Weekend Round Up - Herrera wins & what's ahead

Alexandra Herrera was a surprise winner of the Women's Open division at the California Regionals Tournament in Reseda, California on the weekend, as she was seeded 14th in the draw, and beat 4th seed Carla Muñoz, 15-10, 15-14, in the final.

To get to the final, Herrera first defeated 3rd seed Sheryl Lotts, 15-12, 15-7, then 6th seed Masiel Rivera, 15-8, 15-2, and in the semi-finals, 2nd seed Da'monique Davis, 15-12, 7-15, 11-2. An impressive run capped off by winning the final.

In the other semi, Muñoz had a walkover win against 1st seed Janel Tisinger.

The best match of the draw might have been in the Round of 16, when Tisinger played Maria Paz Muñoz, who was somehow the 16th ranked player in the draw - Paz Muñoz is the 14th ranked player on the LPRT. They went tie-breaker with Tisinger pulling out the win by the slimmest of margins, 5-15, 15-11, 11-10.

Coming Up

Both the Ladies Professional Racquetball Tour (LPRT) and International Racquetball Tour (IRT) have a break in their schedules until late April and early May, respectively.

Thus, the attention is going to turn to Santa Cruz, Bolivia where the Pan American Championships will be held beginning on April 12 and running to April 19.

The US Team playing in Santa Cruz will be Rhonda Rajsich and Janel Tisinger on the women's side and Jose Rojas and David Horn on the men's side, and all players are going to play singles and doubles.

Team Canada will have a full eight players. Jennifer Saunders, Frédérique Lambert, Josée Grand'Maître and Michèle Morissette are the women's players with Vincent Gagnon, Tim Landeryou, Pedro Castro, and Coby Iwaasa the men's players. Word is that Gagnon and Iwaasa are going to play singles with Landeryou and Castro pairing up for doubles.

The tournament format will have initial matches within pools based on performances of countries at previous championships with the results of those matches being used to seed players into an elimination round draw that will determine the medal winners.

Play will begin April 12, and the International Racquetball Federation (IRF) and the IRT Network recently announced an agreement for live streaming. The 2014 Pan American Championships are the first event to be covered under that agreement, so the coverage of the matches from Santa Cruz should be excellent.

2014 California Regionals
Reseda, California

Final

Alexandra Herrera d. Carla Muñoz, 15-10, 15-14

Semi-final

Carla Muñoz d. Janel Tisinger, forfeit
Alexandra Herrera d. Da'monique Davis, 15-12, 7-15, 11-2

Quarter-finals

Janel Tisinger d. Erika Manilla, 15-5, 15-8
Da'monique Davis d. Mae Chin-varon, 15-11, 14-15, 11-1
Alexandra Herrera d. Masiel Rivera, 15-8, 15-2
Carla Muñoz d. Cheyenne Hayes, 15-14, 15-8

Round of 16

Janel Tisinger d. Maria Paz Muñoz, 5-15, 15-11, 11-10
Da'monique Davis d. Kristen Bellows, 15-3, 15-11
Alexandra Herrera d. Sheryl Lotts, 15-12, 15-7
Carla Muñoz d. Cecilia Orozco, 15-6, 15-2

Cheyenne Hayes d. Carolina Luquem, 5-14, 15-13
Masiel Rivera d. Maria Renee Rodriguez, 15-13, 15-3
Mae Chin-Varon d. Hailey Miller, 15-14, 15-14
Erika Manilla d. Kelly Gremley, 8-15, 15-10, 11-3

Follow the bouncing ball….

Longoria wins LPRT California Regionals, defeating Rajsich in final

Paola Longoria - the #1 player on the Ladies Professional Racquetball Tour (LPRT) - extended her tournament winning streak on Sunday by winning the California Regionals Tournament in Reseda, California, where she defeated LPRT #2 Rhonda Rajsich in the final, 5-11, 11-8, 11-5, 11-9

Longoria's streak began in May 2011, and has reached 32 women's pro events, including 28 Tier 1 or Grand Slam events. It's safe to say this is the longest winning streak in women's pro racquetball, and it's not clear when it will end.

Longoria dropped the first game against Rajsich in the final, and that was the third time in the past four tournaments that she's lost game one of a match, including in the final of the Kansas event, when Maria Jose Vargas won game one of the final.

It's a small blemish on what is an impressive record, and that's all that can be mentioned critically of Longoria's current record.

She'll try to push the streak further at the next LPRT event, which is in four weeks, when the players will convene for the Battle of the Alamo in San Antonio, Texas April 25-27.

2014 LPRT California Regionals
Reseda, California

Final

1 Paola Longoria d. 2 Rhonda Rajsich, 5-11, 11-8, 11-5, 11-9

Follow the bouncing ball….

LPRT 2014 California Regionals - Longoria & Rajsich advance to final

The seedings have played out as predicted, and it'll be one versus two in the final of the Ladies Professional Racquetball Tour (LPRT) California Regionals Tournament in Reseda, California Sunday when #1 Paola Longoria tries to keep her winning streak going when she faces #2 Rhonda Rajsich.

Longoria defeated Samantha Salas Solis in the semi-finals, 11-3, 11-9, 11-3, on Saturday, as well as having a walkover win against Jacqueline Paraiso.

Rajsich had the tougher day on Saturday, as she needed to come back from 2-1 down against Frédérique Lambert and win in five games in the quarter-finals before facing 3rd seed Maria Jose Vargas, who Rajsich needed four games to defeat, 6-11, 11-3, 11-7, 11-1.

The final will be broadcast live on the LPRT Network at noon PDT Sunday.

2014 LPRT California Regionals
Reseda, California

Quarterfinals

1 Paola Longoria d. 25 Jacqueline Paraiso, forfeit
4 Samantha Salas Solis d. 5 Cristina Amaya, 11-9, 11-1, 12-10

3 Maria Jose Vargas d. 6 Susana Acosta, 11-6, 7-11, 11-6, 8-11, 11-6
2 Rhonda Rajsich d. 7 Frederique Lambert, 9-11, 11-5, 7-11, 12-10, 11-5

Semi-finals

1 Paola Longoria d. 4 Samantha Salas Solis, 11-3, 11-9, 11-3
2 Rhonda Rajsich d. 3 Maria Jose Vargas, 6-11, 11-3, 11-7, 11-1

Final

1 Paola Longoria v. 2 Rhonda Rajsich

Follow the bouncing ball….