Pro Singles finalists Timbo Gonzalez and Tywan Cook.
BROOKLYN, N.Y. — Play resumed early Sunday morning on the final day of the 13th USHA Wallball Nationals, after a full first day of matches with a few exciting finals. Nine of the twelve Wallball Nationals divisions would crown champions on our Championship Sunday.
The highly anticipated Pro Singles final of Timbo Gonzalez and Tywan Cook delivered another electrifying exhibition of skill and athleticism from the two top-seeded players. As the match neared the 45-minute mark, Cook pulled away and executed crucial kills and passes that skimmed the court lines to win his third singles crown over Gonzalez, 25-19.
Things looked bleak early on, as Gonzalez looked unbeatable for the first few points, cruising to an 8-0 lead. Cook withstood Gonzalez’s barrage of shots and would score his first point with a sharp angled “ace” serve to the left. As Cook began to crawl back into the match, frustration grew for Gonzalez, as he burned two failed appeals (USHA One-Wall / Wallball Rules give a player three failed appeals) over Cook’s first three points. Cook tied the score at 13-13 with a pass down the right line forcing Gonzalez to use a time out.
Once play resumed, Cook would take the lead; however, Gonzalez stayed within striking range as the two traded side outs before Cook pulled away leading 19-14. Gonzalez produced one more push, getting within two points from Cook, down 19-21. While Gonzalez began to wear down, Cook found an extra gear. After one amazing shot, even Gonzalez showed appreciation for his opponent with a fist bump. Gonzalez would prolong the match by fight off one match point, but a wide shot to the right gave Cook the serve where he would kill match point. With the win, Cook joins Gonzalez as the only two players to simultaneously hold wallball and one-wall small ball national titles in the same year.
Cook hardly had a moment to enjoy his win before jumping on the courts for the Pro Doubles with partner Eddy Troncoso. Cook /Troncoso endured a semifinal nail-biter against Joshua Garcia and Paul Yagual, 25-24. Their final opponents, Carlin Rosa and Mickey Osorio did the same, defeating the super team of Allan Sanchez and Carlos “Los” Pena by the same score, 25-24.
The championship match didn’t hold the same drama, Cook/Troncoso dropped Roas/Osorio 25-9; however, both teams treated the crowds to some more amazing handball to close the tournament while Cook earned the “slam.”
In Women’s Pro Doubles, sisters Jessenia and Melanie Garate held on to defeat previous champions, Ruby Lloyd and Birdiana Garcia, 25-12. The win marked the first National Doubles title for the Garate sister and completed the “slam” for Melanie.
In other action, William Polanco and Steve Robalino captured the Masters (40+) Doubles, defeating Ray Lopez and George Figueroa, 25-13. Gary Luk closed his B career with a “B Slam,” winning both the singles and doubles. In the Women’s B Doubles final, Lily Fung and Hope Valenica turned back Erica Mendez and Sabrina Roberts, 25-17. Michelle Wu captured the Women’s B Singles title the day before, edging Shantel Mena, 25-23. In the Men’s Golden (50+) Singles, Jose Olivencia stopped Ronald Beard, 25-12 to win his first National Singles title.
Finally, in the Men’s Golden (50+) Doubles, Darwin Lee and last-minute sub Peter Ostander held off a valiant effort from Tim Samuel and Javier Pellot to win the title, 25-23.
Thank you to all the players for entering while showing cooperation and patience to complete each day’s matches. Thank you to USHA Board Members, Jared Vale, Alethia Mendez and every one from the USHA One-Wall Committee for their outstanding work. Thanks to Shenta Pizarro for keeping the tournament desk humming and matches on time. And thank you to all tournament volunteers and refs. Be sure to read the full coverage and see some of the wonderful action photos in the Summer Issue of Handball Magazine.
It is amazing to finally hold tournaments once again. We missed all of you, and we’re already looking forward to next year!
See the 13th USHA Wallball Nationals results HERE.
BROOKLYN, N.Y. – The 13th USHA Wallball National Championships kicked off Saturday morning on Sea Breeze Courts in Coney Island, marking the first Nationals in 2021. Matches began at 8:00 A.M. sharp, since a full draw of 153 players meant a full day of play. Ideal conditions, player cooperation, volunteers and tournament staff kept matches rolling.
