Some of the longest, loudest, and hardest fought matches in the US OPEN have taken place in the back courts at the Memphis Racquet Club. Thursday night was no exception. Andy Hawthorne vs. Ben Croft in the near court.
Add comment November 16th, 2007 by Geoff Thomsen
Susy clearly giving 110% during a five-game battle with Kerri Wachtel in the 16’s:
Add comment November 16th, 2007 by Geoff Thomsen
The action here at the 12th Choice Hotels US OPEN today was non stop from very early this morning as the Men played two rounds to get to the quarterfinals and the Women played to the Round of 16.
The matches started bright and early, and I have to admit I had forgotten that and was genuinely surprised when I walked into the club and many of the IRT Pros were on court warming up. The rule of the day in the first round this morning was 3 and out as 13 of the 16 matches were settled in 3 games. Jason Thoerner and Andy Hawthorne decided that 4 games would be a better way to go while Kris Odegard decided that after winning the first 2 games he’d rather go five than get off court quickly.
I was able to watch the battle of the Carsons as Rocky took on Tony. Rocky came out strong in this one to grab a 10-0 lead in the first game, and then he really stalled. Trying for too much, he quickly allowed Tony to run off 8 straight before he decided that enough was enough and he should end the first game. The second game followed a very similar pattern as Rocky built a 7-0 lead before allowing Tony back into it. Once again Tony got it to 8 but that was all he would get. Rocky decided at that point that he really needed to settle down and he ended game 3 fairly quickly at 11-4 to end the match. I spoke with Rocky after that match and he mentioned that he really needed to focus to get those games over with and that he would definitely be working on that in his next match. That next match would be against John Ellis.
John started his day with a battle with Ruben Gonzalez. Ruben came out strong in this one and that forced John to bring his best from the start. The first two games could have gone either way, but John managed to squeak them both out before he pulled away in the third.
Another match of note was the meeting of Current National Singles Champion Mitch Williams and US OPEN Event Coordinator, Doug Ganim. That match happened to take place right outside of the media center so I had an excellent vantage point as these two played would go point for point through each game. Doug was playing extremely well today, but Mitch was able to just scrape by in 3 very tight games.
Doug did go on and win his match in the Classic Pro Racquetball tour division later on today and will be playing tomorrow in their Round of 16.
In the Round of 16, the only upsets were #10 Andy Hawthorne taking out #7 Ben Croft and #9 Jason Thoerner beating #8 Chris Crowther. Both matches were close throughout. The only near upset occurred when Shane Vanderson dropped 2 straight games after winning the first two to go to a tiebreaker, but he regrouped and gave Japan’s Hiroshi Shimizu a donut in that breaker.
On the Women’s side action kicked off with some great battles in the Choice Hotels US OPEN WPRO Round of 32 as these ladies fought for the right to advance to Friday’s Round of 16 matches.
One of the closest matches today featured Mexico’s Samantha Salas taking on Krystal Csuk from Illinois. Krystal came out and refused to miss to gain the 11-5 game one win. That only seemed to fire Samantha up as she rolled through games 2 and 3 by scores of 11-8 and 11-7. However, Krystal wasn’t about to give up on this match and dug deep to pull out the 11-2 game 4 win to force the tiebreaker. It looked like she had the momentum, but Samantha refused to lose and fought for the 11-7 win and the right to play South Carolina’s Brenda Kyzer on Friday.
Brenda put together a solid effort to dispatch Ecuador’s Veronica Sotomayor in 3 very close games. Veronica came out strong in this one to build an 8-2 first game lead, but couldn’t seem to find the right shot to finish and Brenda certainly made her pay for that.
Chile’s Angela Grisar also found herself trailing in game one before storming back to take a close three game match from California’s Aubrey O’Brien. That win earned Angela a Friday match with Doreen Fowler of Maryland who got by former US Junior Team member, Da’Monique Davis currently from Alabama.
