2020 R48 IX Montana Red Death Wraps Up

Day 3: Sunday

Missoula, MT, WPH Press, 1/26/20-

Final: Carroll vs. Mulkerrins

R48 #1 Killian Carroll was seeking his third consecutive R48 Red Death title and his 12^th consecutive win in Missoula, while Martin Mulkerrins was seeking his second R48 title and an eight-match R48 winning streak in Sunday’s Red Death final.

Martin Mulkerrins started quickly in the final, building a 12-7 first game lead on the two-time Red Death champion. “Martin has so much power that it’s hard to react to it,” Carroll would later say.

Mulkerrins was unable to execute right hand kill at 12-7, opening the door for a vintage Carroll comeback. Carroll took control of the game, hitting kills from the deep court and retrieving Mulkerrins’ best shots. Carroll scored seven straight points to serve for the game at 14-12, but Mulkerrins forced overtime with a beautiful left hand paddle kill. Carroll earned a side out and finished the game with two quick points.

Mulkerrins demonstrated his resolve in game two, quickly earning a 4-0 lead with blistering one-inch high kills. Carroll quickly erased the deficit, tying the game at four and taking over the match from there. Carroll scored 15 of the last 16 points of the match to earn his first title of the R48 IX season and third consecutive Red Death R48 title.

“Martin can really do everything, he has the ability to hit with tremendous power and play slow shots as well,” stated Carroll court side with Kara Mack. “I was a bit lucky to get that first game, I just anticipated a few of his kills and stayed in it.”

“Killian’s retrieves really changed the game,” stated Mulkerrins, who will make the 27-hour journey back to Ireland following his second consecutive R48 finals appearance. “He was re killing and making it hard for me to play offense.”

Final: Carroll def Mulkerrins 16-14, 15-8

R48 IX Red Death Playoffs

David Fink bounced back from his quarterfinal loss in which he held match point to dominate the fifth place playoffs, defeating Emmett Peixoto and Danos Cordova by identical 25-8 scores.

5^th place final: Fink def D. Cordova 25-8

Marcos Chavez exacted revenge on his Tucson Memorial round of 16 conqueror Leo Canales, Jr., rallying from a 6-15 halftime deficit in the ninth place final to win 25-20. “After halftime Marcos was just on fire, his serves were coming out and he killed everything,” stated Canales, Jr.

9^th place final: Chavez def Canales, Jr. 25-20

Dylan Hernandez won 17^th for the second time, playing three back-to-back matches after dropping his qualifier final, clinching the 17^th title with an impressive win against Anthony Collado.

17^th place final: Hernandez def A. Collado 25-11

R48 IX Red Death Finishes

1^st: Carroll

2^nd: Mulkerrins

3^rd:  Perez/L. Cordova

5^th: Fink

6^th: D. Cordova

7^th: Peixoto/Ruiz

9^th: Chavez

10^th: Canales, Jr.

11^th: Iglesias/Montijo

13^th: S. Lee/L. Collado/Bernhard/Beall

17^th: D. Hernandez

This video comes courtesy of Patreon.com/wphlive (to view the list of matches on this video, please see the video description)

Thank you!

Thank you to Red Death tournament directors Sean Sandau and Red Jolliffe for another incredible Red Death event. From incredible food and Montana hospitality, the Red Death joined the best events in the sport. Thank you to the incredible WPH staff and volunteers for running and organizing a sensational event.

Follow all of the brackets from the 2020 R48 IX Red Death go HERE

2020 Montana Red Death replays on Patreon HERE

David Fink

WPH Senior Writer

See below for Saturday’s Wrap-up

Men’s Quarters:

0:00:00 – 1:17:00 – Emmett Peixoto vs Killian Carroll

1:29:00 – 2:52:00 – Vic Perez vs David Fink

2:59:00 – 4:20:00 – Martin Mulkerrins vs Daniel Cordova

4:23:00 – 5:09:00 – Luis Cordova vs Shorty Ruiz

Men’s 9th Place Semis:

5:21:00 – 5:58:00 – Leo Canalas vs Abe Montijo

Men’s 5th Place Semis:

6:04:00 – 6:37:00 – David Fink vs Emmett Peixoto

6:43:00 – 7:07:00 – Luis Cordova vs Shorty Ruiz

Men’s Pro Semis:

7:11:00 – 7:52:00 – Vic Perez vs Killian Carroll

8:00:00 – End – Luis Cordova vs Martin Mulkerrins

Day 2: Saturday

Missoula, MT, WPH Press, 1/25/20-

Red Death Quarterfinals

Killian Carroll demonstrated why he is the Red Death king, dominating Emmett “The Rock” Peixoto in two clinical frames in the day’s first Red Death quarterfinal. “I’ve seen Killian play really well before but never against me, today he was just incredible,” stated Peixoto, who has played the best in the sport for 20 years. “Killian was making shots that I didn’t even know existed. I thought I was a Super Pro last night, I don’t think that anymore.”

