Just a quick reminder to let everyone know that the Tennis Channel will be airing the Final of the Motorola World Professional Racquetball Championships presented by Verizon Wireless tonight.
It is scheduled to air at 11pm Eastern Time, so if you get the Tennis Channel, please check it out. This match was a very good one between Rocky Carson and Alvaro Beltran.
Add comment December 12th, 2007 by Adam Katz
After a long, long, long wait .. the photos from the 2007 National Doubles Championships are FINALLY online. I had some major stuff hit my schedule recently, and unfortunately, updating double donut fell to the bottom of the list. Things are slowing coming around, and I should have more content on here shortly.
Up next: 2007 Portland Open Turkey Shoot Racquetball Championships
Up after that: 2007 US OPEN Racquetball Championships
For now: Gallery - 2007 National Doubles Racquetball Championships
Add comment December 11th, 2007 by Geoff Thomsen
Add comment December 1st, 2007 by Adam Katz
Hello everyone,
The US Junior National Team is now less than 2 weeks away from their trip down to Bolivia and the IRF Junior World Racquetball Championships. So I decided to remind everyone who will be going to represent the US at this very prestigious tournament.
This year’s team is led by Defending 18s World Champion, Michelle Key from Arizona. Michelle ended a couple of years of frustration last year with an absolutely dominating performance at both Junior Nationals and Junior Worlds, and continued that momentum earlier this summer defending her National Title in the Girls 18s. The other singles spot belongs to Indiana’s Sharon Jackson, who moved up from the 16s and made an immediate impact by reaching the finals last summer in Tempe, AZ at Junior Nationals. Based on last year’s results, Michelle should be the top seed with Mexico’s Paola Longoria taking the second seed position (this is entirely conjecture on my part, so please don’t hold me to it). If that does come to pass, then we can expect an early meeting in the single elimination draw between Longoria and Jackson…these young ladies battled for the singles title in the 16s last year at Worlds with Longoria taking the title in 2 very tough games.
The doubles team is Kara Mazur of Connecticut and Samantha McGuffey of Ohio. They defended their national title this past summer at Junior Nationals and now look to go a step further than last year when they were the beaten finalists at Junior Worlds, losing a very tough tiebreaker match with the Mexican team…sorry, cannot recall which players made up that Mexican team last year.
In the Girls 16s, Sheryl Lotts of Ohio and Danielle Key of Arizona will be pulling double duty as they qualified in both singles and doubles at Junior Nationals. Both of these young ladies possess strong athletic ability, and they will need it in the high altitude of Bolivia. Based on last year’s results, Sheryl should be the second seed, which will then put Danielle into an early match up with a top seeded Mexican girl, again I have no idea who that might be.
In the Girls 14s, there is some very serious talent in this division, and Aubrey O’Brien of California will be looking to avenge last year’s final defeat against Ecuador’s Veronica Sotomayor. Along with Aubrey in the singles is another Californian in Devon Pimentelli, who like Sharon Jackson in the 18s, impressed with a finals appearance in her first year in the 14s this past summer at Junior Nationals. Based on last year, Aubrey should be the second seed which means that Devon will get the first crack at Veronica’s crown in the single elimination part of the tournament. I haven’t seen Devon play since Junior Nationals, but watching both Aubrey and Veronica at the recent Choice Hotels US OPEN in Memphis last month, I would dare to suggest that they will meet once again in the final. If you recall, they had an epic battle last year with Veronica winning 11-9 in the breaker. If you’d like to see that match again, it is available at: http://www.racquetballonline.tv just log in and click on the IRF tab.
Aubrey will be pulling double duty in this one too, as she will team with Ohio’s Lily Berry in the doubles. I spoke briefly with Aubrey last month in Memphis and she is definitely focused on 2 gold medals to go along with the 3 she won at Junior Nationals.