Ohio’s Kerri Wachtel managed a quick win over Minnesota’s Vallana Perrault to earn a match up with Mexico’s Susana Acosta. It appeared that yesterday’s tough matches had taken their toll on Vallana. Susana, on the other hand, fought through the nervous jitters in the first game to sweep the final three over Florida’s Vivian Gomez.
Defending Champion, Christie Van Hees of Canada got her title defense off to a good start with a straight games win over California’s Monique Flaherty. She advances to a match with fellow Canadian, Jen Saunders who dispatched New York’s Kim Ferina in three tough games.
Last year’s finalist, Cheryl Gudinas-Holmes also advanced in straight games over Paola Nunez and now faces a Round of 16 match with another former US Junior Team player, Adrienne Fisher of Ohio. Adrienne managed to get through a very determined Michelle Earl from Alaska to gain this match.
Another 5 game marathon occurred in the match between Indiana’s Diane Moore and Canada’s Josee Grand’maitre. From the beginning, this one looked like it could go either way as both ladies came out shooting strong. In the end, Diane was able to tough it out and earn the 11-4, 5-11, 12-10, 7-11, 11-6 win to move onto a Friday match with Utah’s Kristin Bellows. Kristin was hitting extremely well today brimming with confidence from her recent appearance in the finals of the Canadian Racquetball Classic. She took the momentum of that tournament and gained the 3 gam e win over North Carolina’s Phyllis Morris.
Virginia’s Candi Hostovich brought a solid game plan to her match with yet another US Junior National Team member in Kara Mazur of Connecticut and was able to gain a hard fought 4 game win scores were 10-12, 11-5, 11-6, 11-7. That win earns Candi a shot at top seed Rhonda Rajsich of Arizona.
Rhonda came through a tough match with Canada’s Brandi Jacobson Prentice. Playing on the stadium court, Brandi managed to stay around in each of the games, but Rhonda is the top seed and at the end of each game, she was able to pull away in her usual athletic style.
The final Round of 16 match will feature Mexico’s Paola Longoria taking on Texan Keely Franks. Paola drew an injured Frederique Lambert in her match today and unfortunately, her injury got the better of her. She gave it all she had but the pressure that Paola was able to put on was just too much.
Keely came out strong from the outset in her match with Colorado’s Jo Shattuck and grabbed a quick 2 game lead before Jo could regroup to take game 3. It looked like the momentum was shifting, but Keely fought through it and managed to claim the victory on an ace to end game 4.
The action kicks off bright and early Friday morning here in Memphis at the 12th Choice Hotels US OPEN Racquetball Championships. Come on out and watch the world’s best players fight for the title.
Also, California’s Jose Diaz is having himself quite the tourney so far. He started it with a victory in the Pro-Am Doubles Event that kicked off the tourney and he has progressed to the Round of 16 in the Men’s A and won his first match in the Men’s 24 and Under where he will face the top seed tomorrow.
Anthony Herrera had a good day today as he won his open match with Canada’s Eric Derouchers 15-13, 15,3. I mention that mostly because it was taking place as I started typing this and I kept having to look up as Anthony was putting it all out there with some amazing diving retrievals and shots throughout. In fact, I had to write up a 10 sign and hold it up for the crowd to see after one particular rally where Anthony dove on 3 consecutive shots between the back wall and left side wall…really was a great rally.
The Women will play two rounds tomorrow to get down to the semifinals and the men will be playing their quarterfinal tomorrow…some great racquetball will be on display here at the Racquet Club of Memphis.
More later!
Add comment November 15th, 2007 by Adam Katz
Greetings from Memphis and the 12th Choice Hotels US Open Racquetball Championships. Many of the players are already here as the Pro-Am Doubles challenge which benefits the St. Judes Children’s Hospital is currently ongoing. In fact, I’m sitting here watching Kristen Bellows(formerly Walsh) warm up for her match as I sit in the Media Center right next door.
24 IRT Pros and 8 WPRO Pros are each teaming up with 32 players who have made a generous donation to the St. Judes Children’s Hospital to play one game to 15 matches. We even have a couple of Juniors playing in this event as Ohio’s Matthew Wray and California’s Jose Diaz are both paired with pro players. Can’t remember Matthew’s partner off hand, but Jose is teamed with the Mexico’s Javier Moreno. Their match is coming up in the next round and I am definitely looking forward to that.
