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| Thursday, December 21, 2006 |
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Thursday December 21 - Day 6 by Adam Katz
By Greg LaBrie @ 11:23 AM
:: 602 Views
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First, I would like to congratulate each and every one of the 301 players that came to Tempe, Arizona to compete in the 18th IRF Ektelon Junior World Racquetball Championships, and also congratulations to Team Mexico for defending their titles in the Junior World Cup (14-18 year olds) and the Espirit Cup (12 and under).
I didn't get to see all the matches yesterday, but I will report on what I know. And today we will start with the match of the day. The Girl's 14 Singles Final between Ecuador's Veronica Sotomayer and USA's Aubrey O'Brien. Both players gave it everything they had from the opening shot to the final point in the tiebreaker.
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| Thursday, December 21, 2006 |
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Wednesday December 20 - Day 5 by Adam Katz
By Greg LaBrie @ 11:22 AM
:: 467 Views
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Another amazing day of racquetball as we've now reached the finals in all divisions. For awhile it looked like they weren't going to make it on the Boy's side of things, but they were able to get the quarters and semis completed today, and the overall World Cup is going to come down to the matches tomorrow between the USA and Mexico. Several divisions will have this matchup so I'm sure you can imagine what the atmosphere will be like.
Today in the Girl's 18s, Michelle Key played some solid racquetball in defeating Mexico's Marcelo Moreno to set up her final against the other Mexican player, Karen Torres. Michelle is definitely excited about the challenge and is playing hitting the ball extremely well right now.
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| Thursday, December 21, 2006 |
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Tuesday December 19 - Day 4 by Adam Katz
By Greg LaBrie @ 11:20 AM
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What an amazing day of high quality racquetball. The atmosphere definitely kicked into gear today. The drums and noisemakers haven't made an appearance yet, but I'm sure they aren't far behind. As such, I'm going to break with my protocol of covering the ladies first by going with the match of the day.
It took place in the Boy's 10 quarterfinals between Costa Rica's National Champion, Pablo Sauma, and the US National Champion, Adam Manilla from Colorado. This match took place over 9 hours ago, and I can remember every shot moment by moment. It didn't start very well for Adam as Pablo found a slight chink in his armor and exploited it relentlessly in the first game. Adam just couldn't get untracked and Pablo ran out to an uncatchable 10-1 lead. Adam fought back to 3, but kept Pablo from clinching the game for several serves giving him a glimmer of hope for the rest of the match. When word started to spread that Adam had lost the first game, the crowd went from a few people from the US and Costa Rica to the vast majority of people in the club. I kept looking behind me to see even more people trying to find some vantage point to watch the action.
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| Tuesday, December 19, 2006 |
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Monday December 18 - Day 3 by Adam Katz
By Greg LaBrie @ 10:03 AM
:: 488 Views
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What an incredible day of racquetball, the action was non stop and this was just the last day of pool play. The rest of the tournament promises to be very exciting as we now move to the single elimination portion of the Junior World Cup.
Head Coach Kelley Beane mentioned that the team was still doing well and everyone is looking forward to the next phase of this tournament.
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| Sunday, December 17, 2006 |
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Sunday December 17, Day 2 - by Adam Katz
By Greg LaBrie @ 11:01 PM
:: 496 Views
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Another great day of Racquetball as the US Junior World Cup team kept its strong pool play going, as did Mexico and Canada.
Head Coach Kelley Beane mentioned that the team looked and felt much stronger today now that the first day jitters are gone. And this is a very good thing as pool play ends tomorrow and the single elimination will start on Tuesday morning.
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| Sunday, December 17, 2006 |
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Saturday, December 16, Day 1 - by Adam Katz
By Greg LaBrie @ 10:12 AM
:: 477 Views
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The first day of the tournament was definitely filled with plenty of excitement as pool play began in the Junior World Cup and gold division play began in the Espirit Cup.
Overall an excellent day for Team USA, as it was also for Team Mexico and Team Canada.
The IRF has modified the format of the Junior World Cup this year so that each pool is filled with players in a specific area of the bracket...top or bottom. Consequently, a loss in pool play now will not drop a player into the other half of the bracket causing two teammates to play against one another early on in single elimination play. There is one exception to this rule...in the Girl's 18s, the two American girls, Michelle Key and Ashley Wilhite, will have to face off in pool play, but will go into the draw on opposite sides.
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| Sunday, December 17, 2006 |
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Opening Ceremonies - by Adam Katz
By Greg LaBrie @ 10:02 AM
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Greetings from Tempe, AZ, home of the 18th Ektelon International Racquetball Federation Junior World Championships.
The teams have arrived and they used today to practice at the Student Recreation Center on the campus of Arizona State University. Twenty teams will be contesting this year's individual and team championships beginning Saturday morning at 8:30am.
I watched most of the teams practicing today and as is always the case, I walked away very impressed. Team USA, in the words of Assistant Coach Shane Wood, is relaxed and confident, and from what I saw, I have to agree.
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