Laime & Vargas shine on Saturday at the 2024 LPRT Turkey Shoot

She’s only in one final, but Brenda Laime was the story of Saturday’s play at the 2024 Ladies Professional Racquetball Tour (LPRT) Turkey Shoot in Lombard, Illinois, as she knocked off the LPRT #3 Montserrat Mejia in the quarterfinals, 15-6, 15-5, and then pushed LPRT #2 Paola Longoria to an 11-10 tie-breaker before falling, 15-13, 12-15, 11-10, in a match that was just short of two hours long. Then in the doubles semi-finals with Michelle Key, she defeated top seeds Mejia and Alexandra Herrera, 15-14, 15-10.

LPRT #1 Maria Jose Vargas defeated Alexandra Herrera in the other semi-final, 15-7, 15-8, and will play Longoria in the singles final Sunday. Vargas is also in the doubles final, as she and Natalia Mendez, seeded 2nd, defeated 3rd seeds Longoria and Samantha Salas, 15-11, 15-12, to set up the showdown with 4th seeds Key and Laime.

In the Longoria-Laime tie-breaker, they were back and forth, as Laime led early at 4-1, but Longoria led in the middle at 8-5.

Laime then comeback to lead 9-8, and then 10-9. She thought she’d won it on her second match point, but her forehand shot was judged to have skipped and an appeal to the line judges didn’t change the call.

With a second chance, Longoria made no mistakes, as she hit a backhand winner to tie it at 10-10, and then a forehand winner to end the match, 11-10.

The singles final will be Sunday at 11 AM with the doubles final to follow at noon. All times central. You can watch the action live from Lombard via the LPRT YouTube channel.

32nd Annual Glass Court & Fitness LPRT Turkey Shoot Racquetball Tournament
Lombard, Illinois - November 22-24, 2024

Singles Quarterfinals - Saturday

1) Maria José Vargas d. 8) Cristina Amaya, 15-6, 11-15, 11-6
4) Alexandra Herrera d. 5) Kelani Lawrence, 15-9, 15-5

6) Brenda Laime d. 3) Montserrat Mejia, 15-6, 15-5
2) Paola Longoria d. 7) Natalia Mendez, 15-4, 15-4

Singles Semi-finals - Saturday

1) Maria José Vargas d. 4) Alexandra Herrera, 15-7, 15-8
2) Paola Longoria d. 6) Brenda Laime, 15-13, 12-15, 11-10

Singles Final - Sunday

1) Maria José Vargas v. 2) Paola Longoria - 11 AM

Doubles - Semi-finals - Saturday

4) Michelle Key & Brenda Laime d. 1) Alexandra Herrera & Montserrat Mejia, 15-14, 15-10
2) Natalia Mendez & Maria Jose Vargas d. 3) Paola Longoria & Samantha Salas, 15-11, 15-12

Doubles - Final - Sunday

2) Natalia Mendez & Maria Jose Vargas v. 4) Michelle Key & Brenda Laime - Noon

Follow the bouncing ball….