WPRO - Racquet for the Cure
February 9th, 2007 by Geoff Thomsen
Sorry folks, but I’ve been a little tardy about getting the some details online regarding the pro stops this weekend. I’m on the road doing a little traveling, and I’ll try to gets some results posted as time permits. Good news for me, is that the infamous Adam Katz is onsite at the WPRO event in Colorado Springs, the Racquet for the Cure. He’s been sending out daily recaps akin to his Junior Event coverage; here’s day one (copyright 2007 Adam Katz):
I’m so used to covering Junior matches that I honestly feel a little overwhelmed reporting on the Pros, but here goes.
There were only 2 Pro matches this evening as the ladies were pairing down to the round of 16 which will be played tomorrow starting at Noon Mountain time.
Tonight’s matches featured a WPRO player taking on an Open Level lady from Colorado. My initial thoughts before either match started were that the altitude here might make a difference in the outcome. Then the matches started and I remembered that there is definitely a difference between Pro and Open level players. In the first match, Malia Bailey of Virginia took on Janelle Williams. Janelle has the type of game that can certainly frustrate an opponent as she is always in the right place and plays the percentages, but on this night, nothing was going to stop Malia. She came out shooting incredibly accurate passes and pinches and took Janelle out of her element to claim the win in three games. Scores were 0,1, and 4 I believe. That win gives Malia a match with second seed, Cheryl Gudinas-Holmes tomorrow at noon. I was standing next to the two of them as they talked after the match, and Cheryl was clearly disappointed about having to play Malia right away. The two of them are friends and they both know that someone has to lose tomorrow, and of course, with the race for the year end number one up for grabs amongst so many ladies this year, every match from here on out carries just a little extra weight.
The other match tonight featured up and coming star, Nancy Enriquez from Mexico against Colorado Racquetball Association Board Member, Cindy Tilbury. Again, this match was dominated by the true Pro level player as Nancy kept Cindy on the run throughout. Cindy did string together some good shots here and there, but Nancy was clearly in control from the beginning and claimed the win in three games. Scores were 0,1, and 5 I believe. Didn’t actually see either score card, but I thought I heard those scores along the way. That win earned Nancy a match with top seed, Rhonda Rajsich tomorrow at 1:15. I think that this match and the Gudinas-Holmes vs. Bailey match will be streamed on the internet at: http://www.racquetballonline.tv
After those matches, the Pros settled in to a fun evening of play as the Pro/Sponsor doubles paired the pros with a local event sponsor. I’d like to tell you that I can remember all of the teams, but I only cover the Juniors so most of the sponsors were unknown to me. Teams that I do know were, Junior Player Adam Manilla teaming with Chile’s Angela Grisar. This was a different team as Angela played the right side since Adam is left handed. They played well but fell short of the goal. Another team was local legend, John Foust, who made a successful return from recent shoulder surgery, teaming with Ohio’s Kerri Wachtel. They managed to get to the semifinals before bowing out. Also, USAR Board Member, Linda Mojer, teamed with Kristin Walsh.
The Final match (which had two lift tickets on the line) featured Indiana’s Diane Moore and Ken Sylvester against Mexico’s Samantha Salas and the Man in CO Junior Racquetball, Diving Dan Davis.
Unfortunately, the crowd was disappointed tonight as Dan refused to live up to his nickname and stayed on his feet all night and that probably cost them the title match as they were beaten 7-5.
After that, Rhonda took on all comers for $50 donations to the cause in games to 9. The kicker was that every point she gave up earned her opponent $5 back…so with the extra pressure on, Rhonda turned up her game and beat everyone by 9-1 scores…regardless, the beaten foes donated the whole $50 to this very worthy cause.
The action starts tomorrow at noon with 4 matches. Cheryl Gudinas-Holmes vs. Malia Bailey, Angela Grisar vs. up and coming Junior star, Kara Mazur, Christie Van Hees vs. Candi Hostovich and Jo Shattuck vs. Vivian Gomez. The top half of the draw plays at 1:15 and features Rhonda Rajsich vs Nancy Enriquez, Kerri Wachtel vs Michelle Earl, Kristin Walsh vs. Kimi Ferina and Samantha Salas vs. Diane Moore. I’m fairly certain of those matches, but if you’d like to check out the draw for yourself see the website at: http://www.ladiesproracquetball
.com or the event website at: http://www.racquetforthecure .com
More tomorrow.
- Adam Katz
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