Day 1
Salt Lake City, UT, WPH Press, 5/3/24
The 2024 WPH Race 4 Eight Salt Lake City Aces Player’s Championship provides professional handball’s greatest showcase, featuring the R48, WR48, and SR48 battling for Player’s Championships, the most coveted prize in professional handball.
The 2024 R48 Men’s Pro Player’s Championship featured five players playing for the 2023/24 Race 4 Eight Player’s Cup for the year-end #1, with top three Race stars Martin Mulkerrins, Danos Cordova and Lucho Cordova controlling their own Player’s Cup destiny with a win.
WR48 #1 and 24-time WR48 champion Catriona Casey sits in the driver’s seat to win her ninth consecutive WR48 Player’s Cup, as she has won all three regular season WR48 events during the 2023/24 WR48 season (Tucson, St. Louis, Juarez), while SR48 #1 David Fink will be aiming for his fifth consecutive SR48 Player’s Cup, having won the Cup in his first four seasons on the SR48 tour.
R48 Men’s Pro Round of 16
Martin Mulkerrins overcame the LAAC’s Dylan Hernandez in the first round of 16 match of the afternoon, gaining revenge for his brother Diarmuid who lost to Hernandez in a one-hour and fifty-three-minute battle in the round of 32 earlier in the day. The R48 #1 dominated game one but struggled to close out Hernandez in game two, ultimately winning 15-12. “I should have slowed the game down more,” lamented Hernandez after the match.
Ray Ure entered Salt Lake City seeded fifteenth, but based on the form he displayed in his only start of the year in Juarez in late March, brimmed with confidence against second-seeded Danos. Danos tackled Ure early, hitting power-hop serves and playing more aggressively than he had all season to build a 10-2 lead just seven minutes into the first game. Ure chipped away after a slow start, adjusting to Danos’s serve and closing the gap to 11-14. Danos only served once for the game, but a quick side out at 14-11 and consecutive crack out ace serves and a first strike kill sent the game into overtime. Ure was in complete control from there, quickly winning overtime and running away with game two to hand Danos his first round of 16 loss of the season. “It just seemed like whatever Danos tried to do, Ray had an answer for it, whether it was ground-and-pound or going to the roof,” stated ESPN’s Dave Vincent.
“I felt good,” Ure would later say. “My serve was working to both sides and once I settled in I felt confident in myself.”
Third-seeded Lucho Cordova quickly won game one against the current MO State Singles champion and fourteenth-ranked Jeff Streibig, largely due to Streibig’s twelve first game errors. Streibig tightened up his game in game two, reducing his error total to one, while forcing Lucho to play passively. Streibig took game two on the strength of great retrieves and timely kills, but could not match Lucho’s intensity in the third, falling behind 12-0. Streibig avoided the bagel, eventually scoring six points but the lead proved to be too big, as the defending Player’s Cup champion advanced.
David Fink met Jab Bike for the third time this season, with Fink winning their first two matchups in two games. The third encounter would go the distance, largely due to Jab’s improved right hand and diving kills. Fink led 15-8, 13-9 and seemed destined to break his two-year streak of round of 16 tiebreaker losses at the Player’s Championship. Jab reeled off six straight points with an array of ace serves, deep court kills and diving re kills to force a third. Fink capitalized on several Jab errors and executed several clutch kills to pull away and advance to the quarterfinals in Salt Lake City for the first time since 2019.
Leo Canales was in control throughout his two-game win against current USHA collegiate national champion and twelfth-ranked R48 pro Mark Doyle. Appearing to be more comfortable on the two-glass Salt Lake City court than most after making last year’s final, Canales played relaxed and focused to advance.
Sixth-ranked Sean Lenning ran into 23-time Race 4 Eight champion Killian Carroll in the round of 16. Carroll entered the tournament ranked eleventh, having played (and won) just one event this season. Carroll and Lenning played evenly for the first half of both games, but Carroll was able to pull away in the second half of both games to end Lenning’s season.
Seventh-ranked Sam Esser was seeking revenge against tenth-ranked Shorty Ruiz in their round of 16 clash after losing to Ruiz in the round of 16 at the Tucson Hall of Fame LTE three weeks ago. Esser was in control throughout the entire match, building a 7-0 lead in the first and never allowing Ruiz to get into the front court. “I just felt flat-footed in there,” Ruiz would later say.