As way of reminder, the defending champions in this event are Christie Van Hees and Jason Mannino, both are currently playing against each on the main stadium court. Kristen Bellows and John Ellis are currently playing on what I understand is Court 6 as I sit behind the glass on the right side wall.
The action kicks off bright and early tomorrow morning at 3 local clubs. I have been asked to cover the WPRO for the tournament so my updates will have more of their matches, but I will do the best I can to get reports about the men’s matches as well.
Personally, I open my tournament with a match Wednesday night at 9 and I am already excited about it.
I do have a few pictures from today, but I haven’t downloaded them to my laptop yet, so I will try to get those out either later tonight or early tomorrow morning.
Will also try to update everyone on the winner of the Pro-Am tourney later on tonight.
Add comment November 13th, 2007 by Adam Katz
Just a quick note to remind everyone that the start of the Pro Tour season is now just over a week away. Both tours start with great events right out of the gate on the weekend of Sept. 15-16.The WPRO opens with the Outback Blast It in Fayetteville, NC. I remember playing in that tournament back in the early 90s, and it is always a good time. Great club, and great people. If you’re in the area, I would highly encourage you to check it out. If you’re not in the area, you can follow the action live on the internet at:
http://www.racquetballonline.tv
The IRT season opens with the third and newest Grand Slam event The Motorola World Racquetball Championships presented by Verizon Wireless at Lynmar Racquet Club in Colorado Springs. I would definitely recommend this one to everyone as well as Eddie Meredith and crew always put on a great tournament, and having all the pros in town for a Grand Slam will definitely make this one a tournament to remember. You can follow the draws online at the following link:
http://r2sports.com/tourney
That’ s all for now ..
Add comment September 4th, 2007 by Adam Katz
While I wasn’t able to attend this year’s IRT Pro National Racquetball Championships, veteran US OPEN photographer Mike Boatman was on the scene. Not only is Mike one of the most accomplished photographers of racquetball, he also runs a very successful photography business in Memphis, TN. Mike does some AMAZING work, and I highly recommend you check out his website - www.mikeboatman.com.
Mike submitted some of his best shots from the event, which included action from the beginning rounds through the finals.
Doubledonut Gallery - http://www.doubledonut.com/v/2007_pro_nats/
1 comment June 14th, 2007 by Geoff Thomsen
Things are definitely getting interesting on the WPRO rankings chase. The numbers below do not reflect the latest stop in Miami, where top seed Rhonda Rajsich lost in the quarters, and where Angela Grisar won the top spot. At this point, there is really no way to say that any single player is guaranteed a certain finish. There is only a single event left this season, the WPRO Pro Nationals in New Orleans, LA. These events usually carry a higher point value, so this final event will make a huge impact on the final numbers. Another factor which could REALLY shake things up would be the participation of Christie Van Hees at this final event. At a number five seed, she could significantly change things up by knocking out top seeds in early rounds.
It will be VERY interesting to see what the standings are after Miami, and also to know what point values we can expect for Pro Nationals.
