2022 3WallBall Championships Hosted on Vegas Strip
Oct 30, 2022
The 2022 3WallBall Outdoor Championships, held on the Vegas strip and right in front of The STRAT hotel, was a huge success again this year. The 4-day event offered 4 different sports: racquetball, handball, paddleball, and squash 57, and showcased the pro battles which were broadcast by both the LPRT and IRT.
Thank you to Tournament Director, Mike Coulter, a talented team of volunteers, and all the sponsors who made the event possible. The 3WallBall Outdoor Championships is the biggest, and final event, of the 3, outdoor majors.
Here is the event recap thanks to Todd Boss of proracquetballstats.com:
- Women’s Pro 3-wall Doubles: Michelle De La Rosa/Janel Tisinger-Ledkins
- Mixed Pro 3-wall Doubles: Michelle De La Rosa / Daniel De La Rosa
- Women’s Pro 1-wall Doubles: Michelle De La Rosa / Carla Munoz
- Mixed Pro 1-wall Doubles: Daniel De La Rosa / Hollie Scott
- Women’s 3-wall Singles: Carla Munoz
Women’s Pro 3-wall Doubles Recap:
Lots of new teams this year in the Ladies pro, guaranteeing a new winner and some great action.
Just one upset in the quarters, as two relatively newcomers to outdoor in @Brenda Laime and @Alexandra Herrera took out #3 seeds, reigning US National doubles champions @Kelani Lawrence and @Hollie Scott 6,10. Laime has made a heck of an impression here despite little prior outdoor tourney experience, but its worth noting she lives with and plays frequently with Mercado in the DC Area where a strong outdoor community exists.
In the semis...
- The #1 seeds De La Rosa and Tisinger-Ledkins went down a game to the upstart Manilla/Roehler team, but raced back to take the tiebreaker 11-7 to move on.
- The upstart team of Laime and Herrera dominated the #2 seeds Parrilla and Carla Munoz 6,12 to become the surprise finalists.
In the final ... the #1 seeds crushed the #6 upstarts in game one 15-2, then held on 15-11 for the title. Each player wins their 5th Vegas doubles title, but their first one playing together.
Mixed Pro 3-wall Doubles:
14 teams entered into the stacked Mixed Pro doubles division looking to take down three-time defending champs in the De La Rosa husband/wife team. And the early rounds did not disappoint, with two teams running multiple upsets to make the semis:
- #12 seeded Brother/Sister Manilla pairing of @Adam Manilla and @Erika Manilla advanced past the husband/wife team of @Alan Natera and @Carla Munoz in the 16s before taking it right at #4 Rich/Lawrence in the quarters, dominating the action and doing a masterful job of neutralizing Rich's power to win the Friday nightcap quarter 11,8 to move into the semis.
- Meanwhile on the bottom side, #7 Mercado/Laime took out the hard-hitting Mexican team of @Rodrigo Montoya and Herrera in the 16s before shocking the #2 seeds Janel Tisinger-Ledkins and Solis 8,7 in the quarters. The two outdoor legends just had no answers for the shot-making exploits of Mercado and the power of Laime, who worked drive serves at Solis with great effect all match. Look out for this team.
In the Semis...
- #1 DLRx2 cruised past Manillax2 10,8 to move into the final. The Cinderella Brother/Sister team just had no answers for the dominant husband/wife team.
- Team FormulaFlow Laime/Mercado came from a game down to upset the #3 seeds Scott/Portillo in a tough 11-8 breaker.
In the final, Laime continued to show why she will be a force to reckon with in the outdoor game for some time to come, leading her team to a game one victory. In game two, Mercado thought he had rolled out the match winner at 14-14 ... but it was overturned on appeal. Daniel got the game 2 winner and pushed the match to a breaker. Perhaps deflated from having thought they won at the end of game two, Laime and Mercado fell behind big early in the breaker and were steamrolled 11-3 to give the title to the DLRs. Daniel and Michelle win their 8th Vegas Mixed pro title in the last 9 years, and complete the 2022 "triple crown" of mixed pro titles (they also won Pro mixed in Florida and in Huntington Beach).
Women’s Pro 1-wall Doubles:
Michelle De La Rosa did the Women's pro doubles "double" on the weekend, and won her third title out of the four events she entered, by teaming with her regular partner Carla Munoz to take a tightly contested Women's one-wall doubles draw. They topped two LPRT top 10 players in Parrilla and Herrera in the final.
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Mixed Pro 1-wall Doubles:
The #9 seeded Montoya/Herrera pairing upset three teams to make the final, but then ran into outdoor juggernaut Daniel De La Rosa , paired in one wall with Hollie Scott. The final went breaker, but the #1 ranked IRT pro outslugged his Mexican counterparts and led his team to the
Women’s 3-wall Singles:
In the end it was #1 vs #2, but not before #1 Carla Munoz escaped the semis by the skin of her teeth, edging Virginia's Kelani Lawrence 11-10 in the breaker.
Fittingly, Munoz faced @Janel Tisinger-Ledkins in the final. Tisinger owns no less than 12 outdoor major singles titles, while Munoz has won three of the last four competed. It was the current belt holder versus the former belt holder ... and Munoz came out on top in a 11-8 bruiser on the show court Sunday Morning.
Thanks to all the sponsors who make this event possible, presenting and gold sponsors listed here:
- @KWM Gutterman Inc. and its owner Keith Minor , the title sponsor of this event. Keith is a great benefactor to multiple orgs in our sport, is an avid player and was here all weekend playing and watching.
- @AGE Solutions and proprietor Andy Gomer ; a frequent sponsor of DC-area and East coast programming.
- Ahern Rentals , who provided lots of the "stuff" that makes this tournament possible.
- Pro Kennex as the presenting sponsor, with Mike Martinez on the grounds all weekend supporting his many PK players.
- @Soda man and @Coffee Girl vending services, with proprietor @Rick Koll active in multiple pro draws in addition to his constant support of outdoor events on the west coast.
- @Gearbox Racquetball , represented by owner Rafael Filipini and director of Marketing @Anthony Herrera all weekend.
- The Strat Hotel & Casino , our host hotel and host site for the event.
- @LPL Financial and proprietor @Rosco Halsey , who I got to meet at dinner one night and who loves the sport.