In the Women’s Pro Singles, the top two seeds, Jenny Qu and Melanie Garate blazed their way to a highly anticipated final. Garate made the most of her first final appearance (her sister Jessenia had made the final in 2018) winning her first national title over Qu, 25-14.
The first championship final played was the Men’s Masters (40+) Singles division between George Figueroa and Ray Lopez. The two legends put on a tremendous show with Figueroa holding on for a 25-24 win. Lopez, left everything on the court, making some tremendous gets and dives, but Figueroa executed all the crucial shots down to the wire to successfully defend his title from 2019.
ICHA President Cesar Sala (left) and Vice President Bryan Lucero (right) congratulate Boys 19-Under finalists Christian Pimentel and Steven Poon.
BROOKLYN — The USHA One-Wall Junior Nationals hosted by the Inner City Handball Association (ICHA) took place this past weekend in Brooklyn, NY showcasing the future stars of the sport. Thanks to event co-sponsor Jared Vale and his ValeU Group the event was free for the kids. Safety guidelines were put into place to protect both the players and the spectators. All matches were one game to 21.
Steven Poon entered the boys 19 and under as the 1 seed, and survived an early scare from the 16 seed Brandon Lopez-Herrera just escaping him with a 21-16 victory. Poon was rolling after that, not conceding more than 6 points in any game the rest of the tournament, including a 21-6 championship victory over surprise finalist 14 seed Christian Pimentel.
On the girls side of the 19 and under, Cathy Chen emerged victorious against Kunga Chodon in the finals. Chen easily took care of Lizbeth Sierra in her semifinal while Chodon upset 1 seed Amy Liang to earn her spot. Chen and Chodon put on a great show, showing the future of the sport is in good hands with Chen ultimately winning 21-20 to become the champion.
Daniel Lin won the boys 17 and under by defeating Angelo Balajadia in the final. Lin only gave up 3 points the entire tournament proving he’s ready to compete in the next age group.
1 seed Ivett Avila won the championship of the girls 17 and under and did so in dominating fashion by holding every opponent to single digits. She defeated 2 seed Shirley Chen in the finals, who was also coming in hot, holding her opponents to less than 4 every game but was ultimately no match for Avila, falling 21-3.
Thank you to the ICHA and ValeU group for making this event happen for the kids! To see all of the results from the tournament go here:
FINAL DAY (10/18/20) LAS VEGAS — Championship Sunday started with the 3-Wall small ball doubles open final between Daniel/Luis Cordova and Carlos Flores/Isidro Garcia. The Cordova brothers were in full control of the first game, never letting Carlos Flores/Isidro Garcia get on the scoreboard; however, game two was a different story. Carlos Flores/Isidro Garcia came out hot, using the short sidewalls to their advantage. They were able to hold off the Cordova brothers and win 12-10. In the tiebreaker, the Cordovas returned to their first game form, keeping Carlos Flores/Isidro Garcia off-balance with great serves and kill shots, never letting up until they won championship point in the tiebreaker, 12-3. The Cordovas continue to show that no matter what type of court they play on, they are a force to be reckoned with.
In the 1-Wall big ball open singles final, Tywan Cook continued his hot streak taking down James Aguilera 25-13. Cook then teamed up with his partner Nazir Marston to take down Aguilera and Samuel Sandford to slam the one wall division. Cook has been lights out this summer, winning the USHA One-Wall small ball nationals last month and now winning a 3wallball world title.
To finish off the day, Josef Gotsch and Anthony Hernandez took down Carlos Marin and Chris Tojin to win the 3-Wall big ball open doubles title. It capped off an incredible run by Gotsch and Hernandez, who hadn’t played together before this fall and entered the draw as the 13 seed.
It was a job well done by the Vegas tournament staff and volunteers to put on a great and safe tournament for everyone. With 200 Handball players and 400 Racquetball players entered, they had their hands full but were well-prepared and up for the task.
You can see the results of all of the brackets here. Thank you!