2006-2007 WPRO Rankings as of March 1st, 2007
| Rank | Name | Points | prev | change |
| 1 | Rajsich, Rhonda | 1388 | 1152 | 236 |
| 2 | Gudinas Holmes, Cheryl | 1190 | 1126 | 64 |
| 3 | Wachtel, Kerri | 888 | 760 | 128 |
| 4 | Grisar, Angela | 854 | 774 | 80 |
| 5 | Van Hees, Christie | 812 | 460 | 352 |
| 6 | Walsh, Kristen | 695 | 597 | 98 |
| 7 | Kyzer, Brenda | 624 | 561 | 63 |
| 8 | Shattuck, Jo | 394 | 340 | 54 |
| 9 | Salas, Samantha | 375 | 266 | 109 |
| 10 | Moore, Diane | 339 | 338 | 1 |
| 11 | Fowler, Doreen | 323 | 291 | 32 |
| 12 | Gomez, Vivian | 209 | 177 | 32 |
| 13 | Fisher, Adrienne | 187 | 187 | 0 |
| 14 | Hostovich, Candi | 164 | 128 | 36 |
| 15 | Acosta, Susy | 149 | 133 | 16 |
| 16 | Ferina, Kimi | 107 | - | - |
**Previous rankings update was January 28th, 2007
Add comment March 21st, 2007 by Geoff Thomsen
The women were once again setting the standard for live online video feeds this weekend courtesy of www.racquetballonline.tv, at the Great Balls of Fire ProAM in Miami, FL. The early rounds closely followed the tournament seedings, with all top eight players making it to the quarterfinals. From here, things started to get a little dicey for the number one seed, Rhonda Rajsich, as Diane Moore put together a GREAT effort to take Rhonda to game five. The other big match in the quarters was also on the top half of the draw, as number four seed Angela Grisar battled her way back against number six seed Kristen Walsh. The complete quarterfinal results were:
Q1: Rhonda Rajsich def. Diane Moore 2, (7), 7, (7), 6
Q2: Angela Grisar def. Kristen Walsh (5), (6), 2, 3, 5
Q3: Kerri Wachtel def. Brenda Kyzer 8, 4, 5
Q4: Cheryl Gudinas def. Jo Shattuck 2, 4, 0
In the semifinals, Angela got to quick work taking out the top seed, Rhonda Rajsich. These two usually go far beyond three games, so I’m wondering if either Rhonda was really off, or Angela was really on. On the bottom half, we witnessed another classic battle between Cheryl and Kerri. Kerri has been looking to avenge her loss to Cheryl in at the US Open, which she did here in Miami in four games.
S1: Angela Grisar def. Rhonda Rajsich 8, 10, 8
S2: Kerri Wachtel def. Cheryl Gudinas 6, 4, (7), 7
Angela Grisar has had some great finishes this year, but I think this is her first event win. A big congratulations to here after taking out Kerri in four games!
Finals: Angela Grisar def. Kerri Wachtel 5, 3, (4), 4
Add comment March 21st, 2007 by Geoff Thomsen
A quick thank you to Adam Katz for this heads up - John Foust has posted his pictures from the 2007 Racquet for the Cure WPRO stop in Denver. Most of the shots are “portraits” of players and fans (you just may see a few familiar faces 
), but there are some shot on the last few pages of the gallery of the match between Rhonda and Christie.
http://jwfoust.digitaleventsonline.com/gallery/?cat=23674
Thanks Adam!
Add comment February 28th, 2007 by Geoff Thomsen
The ladies of the Women’s Professional Racquetball Organization were in Toronto this past weekend battling it out on the second and final grand slam event of the season. Many of you were lucky enough to watch the free internet video streaming provided by www.racquetballonline.tv. I just can’t mention enough how technology like this is AWESOME for the sport.
Back to the action .. The round of 16 pretty much finished as expected, with all but one of the top eight seeds advancing. Samantha Salas made an outstanding appearance at this event, by first taking out Jo Shattuck in three straight, followed by a five-game showdown with the number one seed - Rhonda Rajsich. Kerri Wachtel finally moved up in the draw (and by “moving up” I mean moving to the bottom half of the bracket) after several outstanding showings this season. Unlucky for her, this meant a quarterfinal matchup with top contender #6 player on the tour, Christie Van Hees.
Christie was business in front of her hometown crowd, and ended the event with a win over Rhonda Rajsich in the finals. She made an amazing run through the draw, only losing two single games in all of her matches.
At this point in the season, it looks like Rhonda has a lock on the number one season end ranking. I say this mostly by assuming that Christie will play the last two stops of the year. With Christie in the bottom half of the draw, Rhonda can use her like a pawn to defeat her top rivals in the early rounds of the events - costing them precious ranking points. Even if Rhonda lost to Christie in the finals of both of the remaining events, no other player on the tour could overcome Rhonda’s top point spot. Christie is too far down the list at #6, and she serves as a huge obstacle to pass for anyone challenging Rhonda’s lead (Rhonda, is of course, the other big challenge on the top half of the draw).
