The United States Handball Association and the World Players of Handball are proud to present the live broadcast of the 66th USHA Four Wall National Championships from Fridley, MN. It’s been a rough couple days working with the IT department at the facility, but we finally broke through as the Moreno/Peixoto match ended. We want to thank the viewers who stuck through early technical issues and then watched the LIVE feed at race4eight.com.
Thursday featured the Men’s Pro Quarterfinals, with Paul Brady pursuing his record-tying 11th USHA Four Wall National Championship title.
Luis Moreno faced his longtime rival Emmett Peixoto in the first quarterfinal of the morning. Peixoto started quickly in his quest for three straight national finals, scoring four points before Moreno’s first serve. Peixoto would lead 9-3 before surrendering 18 of the next 20 points to “The Natural.” Game two played out much the same, with Peixoto taking an early lead before a furious rally and second game victory for Moreno.
Paul Brady cruised in his quarterfinal match with Tucson’s Abraham Montijo, playing virtually even with Montijo in the first half of both games before dominating the second half of both games.
Martin Mulkerrins entered the 2016 USHA Four Wall National Championships as the seventh seed and in search of his second national finals appearance in three years. Mulkerrins faced the #2 seed and 2011 USHA Four Wall National Championship finalist Sean Lennng. The pair had split their previous two encounters, with Mulkerrins winning their most recent clash in Ireland in January. Mulkerrins controlled the action in game one, overpowering Lenning and using his speed and fitness to take a one-game lead. Lenning led through the first half of game two, staying ahead of his Irish counterpart by two to three points through the game’s midway point. With Lenning leading 12-10, Mulkerrins found another gear and rode a hot serve and left and right-handed kills to a dominant second half performance in game two, scoring 11 of the final 14 points of the game to advance to the semifinals.
2016 R48 Player’s Champion Killian Carroll faced former R48 Elite 8 member Andy Nett for the second time in their pro careers, with Carroll winning their first encounter at the 2013 Simple Green U.S. Open. The second match between the pair closely resembled the first, with Carroll completely dominating the action by taking 10 and 17 point leads to start games one and two, respectively. Carroll advanced to face his countryman Martin Mulkerrins in Friday’s semifinals.
Quarterfinals: Aired Live on Race4eight.com this Thursday morning to afternoon
Brady defeats Montijo 21-10, 21-8
Moreno defeats Peixoto 21-11, 21-16
Carroll defeats Nett 21-8, 21-7
Mulkerrins defeats Lenning 21-14, 21-15
Semifinals: To air LIVE on www.race4eight.com Friday, June 17th
Brady vs. Moreno 11am Central
Mulkerrins vs. Carroll 12pm Central
To watch Friday’s Men’s Pro Singles semifinals starting at 11 am CST, go to race4eight.com. To follow the results from the 66th USHA Four Wall National Championships, click here. To follow the USHA’s coverage of the 66th USHA Four Wall National Championships, go to ushandball.org
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