Fink appeared to be in control of game one against Vic Perez in the first game of their quarterfinal clash, leading 12-6 after trailing 4-1. Perez slowed down the game and executed a high percentage of kills, taking the first game 15-12. Fink dominated game two, allowing just three points to force a tiebreaker.

The lead changed hands six times in the tiebreaker, as Perez led 5-1 and 9-5, only to see Fink take a 10-9 lead. Perez led 13-12 but a return of serve kill and a 39-foot mouse from Fink gave the lefty match point. Fink earned the setup he wanted and hit what appeared to be the match-ending shot but the kill shot attempt missed by mere centimeters, handing Perez the serve. Perez scored three consecutive points in overtime with sensational kills to advance to the semifinals. “If this was UFC, that would have been the “Fight of the Night” with a $50k bonus,” stated Suhn Lee. “What a match.”

Luis Cordova played steady against Shorty Ruiz, never appearing to shift out of third gear in the two game sweep. “I just got tired, I don’t know what it is,” stated Ruiz.

Martin Mulkerrins and Danos Cordova met in four straight collegiate national finals from 2012-2015 and renewed their rivalry on the Red Death center stage in the quarterfinals. Mulkerrins trailed 0-6 in game one but outplayed Danos from there, scoring 15 of the final 17 points of the game. Mulkerrins stood three points from the semifinals at 12-12 in the second but could not convert. “I had my chances there at 12-12, I just didn’t take them, but that’s handball,” stated Mulkerrins. The tiebreaker was one-way traffic, as Mulkerrins overpowered a fatigued Danos to win comfortably. “I’ve haven’t seen Danos play this hard in a long time,” stated Lucho.

Carroll def Peixoto 15-46 15-4

Perez def Fink 15-12, 3-15, 16-14

Cordova def Ruiz 15-9, 15-9

Mulkerrins def D. Cordova 15-8, 12-15, 15-5

Semifinals

Killian Carroll continued to reign supreme at the Red Death, dominating every facet of the match against Vic Perez in a 25-minute route. “I think the hard match Vic played this morning against David Fink definitely took a lot out of him and that was to my advantage and allowed me to dominate the court,” stated Carroll.

Martin Mulkerrins met for the second time in two events, with Cordova overcoming Cordova in two games in their first encounter at the 2019 Tucson Memorial en route to his first R48 title. Mulkerrins led 8-7 in game one and appeared to scored his ninth point with an ace but the call was overturned. “I thought I had an ace there and I think I lost my concentration for a couple of minutes and it cost me,” Mulkerrins would later say. Cordova reeled of seven consecutive points to take a seemingly commanding 14-8 lead. Mulkerrins continued to apply pressure, scoring points to cut the deficit. “Hey listen, when you’re hitting the ball hard and low anything can happen, so I told myself to stay in it,” stated Mulkerrins. Mulkerrins scored the final nine points of game one to stun Cordova in overtime.

Game two was tied at eight, but Mulkerrins relied on his power and fitness to score the final seven points of the match to advance to his second consecutive final.

Carroll def Perez 15-2, 15-3

Mulkerrins def L. Cordova 16-14, 15-8

Final (Sunday): Carroll vs. Mulkerrins (11:30 MST)

For more info on the 2020 Montana Red Death, including starting times and to follow the brackets go HERE

2020 Montana Red Death Broadcast Schedule on WPH Patreon: Saturday, January 26, 10 am-7 pm MST, Sunday, January 27, 10 am-1:30 pm MST. Become a WPH Patreon HERE

David Fink

WPH Senior Writer

See below for Friday’s Wrap-Up

Red Death Men’s Rd of 16: WPH Race4Eight Montana (click the video above to view)

TIME                           MATCH

0:00:00 – 0:45:00 – Suhn Lee vs Daniel Cordova

0:56:00 – 1:42:00 – David Fink vs Adam Bernhard

2:00:00 – 2:41:00 – Abraham Montijo vs Vic Perez

2:50:00 – 3:31:00 – Shorty Ruiz vs Marcos Chavez

3:45:00 – 4:34:10 – Martin Mulkerrins vs Jon Iglesias

4:44:00 – End – Emmett Peixoto vs Leo Canales

Filmed by World Players of Handball Foundation: Jeff Kastner, Che Lowenstein, Dave Vincent, plus: Sean Sandau, Peak Health and Red Death Handball.