Quarterfinal results
Rhonda Rajsich def. Samantha Salas (10), 2, (10), 3, 3
Angela Grisar def. Kristen Walsh 8, 6, 3
Christie Van Hees def. Kerri Wachtel (10), 5, 6, 4
Cheryl Gudinas def. Brenda Kyzer (9), 8, 2, 7
Semifinals Results
Rhonda Rajsich def. Angela Grisar 8, 8, 10
Christie Van Hees def. Cheryl Gudinas 7, 2, (8), 4
Finals Results
Christie Van Hees def. Rhonda Rajsich 9, 7, 4
Add comment February 28th, 2007 by Geoff Thomsen
Sorry for the lack of updates over the past week or so, but I’ve been out of town on a little trip to the East Coast. Of course I happened to pick the weekend where both the IRT and WPRO were back in action. A big thanks goes out to Adam Katz, who was onsite at the WPRO Racquet for the Cure in Denver. He’s got quite an email list that he sends his excellent event recaps to, and I’m lucky to be on it (and lucky he approves me posting the emails to my site).
IRT - The IRT was in Sioux Falls, SD this past weekend, hosting a Tier 2 event. And by Tier 2, it pretty much meant that only Jason Mannino was absent from the regular top eight. He had a camp that weekend, or this might have been a full blown draw regardless of the prize money. I didn’t get a chance to follow any of the action online, but by looking at the scores on the draws, things seemed a little ho-hum. The top seeds advanced their way along, and Jack Huczek captured the crown without losing a single game the entire event. As a matter of fact, there were very few matches that went beyond three games. The men are back in action this weekend in Seattle, for a full Tier 1 event. More info as it happens.
WPRO - The ladies spent the weekend in Denver, at the Racquet for the Cure. As earlier mentioned, Adam Katz did a great job of sending detailed updates each day of the event. There was also the standard WPRO live video streaming all weekend courtesy of www.racquetballonline.tv. The biggest news of this event seems to be “Rhonda’s baaaaack!”. Christie Van Hees shook the draw up once again as the sixth seed, and took out Cheryl Gudinas in the semifinals. Rhonda was on a mission however, and defeated Christie in three straight games in the finals. The next Tier 1 event for the ladies happens to be a Grand Slam - the Great Canadian Challenge in Toronto. Does Rhonda have what it takes to beat Christie on her own turf?
Add comment February 14th, 2007 by Geoff Thomsen
Adam Katz to the rescue, with another great writeup of the action at day three from the 2007 Racquet for the Cure WPRO racquetball championships (copyright 2007 Adam Katz):
Each woman in the semifinals has a realistic shot at the coveted year end number one ranking, and so the tension was quite thick as Rhonda and Kerri moved to the Championship court and Christie and Cheryl moved right across the way to their court.
I called lines on the Rajsich/Wachtel match so that is the one I can talk freely about.
Kerri came out very strong in this one keeping Rhonda guessing and diving throughout the first game as her drive z to the right was falling perfectly in this one. She either got the straight winner off the serve or got the weak return for an easy kill quite frequently in this first game winning at 3.
As Rhonda walked off the court, her nose started to bleed so there was a little delay to the start of the second game. Rhonda certainly used that time to regroup as she came out on fire and jumped to an early 5-0 lead. Kerri was able to fight back to 5, but Rhonda had stepped up her game and wasn’t about to fall two games down.
In the third game, it was a back and forth fight from the opening serve but Rhonda managed to stay at least one point ahead throughout to gain the win at 7.
Now trailing 2 games to 1, Kerri tried to regroup and come out strong in the 4th. Rhonda, however, had a different idea and jumped to a 5-1 lead. Kerri did fight back to 5 all but the effort seemed to take something out of her and Rhonda used that to rebuild the lead to 9-5. Again Kerri dug deep and again Kerri came back. Rhonda did serve for the match at 10-9 a couple of times and then Kerri gained the upper hand and moved to game point at 11-10. A timeout each and some truly great retrievals by Rhonda and solid shot making from Kerri kept the crowd on edge until Rhonda finally finished that match off 13-11.