DAY 2 (10/17/20) – LAS VEGAS– Day 2 in Las Vegas was another long day of handball in the sun with players taking the court at 8:30 a.m. and playing late into the evening.
The highlight of the day was the 3-Wall small ball singles finals, where brothers Daniel and Luis Cordova faced off. Daniel was able to dominate the first game with deep hop serves that earned him easy setups in the frontcourt. He held off a late comeback from Luis to win the first game 12-6. The second game Luis stepped it up, hitting deep power serves and putting down the ball nearly every time he went for a kill shot. Luis took the second game 12-7. The tiebreaker was tight the whole game, but Luis was able to use the short sidewalls (they only go to the short line) to his advantage, making Daniel run side to side. He was able to finish off Daniel 12-8 and take home the title. The brothers will team up tomorrow to take on Carlos Flores and Isidro Garcia for the 3-Wall small ball doubles title.
In the 3-Wall big ball doubles, the 13 seed Josef Gotsch and Anthony Hernandez made an incredible run to the finals upsetting everyone in their path. They will take on the 2 seed Carlos Marin and Chris Tojin tomorrow for the championship.
The 1-Wall Big Ball doubles finals will be between the defending USHA small ball 1-wall champion Tywan Cook and his partner Nazir Marston vs James Aguilera and Samuel Sandford. Both teams have made the trip down from New York and have represented their state well in Vegas. Tywan will also compete for the 1-Wall singles championship tomorrow.
Lastly, in the open Big Ball 3-Wall singles division, 4 players remain, and they will kick off the day tomorrow with their semifinals. All of the top 4 seeds have been eliminated so it will be an upset regardless of who wins.
Check-in tomorrow afternoon for the final results of the tournament. You can see every bracket here.
DAY 1 (10/16/20) – LAS VEGAS — The 3 WallBall World Handball Championships kicked off today in Las Vegas at 9:30 am across the street from the stratosphere hotel. It was a long day at the courts, with the final games finishing up just after midnight. A limited capacity of fans were allowed in to watch, and everyone not playing had to social distance and wear a mask.
Due to the big draw, games were only played to 12 points, including the tiebreaker. Players competed in 3-Wall and 1-Wall with both the small ball and the big ball.
One of the biggest upsets of the day came in the 3-Wall small ball doubles where the 7 seed Carlos Flores and Isidro Garcia took down the 2 seed Max Langmack and Sam Esser. Other than that, most of the top seeds were able to advance. Some of the finals will be played tomorrow, including the 3-Wall small ball open singles.
It will be another early start Saturday, with play beginning at 8:30 a.m. You can follow along with the draws here.
LAS VEGAS — The tentative times and draws are now available here. As always, make sure to double-check your times the day of the tournament.
If you are participating in the tournament, remember to read the Safe Play Flyer here.
Don’t forget that lensed eyewear will be required. Good luck to all of the competitors and you can follow along here for daily recaps from the tournament.
AUSTIN, Texas — The Men’s Open final of the 68th USHA National Collegiate Handball Championships produced an instant classic on Sunday in University of Texas’ Gregory Gym. In a momentum swinging affair, Shane Dunne of IT-Tralee willed himself to the title with an improbable comeback in the final against Galway-Mayo IT’s Diarmuid Mulkerrins, winning 12-21, 21-17, 11-6. When looking at the draw, casual fans wouldn’t expect the No. 6 and No. 5 seeds would reach the championship final. But both players stepped up in the biggest college handball tournament of the year.
Things didn’t start smoothly for the eventual champ. Before the referee called the first score or he’d even set foot on the court, Dunne couldn’t locate his eye guards leaving him scrambling for an alternative. Once he settled on a borrowed pair, he began his pregame ritual warm-up; however, that distraction may have affected his mindset once the match started.
Mulkerrins came out firing on all cylinders, comfortably zipping the ball around the court for some dazzling kills while a frustrated Dunne pressed his shots. While he prevented his opponent from running away with the game too early, Dunne’s shots kept falling short, many skipping off the floor before reaching the wall. Mulkerrins capitalized on all his opportunities to close the first game with a 21-12 victory.
