Fridley, MN, WPH Press, 11/24/24
Fridley’s Lifetime Fitness played host to the 2024 MN State Singles on the weekend before Thanksgiving, featuring sixty-three players competing in various brackets.
Men’s Open Singles
The 2024 MN State Men’s Open Singles featured Race 4 Eight current and former pros Ray Ure, Jab Bike, Luke Sandy, David Schiller, and Handballesta champion Bryan Trejo.
2024 Portland Classic finalist (HERE) and R48 #6 Ray Ure needed a tiebreaker to overcome Mankato teammate and Handballesta champion (HERE) Bryan Trejo in the upper bracket semifinals, while 2023 WPH Clarkbreaker MVP (HERE) and R48 #16 Jab Bike was fueled by a seedings slight in the bottom half, obliterating 2023 Tucson Memorial 17th place winner Luke Sandy in two games to meet Ure in the final.
Ure comfortably took game one in the final, shooting the ball flat off the back wall and overwhelming Bike. Bike dictated play throughout the second, seemingly on the verge of forcing a tiebreaker at 20-11. Ure found another gear facing his second tiebreaker of the day, climbing back into the game with a blend of power, touch, and kills. Ure would eventually catch Bike at twenty and close out the game and the MN State Title with his tenth consecutive point.
“I made some hand errors and he picked up his game,” Bike would later say. “I didn’t have any setups to win the game either. He played good. He mixed in some lob serves to the right and his normal power serves and he was really good off the back wall.”
Semifinals
Ure def Trejo 21-16, 17-21, 11-1
Bike def Sandy 21-10, 21-6
Final: Ure def Bike 21-11, 21-20
Watch the final on Jab Bike’s Facebook page HERE
Thank you to tournament director Mike Kloos for an outstanding event.
Follow all of the brackets from the 2024 MN State Singles on Bracket Ace HERE
David Fink
WPH Senior Writer