The crowd then moved over to catch the end of Christie vs. Cheryl. Between the first and second game of Rajsich/Wachtel, I walked over to see what was going on and Cheryl was up 9-3 in the first game. I walked back over after game two and Christie had tied the game at 9. At first, I thought that they were in the second game as well, but it was just that good of a game, so I was sorry to have missed it. Cheryl managed to finish it off at 9.
That must have fired Christie up as I was told she came out very strong in game two and didn’t really give Cheryl a chance winning 11-3. The third game had both players settled down and hitting solid shots throughout and 11 points weren’t enough to settle it as each player was “in the zone”. Christie managed to put together the final run at the end to win it 12-10 and take the 2-1 lead into the fourth game.
They moved the 4th game over to the Championship court as Rhonda and Kerri had finished. This and the lead in the match seemed to fire Christie up even more as she just didn’t miss in this game. Her backhand was back to its devastating best and Cheryl just didn’t have an answer on this day as Christie finished it off 11-4.
This sets up the Rhonda and Christie final at 4 this afternoon.
Both players looked very strong heading into this championship match in the 8th Annual Racquet for the Cure as they had each only lost 2 games on their respective ways to the finals.
Christie came out flat rolling everything in sight to build a 4-0 lead in the first game, and then she stalled. Rhonda slowly crawled back into the match and ultimately got the game to 5-5. At that point, Rhonda hit the momentum changing shot of that game. With the very lively Ektelon Red Fireball bouncing towards her left side as she ran to her right on the right wall, she reached behind her back and hit a perfect down the line pass that eluded a fully stretched Christie and the 6-5 lead. The players continued fighting on point for point for the remainder of that game until Rhonda put together the late run and the 11-9 win.
As the second game started, the crowd was hoping to see Christie tie things up, but Rhonda clearly had other ideas as she built a comfortable lead early and finished the game as quickly as she could. It seemed that Rhonda was just able to get everything and Christie felt the pressure as she was still hitting great shots, but she knew that they had to be even better to finish off a rally.
After the second game, most in the crowd had started to expect that this might only go 3 games, but Christie certainly had other ideas as she built another lead in this one. But again, Rhonda chipped away to square the game at 6 and then put together another run to bring herself to the brink of the title. Christie did manage to get the game back to 8, but Rhonda would not be denied and she gave a quick fist pump when the final point had been earned.
The banquet was another great event to finish off this long, but enjoyable, day of racquetball. A special thank you to Malia Bailey for coming out for the Racquet for the Cure and for sharing your story at the banquet tonight…there wasn’t a dry eye in the house. It’s always great to see you, and it was a lot of fun watching you play this weekend…she really played great! As did all the ladies pro and amateur.
Add comment February 11th, 2007 by Geoff Thomsen
Adam Katz continues his coverage at this weekend’s WPRO Tier 1 event, the Racquet for the Cure (Copyright 2007 Adam Katz):
What an incredible day of Racquetball here at the 8th Annual Racquet for the Cure in Denver.
The day started with the round of 16s at noon here. Fortunately, I happen to work a few blocks from the Denver Athletic Club, so I was able to take a long lunch in order to referee the match between Cheryl Gudinas-Holmes and Malia Bailey. Keeping in mind that I deal primarily with Juniors, I was a bit nervous calling this match, but both players played fair and hard and it turned out to be a great match.
Cheryl seemed to come out a bit on edge but she was definitely able to turn it up when she really needed it. Grabbing a slow 3-1 lead, it appeared that this wasn’t going to be a quick match right from the start. Malia kept Cheryl off guard throughout this match with some great serves, especially serving to the right side and Cheryl’s forehand. She got several weak returns or skips throughout the course of the match and you could feel the excitement in the club when Malia grabbed game 2 to even the match.
But Cheryl is still a very tough competitor and still in her prime so she was able to gut out the last two games by identical 11-6 scores.