In the second game began, a settled Dunne began to find his grove. Now he began killing the ball from any angle, putting away the majority of the rallies and gaining confidence winning 21-17. It appeared Dunne had all the momentum going into the tiebreaker, but that wouldn’t be the case.
Mulkerrins served first in the tiebreaker and quickly ran off to a 6-0 lead. After a few rally exchanges, Dunne would score his first. Getting that first point fired up the IT-Tralee standout, and he would go on to outscore his opponent 10-0 to get his first National Collegiate title.
In Women’s action, Ciana Ni Churraoin (shown swinging) of Minnesota State, Mankato, defeated Fiona Tully (Dublin City) in her final Collegiate Nationals, 21-11, 21-3. Tully exacted some revenge in the Women’s Open Doubles final, teaming up with partner Meadhbh Ní Dhálaig to stop Ni Churraoin and Maddie Kennedy, 21-5, 21-17.
The final match of the day was by far the most exciting. University of Limerick’s duo of Fergal Coughlin and Tadgh O’Neill snagged the first game from Adam and David Walsh of Cork Institute of Technology 21-19. Team Walsh (no relation) answered big in the second game with flawless execution and teamwork winning 21-15 and setting up a tiebreaker.
With a national title at stake, the intensity on the court picked up a notch. Each team was putting extra zip on serves and making some incredible retrieves during a few long exchanges. While Coughlan and O’Neill held the opportunity to win at match point, the team from Cork IT pulled off the improbable side out and converted championship point. The Walsh’s victory marked their second consecutive doubles title (2019 was also decided by tiebreaker).
See the updated results and match times on the draw links below.
The Saturday night awards banquet was an event that recognized the Most Improved Players, Spirit of Handball Winners, Sabo Scholarship recipients and the winners of the Combined, Men’s and Women’s Team titles.
Kouichi Saito of Pacific University and Jonathan Gutierrez of Front Range Community College were presented with the 2020 John C. Sabo Memorial Scholarships.
William Rangel-Alfaro of Angelo State and Pacific’s Hannah Ramsey were the recipients of the Spirit of Handball Awards (nominated and voted by their peers), and the Most Improved Player Awards were presented to Jordan Turnquest (Colorado School of Mines) and Abby Evan (Pacific).
A very special “THANK YOU” goes to the UT Handball Team, Wayne Lee, UT Handball President Avery Shepherd and the rest of the volunteers who pulled off an amazing event.
Missouri State University is once again on top of the Collegiate Handball World as they captured the Men’s, Women’s and Combined Open team titles at the 68th USHA National Collegiate Handball Championships. Limerick University won the International team title. For the first time in recent memory, the Men’s Open Singles final will feature the No. 5 an No. 6 seeds. Shane Dunne (ITT) will meet Diarmuid Mulkerrins (GMIT) in the Men’s Open final. It’s a finals rematch in the Women’s Open Singles with Ciana Ni Churraoin (MNSU) mixing it up with Fiona Tully (DCU).
(Megan Mudd of Missouri State sets up for a shot off the back wall on Friday).
The Irish player’s talent and dominance was on full display through the quarterfinals of all divisions in the 68th USHA National Collegiate Handball Championships. All four Men’s Open semifinalists hailed from across the Atlantic and will playoff for a spot in Sunday’s final. Fergal Coughlan (University of Limerick) faces off against Shane Dunne (IT-Tralee) in the top semifinal. In the bottom bracket, Diarmuid Mulkerrins (Galway-Mayo IT) tussles with David Walsh (Cork IT) for the second spot in the final.
In the Women’s Open bracket, defending champion Ciana Ni Churraoin (Minnesota State, Mankato) meets Sinead Meagher (Limerick IT), while 2019 finalist Fiona Tully (Dublin City University) matches up against Niamh Hefferman (University of Limerick) in the other semifinal.
Doubles semifinals will be played Saturday after singles action completes.
The second day of competition at the 68th USHA National Collegiate Handball Championships brought more contested matches as players pressed on through preliminary rounds. Doubles divisions also advanced another round on Thursday (Image Courtesy of Missouri State Handball). Friday brings the first matches of the “knock out” brackets where players “win of go home” in their respective divisions. Each round players advance in the final brackets scores more points for their college team.
