Sunday, October 30, 2016

Longoria wins singles & doubles at 2016 LPRT Boston Open

Paola Longoria once again showed why she is the #1 player on the Ladies Professional Racquetball Tour (LPRT) as she won both singles and doubles Sunday at the LPRT Boston Open. Longoria defeated LPRT #2 Frédérique Lambert in the singles final, 11-3, 11-3, 11-4, and then teamed up with Rhonda Rajsich to beat Lambert and Jessica Parrilla in the doubles final, 15-2, 15-12.

It seemed all too easy for Longoria.

Longoria started the match well, as she took a 8-0 lead in game one, winning that game 11-3. Game two was closer early, as Lambert was able to tie Longoria at 3-3. But Longoria then ran off eight points that Lambert didn’t have any answers for, and took a 2-0 lead.

Game three saw Lambert get her first lead of the match, as she was up 2-0 and 3-1. However, six Longoria points turned the tables, and made it 7-3. There was no come back from that, as Longoria won the match in three straight games.

In the doubles final, Lambert and Parrilla tried to keep balls away from Longoria, but that strategy didn’t work, as Rajsich played well getting her side a one game lead after winning the first game 15-2. It looked like it would be more of the same in game two, as Longoria and Rajsich went up 7-2. However, Lambert and Parrilla made a comeback, set up by a series of Lambert Z serves to Rajsich’s backhand; Rajsich was playing the left side.

This strategy got Lambert and Parrilla a lead at 11-7, and it looked like a tie-breaker was a possibility. At that point Parrilla also served to Rajsich after serving to Longoria previously in the match. But her Z serve wasn’t as effective as Lambert’s, so a sideout happened immediately.

Cue the comeback. Rajsich and Longoria scored five points to take the lead at 12-11. A sideout gave Lambert and Parrilla an opportunity to regain the lead, but Lambert got hit by the ball during a rally, and then a winning return by Rajsich of another Parrilla Z serve put the end to that.

Two Parrilla winners got her side the serve back, and she hit a service winner against Rajsich that tied the game at 12-12. But Parrilla skipped a shot on the next rally, giving the serve back to Rajisch and Longoria.

They didn’t give it up, as two winners by Rajsich and one by Longoria got them the final three points that ended the game, 15-12, and the match in two straight games.

If you missed any of the action, you can watch it again via the LPRT LiveStream channel. The next LPRT event is the 2016 Paola Longoria Invitational in Monterrey, Mexico next weekend November 4-6, 2016.

2016 LPRT Boston Open, October 28-30, 2016
Boston, Massachusetts


Final - Singles

1) Paola Longoria d. 2) Frédérique Lambert, 11-3, 11-3, 11-4

Final - Doubles

1) Paola Longoria & Rhonda Rajsich d. 2) Frédérique Lambert & Jessica Parrilla, 15-2, 15-12

Follow the bouncing ball….

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