The other marathon match of the 16s involved local Pro, Jo Shattuck taking on Miami’s Vivian Gomez. This match happened to take place right next to the Gudinas-Holmes-Bailey match so I could hear everything that was going on as it happened. There were some truly amazing rallies and shots throughout the course of this one before Jo was able to pull it out in 4. Vivian had the lead in the first two games but was unable to close it out each time and fell 11,10, (6), and 3. The other two matches in the noon schedule went fairly quickly as Christie Van Hees beat Candi Hostovich in 3 and Angela Grisar beat Kara Mazur in 3 tough games. The scores might have been a bit lopsided in these matches but the play certainly was not. Each match featured some great rallies that had the crowd throughout the club cheering their loudest. With that, the bottom half of the draw was set for 4 pm matches in the quarterfinals.
The top half then took center stage as Rhonda Rajsich started USA vs Mexico day with a match against Nancy Enriquez. Rhonda’s play in the Play the Pro fund raiser last night had clearly gotten her motivated for this one as she didn’t waste any time and won in 3 games 7,3, and 2. Nancy’s doubles partner and friend Samantha Salas, however, was able to turn the tide and beat Diane Moore in 3 tough games to earn a quarterfinal match with Rhonda. In the other part of this bracket, Kerri Wachtel and Kristin Walsh each won today to set up a very familiar quarterfinal match. I may be wrong here, but I believe that they have met at every tournament so far this season. I’m sure Shannon will confirm that for me tomorrow morning.
At 4 pm, the quarterfinals started as Cheryl Gudinas-Holmes faced Jo Shattuck in the championship court and on the video stream. Jo gave it everything she had, but Cheryl had turned it up to another level for this one and ended it in three 6,1, and 4. She then headed straight across to the other match featuring Christie Van Hees and Angela Grisar.
I’ve been trying to think of the right words for a few hours now that would do justice to the titanic struggle that this one turned out to be. The rallies were amazing and long and almost every rally had me wondering what each lady would have to do in order to win a point as both ladies made some amazing retrievals and some outstanding shot making as well. I’ve been on court with Christie a couple of times so I know firsthand that when she lines up a backhand, that rally is usually over. Angela, however, had a different game plan in mind and managed to anticipate that backhand throughout the course of this match. They split the first two games with each player winning fairly easily. Angela had grabbed a lead in the third and seemed to be on her way to the 2-1 lead, but Christie dug deep and fought through the pressure and the altitude to get that game. When that happened, it seemed to deflate Angela a bit and Christie turned it up in the 4th to close out the match. Scores were 4, (2), 9, and 7). The top half then took center stage as Rhonda Rajsich started USA vs Mexico day with a match against Nancy Enriquez. Rhonda’s play in the Play the Pro fund raiser last night had clearly gotten her motivated for this one as she didn’t waste any time and won in 3 games 7,3, and 2. Nancy’s doubles partner and friend Samantha Salas, however, was able to turn the tide and beat Diane Moore in 3 tough games to earn a quarterfinal match with Rhonda. In the other part of this bracket, Kerri Wachtel and Kristin Walsh each won today to set up a very familiar quarterfinal match. I may be wrong here, but I believe that they have met at every tournament so far this season. I’m sure Shannon will confirm that for me tomorrow morning.
At 4 pm, the quarterfinals started as Cheryl Gudinas-Holmes faced Jo Shattuck in the championship court and on the video stream. Jo gave it everything she had, but Cheryl had turned it up to another level for this one and ended it in three 6,1, and 4. She then headed straight across to the other match featuring Christie Van Hees and Angela Grisar. I’ve been trying to think of the right words for a few hours now that would do justice to the titanic struggle that this one turned out to be. The rallies were amazing and long and almost every rally had me wondering what each lady would have to do in order to win a point as both ladies made some amazing retrievals and some outstanding shot making as well.
