Weekend round up: Wins for Muñoz and Ros

Carla Muñoz won the Women’s Open title at the Arizona Open in Tempe, Arizona on Sunday. Muñoz defeated Lucia Gonzalez, 15-4, 15-11, in the final. In the semi-finals, Muñoz beat Stephanie Synhorst, 15-8, 15-4, and Gonzalez defeated Leonela Osorio, 15-2, 15-14.

Naomi Ros won the Ladies Professional Racquetball Tour (LPRT) U21 division in Tempe. She defeated Osorio in the final, as Osorio had to retire with an injury in the second game. Ros won game one 15-10 and was up 6-0 in game two when Osorio had to forfeit with what seemed like an injury to her right leg.

In the semis, Ros beat Ana Victoria Fragoso, 15-1, 15-1, and Osorio held on to defeat Mariafernanda Trujillo, 15-8, 9-15, 11-4.

Later this month

The next International Racquetball Tour (IRT) event is the Lewis Drug Pro-Am, January 25-28, in Sioux Falls, South Dakota. There are already 39 players entered in singles, so it should be a great event.

Arizona Open - Presented by The Madison Trust
Tempe, Arizona - January 12-14, 2024

Women’s Open Final

1) Carla Muñoz d. 3) Lucia Gonzalez, 15-4, 15-11

Semi-finals

1) Carla Muñoz d. 5) Stephanie Synhorst, 15-8, 15-4
3) Lucia Gonzalez d. 10) Leonela Osorio, 15-2, 15-14

LPRT U21 - Final

1) Naomi Ros d. 2) Leonela Osorio, 15-10, injury forfeit

Semi-finals

1) Naomi Ros d. 5) Ana Victoria Fragoso, 15-1, 15-1
2) Leonela Osorio d. 3) Mariafernanda Trujillo, 15-8, 9-15, 11-4

Follow the bouncing ball….

Longoria defeats Laime to win 2023 LPRT Battle at the Alamo

Paola Longoria defeated Brenda Laime, 15-7, 15-3, to win the Ladies Professional Racquetball Tour (LPRT) 2023 Battle at the Alamo in San Antonio, Texas on Saturday. Longoria’s win helps her in the race to be #1 at the end of the season. She’s been the #1 LPRT player for 13 seasons, including the last 10 consecutive.

Longoria played well in the final, and in playing well, it took away Laime’s opportunities to counter-punch, which is as aspect of her game that Laime usually does very well.

Longoria may also have not felt much pressure against Laime, who as the 11th seed, isn’t one of the strongest players on tour. Laime did beat Longoria last season, but that’s likely more motivation for Longoria to ensure a loss wasn’t going happen again on Saturday.

The win is Longoria’s 3rd of the season, but first since the US Open in October. Montserrat Mejia has won the last four LPRT events, and she is the threat to stop Longoria’s #1 ranking streak. But Mejia lost in the quarterfinals in San Antonio, so she may need to win the last two events to have a chance to finish #1.

Mejia won’t have to wait long to try to win another LPRT event, as the LPRT will be in action next weekend at the Sweet Caroline Open in Greenville, South Carolina, May 4-7, 2023. The 2022-23 LPRT season will end with the LPRT at the Beach tournament in Chesapeake, Maryland, June 15-17, 2023.

Other divisions

In what was a bit of surprise, Carla Muñoz and Alan Natera won the Mixed Doubles title. They were seeded 3rd, and upset top seeds Maria Jose Vargas and Alejandro Landa in the final, 15-13, 15-13.

In the semi-finals, Muñoz and Natera defeated 10th seeds Laime and Marcelo Vargas Aguilar, 13-15, 15-12, 11-7. Laime and Vargas Aguilar got to the semis by knocking off 2nd seeds Holly Scott and Daniel De La Rosa in the quarterfinals.

In the other semi, Vargas and Landa beat Erika Manilla and Erik Garcia, 15-5, 15-9.

