Day 1
Missoula, MT, WPH Press, 1/31/25-
The 2025 R48 and WR48 Montana Red marks the 92nd event in the history of the Race 4 Eight tour, with the tour spanning eighteen states and two countries in the Race 4 Eight’s thirteen seasons.
The 2025 R48 Montana Red Death featured R48 #1 Martin Mulkerrins aiming for his sixth consecutive Race 4 Eight title, with his dominating run starting at the 2024 Race 4 Eight Juarez. Mulkerrins has been ruthless in his five-tournament reign, dispatching the game’s best on a twenty-three-match winning streak. Mulkerrins was joined in the 2025 Red by fellow Race 4 Eight Elite 8 pros Lucho Cordova (#2), Leo Canales (#3), Danos Cordova (#4), David Fink (#5), Ray Ure (#6), and Sam Esser (#8). In addition to the game’s top stars, current 19-and-under national champion Elisio Gutierrez and current 19-and-under national finalist Ayden Brule will join a number of the Race 4 Eight’s top 25 in what promises to be a sensational kickoff to 2025.
The WR48 made its first appearance at the famed Red, with former world champion Martina McMahon making her first start on the WR48 in more than a year. Joining the former world champion and 2017 WR48 Memorial champion at the Red were 2024 WR48 Rookie of the Year and current WR48 Player’s Championship finalist Niamh Heffernan, WR48 #3 Mikaila Esser, WR48 #4 Clodagh Munroe, WR48 #5 Ashley Ruiz, and former WR48 finalist Suz Entzeroth in the second of four WR48 events on the 2024/25 WR48 season.
R48: Four players from Tucson, five from AZ into Saturday’s quarterfinals
Entering the match on a five-tournament, twenty-three match winning streak, Martin Mulkerrins was stunned by hometown favorite John Chapman in his opening game of the event. Mulkerrins shrugged off the first-game loss and raced to a 13-0 second game lead, appearing to take control of the match. The tiebreaker flipped again, with Chapman building a 9-3 lead to fifteen.
Mulkerrins rattled off twelve consecutive points to avoid the upset. “He just turned it up (from 9-3),” Chapman would later say. “Martin was hitting great serves and really pushing me back and he was getting everything.”
“Blessed (to survive that),” stated Mulkerrins, who also had to rally from a one-game deficit to win the George Lee R48 Pre Qualifier last weekend in Dallas in the final against Leo Canales (George Lee recap HERE). “I suppose I caught a bit of a hot streak in that tiebreaker.”
Lucho Cordova dominated L.A.’s Dylan Hernandez, handing Hernandez a donut in game two. “I can’t ever remember getting a donut in the pros,” Hernandez would later say. “Lucho was playing really good.”
“That’s the best I’ve felt in the court in a long time,” stated Lucho. “I was able to kill with my right and serve well.”
Third-seeded Leo Canales overcame Abraham Montijo to advance to Saturday’s quarterfinals, while fourth-seeded and defending Red champion Danos Cordova was bounced in the round of sixteen by Max Langmack, who scored his previous biggest win against Lucho Cordova in the semifinals of the 2022 RFC Race stop. “I just felt a little too loose in there and did not put enough pressure on him,” stated Danos. “Max served really well and made a lot of left-handed cross court kills.”
David Fink escaped current 19-and-under national champion Eli Gutierrez in the round of 32 in a match that featured a thirty-one-year age gap. Fink took the first game against Shorty Ruiz in their round of 16 clash but fell behind 1-8 in game two. Fink scored six consecutive points after a timeout and charged back from a 7-11 deficit after Ruiz had scored three consecutive points, scoring the final eight points of the game to advance to Saturday’s quarterfinals.
Ray Ure and Jab Bike played for the second consecutive week, with Ure defeating Bike in two games in the Maverick R48 Pre Qualifier (HERE) in Mankato last week. Ure bested his Mankato teammate again in two games, advancing to the final eight of his fourth stop this season.
Sam Esser had never lost to thirteenth-ranked Jeff Streibig outside of Streibig’s home court at the Hinder Club and maintained his undefeated streak against Streibig outside of THC, dropping the St. Louis legend in two games to advance to his second quarterfinal of the season.
The longest match in the round of 16 was unsurprisingly Ivan Burgos and Vic Perez. Burgos and Perez matched up three times last season, with Perez winning two of the three. Burgos won a nearly one-hour first-game against the LAFD’s Perez, who has spent weeks bravely fighting fires in the Los Angeles area, often working twenty-four-hour shifts for five consecutive days. Perez forced a tiebreaker by executing a number of his patented left-wall cracks and kills. Burgos took command late in the tiebreaker, breaking away from Perez to even their career head-to-head to two matches each.