In the Boys 18s, two California boys will be looking to regain US dominance in this division. Jose Rojas and Ishmael Aldana will definitely give it everything they have. They split matches at Junior Nationals and Junior Worlds last year, but this past summer, Jose was trying to match a feat accomplished only by Adrienne Fisher and Jack Huczek previously, that being wins in the 18s and 16s at the same Junior Nationals. Jose won this year’s final battle with Ishmael ending a truly dominating performance at Junior Nationals and will now try to bring David Ortega’s junior career to an unhappy end. The final in the Boy’s 18s last year at Worlds was an all Mexican event, so my guess is that Jose will be in the lower half with Ishmael in the upper half of the draw this year.
In the doubles, Ishmael will pull double duty, and this time without Jose. They have been partners for many years, but they decided that they would split up for the good of the team and Danny Lavely of Ohio will partner Ishmael this year. They played extremely well at Junior Nationals and will try to add a World title in a couple of weeks.
In the Boys 16s, Jose will attempt to win this division as well. Based on last year’s results, where he lost that final to Ishmael, he should be the top seed. The other singles spot belongs to Oregon’s Taylor Knoth, who followed up a solid showing and win at High School Nationals with a run to the finals in his first year in the 16s.
The Doubles team will be Taylor teaming with his long time partner, Jake Bredenbeck of Minnesota. They are a very solid team and should definitely be in the hunt down in Bolivia this year.
In the Boys 14s, the singles players will be pulling double duty as California’s Marko Rojas and Oregon’s Dylan Reid will both be in the hunt in the singles and will team together for the first time in doubles. Marko got a huge monkey off his back last summer at Junior Nationals when he finally beat Louisiana’s Joseph Lee in singles, and followed that up with another battle with Dylan in the finals to win the National Title, and he looks to add at least one World Title to his racquetball resume. His teaming with Dylan should make a very interesting, and tough doubles team.
On the Espirit Cup side, I have to give a special hand and say thank you to all of these players and parents that will be making the trip. Their commitment to this great sport should never be questioned.
Hollee Hungerford of Oregon will be the sole US hope in the Girls 12s. Hollee had a good showing at Junior Nationals with a semifinal appearance in the singles to go along with a National Title in Doubles in the Girls 12s. Unfortunately, her doubles partner, Sabrina Viscuso of California was unable to make the trip. Hollee is all heart on the court so I know she will be in every match down there.
In the Girls 10s, Erika Manilla of Colorado and Jordan Cooperrider of Florida will be playing in the singles…and I’m guessing that they will team up in the doubles as well. These young ladies squared off in the 8s final at last summer’s Junior Nationals, with Erika winning a very tough match. Erika did manage to get to the finals in the 10s as well, and has been playing some very solid racquetball lately.
In the Boy’s 12s, Zach Wertz of Louisiana and Sam Reid of Oregon will be point earners in the singles…and another guess that they will play doubles as well. The doubles team, however, will be Adam Manilla of Colorado and Sean Cooperrider of Florida. Zach managed to win the National Title in singles last summer with a very solid tournament that included a very tough final match with Sam. In the doubles, Adam and Sean kept Sam away from the gold as they beat Sam and his partner, John Lindsay of Oregon in a very tough tiebreaker match. Of course, both players then took it out on A dam in singles as Sam won their semifinal and then John took the third place match 11-10 in singles.
Adam is currently competing in the Colorado State Doubles Championships with his father, so he is getting plenty of good practice for this one.
So those are the players, the coaches that will also be making this trip are:
Kelley Beane – New Hampshire, is the head coach looking to regain the World Cup after a long absence from US possession.
Cheryl Gudinas Holmes – Illinois. Known for her incredible focus, she should be a very steady influence on this team.
Shane Wood – Massachusetts. Known for his strategy on court, he just knows how to win.
Andy Pitock – Illinois…I think. Always good for a quote when I need one and a strong proponent of physical conditioning.
Jen Meyer – Colorado. Gets to handle the 12s and 10s mostly on her own and always up to the challenge. She will have some assistance this year from Colorado’s Anthony Herrera who is currently playing his first full season on the IRT Tour and Ohio’s Conlon Berry who is making the trip but will not be playing.
Anyway, that’s all for now, I will try to keep everyone updated during the course of the event and just want to remind everyone that Angela and Pablo from racquetballonline.tv will be there with their camera so please check it out.
Add comment December 1st, 2007 by Adam Katz
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