Valeria Centellas defeated Annie Roberts, 15-9, 15-4, to win the LPRT U21 division. In the semi-finals, Centellas, the top seed, beat 4th seed Camila Rivero, 15-8, 15-10, and 2nd seed Roberts beat 3rd seed Martina Katz, 15-3, 15-4.

If you missed any of the action from San Antonia, go to the LPRT YouTube channel.

2023 LPRT Battle at the Alamo
San Antonio, Texas - April 27-29, 2023

Final - Saturday

1) Paola Longoria d. 11) Brenda Laime, 15-7, 15-3

LPRT U21 Singles - Final - Saturday

1) Valeria Centellas d. 2) Annie Roberts, 15-9, 15-4

LPRT U21 Singles - Semi-finals - Saturday

1) Valeria Centellas d. 4) Camila Rivero, 15-8, 15-10
2) Annie Roberts d. 3) Martina Katz, 15-3, 15-4

Mixed Doubles - Final - Saturday

1) Maria Jose Vargas & Alejandro Landa v. 3) Carla Muñoz & Alan Natera, 15-13, 15-13

Mixed Doubles - Semi-finals - Saturday

1) Maria Jose Vargas & Alejandro Landa d. 4) Erika Manilla & Erik Garcia, 15-5, 15-9
3) Carla Muñoz & Alan Natera d. 10) Brenda Laime & Marcelo Vargas Aguilar, 13-15, 15-12, 11-7

Follow the bouncing ball….

Longoria & Laime in final at 2023 LPRT Battle at the Alamo

Paola Longoria, the #1 player on the Ladies Professional Racquetball Tour (LPRT), has not had an easy time of it at the 2023 LPRT Battle at the Alamo in San Antonio, Texas. However, she’s passed all the tests that have come her way, and made it through to the final on Saturday. Longoria advanced to the final by defeating former LPRT #2 Maria Jose Vargas, 15-10, 8-15, 11-7. It was the second tie-breaker she had to play Friday after needing three games to get past Carla Muñoz in the quarterfinals, at hat was after a 15-13, 15-14 match against Gabriela Martinez in the Round of 16 on Thursday.

No, it’s not been an easy path to the final at all.

Longoria will face 11th seed Brenda Laime in the final, as Laime defeated veteran Samantha Salas in the other semi, 15-11, 15-11.

Longoria got off to a good start against Vargas, going up 5-1 in game one. But Vargas came back and tied it at 7-7, only to see Longoria surge ahead again to lead 12-7, and close it out at 15-10.

In game two, Vargas took the lead early, and when she led 7-3, Longoria called a time out. Vargas maintained the lead, and when it was 11-4, Longoria called her second timeout.

She was able to narrow the gap after that, making it 12-8. However, the writing was on the wall, and Vargas closed it out at 15-8.

Usually, when the first two games are not close, the tie-breaker is. But that didn’t look likely, when Longoria jumped out to a 4-0 lead. At 5-1, Vargas called a timeout.

That did little to slow Longoria down, as she went out to a 9-2 lead. Longoria had a chance to make it 10, but made an unforced error when she skipped a backhand shot.

Cue the comeback.

Vargas scored five unanswered points from there to make it 9-7, and wasn’t deterred by Longoria calling both her timeouts during that run. You had the sense that maybe she could come all the way back.

Vargas was using a Z serve to Longoria’s backhand for her second serve, and it’d made Longoria a bit uncomfortable. So, it was predictable that Vargas was going to hit it for second serve at 7 serve 9, and Longoria jumped over to take it early with her forehand for a winner.

That halted Vargas’s momentum, and led to a back and forth of sideouts. Longoria broke the deadlock with a forehand cross court winner to make it 10-7. She only needed the one match point, as Vargas skipped a backhand shot on the next rally, giving Longoria the win.

It was a very competitive match, but not one of great overall quality. Both players were great for spurts, but neither seemed to really be on their "A" game, which for the neutral made for a good watch.

What to expect in the final

A final between the tour’s #1 player, who’s dominated the sport for 15 years, and an 11th seed seems like a complete mismatch. If there was a betting line on this, Longoria would be the clear favourite over Laime.

