Paola Longoria and Montserrat Mejia will face off Sunday in the final of the Ladies Professional Racquetball Tour (LPRT) 30th Annual Christmas Classic in Millersville, Maryland. One of them will be trying to win back to back, but it’s not Longoria, who’s the LPRT’s #1 player. Mejia won the last LPRT tournament in November in Illinois. If she wins Sunday, it’ll be the first time she’s won back to back LPRT titles.
In the semi-finals, Longoria beat 5th seed Natalia Mendez, 15-11, 15-7. But Mejia, the 3rd seed, had a longer match, as she went to a tie-breaker with 2nd seed Alexandra Herrera before winning 15-13, 5-15, 11-5.
Herrera was a bit fortunate to be in the semis, as Carla Muñoz gave her everything she could handle in the quarterfinals with Herrera eking out the victory, 15-13, 12-15, 11-9. Muñoz led 5-1 and 9-8 in the breaker, but couldn’t get the last points she needed to win.
Both Longoria and Mejia also played tie-breakers in the quarters. Longoria dropped the first game to 8th seed Kelani Lawrence, but came back to win in three games, 12-15, 15-6, 11-1. Mejia won the first game of her quarterfinal match with 11th seed Hollie Scott, and then lost game two, but won the match, 15-9, 11-15, 11-1. Only Mendez won in two straight games in the quarters, as she beat 13th seed Valeria Centellas, 15-10, 15-9.
Longoria and Mejia will be playing together in the doubles final, when they'll take on Herrera and Samantha Salas. It’s the first time these new teams face off on the LPRT, as Longoria and Salas played together and Herrera and Mejia did also for the last several years, but they re-aligned themselves the for last LPRT event and plan to continue playing that way. In their first tournament in the new alignment, Herrera and Salas won the event, and Longoria and Mejia lost in the semi-finals.
In the doubles semi-finals on Saturday, Longoria and Mejia defeated 7th seeds Brenda Laime and Carla Muñoz, 15-6, 15-7, and Herrera and Salas beat 4th seeds Gabriela Martinez and Maria Renee Rodriguez, 15-14, 15-8.
You can watch the finals from Maryland live via the LPRT YouTube channel. The singles final will be noon Sunday with the doubles final at 1 PM. All times EST.
2022 LPRT 30th Annual Christmas Classic, December 9-11, 2022
Millersville, Maryland
Quarterfinals - Saturday
1) Paola Longoria d. 8) Kelani Lawrence, 12-15, 15-6, 11-1
5) Natalia Mendez d. 13) Valeria Centellas, 15-10, 15-9
3) Montserrat Mejia d. 11) Hollie Scott, 15-9, 11-15, 11-1
2) Alexandra Herrera d. 7) Carla Muñoz, 15-13, 12-15, 11-9
Semi-finals - Saturday
1) Paola Longoria d. 5) Natalia Mendez, 15-11, 15-7
3) Montserrat Mejia d. 2) Alexandra Herrera, 15-13, 5-15, 11-5
Final - Sunday
1) Paola Longoria v. 3) Montserrat Mejia - Noon
Doubles - Semi-finals - Saturday
1) Alexandra Herrera & Samantha Salas d. 4) Gabriela Martinez & Maria Renee Rodriguez, 15-14, 15-8
3) Paola Longoria & Montserrat Mejia d. 7) Brenda Laime & Carla Muñoz, 15-6, 15-7
Doubles - Final - Sunday
1) Alexandra Herrera & Samantha Salas v. 3) Paola Longoria & Montserrat Mejia - 1 PM
Follow the bouncing ball….
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