AUSTIN, Texas — Collegiate handball players representing 36 institutions from around the world stood in awe when they saw the main observation “fish bowl” court in legendary Gregory Gym.
“Everything IS always bigger in Texas!” joked one player as they checked in for the 68th USHA National Collegiate Handball Championships. No sooner had players received their hospitality package, they immediately took to the courts to practice before scheduled matches. Once official matches began, it set the tone for what promises to be a long weekend of raucous handball competition. Wednesday’s matches would determine where a player would end up before points may be earned for their respective teams. First round doubles matches were also played on the first day. Click on the draws below to see the results.
ALBUQUERQUE — Joe Harris (setting for a backwall shot) and George Garcia Jr. overcame a first-game deficit to defeat Andy Schad and Dan Zimet in the youngest division offered. Jim Karner won his first doubles and Rick Leonard got his first Masters title over defending champs John Stoffel and Mike Wells. William Cervantes earned his 10th and Grand Masters over a tired Lloyd Garcia and Dan Passolt. Garcia and Passolt had beaten Greg Sizemore and Phil Kirk in a tiebreaker earlier in the 60s. Sizemore rebounded to win the 65s with Bob Lohmueller over Glenn Carden and Gary Eisenbooth. Merv Deckert and Ed Campbell took the 70s over Rob Nichols and Greg Stansbury. Ron Cole also earned his Grand Master sweater with the 75s title, teaming Gary Rohrer. And, Ed Grossenbacher teamed with Norm Young to win his 56th Masters title and tie Max Lasskow for the winningest Masters players of all time.
See the 2019 National Masters Doubles Draws & ResultsHERE.
TUCSON — Ashley Moler completed a dominant weekend of handball on Sunday, winning the Women’s Classic over Tracy Davis, 21-11, 21-16. Moler not only matched Davis’ commanding front court game, she also forced her opponent back with timely defensive shots to the difficult corners of the exhibition court. This play allowed Moler to build leads through both games that Davis ultimately couldn’t overcome; although, she did make a late push in the second game before falling short. The win marked the first Women’s Classic title for Tucson’s Moler.
In the WPH R48Pro LTE final, Daniel Cordova stopped David Fink’s incredible run in Tucson, winning 15-9, 15-6. Cordova’s amazing talent was on full display, showing why he’s one of the pro tour’s biggest rising stars. Fink held an early lead to open the match, but Cordova immediately answered and kept constant pressure on his opponent. Fink made an exceptional effort to keep the games close, only to have Cordova slam the door with a kill or a will-timed pass.
The day was not lost for Fink as he recovered quickly after his pro final to take his first Masters (40-plus) Singles title, defeating Adam Zimet in two games. In other Masters Singles action, Emmett Peixoto took the 35-plus title over Fausto Castro, and Marcos Chavez won the 45-plus crown by defeating Raul Jasso.
Chris Tico defeated Ryan Grossenbacher in the 50-plus final. Phil Kirk won the 60-plus title over Lloyd Garcia. Glenn Carden held off Greg Sizemore’s rally to win the 65-plus division. Merv Deckert outlasted Ed Campbell in a tiebreaker for the 70-plus crown. Jim Ward topped Jim Smith in the 75-plus final, and Norm Young took home the 80-plus title over Mike Lundy.
In Hall of Fame action, two of handball’s rising stars won singles titles to add to their growing collection of hardware. David Sanchez III edged Dylan Key in the Men’s A final, and Andres Cordova stopped Ashton Steadman in the Men’s B division.
A special Thank You to all our event sponsors and volunteers. Thank you to the WPH’s Dave Vincent and David Fink for their work in bringing the top pros to Tucson for the R48Pro LTE event (read the WPH wrap-up and coverage HERE), and thank you to all the players who traveled to play the best game on the planet: Handball!
Next season’s Women’s Classic will be held in conjunction with the Milwaukee Classic in December.
See the draws and final results on the tournament’s R2sports site HERE.
PORTLAND, Ore. –Daniel Cordova showed a new aggressive style of play that had everyone on their heels over the weekend, including Killian Carroll in the Sunday finale.
