Jake Bredenbeck and Andree Parrilla will meet in the final of the International Racquetball Tour’s (IRT’s) Rally for our Warriors tournament Saturday evening in Marlborough, Massachusetts. Bredenbeck stopped Kane Waselenchuk’s march through the draw, as he defeated the former IRT #1 in three games, 12-15, 15-14, 11-4, in the semi-finals. In the other semi, Parrilla beat the current IRT #1 Daniel De La Rosa, 15-14, 15-13.
It looked like Waselenchuk would make the final on his return to IRT action after suffering an Achilles injury last fall, as he was up 12-5 in game two, after winning the first game. However, Bredenbeck came back to tie it at 12-12, and then went ahead 14-12.
That made it Waselenchuk’s turn to come back, as he fought off game points, and scored twice himself to tie the game at 14-14. Bredenbeck called a timeout. When play resumed, he hit a forehand winner down the line, and then got a service winner with a drive jam serve off the left wall that Waselenchuk turned to play as it came off the back wall. However, the ball hit Waselenchuk, giving Bredenbeck the game winning point.
After two close games, usually the tie-breaker is not close, and so it was in this match, as Bredenbeck jumped out to a 7-0 lead. During that run Waselenchuk picked up a knock to his right leg, so he called for an injury timeout at that point.
When play continued, Waselenchuk got the serve back after Bredenbeck committed an unforced error by skipping a forehand shot. He lob served, standing by the right wall, hitting over to the back left corner. Waselenchuk seemed to not want to drive serve given his injury, and he didn’t drive serve in the remainder of the match.
But Waselenchuk did score some points, especially with his backhand. However, his movement was clearly compromised. Despite that Bredenbeck didn’t seem to make any adjustments in his play, and it seemed like the game could have been ended sooner than it was if he had.
The end did come as Bredenbeck made a great overhead forehand pinch winner that put him on match point at 10-4. He drove serve to the left on the next rally. Waselenchuk hit a forehand return that Bredenbeck rekilled for the winning point, making it 11-4.
Word is that Waselenchuk hadn’t played until the last three weeks, so he’s undoubtedly not ‘match fit,’ which could have contributed to him coming up short against Bredenbeck. But this tournament suggests that he can still be a threat to win on the tour, and Waselenchuk isn't one to take defeats lightly. There are two more tournaments this year, and assuming the knock Waselenchuk picked up isn't serious, we're sure he'll be back in training to win those.
In Friday’s quarterfinals, Waselenchuk beat Conrrado Moscoso, who had won gold in Men’s Singles at the Pan American Games last month, 15-8, 15-6. The Pan Am Games was an intense competition with a lot of racquetball in a short period, and of the semi-finalists in Marlborough, only De La Rosa was at Pan Ams.
All four players who lost in the quarterfinals were at Pan Ams. In the other quarters, Daniel De La Rosa narrowly defeated Andrés Acuña, 15-14, 15-14. Parrilla held on to see off Rodrigo Montoya, 15-9, 11-15, 11-7, and Bredenbeck came back to defeat Samuel Murray, 12-15, 15-14, 11-4.
You can see the final at 6 PM EST Saturday via the usual IRT media outlets: The IRT YouTube channel or the IRT Facebook page.
2023 IRT Rally for our Warriors
Marlborough, Massachusetts, November 9-11, 2023
IRT Singles - Quarterfinals - Friday
1) Daniel De La Rosa d. 8) Andrés Acuña, 15-14, 15-14
5) Andree Parrilla d. 4) Rodrigo Montoya, 15-9, 11-15, 11-7
22) Kane Waselenchuk d. 3) Conrrado Moscoso, 15-8, 15-6
2) Jake Bredenbeck d. 7) Samuel Murray, 12-15, 15-14, 11-4
IRT Singles - Semi-finals - Saturday
5) Andree Parrilla d. 1) Daniel De La Rosa, 15-14, 15-13
2) Jake Bredenbeck d. 22) Kane Waselenchuk, 12-15, 15-14, 11-4
IRT Singles - Final - Saturday
2) Jake Bredenbeck v. 5) Andree Parrilla - 6 PM
Follow the bouncing ball….
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