Epic Showdowns in Salt Lake City

2025 WPH Aces Player’s Championship: Sunday

Day 3

Salt Lake City, UT, WPH Press, 5/4/25

Sunday featured the conclusion of the 2024/25 season, with the R48 and WR48 Player’s Cup to be decided by the final match. The finals did not disappoint, as the best on the Race 4 Eight laid it all on the line for glory, ranking points, and prize money.  

R48 Final: Mulkerrins vs. Lucho

R48 #1 Martin Mulkerrins and R48 #2 Lucho Cordova played the first Player’s Championship final with the winner determining the Player’s Cup Champion. Mulkerrins entered the final as the defending Player’s Cup Champion, while Lucho won the crown in 2023.

Both players were tense to start the match, with both aware of the implications. Mulkerrins was especially conservative early in the first game, opting for passes and ceiling shots on shots he would normally kill. Lucho was steady, playing his relaxed form of handball and building a 10-3 lead. Mulkerrins used various serves and strategies to cut into Lucho’s lead, including lob serves, power serves, and z serves. Martin would improbably catch Lucho at twelve, but Cordova found a slicing “skinny v” pass with his right down the right, striking three in a row to close out the first game.

Mulkerrins did not panic, attacking Lucho early in the second. Perhaps becoming too relaxed after taking the close first game, Lucho fell behind 0-4 and 3-10, the identical lead that he held in the first. Mulkerrins was unable to sustain his lead, making several uncharacteristic fist errors and failing to convert right-hand setups. “I didn’t think about his lead (in the second),” Lucho would tell ESPN’s Kara Mack. “(It was) time to slow down, play a little different. Neither of us could put the ball down. We were both tired.” 

Lucho tied the game at twelve and stood just three points from his second Player’s Cup. Lucho crushed a “skinny v” pass down the right when serving at 13-12, bouncing just past the short line next to Martin’s foot. The ball clearly slid, but was also very likely past Mulkerrins. After a long deliberation and an instant replay, the referee ruled a replay, giving Mulkerrins the benefit of the doubt.

Lucho would stay on thirteen for four more service innings but eventually broke through, scoring the final two points and pounding the back wall glass in celebration after clinching his second Player’s Cup in three seasons.

“This season was real mental,” Lucho told ESPN’s Mack. “One day (before Montana) I went to play with my buddies and I started serving bullets down the right. Even though I had not been playing well, I knew that I had all the shots and everything it takes to win. After my serve works, I get that offensive mindset. Shout out to my wife and kids. It means a lot. I’ve got their support. I did it for my wife, just like every other tournament. I am real grateful to the Salt Lake community. My whole family watches my matches back home so thanks to everybody.”

“We want to say thank you so much and it’s wonderful to see you (Lucho and Martin) play and we love to support the pros and handball,” stated six-year Aces tournament Ashton Steadman. “It’s a pleasure and we hope we made it fun for you and we hope to see you next year.”

Final: Lucho def Mulkerrins 15-12, 15-12

R48 Playoffs

Ivan Burgos defeated Mark Doyle for the first time in 4-Wall on the Race to take fifth, building a 20-12 lead with blazing speed and re kills. Burgos held off a late Doyle surge to cement his spot in the Race 4 Eight top five. “I don’t like to lose at all so I come into every match to win it,” Burgos told ESPN’s Kara Mack. “I want to take something from my opponents. I think I took advantage of playing on Sundays, neither of us are really used to it. When you are in tight games, you need to play percentages and that’s what I did at the end. The sport of handball has given me a sense of purpose and the WPH are the organizers of that. I hope I can keep moving up.”

Ray Ure put the disappointment of losing in the round of 16 by winning three matches to win ninth, including a 25-21 win against Midwest rival Sam Esser in the ninth place final. 

John Chapman defeated rising Race 4 Eight star Ayden Brule in the seventeenth place final, dropping the first game and rallying to win the next two. 