Round of 16
Mulkerrins def J. Chapman 8-15, 15-2, 15-9
Burgos def Perez 15-13, 11-15, 15-8
Fink def Ruiz 15-10, 15-11
Langmack def Danos 15-10, 15-7
Canales def Montijo 15-3, 15-3
Ure def Bike 15-9, 15-10
Esser def Streibig 15-5, 15-10
Lucho def Hernandez 15-9, 15-0
Round of 8 (Saturday)
Mulkerrins vs. Burgos (10 am)
Fink vs. Langmack (10:45 am)
Canales vs. Ure (12:15 pm)
Lucho vs. Esser (11:30 am)
WR48
Former WR48 finalist Suz Entzeroth made her return to the WR48 after a maternity leave and picked up where she left off, battling, diving, and scraping for every point. After splitting two close games, Entzeroth appeared to be in control in the third, leading 6-1. Suz could not capitalize on the early third game momentum, ultimately falling to Keeling in Keeling’s first WR48 win.
Stacey Marble defeated Austin’s Kristen Hughes in two games, while 2018 world WallBall and 4-Wall champion Martina McMahon was ruthless in her opening round win against Audrey Peters in Martina’s first WR48 start in more than five years.
Round of 16
Keeling def Entzeroth 15-13, 12-15, 15-12
Marble def Hughes 15-12, 15-10
McMahon def Peters 15-1, 15-0
Round of 8 (Saturday)
Munroe vs. Keeling (9 am)
Holden vs. Heffernan (9:45 am)
Esser vs. Marble (10:30 am)
Ruiz vs. McMahon (11:15 am)
WR48 Semifinals to start at 1 pm on ESPN+
Thank you
Thank you to tournament director Don Schmidt and tournament manager Ashley Ruiz for an outstanding Friday at the Red. Thank you to the WPH broadcast team of Dave Vincent, Linda Manning, Che Lowenstein, and Kris Gurrad for streaming Friday’s matches.
Follow all of the brackets from the 2025 Montana Red HERE
2025 Montana Red R48 Press Release HERE
2025 Montana Red Broadcast Schedule on ESPN+: Saturday, February 1, 10 am-7 pm MST, Sunday, February 2, 10 am-1 pm MST
Current Race 4 Eight Rankings HERE
Handball Terminology + Instruction and R48 Rules HERE
Race 4 Eight Pro Player Bios HERE
DF’s R48 Fun Facts and Trends + Race 4 Eight History of Champions HERE
2024/25 Race 4 Eight schedule HERE
WPH Coaching Center Instructional Videos HERE
2024 JR WPH Portfolio HERE
Support the sport and become a WPH Patreon HERE
WPH RACE 4 EIGHT: The World Players of Handball’s 2024/25 Race 4 Eight XIV Powered by ESPN features nine Race 4 Eight stops from California to Mexico, all culminating with The Player’s Championship. 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 title sponsor opportunity, 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
This event will be aired LIVE on ESPN+ beginning at Noon eastern time on Saturday and Sunday, February 1st and 2nd, 2025. Please share this news with your friends!!!
2025 WPH R48Pro Stop #4 ‘The Red’ – ESPN+ Broadcast Schedule
Missoula Montana – February 1 & 2, 2025
Saturday, February 1st, 2025 (Mountain Standard Time)
10:00 Men’s Pro Singles Quarters Mulkerrins (IRE) vs Burgos (AZ)
10:45 Men’s Pro Singles Quarters Fink (AZ) vs Langmack (AZ)
11:30 Men’s Pro Singles Quarters Esser (AZ) vs L. Cordova (MEX)
12:15 Men’s Pro Singles Quarters Canales Jr (AZ) vs Ure (IL)
1:00 Women’s Pro Singles Semifinals Munroe vs Heffernan
1:45 Women’s Pro Singles Semifinals Esser vs McMahon
2:30 Men’s Pro 5th Place Semifinals TBD
3:30 Men’s Pro Singles Semifinals Mulkerrins (IRE) vs Langmack (AZ)
4:30 Men’s Pro Singles Semifinals L. Cordova (MEX) vs Ure (IL)
Sunday, February 2nd, 2025 (Mountain Standard Time)
10:00 Men’s 5th or 9th Place Final TBD
10:45 Women’s Pro Singles Final TBD
11:30 Men’s Pro Singles Final TBD
