Tucson, AZ, WPH Press, 12/14/24
The fourth Race 4 Eight Icebreaker, ninety-first Race 4 Eight event, and twenty-seventh overall Icebreaker kicked off at the WPH’s Clark Park on Saturday, with the game’s best outdoor stars aiming to etch their names onto the Clark Park Wall of Fame.
R48 Icebreaker Singles
Six-time Icebreaker champion and two-time defending R48 Icebreaker champion topped the twenty-six player 2024 R48 Icebreaker field, with R48 #3 Danos Cordova, R48 #4 Leo Canales, R48 #5 David Fink, R48 #6 Ray Ure, and R48 #8 Vic Perez amongst the sixteen ranked R48 pros in the field.
Lucho was dominant in his R48 Icebreaker defense on Saturday, handing first-time pro Matt Job a lopsided two-game loss and cruising into the semifinals with a clinical two-game sweep against The St. Louis Hinder Club’s Jeff Streibig.
Second-seeded Danos Cordova was pushed in his round of 16 match against Tucson’s next star Ayden Brule, narrowly escaping a tiebreaker in a 15-13 second-game win. Danos fell behind 1-12 in the first game against Jab Bike in the quarterfinals, eventually dropping the first game 21-13 against Bike, who was making his first start of the 2024/25 Race season after spending several months rehabbing his left elbow. Danos evened the match with a dominant second game. Bike was aiming for his first Race 4 Eight semifinal in the tiebreaker and appeared to be on the verge with a 7-6 lead. Bike missed a left-handed kill attempt that would have given him an 8-6 lead and lost the momentum there, dropping the third 11-8.
Leo Canales would need to play from behind in both of his matches on Saturday, as The Big Game Hunter dropped game one against Phoenix’s crossover star Albert Pizano before rallying to win in a tiebreaker.
Canales would drop game one against his collegiate and pro rival Sam Esser in the quarterfinals. “Sam was just making everything in that first game, there wasn’t much I could do,” Canales would later say. Canales started using the ceiling to push Esser back in game two, as well as a deep power reverse serve to the left that yielded several aces. After taking game two and a 5-1 lead in the tiebreaker, Esser battled back, hitting the corners with both hands for rally-enders and tying the score at six. Canales continued to pound the ceiling late in the tiebreaker and executed several clutch left-handed kills to advance to his second semifinal of the season. “Incredible handball, what a match,” referee Jeff Streibig would say.
David Fink was aiming for his fourth consecutive R48 Icebreaker final and started well, defeating Texas’s Taylor Schmitt in two games to face Ray Ure in the quarterfinals. Fink and Ure had played just once on tour, with Ure winning their only matchup in Juarez earlier this year. With the score tied at five in the first game, Fink took control, serving deep and fly killing Ure’s returns. Fink took the first game and led 9-2 in the second. Ure would climb into the match, taking the lead at 12-11, but Fink regained control, ending the match with five straight kills after a timeout at 16-14 to advance to Sunday’s semifinals.
R48 Icebreaker Round of 16
Lucho def Job 15-1, 15-4
Danos def Brule 15-9, 15-13
Canales def Pizano 14-16, 15-5, 15-4
Fink def T. Schmitt 15-7, 15-1
Ure def Montijo 15-10, 15-8
Esser def Langmack 15-12, 15-12
Bike def Burgos 15-11, 15-13
Streibig def Ruiz 16-14, 15-4
R48 Icebreaker Round of 8
Lucho def Streibig 21-4 21-10
Danos def Bike 13-21, 21-9, 11-8
Canales def Esser 8-21, 21-13, 11-8
Fink def Ure 21-7, 21-14
R48 Icebreaker Semifinals (Sunday)
Lucho vs. Fink
Danos vs. Canales
Big Ball
Singles
Big ball stars Samzon Hernandez, Chopper Hernandez, Alberto Pizano, Alfredo Morales, Boxer Rosales headlined the twenty-eight-player Icebreaker big ball pro singles field, with players traveling from Arizona, California, Texas, New Mexico, Idaho, and Mexico to compete at Clark Park.
Top-seeded Chava Cordova led Alberto Pizano 14-10 in the first game of the quarterfinal clash but could not close the game, as Pizano tied the score at fourteen. In the rally scoring format, the next rally would decide the game. After a furious exchange that saw both players move from the front court to behind the back line, Pizano ran forward for a seemingly simple right-handed re kill but just missed, losing the game and the momentum. Chava capitalized in game two, quickly moving into the semifinals in pursuit of his first Icebreaker singles title.