And yet Laime is in with a shout here, in part, because she already has a win over Longoria. She’s also lost to Longoria four times, but still one win over Longoria is more than most players on tour have.

So, we’re saying there’s a chance.

You can watch Laime take her chance live from San Antonio via the LPRT YouTube channel. The final will 4:40 PM Saturday Central time.

2023 LPRT Battle at the Alamo
San Antonio, Texas - April 27-29, 2023

Semi-finals - Friday

1) Paola Longoria d. 12) Maria Jose Vargas, 15-10, 8-15, 11-7
11) Brenda Laime d. 10) Samantha Salas, 15-11, 15-11

Final - Saturday

1) Paola Longoria v. 11) Brenda Laime - 4:40 PM

LPRT U21 Singles - Round of 16 - Friday

1) Valeria Centellas - BYE
8) Naomi Ros d. 9) Khyathi Velpuri, 15-2, 15-7

4) Camila Rivero - BYE

3) Martina Katz - BYE
6) Paula Mansilla - BYE

7) Yanna Salazar d. 10) Leonela Osorio, 15-7, 15-8
2) Annie Roberts - BYE

LPRT U21 Singles - Quarterfinals - Friday

1) Valeria Centellas d. 8) Naomi Ros, 15-7, 15-6
4) Camila Rivero - BYE

3) Martina Katz d. 6) Paula Mansilla, 15-6, 15-6
2) Annie Roberts d. 7) Yanna Salazar, 15-13, 15-12

LPRT U21 Singles - Semi-finals - Saturday

1) Valeria Centellas v. 4) Camila Rivero - 10:10 AM
2) Annie Roberts v. 3) Martina Katz - 10:10 AM

Mixed Doubles - Quarterfinals - Friday

1) Maria Jose Vargas & Alejandro Landa d. 8) Alexandra Herrera & Diego Gastelum, 15-10, 15-9
4) Erika Manilla & Erik Garcia d. 5) Kelani Lawrence & Cole Sendrey, 15-4, 15-8

3) Carla Muñoz & Alan Natera d. 11) Paola Longoria & Christian Longoria, 14-15, 15-2, 11-7
10) Brenda Laime & Marcelo Vargas Aguilar d. 2) Hollie Scott & Daniel De La Rosa, 12-15, 15-7, 11-8

Mixed Doubles - Semi-finals - Saturday

1) Maria Jose Vargas & Alejandro Landa v. 4) Erika Manilla & Erik Garcia - 11:15 AM

3) Carla Muñoz & Alan Natera v. 10) Brenda Laime & Marcelo Vargas Aguilar - 11:15 AM

Follow the bouncing ball….

Natera & Trujillo win at 43rd Annual Lewis Drug Pro-Am

Alan Natera won Men’s Open Sunday at the 43rd Annual Lewis Drug Pro-Am in Sioux Falls, South Dakota, where he defeated Gerson Miranda Martinez, 11-15, 15-4, 11-6, in the final. In the semi-finals, Natera, who was the top seed, defeated 5th seed Lee Connell, 15-11, 11-15, 11-3, while 3rd seed Miranda Martinez upset 2nd seed Jordan Barth, 15-11, 15-8.

There was also an International Racquetball Tour (IRT) U21 division in Sioux Falls, as the Lewis Drug Pro-Am was an IRT event. There were four players in the U21 division, so it was a round robin competition.

Erick Trujillo won the U21 division going undefeated against the other three players without losing a game. Curiously, Trujillo’s closest match was against Benjamin Horner, an American teen-ager who finished 4th without winning a game. But Horner’s two games versus Trujillo were close with Trujillo winning 15-11, 15-13.

Why are there U21 divisions?

The IRT introduced U21 divisions last year, as a result of the International Racquetball Federation (IRF) including U21 in their World Junior Championships. The IRF was concerned about players getting to the end of their junior eligibility (previously the oldest division at World Juniors was U18) and quitting racquetball, when they could still develop into good players.