Ninth-ranked Vic Perez needed a tiebreaker to defeat Adam Bernhard in his round of 32 match and faced surprise round of 16 pro Sean Kerr, who upset eighth-ranked Ivan Burgos in a tiebreaker in the round of 32. Kerr had qualified three times previously but had not played a Race event in several years. Perez’s experience and shot selection was too much for Kerr, who was competitive in game one but not in game two.
R48 Round of 16
Mulkerrins def D. Hernandez 15-5, 15-12
Ure def Danos 16-14, 15-4
Lucho def Streibig 15-3, 12-15, 15-6
Fink def Bike 15-8, 13-15, 15-7
Canales def Doyle 15-6, 15-11
Carroll def Lenning 15-9, 15-9
Esser def Ruiz 15-3, 15-8
Perez def Kerr 15-10, 15-2
R48 Round of 8 (Saturday, all times MST)
Mulkerrins vs. Perez 9 am
Fink vs. Canales 10 am
Esser vs. Ure 11 am
Lucho vs. Carroll Noon
WR48 Round of 8 (Saturday, all times MST)
Casey vs. Holden 9 am
Esser vs. Ruiz Noon
Munroe vs. Heffernan 11 am
Ni Churraoin vs. Daskalakis 10 am
SR48 Round of 8 (Saturday, all times MST)
Fink vs. Svennungsen 9 am
Watkins vs. Garcia 10 am
Pettus vs. Bernhard 11 am
Price vs. Munson Noon
Watch all of the action from Salt Lake City live on ESPN+ on Saturday and Sunday
WPH Destination Series Salt Lake City HERE
More info on the 2024 WPH Race 4 Eight Aces Player’s Championship, including starting times and to follow the brackets HERE
2024 WPH Race 4 Eight Aces Player’s Championship press release HERE
WPH on YouTube HERE
Become a WPH Patreon HERE
Race 4 Eight Fun Facts
WPH Elite 8 Fun Facts Deep Dive HERE
Current Race 4 Eight Rankings HERE
Race 4 Eight pro player bios HERE
WPH Coaching Centers HERE
WPH Workout Central HERE
2023/24 Race 4 Eight schedule HERE
WPH RACE 4 EIGHT: The World Players of Handball’s 2023/24 Race 4 Eight XIII Powered by ESPN features Race 4 Eight stops in Oregon, Arizona, Missouri, Montana and Mexico, all culminating with The Player’s Championship in Utah in May of 2024. Similar to NASCAR’s Nextel Cup and the FedEx PGA Playoffs, players earn points in the Race 4 Eight’s regular season stops to qualify for the season-ending Player’s Championship and bonus prizes.
For more information on the WPH Race 4 Eight title sponsor opportunity, please contact World Players of Handball Executive Director David Vincent at dave.vincent@wphlive.tv or World Players of Handball Development Director David Fink at david.fink@wphlive.tv. For more information on the World Players of Handball, please visit wphlive.tv
Become a WPH Patreon HERE
David Fink
WPH Senior Writer
Watch on ESPN+
Saturday, May 4, 2024 – All Times Mountain Daylight Time (MDT)
(ESPN+ Block: 9a-630p)
0900 Men’s Pro Quarterfinal – Martin Mulkerrins (IRE) vs Vic Perez (CA)
1000 Men’s Pro Quarterfinal – Leo Canales (AZ) vs David Fink (AZ)
1100 Men’s Pro Quarterfinal – Sam Esser (AZ) vs Ray Ure (IL)
1200 Men’s Pro Quarterfinal – Luis Cordova (MEX) vs Killian Carroll (MA)
1300 Women’s Pro Semi – Casey or Holden vs Ni Churraoin or Daskalakis
1400 Women’s Pro Semi – Munroe or Heffernan vs Esser or Ruiz
1500 Senior 40+ Semi – (TBD)
1600 Men’s Pro Semifinal – Mulkerrins or Perez vs Canales or Fink
1700 Men’s Pro Semifinal – Esser or Ure vs Cordova or Carroll
Sunday, May 5, 2024 – All Times Mountain Daylight Time (MDT)
(ESPN Block: 9a-130p)
0900 9th Place Final (TBD)
0945 SR 40+ Final (TBD)
1030 Women’s Pro Final (TBD)
1115 Men’s Pro Final (TBD)