Tournament director and R48/SR48 pro Dave Munson and the IHA played host to the 2024 LaGrange 3-Wall Tournament in Chicago on the second weekend in July, one of the premier 3-Wall handball tournaments in the country featuring a great venue, competition and hospitality. Players were treated to hospitality all weekend, a tournament souvenir, a cookout on Friday, a Taco Truck on Saturday, and plenty of shaded seating to watch a number of the world’s best 3-Wall stars.
Men’s Open Singles
Race 4 Eight top four pros Danos Cordova (#2) and Leo Canales (#4) highlighted the strong Men’s Open singles draw at the 2024 LaGrange 3-Wall Tournament that also featured Race 4 Eight pros Loren Collado, Dave Munson, and Ricardo Palma.
Top-seeded Cordova was pushed to a tiebreaker in his quarterfinal win against Minnesota’s Dave Schiller and cruised in two games in his semifinal clash with Northern California’s twenty-fourth ranked pro Loren Collado.
Canales was ruthless in the bottom half of the draw, ousting his doubles partner and collegiate teammate Ricardo Palma in the semifinals and tournament host Dave Munson in the semifinal.
Cordova and Canales met for the first time since the 2022/23 Race 4 Eight season that saw the stars play five times in seven events. Due to the rain, the final was pushed indoors on Sunday morning. Cordova built a big lead in the first but Canales rallied to tie the score late. “Leo called good timeouts and would come in and even up the game (after trailing),” stated Danos. Danos ultimately took the first game, 21-19.
Canales dominated the early part of game two, building a 10-0 lead. “Leo brought up the intensity in the second game, forcing himself to full swing at uncomfortable shots and I didn’t match that intensity,” stated Danos. Danos would cut the deficit to 10-13 but never climbed closer, dropping the game 21-13.
Danos took control of the tiebreaker and never allowed Canales into the game. “Danos played really well in the breaker,” stated Canales.
“The third game I served well and hit good shots with my left,” stated Danos, who raced to an 11-3 win.
Semifinals
Danos def L. Collado 21-11, 21-11
Canales def D. Munson 21-1, 21-6
Final: Danos def Canales 21-19, 13-21, 11-3
Special thanks to the IHA Board members for setting up the tournament. Also, thank you to all LaGrange 3-Wall sponsors and donors that contributed to the tournament.
Follow all of the brackets from the 2024 LaGrange 3-Wall Tournament HERE
David Fink
WPH Senior Writer