draw, it’s difficult to pick anyone but her to win it. That does suggest that she’s the best ever, because Longoria continues to dominant the tour when it seems to be its strongest.

Much of her primary competition are young. Just as Longoria was much younger than the elite pros, like Rajsich and Gudinas, when she arrived on the scene, so are players like Herrera, Martinez, Manilla and Barrios younger than Longoria, who’ll be 33 later this month, and is now in the role of veteran. It will be interesting to see how the youngsters fare against Longoria and each other over the next few years.

That’s why we feel that the 2022-23 LPRT season can’t come soon enough!

LPRT 2021-22 Season Ending Rankings - Singles

Rank - Name - Country - Points

1 Paola Longoria (Mexico) - 1976
2 Alexandra Herrera (Mexico) - 1321.5
3 Maria Jose Vargas (Argentina) - 1019.5
4 Natalia Mendez (Argentina) - 602
5 Gabriela Martinez (Guatemala) - 579

6 Erika Manilla (USA) - 522.25
7 Angelica Barrios (Bolivia) - 465
8 Jessica Parrilla (Mexico) - 449.5
9 Rhonda Rajsich (USA) - 444
10 Montserrat Mejia (Mexico) - 436.25

11 Carla Muñoz (Chile) - 406.75
12 Kelani Lawrence (USA) - 401
13 Brenda Laime (Colombia) - 371
14 Samantha Salas (Mexico) - 367.5
15 Valeria Centellas (Argentina) - 294.5

16 Hollie Scott (USA) - 286
17 Maria Renee Rodriguez (Guatemala) - 223.75
18 Sheryl Lotts (USA) - 210.25
19 Nancy Enriquez (Mexico) - 192.25
20 Cristina Amaya (Colombia) - 171.25

LPRT 2021-22 Season Results Summary - Singles
Player - Wins - Finals - Semi-finals - Quarterfinals

Paola Longoria - 6 - 2 - 0 - 0
Alexandra Herrera - 2 - 3 - 2 - 0
Gabriela Martinez - 1 - 0 - 1 - 2
Maria Jose Vargas - 0 - 3 - 2 - 2
Montserrat Mejia - 0 - 1 - 0 - 2

Natalia Mendez - 0 - 0 - 3 - 3
Erika Manilla - 0 - 0 - 2 - 3
Angelica Barrios - 0 - 0 - 2 - 1
Jessica Parrilla - 0 - 0 - 1 - 3
Samantha Salas - 0 - 0 - 1 - 3

Kelani Lawrence - 0 - 0 - 1 - 2
Hollie Scott - 0 - 0 - 1 - 0
Rhonda Rajsich - 0 - 0 - 0 - 4
Carla Muñoz - 0 - 0 - 0 - 4
Brenda Laime - 0 - 0 - 0 - 4

Valeria Centellas - 0 - 0 - 0 - 1
Nancy Enriquez - 0 - 0 - 0 - 1
Jenny Daza - 0 - 0 - 0 - 1

LPRT 2021-22 Season Ending Rankings - Doubles

Rank - Name - Country - Points

1 Alexandra Herrera (Mexico) - 240.5
2 Paola Longoria (Mexico) - 219.21
3 Samantha Salas (Mexico) - 170.6
4 Erika Manilla (USA) - 146.78
5 Montserrat Mejia (Mexico) - 141.61

6 Maria Renee Rodriguez (Guatemala) - 124.22
7 Kelani Lawrence (USA) - 106.95
8 Natalia Mendez (Argentina) - 112.34
9 Valeria Centellas (Argentina) - 100.68
10 Jessica Parrilla (Mexico) - 99.29

11 Gabriela Martinez (Guatemala) - 93.68
12 Hollie Scott (USA) - 89.43
13 Maria Jose Vargas (Argentina) - 78.69
14 Carla Muñoz (Chile) - 70.45
15 Rhonda Rajsich (USA) - 65.4

16 Brenda Laime (Colombia) - 55.12
17 Sheryl Lotts (USA) - 49.19
18 Veronica Sotomayor (Ecuador) - 42.76
19 Montserrat Perez (Mexico) - 36.7
20 Adriana Riveros (Colombia) - 27.4

LPRT 2021-22 Season Ending Rankings - Combined
Rank - Name - Country - Score (Singles rank + Doubles rank)

1 Paola Longoria (Mexico) - 3 (1+2)
1 Alexandra Herrera (Mexico) - 3 (2+1)
3 Erika Manilla (USA) - 10 (6+4)
4 Natalia Mendez (Argentina) - 12 (4+8)
5 Montserrat Mejia (Mexico) - 15 (10+5)

6 Maria Jose Vargas (Argentina) - 16 (3+13)
6 Gabriela Martinez (Guatemala) - 16 (5+11)
8 Samantha Salas (Mexico) - 17 (14+3)
9 Jessica Parrilla (Mexico) - 18 (8+10)
10 Kelani Lawrence (USA) - 19 (12+7)

11 Maria Renee Rodriguez (Guatemala) - 23 (17+6)
12 Valeria Centellas (Argentina) - 24 (15+9)
13 Rhonda Rajsich (USA) - 24 (9+15)
14 Carla Muñoz (Chile) - 25 (11+14)
15 Hollie Scott (USA) - 28 (16+12)

Follow the bouncing ball....