That’s a real concern, and not isolated to racquetball. Players in other sports will quit once they get beyond their teenage years or junior years, because their lives change significantly from being kids at home to becoming adults away from home. Things that were once priorities - like the sports they played - can fall by the wayside as other things - school, work, etc. - take priority.

But the dream of any athlete should be to play for their country. The IRF has extended the possibility of fulfilling that dream for another three years at the World Junior level by introducing the U21 division. This is a good move, because racquetball has grown internationally through international competitions. The IRF got racquetball included in the Pan American Games - the highest level of international competition outside of the Olympics - and that trickles down to smaller international competitions, like the Central American and Caribbean Games.

Countries want to compete in those games, so they develop sport programs to do so. That’s why we’ve seen the development of so many elite racquetball players outside of the United States, where racquetball originated.

Do the pro tours need U21 divisions?

While a U21 division at the IRF World Junior Championships makes a lot of sense, U21 divisions on the pro tours make little sense. The Ladies Professional Racquetball Tour (LPRT) seems to get this, as they have not had U21 divisions in their events this season with the exception of the US Open. Having a U21 LPRT division at the US Open may have been decided by USA Racquetball, as they would have wanted to have equal opportunity for both men and women, so if there was to be an IRT U21 division, then there should be a LPRT U21 division.

The U21 IRT draws are often small, usually fewer than ten players. Going to World Juniors, a weeklong event where you are representing your country and you can be assured that there will be a good field of players, is one thing, but going somewhere for a weekend tournament, which will likely have a small field of players, is another thing.

We believe that the IRT introduced U21 - with some prize money - as a means to help younger players pay for expenses to compete on tour. But we’d prefer the prize money from a U21 division to go into the Open division, and have the open division pay out for semi-finals as well as the finalists.

For example, the New York Open last year had $500 for first and $250 for second in U21, while Open was $600 for first and $400 for second ($1750 over both divisions). We think it would be better to have it all in Open with $750 for first, $500 second, and $250 for each semi-finalist.

Having younger players in Open means that they are could play “wily veterans.” Wily vets have been around awhile, seen a few things, have a few tricks up their sleeves, and are happy to school a young’un on the court. That schooling would be more useful to a young developing player than playing another kid of a similar age.

The young players may beat the wily veterans, and that’s great. In the long run, the young players should beat the wily veterans, because time is on the side of the young players, and they should use that time to develop skills to beat the wily vets. One way to develop those skills is by playing experienced players, i.e. the wily veterans.

Upcoming events

While the pro tours are off until late February, the focus next weekend will be on national events. USA Racquetball is having its 2023 National Doubles and National Singles Championships in Tempe, Arizona, February 1-5.

Also, Racquetball Canada will hold its second National Team Selection Event of the season February 3rd and 4th in Grande Prairie, Alberta, and Mexico’s Campeonato Nacional Selectivo 2023 will be in Juarez, Mexico, February 1-5.

43rd Annual Lewis Drug Pro-Am
January 19-22, 2023 - Sioux Falls, South Dakota

Men’s Open Singles

Final

1) Alan Natera d. 3) Gerson Miranda Martinez, 11-15, 15-4, 11-6

Semi-finals

1) Alan Natera d. 5) Lee Connell, 15-11, 11-15, 11-3
3) Gerson Miranda Martinez d. 2) Jordan Barth, 15-11, 15-8

Quarterfinals

1) Alan Natera d. 8) Carlos Ramirez, 15-3, 15-3
5) Lee Connell d. 4) Anthony Martin, 15-9, 15-5

3) Gerson Miranda Martinez d. 6) Ty Hedalen, 15-4, 15-2
2) Jordan Barth d. 7) Matthew Majxner, 15-2, 15-9

IRT U21 Singles

Rank - Player - Record

1) Erick Trujillo - 3-0 (6 games won, 0 lost)
2) Diego Garcia - 2-1 (4, 2)
3) Carlos Ramirez - 1-2 (2, 4)
4) Benjamin Horner - 0-3 (0, 6)

Follow the bouncing ball….