I’ve been on court with Christie a couple of times so I know firsthand that when she lines up a backhand, that rally is usually over. Angela, however, had a different game plan in mind and managed to anticipate that backhand throughout the course of this match. They split the first two games with each player winning fairly easily. Angela had grabbed a lead in the third and seemed to be on her way to the 2-1 lead, but Christie dug deep and fought through the pressure and the altitude to get that game. When that happened, it seemed to deflate Angela a bit and Christie turned it up in the 4th to close out the match. Scores were 4, (2), 9, and 7.
With that, the top half took to the courts again as Rhonda returned to the championship court to face Mexico’s Samantha Salas. This one seemed to be a true dive fest as both players left it all on the court. Samantha showed that she is definitely well on her way to becoming a true force on the Women’s Professional Racquetball Organization Tour as she kept Rhonda running and diving throughout. Luckily for Rhonda, she enjoys doing that and she was able to get the 7,(8), 5, and 4 to move on to the semifinals.
The other quarter featured Kerri Wachtel against Kristin Walsh. This match has been one of the fiercest all season, but on this day Kerri seemed to have a little more in the tank and closed Kristin out in 3 close games. Scores were 10, 4, and 8.
That sets up the semifinals tomorrow at 11am here in Denver. I believe the streamed match will be Rhonda Rajsich vs. Kerri Wachtel and right across the way will be Cheryl Gudinas-Holmes vs. Christie Van Hees. The finals will take place tomorrow afternoon at 4pm Mountain time. I have volunteered to serve as a line judge for one semi and the final, so I should be able to talk about those two matches at length in tomorrow’s update.
The pros are currently playing in the Pro-Am Mixed doubles challenge. 8 local Open Men’s players paid $100 for the opportunity to team with a Pro in a blind draw Mixed Doubles challenge with the winning team taking home the $800 prize. The pairings turned out to be Kara Mazur and Woody Clouse as the top seeds. Malia Bailey and Anthony Herrera are the second seeds. Cannot recall all the other teams off hand, but they these two teams ended up in the final and in a truly great match, Mazur-Clouse squeaked past Bailey-Herrera 11-9 in the breaker. The action starts bright and early tomorrow morning so I will sign off for now. With that, the top half took to the courts again as Rhonda returned to the championship court to face Mexico’s Samantha Salas. This one seemed to be a true dive fest as both players left it all on the court. Samantha showed that she is definitely well on her way to becoming a true force on the Women’s Professional Racquetball Organization Tour as she kept Rhonda running and diving throughout. Luckily for Rhonda, she enjoys doing that and she was able to get the 7,(8), 5, and 4 to move on to the semifinals. The other quarter featured Kerri Wachtel against Kristin Walsh. This match has been one of the fiercest all season, but on this day Kerri seemed to have a little more in the tank and closed Kristin out in 3 close games. Scores were 10, 4, and 8. That sets up the semifinals tomorrow at 11am here in Denver. I believe the streamed match will be Rhonda Rajsich vs. Kerri Wachtel and right across the way will be Cheryl Gudinas-Holmes vs. Christie Van Hees. The finals will take place tomorrow afternoon at 4pm Mountain time. I have volunteered to serve as a line judge for one semi and the final, so I should be able to talk about those two matches at length in tomorrow’s update. The pros are currently playing in the Pro-Am Mixed doubles challenge. 8 local Open Men’s players paid $100 for the opportunity to team with a Pro in a blind draw Mixed Doubles challenge with the winning team taking home the $800 prize. The pairings turned out to be Kara Mazur and Woody Clouse as the top seeds. Malia Bailey and Anthony Herrera are the second seeds. Cannot recall all the other teams off hand, but they these two teams ended up in the final and in a truly great match, Mazur-Clouse squeaked past Bailey-Herrera 11-9 in the breaker.
The action starts bright and early tomorrow morning so I will sign off for now.
Add comment February 11th, 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
Add comment February 9th, 2007 by Geoff Thomsen
Tis the season for racquetball! There seem to be a plethora of events scheduled for the next few months, so I though I’d put a handy list together.
International Racquetball Tour
Women’s Professional Racquetball Organization - Featuring Live Video Streaming
Whew!
Add comment February 6th, 2007 by Geoff Thomsen
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