Fifth place playoffs: Burgos def Doyle 25-19

Ninth place playoffs: Ure def Esser 25-21

Seventeenth place playoffs: J. Chapman def Brule 10-15, 15-8, 15-8

R48 Finishes:

1^st: Lucho

2^nd: Mulkerrins

3^rd: Lenning/Canales

5^th: Burgos

6^th: Doyle

7^th: Bike/Streibig

9^th: Ure

10^th: Esser

11^th: Ruiz/D. Mulkerrins

13^th: Fink/Danos/Job/Langmack

17^th: Chapman

WR48 Final: Heffernan vs. Tully

Niamh Heffernan knew a win against Fiona Tully would result not only in winning the Player’s Championship, but the coveted Player’s Cup as well. A loss would mean no Player’s Cup or Player’s Championship. Hefferan was appearing in her fourth WR final in her fifth WR start, while Tully was appearing in her fifth WR final, with both seeking her first WR title.

Tully seized the lead in both games and seemed to be in control, taking full swings with both hands and keeping Heffernan on her back foot. “I was down in both games and one thing I’ll say is I’ll never give up,” Heffernan told ESPN’s Kara Mack. 

Heffernan chipped away at Tully’s lead in both games, punching the ball to the ceiling to push Tully to the back court and patiently waiting for her opportunities. Heffernan found her right-to-right kill in the middle of both games, scoring points with lasers down the right. 

The tension of the Player’s Cup and the Player’s Championship reached its peak late in the second, as both ladies desperately wanted to win. Heffernan seized her opportunity on her third match point, nearly brought to tears after winning the final point. 

“That was a tough game I just had to focus point by point I’m absolutely delighted,” beamed Heffernan in her post-match interview with ESPN’s Kara Mack. “Absolutely thrilled. Fiona is a great player and that could have gone either way. That (winning the Player’s Championship and Player’s Cup) was a goal for me. We get treated very well over here by Dave and Dave and the WPH and it’s very good competition.” 

Final: Heffernan def Tully 15-12, 15-12

WR48 Playoffs

Aoife Holden earned her career-best WR finish by defeating Player’s Championship top seed Clodagh Munroe in the third place playoff, while Mikaila Esser dominated the fifth place playoffs. 

Third place final: Holden def Munroe 25-8

Fifth place final: Esser def Ruiz 25-5

WR48 Finishes:

1^st: Heffernan

2^nd: Tully

3^rd: Holden

4^th: Munroe

5^th: M. Esser

SR48 Final: Fink vs. Lenning

Sean Lenning and David Fink met in the second consecutive SR48 final and for the fourth time in six weeks (R48 and SR48 combined). Lenning was aiming to remain undefeated on the SR48, while Fink was seeking his sixth SR Player’s Championship. 

Fink started well in the final, leading 6-1 with great serves down the left and right. Playing in his eighth match of the weekend, a clearly fatigued Lenning slowly warmed up, gradually hitting the ball with more power and moving more quickly. Lenning tied the score at nine and dominated from there, serving and fly-killing to his second SR title and first SR Player’s Championship. 

Despite the win, Fink won the SR Player’s Cup, accumulating the most ranking points during the three-stop 2024/25 SR season.

Final: Lenning def Fink 15-11, 15-3

SR48 Playoffs

Adam Bernhard bounced back from his semifinal loss to Sean Lenning to defeat Boxer Rosales in Rosales’s first SR start to win third, while Bill Mehilos finished fifth for the second time on the 2024/25 season, defeating Joe Kaplan in the fifth place final.

Third place final: Bernhard def Rosales 25-19

Fifth place final: Mehilos def Kaplan

SR48 Finishes:

1^st: Lenning

2^nd: Fink

3^rd: Bernhard

4^th: Rosales

5^th: Mehilos

Thank you!

The WPH is incredibly fortunate to be welcomed to Salt Lake City each year. Thank you to Matt and Lon Stalsberg, tournament director Ashton Steadman, Ruben Garza, and all of the Aces volunteers who roll out the red carpet for the pros every spring. 

Thank you to the WPH staff and broadcast team for another year of outstanding events and broadcasts. The WPH staff and broadcast team are the hardest working people in sports, with all of the staffers working twenty+ hour days to bring handball fans all of the matches, recaps, and interviews throughout each event. 

Follow all of the brackets from the 2025 WPH Race 4 Eight Aces Player’s Championship HERE

David Fink

WPH Senior Writer