Eddie Rocha defeated former Icebreaker singles and doubles champion Chopper Hernandez in two games to move into the semifinals, using his touch and kills to upset Hernandez. “Torito has a lot of skills and a nice game,” stated Texas’s Noe Arenas, who lost to Rocha in a tiebreaker in the round of 16.
Alfredo Morales returned to the Icebreaker for the first time since winning the first big ball Icebreaker at Clark Park in the summer of 2021. After taking more than two years off and just returning to the court in the last few months, Fredo showed that his game is still very strong. Fredo overwhelmed Rosales in two games with lobs, passes, and kills, seemingly never out of position while moving Boxer on a string.
Samzon Hernandez dropped the first game against Sal Duenas in their quarterfinal clash, as “The Wiz” was in the zone in game one. The newly svelte Duenas’s new fitness enabled him to build a sizable first game lead, controlling nearly every rally in building an 11-4 lead. Samzon would catch Duenas at fourteen, but a Duenas flat kill ended the first game. Samzon charged back, playing more aggressively in the second and third games, overwhelming Duenas with power and kills.
Round of 8
Chava def Pizano 15-14, 15-8
Rocha def A. Hernandez (Chopper) 15-13, 15-7
Samzon def Duenas 14-15, 15-8, 15-4
Morales (Fredo) def Rosales (Boxer) 15-11, 15-8
Big Ball Pro Singles Semifinals (Sunday)
Chava vs. Morales
Rocha vs. Samzon
Big Ball Doubles
Pro
Quarterfinals
Team Cordova def Team Esser/Arenas 15-9, 15-12
Team Chopper/Pizano def Team Samzon/Boxer 5-15, 15-6, 15-10
Team Rocha/Morales def Team Gabino/Vallejo 15-11, 15-7
Team Chava/Duenas def Team Bike/Ure 13-15, 15-8, 15-6
Semifinals (Sunday)
Team Cordova vs. Team Chopper/Pizano
Team Chava/Duenas vs. Team Rocha/Morales
Women’s Singles
Top-seeded Mikaila Esser and Ashley Ruiz met in the final after defeating Audrey Peters and Belisa Camacho in the semifinals, respectively. Ruiz took the early advantage in the first game, building a five-point lead early in the primetime match. Esser would come back, taking an 18-16 first game lead. Ruiz thwarted the rally, ending the game with a five-point streak.
Esser changed her strategy in game two and completely dominated the match from the start of the second, outscoring Ruiz 32-8 in the second and third games combined. “Vern (Roberts) told me between games to hit the ball with more angle and to hit the ball harder,” stated Esser of the advice she received from the hall of famer. “Ashely likes to cut the ball off, so I mixed up my serves so she was not able to take as many balls out of the air.”
Semifinals
Esser def Peters 21-2, 21-3
Ruiz def Camacho 21-1, 21-1
Esser def Ruiz 18-21, 21-5, 11-3
Third place final: Peters def Camacho 21-6, 21-1
JR WPH Singles and Clinic
Eight players from Phoenix’s Carl Hayden High School competed in the junior big ball singles, playing one-game matches on Saturday afternoon, as well as taking a JR WPH clinic from WPH Outdoor legend Samzon Hernandez.
Hernandez discussed his “serve-and-kill” strategy to the Carl Hayden High School junior players. “I try to serve deep to the off-hand and always look to kill the next shot,” explained Hernandez, who has won north of four-hundred pro tournaments in his illustrious career.
“Everything worked out well for our kids,” stated Carl Hayden Coach Chris Hogan. “They enjoyed the games and the atmosphere. It was a great day to be outside and play handball! Thank you to David Fink and the WPH. We appreciate how you really look out for our program to get better!”
Thank you to the WPH’s grilling dream team of Scott Cleveland, Russ Whitten, and Jim Verhaeghe for an incredible Saturday BBQ.
The WPH will film the action and upload the matches to Patreon (HERE). You can follow all of the 2024 R48 Icebreaker action with daily recaps on wphlive.tv
Follow all of the brackets from the 2024 WPH R48 Icebreaker HERE
Icebreaker Fun Facts/History of Champions HERE
Race 4 Eight Fun Facts HERE
Icebreaker pro player bios HERE
Race 4 Eight pro player bios HERE
WPH Coaching Centers HERE
WPH Workout Central HERE
2024/25 Race 4 Eight schedule HERE
David Fink
WPH Senior Writer