Get results from this event here: https://www.r2sports.com/website/event-website.asp?TID=30925

Watch LIVE beginning at 9:30am Saturday: Patreon.com/wphlive

Day 1: Friday

Missoula, MT, WPH Press, 1/24/20-

The third R48 Red Death kicked off on Friday morning, as a number of the game’s aspiring R48 Elite 8 pros battled in Friday morning’s qualifier. The R48 Red Death main draw kicked off on Friday afternoon, with R48 #1 Killian Carroll seeking his third consecutive Red Death title.

Qualifier

The 2020 Red Death R48 qualifier saw the top six seeds advance with relative ease, while Dylan Hernandezes’ bid to qualify for the first time was derailed by the methodical Suhn Lee. Oregon’s Dalton Beall climbed back onto the R48 rankings for the first time in more than a year by defeating the Olympic Club’s Anthony Collado.

Canales, Jr. def Svennungsen 25-14

Iglesias def Schoener 25-4

Ruiz def Polzin 25-11

Montijo def Frankenfield 25-15

Bernhard def English 25-5

Collado def Bell 25-15

Lee def D. Hernandez 25-14

Beall def A. Collado 25-14

R48 Red Death Round of 16

R48 #1 Killian Carroll was in fifth gear in his first tournament match in two months, crushing eight-time Oregon State champion Dalton Beall in two games.

Danos Cordova bounced back from a disappointing Tucson Memorial by dominating fellow LFC alumni, Suhn Lee. “Daniel had about 17 aces, there was nothing I could do,” lamented Lee.

Luis Cordova faced a difficult challenge from Loren Collado, needing overtime to take game one and taking over late in game two to advance. “Loren was scrappy and he really pushed Luis to the limit in both games,” stated WPH super fan Nick Flores.

Red Death #4 seed David Fink survived a furious second game rally from Adam “Weekend at Bernie’s” Bernhard, leading 9-1 only to be caught at 10. Fink scored the final five points of the game to move into Saturday’s quarterfinals. “Adam and I have played so many times in Race stops and he really knows my game so I expected him to make a run,” claimed Fink.

Vic Perez had little trouble against co-tournament host Abraham Montijo, downing Abraham in two games.

Shorty Ruiz earned his first career victory against Marcos Chavez to move him onto the Elite 8 bubble; dominating game one and scoring the final nine points of game two after Chavez double-faulted at 11-6.

R48 IX Tucson Memorial champion Martin Mulkerrins continued to roll on the tour, dispatching R48 veteran Jonathan Iglesias in two games to extend his R48 winning streak to five matches.

Emmett Peixoto and Leo Canales, Jr. met for the first time with Elite 8 implications on the line. Peixoto took control early against Canales, retrieving nearly all of Canales’ shots and seizing front court position. “I never allowed him to get going,” WPH mega donor Peixoto, said. “I was pressing him and pushing balls down the wall. I felt like a Super Pro in there. I’m here to win this tournament.”

Carroll def Beall 15-1, 15-5

Cordova def Lee 15-2, 15-6

Cordova def L. Collado 16-14, 15-10

Fink def Bernhard 15-5, 15-10

Perez def Montijo 15-4, 15-8

Ruiz def Chavez 15-4, 15-11

Mulkerrins def Iglesias 15-4, 15-5

Peixoto def Canales, Jr. 15-6, 15-4

Red Death Quarterfinals (Saturday)… to air LIVE on Patreon.com/wphlive

Carroll vs. Peixoto 9:30 am MST

Fink vs. Perez 10:30 MST

L. Cordova vs. Ruiz 11:30 MST

D. Cordova vs. Mulkerrins 12:30 MST

Red Death JR WPH Showdown

Collegiate stars Jonathan Gutierrez and Deavin Brownson squared off in a special Red Death JR WPH Showdown after the Red Death Qualifier, staging a classic battle between two future R48 stars. Gutierrez controlled the action midway through the one-game match to 25, building leads of 17-7 and 23-15. Brownson, who is a senior at the University of Oregon, rallied to close the gap to 23-24 but could not force overtime, falling to the Front Range College upstart. “Jon was pretty much kicking my butt the whole way but I made a big comeback,” stated Brownson. “It was a lot of fun.”