David Walsh said he got used to the tough glass sidewall and then came on strong to beat Michael Gaulton in the 19 singles final. In the doubles, Gaulton got a bit of revenge by teaming with Alex Carew to edge David Walsh and Patrick Murphy in a tiebreaker.
David Sanchez added three 15 titles to his perfect resume in 2018. Sanchez won the 15 small ball and big ball singles as well as the doubles with Andrew Negrete. The singles win earned him a spot in the record books with Eric Klarman as the only players to win one-wall, three-wall and four-wall titles in the same calendar year — a true slam!
Juniors were honored at the banquet on Saturday night with special awards, including the Alumni bags given to the juniors in their last year of eligibility who competed in at least four junior events. Other special awards went to A.J. Wilkinson for Tom Lynch Best Newcomer, Joseph Lallier for the Vince Gabriele Sportsmanship Award, and Isaac Alberg for Most Improved.
In pro action, Killian Carroll and Daniel Cordova were most impressive on Saturday and will meet on Sunday for the title. See the broadcast schedule HERE.
The final results for the 63rd USHA National Junior 4-Wall Championships r2sports site HERE.
The popular Junior Nationals drop-down format gets every participant at least three matches. Here are those results that aren’t shown on R2:
19-and-under A Semis: D. Peters d. A. Carew, def.; P. Cooke d. J. Gutierrez, 20, 11.
Final: Cooke d. Peters, inj.
19 B: J. Rivera d. B. Mendiola, def.; B. Hickey d. J. Cervantes, 7, 20; Roberts d. A. Silva, 3, 11; V. Ford d. S. Ure, 1, 2; A. Sandoval d. B. Buckles, (19), 7, 3.
Quarters: L. Mendez d. J. Rivera, 0, 1; Hickey d. Roberts, 2, 6; Ford d. J. Silva, 18, 4; E. Camacho d. Sandoval, 15, 11.
Semis: Mendez d. Hickey, 12, 12; Ford d. Camacho, 12, 8.
Final: Mendez d. Ford, 6, 9.:
19 Cons. Quarters: S. Ure d. A. Silva, 15, 17; J. Cervantes d. J. Silva, 15, 15; N. Roberts d. J. Rivera, 7, 14.
Semis: Buckles d. Ure, 16, 9; Cervantes d. Roberts, 0, 4.
Final: Cervantes d. Buckles, 13 (13), 2.
17 A: C. Peters d. Albert, 3, 4.
17 B Quarters: M. Madden d. D. Neri, 19, 5; J. Cooke d. O. Bustos, (19), 20, 5; D. Hamilton d. M. Morgenstern, 8, 14.
Semis: Madden d. M. Sandoval, 4, 4; Hamilton d. Cooke, 9, (19), 6.
Final: Hamilton d. Madden, 5, 3.
17 Cons. Semis: D. Neri d. M. Sandoval, 10, 8; Bustos d. Morgenstern, 15, 9.
Final: Bustos d. Neri, 19, 1.
15-and-under A singles: George Mitchell d. Fermin Victoria, 11, 11.
15B: A. Sanchez d. J. Lallier, (12), 12, 1; N. Stoffel d. A. Negrete, 2, (9), 4; Abraham Sanchez d. R. Asokan, 18, 6; Y.L. Tang d. A. Sandoval, 3, 18.
Semifinals: Sanchez d. N. Stoffel, 19, 17; Tang d. Sanchez, (6), 18, 9.
Final: Sanchez d. Tang, 13. (13), 10.
15 Cons. Semis: A. Negrete d. J. Lallier, (19), 16, 9; Asokan d. A. Sandoval, 10, 9.
Final: Negrete d. Asokan, 5, 11.
11-and-under A singles: C. Dean d. J. Smith, 9, 2.
11 B Semis: Valyavskiy, bye; T. Stradley d. N. Elliott, 17, 3.
Final: Stradley d.Valyavskiy, 7, 7.
11 Cons.: Valyavskiy d. Elliott, 13, 8.
13-and-under Big Ball A singles: Stradley d. Valyavskiy, 3, 14.
