St. Louis, MO, WPH Press, 4/24/22
The famed St. Louis Hinder Club played host to the 2022 Missouri State Singles Championships, featuring Race 4 Eight pros Sam Esser, Max Langmack, and Jeff Streibig in the Men’s Open field and former WR48 finalist Suz Entzeroth and WR48 hopeful Taylor Bell in the Women’s Open field.
Men’s Open
R48 #6 Sam Esser entered the 2022 Missouri State Singles as the favorite but a white hot Max Langmack was primed for an upset against his childhood training partner and All-American collegiate teammate. Both Esser and Langmack enjoyed their best seasons on the Race 4 Eight, with Esser finishing in the Elite 8 for the first time and Langmack knocking on the door with 16 match wins on the season (second most on tour) and a top-ten year-end ranking.
“Definitely a good final,” stated Langmack. “Always fun to match up against Sam and it’s been a while since we played singles against each other so it was cool to see some shots that we’ve added since we last played. I’d felt really good with my serve all weekend and it was my biggest weapon today. After winning the first game, Sam had a great run to start the second. He dominated the front court with some corner fly kills and would put the ball down with some back wall kills or shoulder high kills from the back court. He kept this aggressive style up throughout the second and though I made a comeback, his aggressive shot making was the difference in game two. With that in mind, I just wanted to focus on my serve in the breaker since I knew it’d be tough to get him out if I gave it up.”
“Max served really well,” stated Esser. “I couldn’t do anything defensive with his serves, and he was nailing his first-strike kills.”
Semifinals
Esser def Pettus
Langmack def Streibig
Final: Langmack def Esser
Women’s Open
Suz Entzeroth dominated the women’s field, defeating Taylor Rumping in two lopsided games.
“Suz looked to be employing a slower style with her lob serve that Taylor couldn’t be offensive with and helped Suz to neutralize Taylor’s power,” stated Langmack. “Suz also did a good job taking advantage of shooting many of Taylor’s returns that came off the side wall which helped her to the lead.”
Final: Entzeroth def Rumping
View all of the brackets from the 2022 Missouri State Singles Championships HERE
David Fink
WPH Senior Writer