Red Death R48 Poster Award

The Red Death Elite 8 presented Red Death tournament directors Sean Sandau and Red Jolliffe with a special signed Red Death poster. “On behalf of all of our pros, staff, and board of directors, we are so grateful that Sean and Red welcome us to the Red Death each year,” added player rep, David Fink. “We are so grateful and this is an event all of us look forward to attending every season.”

For more info on the 2020 Montana Red Death, including starting times and to follow the brackets go HERE

2020 Montana Red Death Broadcast Schedule on WPH Patreon: Saturday, January 26, 10 am-7 pm MST, Sunday, January 27, 10 am-1:30 pm MST.

Become a WPH Patreon HERE

David Fink

WPH Senior Writer

2020 R48 IX Montana Red Death Full Preview: 

Missoula, MT, WPH Press, 1/20/20- The 2020 R48 IX Montana Red Death marks the 61^st event in the history of the Race 4 Eight tour, with the tour spanning 16 states in the R48’s first eight+ seasons. The 2020 R48 IX Montana Red Death will feature R48 #1, current world champion, and two-time defending Red Death champion Killian Carroll (IRE) seeking his first title of the 2019/20 R48 IX season. Carroll will have to contend with R48 Elite 8 stars “Flying Cordovas,” the Los Angeles Athletic Club’s Marcos Chavez and Vic Perez, Ireland’s newly minted R48 Elite 8 star Martin Mulkerrins, David Fink (AZ), and Emmett Peixoto (CA).

Eight qualifiers will battle on Friday morning to join the R48 Red Death Elite 8, including R48 #10 and 2019 Tucson Memorial semifinalist Leo Canales, Jr. (TX), R48 #12 Jonathan Iglesias (CO), R48 #13 Shorty Ruiz (AZ), R48 #17 and tournament co-host Abraham Montijo (AZ), R48 #22 Adam Bernhard (TX), and R48 #25 Loren Collado (CA).

In it’s first year as an official R48 stop in 2018, the Montana Red Death was voted “R48 Newcomer of the Year” by the R48 pros and was a serious contender for R48 stop of the year. Complete with endless hospitality, enthusiastic and knowledgeable fans, a beautiful facility and exciting junior handball clinics, the Montana Red Death promises to kickoff off 2020 in style.

Check out all of the important 2020 R48 IX Montana Red Death tournament information below:

2020 R48 IX Stop #4 Montana Red Death

• Date: January 24-26, 2020
• Site: Peak Racquet Center, 4990 Buckhouse Ln., Missoula, MT 59804
• Tournament director: WPH + Sean Sandau and Paul Polzin
• Tournament sponsor: JR WPH
• Pro Events: R48 Qualifier and R48 Men’s pro singles
• List of R48 Montana R48 Men’s pro champions: Carroll (2018, 2019)
• Defending Montana Red Death R48 champion: Carroll
• Number of ranked R48 pros entered (Elite 8 + Qualifier): 16
• Current or former R48 #1’s entered: 4 (Carroll, Fink)

For more info on the 2020 Montana Red Death, including starting times and to follow the brackets go HERE

Men’s Elite Eight Invites and their Seeds:

To Watch the games, go to Patreon.com/wphlive to find the posted schedule.

2020 Montana Red Death R48 IX Stop #4 Press Release HERE

2020 Montana Red Death Broadcast Schedule on WPH Patreon: Saturday, January 26, 10 am-7 pm MST, Sunday, January 27, 10 am-1:30 pm PST. Become a WPH Patreon HERE

Handball Terminology + Instruction and R48 Rules HERE

Race 4 Eight Pro Player Bios HERE

Full Race 4 Eight IX Preview HERE

WPH Power Rankings HERE

DF’s R48 Fun Facts and Trends HERE

Race 4 Eight History of Champions and Finalists HERE

WPH RACE 4 EIGHT: The World Players of Handball’s 2019/20 Race 4 Eight IX Powered by ESPN features R48 stops in Pennsylvania, Georgia, Arizona, Oregon, Montana, Louisiana, Texas, New York, Texas, California, and Utah, all culminating with The Player’s Championship in Utah in May of 2020. Similar to NASCAR’s Nextel Cup and the FedEx PGA Playoffs, players earn points in the Race 4 Eight’s regular season stops to qualify for the season-ending Player’s Championship and bonus prizes.

For more information on the WPH Race 4 Eight, please contact World Players of Handball Executive Director David Vincent at dave.vincent@wphlive.tv or World Players of Handball Development Director David Fink at david.fink@wphlive.tv. For more information on the World Players of Handball, please visit wphlive.tv

David Fink

WPH Senior Writer