One of handball’s greatest events concluded on Sunday, with the highly anticipated final between top R48 stars Luis Moreno and Sean Lenning.
Moreno cruised to Sunday’s final with impressive two-game sweeps against top 12 R48 pros Jonathan Iglesias and Naty Alvarado on Saturday. Sean Lenning needed to go the distance in both of his Saturday matches, winning 11-4 tiebreakers against Vic Perez and Emmett Peixoto to advance to Sunday’s final.
Luis Moreno had dominated his rivalry with Sean Lenning since the start of the Race 4 Eight in 2011, winning all six of their encounters in the first season and maintaining his perfect record against the Shoreline, Washington pro until the Race 4 Eight IIV Houston in January of 2015. Lenning earned his first Race victory against Moreno in Houston and added three consecutive non-Race victories in Colorado, Mexico, and Las Vegas after the Houston breakthrough.
Unlike in Lenning’s Saturday evening semifinal, “The Freak” started quickly in the final, building a 7-0 lead in just two service innings. Moreno would chip away at the Lenning lead throughout game one, tying the game at 11 before Lenning reestablished the momentum to lead 19-15. With Lenning serving for the game at 20-18, Moreno blasted a kill down the right wall that was later called a hinder before Moreno’s shot. A frustrated Moreno would lose the next rally and the game. Moreno used the bad fortune from the end of game one as fuel in game two, completely dominating an exhausted Lenning. Moreno forced the tiebreaker with a 21-1 second game thrashing and jumped to a seemingly commanding 7-0 lead in the tiebreaker. Moreno served directly into the ground, handing Lenning the serve and life after being outscored 28-1 in the previous 29 points. Lenning scored five consecutive points and threatened to shock Moreno after being seemingly out of the match just five minutes prior. Moreno regrouped, making incredible retrieves, hitting two aces, and executing two off balance kills to clinch the title.
Moreno defeats Lenning 18-21, 21-1, 11-5
Thank you to Jake Plummer for his incredibly hospitality and passion for growing the game of handball. Thank you to the entire Plummer family and the local Idaho handball community for their incredible efforts in making the 7th Plummer Bash one of the best ever. Thank you also to WPH board of director member and WPH tournament manager Steve Soto for running an incredible tournament desk for the second consecutive weekend.
Like the World Players of Handball on Facebook, log onto wphlive.tv or follow the WPH on Twitter @dfwph and @wphlive for all of the updates from the PFHHB7! To follow the draws and results from the PfHHB7, click HERE>.