13 Big Ball B: Prelim: T. Simmons d. N. Elliott, (7), 15, 8.
Semis: C. Dean d. Simmons, 7, 7; J. Smith d. J. Middleton, 10, 4.
Final: Dean d. Smith, 8, 3.
13 Big Ball Cons.: J. Middleton d. N. Elliott, 11, 4.
WEST ALLIS, Wisc. — On a cold Wisconsin December weekend, Killian Carroll maintained the edge that’s kept him at the top of the Pro rankings for the past three years.With the next R48Pro Stop #3 in Portland at the end of the month, the Milwaukee Classic made for an interesting preview.Carroll stormed through the Milwaukee Classic Open draw and defeated Luis Cordova Jr. by a score of 21-4 and 21-18.
Although Cordova pushed Carroll for a tiebreaker in the second game, the last rally of the match was a mere indicator of how Carroll mastered his opponents the entire weekend:A four-shot exchange that ended with Carroll passing a diving Cordova down the left wall for match point.
Milwaukee Classic Women’s Open Finalists Ni Churraoin and Hilary Rushe.
In the Women’s Open division, Ciana Ni Churraoin continued her “Revenge Tour” by defeating Hilary Rushe in the final, 21-6, 21-5.Ni Churraoin won the Women’s Collegiate title in 2016 and was a 2016 USHA National Four-Wall finalist before tearing her ACL in early 2017.As a graduate student now attending Minnesota State, Mankato, Ni Churraoin looked unstoppable all weekend.
In the Men’s Doubles, Sean Lenning and Vic Perez outlasted Daniel and Luis Cordova in an exciting final, 21-14, 12-21, 11-6.
“What makes The Classic so great is the players that continue to come every year and create a lot of camaraderie.” said Tournament Director Charlie Keller.
“The opportunity to watch the college kids each year and how much they improve over the years. Reminiscing about previous years is always interesting.”
The Milwaukee Handball Classic has become the region’s premier event hosted by the Wisconsin Athletic Club. The Classic enjoyed another fabulous turnout with nearly 200 players entered, including some of the country’s best handball talent with prize money awarded in both the Open Singles and Doubles events as well as the Women’s Open.
“This is outstanding!” Keller proclaimed. “Almost 80 collegiate players entered along with a few high school players. It’s great to see so many young kids playing and filling up the draws. Every division is full.”
Those college participants included a couple of new players from the nearby University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee.
Congratulations to Jeff Werstein, Charlie Keller and the Milwaukee Classic crew who hosted another great event with tremendous hospitality!
See the 2018 Milwaukee Classic final results on the tournament’s r2sports page HERE.
PHOENIX — Carl Hayden High School was the site of a combined handball tournament and Mecha Car Show this weekend. Thirty-two players and nearly three dozen classic, souped up and low-rider cars were on campus to wow the fans.
This is the second year for the tournament which raises money for the high school handball club. The tourney is planned and managed by the Arizona State University handball team. The Sun Devils are happy to show their commitment to community service and mentoring young student-athletes through this fun event. High school players from Carl Hayden and Camelback participated along with a passel of local adult players.
“We’re lucky because it’s always great weather for outdoor handball,” quipped Hayden coach Chris Hogan. “Today was exceptional! A high of 70 degrees and not a cloud in the sky — not even a gust of wind.”
Plenty of food was provided from breakfast through lunch and tournament close by Success4Kids.org and Valley Produce. Local patrons Don Stewart and Jim Reitmyer donated t-shirts. Many thanks to all for their generosity to our handball community.
The Open division was won by David Munoz over Jim Carkeek. David may have entered the tournament with a slight edge and perhaps as a sentimental favorite. Munoz had graduated from Carl Hayden High School years ago. “This is where it all started for me. It feels great to win this one on the courts where I first learned to play.”
(Top Left then Clockwise) Open Division: David Munoz def Jim Carkeek Blue A/B Division: Arturo ‘Magoo’ Diaz def Derek Doyle (ASU) Gold A/B Division: Pete Dominguez def David Frances (ASU) C/ D Division: Carlos Ortiz (CHHS) def Jason Leone (ASU)
Submitted by Dan Willeford, Arizona State University Handball Coach
