The 65th USHA National Four-Wall Championships: Day Four Singles Recap

The World Players of Handball is proud to be on site at the 65^th USHA National Four-Wall Championships at the Los Caballeros Sports Village in Fountain Valley, CA. The World Players of Handball will be providing updates throughout the opening rounds and will be live streaming coverage starting Friday, June 12^th through Sunday June 14^th on race4eight.com.

“We are proud to be broadcasting from Los Caballeros, in Fountain Valley, CA,” says WPH Director, Dave Vincent, in an earlier on-video interview.  “Here’s Dave Fink, to talk more about today’s matches and the beautiful weather at these games, Dave…”

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Paul Brady continued his quest for his 10^th USHA National Men’s Singles titles in his last 10 appearances in Friday’s first men’s semifinal. Race 4 Eight Season III Brady vanquisher Mando Ortiz appeared in his first national singles semifinals and motivated to end Brady’s run and start his own in his backyard. Brady overcame six early first game errors to take a commanding 14-2 lead and held off a late Ortiz charge to win game one, 21-6. Game two was more of the same, as Brady’s consistency and power was too much for Ortiz. Brady clinched his spot in the final in two games, 21-6, 21-11.

Emmett Peixoto and Sean Lenning continued their rivalry that started in junior handball 15 years ago and has seen a number of momentum shifts throughout their pro careers. Despite wining seven of their last eight encounters, Peixoto was deemed the underdog by the vast majority of fans at Los Caballeros. Peixoto played within himself and clinically throughout the match, pushing Lenning into the backcourt and pouncing on offensive opportunities. Lenning appeared frustrated in game one, committing 14 unforced errors and scoring just eight points. Lenning started game two with positive body language and crisp shot making, quickly building a 10-5 lead and seemingly en route to forcing a tiebreaker. Peixoto scored nine consecutive points to retake control of the match and clinched a spot in the final for the second consecutive year with a commanding two-game victory, 21-8, 21-13.

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In the Women’s Open Singles, defending champion Catriona Casey defeated Maria Dugas in two games to setup a clash with her countrywoman Cianna Ni Churraoin in Saturday’s semifinals. CNC defeated fourth seeded Jessica Gawley in two games. Aisling Reilly defeated Canadian legend Lisa Fraser-Gilmore in two games and will face New York’s Danielle Daskalakis in the bottom bracket semifinal. Double D narrowly escaped her quarterfinal clash with Irish rival Aoife McCarthy, overcoming match point to win 19-21, 21-19, 11-10 in the match of the tournament.

The men’s and women’s small ball and big ball doubles produced electrifying handball and Saturday will feature the semifinals in the men’s small ball doubles, women’s small ball doubles and men’s big ball doubles, all on race4eight.com!

Live streaming on race4eight.com will be possible because of the generous donations of the USHA and WPH. Thank you! To watch the action from Los Caballeros Sports Village from Friday, June 12^th through Sunday June 14^th, tune into race4eight.com. To follow the action from 65^th USHA National Four-Wall Championships, log onto ushandball.org and wphlive.tv. To follow the brackets and scores, click Here.