Handball’s greatest outdoor superstars shared the grandest stage in outdoor handball on Friday at the 6th annual WPH/WOR 3WallBall Outdoor World Championships at the Stratosphere Hotel and Casino, with the game’s best small ball and big ball stars vying for WPH 3WallBall World Championships.
3WallBall Small Ball Semifinals
Luis Moreno and Mando Ortiz staged a classic in the first Men’s Small Ball Singles semifinal of the evening, as the pair exchanged leads throughout each game for nearly 90 minutes. The junior and pro rivals mirrored one another’s games, with both possessing dominating two-handed power and the ability to retrieve nearly every shot hit. Moreno led 6-2 in game one before Ortiz rallied, scoring six straight points to take an 8-6 lead. Moreno regrouped, using his speed and shot making to regain control of the first game. Moreno clinched game one and appeared to be on the verge of a two-game sweep, leading 10-9 in game two. Ortiz caught fire, scoring three straight points to force a tiebreaker. Moreno reached match point at 11-6 in the third game, but just as his quarterfinal opponent had done the previous night, Ortiz scored four straight points following a Moreno error. Ortiz’s rally was halted at 10, as Moreno advanced in his second consecutive 12-10 tiebreaker.
Sean Lenning aimed to continue his incredible indoor and outdoor 2015 season in the second semifinal of the evening. Lenning used his two-way hop serve to keep David Fink off-balance in the two-game sweep, needing just eight minutes to clinch game one, and scoring 12 of the final 14 points of the second game after falling behind 5-0.
Moreno defeats Ortiz 12-9, 10-12, 12-10
Lenning defeats Fink 12-6, 12-7
Lenning vs. Moreno
1-Wall and 3-Wall Big Ball Men’s and Women’s singles and doubles kicked off on Friday, with the top seeds in each bracket advancing to the weekend. Saturday’s full slate of big ball action will include all of the big ball’s great superstars, including Tracy Davis, Tanisha Groomes, Timbo Gonzalez, Juan Santos, Samzon Hernandez, Kadeem Bush, Rudy Cruz, Sal Duenas and many more.
Huge thanks to WPH Volunteers Steve Soto, Tanner Cleveland, Tom Flores and Betty Fabian for helping to run the tournament all morning, afternoon, and evening. It’s a thankless job but without them we would not be able to play in this amazing event. Thank you!
To watch live big ball and small ball play from the Stratosphere on Sunday, tune into the Watch ESPN App (here). To follow all of the scores and draws from Vegas, click here. To follow all of the updates from Vegas and in the world of handball, go to wphlive.tv.
David Fink, WPH Senior Writer
The conclusion of the Hemborg Ford Outdoor Cup Series brings it’s prestigious trophy to the City of Las Vegas, Nevada, this weekend for the ProKennex 3WallBall Outdoor World Championships, hosted by the Stratosphere Hotel Casino Tower (Sept 23rd-27th, 2015). Meanwhile, players in Paddleball, Handball & Racquetball on converge to the strip; vying for points, trophies, bragging rights and hefty cash prize purses.
You can track the results from the three sports HERE:
*Handball HERE>
*Paddleball HERE>
*Racquetball HERE>
You can also watch the action LIVE on ESPN & the WatchESPN with a live stream provided by the WPH Live TV video team, to air on ESPN3 @ www.espn3.com, www.watchespn.com or follow these links for: (will take you right to that day’s specific video stream)
What is WatchESPN?
2015 World 3WallBall Outdoor Championships
Las Vegas, NV – Stratosphere Resort
Broadcast Schedule
ESPN & WATCH ESPN APP – FRIDAY, 2PM – 10PM PdT
Racquetball – Friday, September 25th, 2015 – All Times Pacific
2:00pm Men’s CPRT Doubles Quarterfinal Rick Sandello/Darryl Ulrich vs winner of Rob Mijares/Dale Valentine vs Freddy Ramirez/Mike Peters
3:00pm Women’s Doubles Quarterfinal Paola Longoria/Michelle Key vs Mary Shoumaker/Celeste Pafford
4:00pm Men’s Pro Doubles 16’s Craig Lane/Scott Davis vs Alvaro Beltran/Daniel Delarosa
5:00pm Mixed Pro 16’s Joe Young/Aimee Ruiz vs Yesid Ordonez/Adrianne Riveros
Handball – Friday, September 25th, 2015 – All Times Pacific
6:00pm Men’s Small Ball 3 Wall Singles Semifinals
6:30pm Men’s Small Ball 3 Wall Singles Semifinals
7:00pm Women’s Big Ball 3 Wall Singles Semifinals
7:30pm Men’s Big Ball 3 Wall Doubles Quarters
8:15pm Men’s Big Ball 3 Wall Singles Rd of 16
8:45pm Men’s Big Ball 3 Wall Singles Rd of 16
9:15pm Men’s Small Ball 35+ Singles Final
ESPN & WATCH ESPN APP – SATURDAY, 11AM – 10PM PDT
Handball – Saturday, September 26th, 2015 – All Times Pacific
11:00am Men’s Small Ball 3 Wall Singles Final
11:30am Women’s Big Ball 3 Wall Singles Final
12:00pm Men’s Big Ball 3 Wall Singles Quarters
12:30pm Men’s Big Ball 3 Wall Singles Quarters
1:00pm Men’s Big Ball 3 Wall Singles Quarters
1:30pm Men’s Big Ball 3 Wall Singles Quarters
2:00pm Men’s Big Ball 3 Wall Singles Semis
2:30pm Men’s Big Ball 3 Wall Singles Semis
3:30pm Men’s Small Ball 3 Wall Doubles Final
Racquetball– Saturday, September 26th, 2015 – All Times Pacific
4:30pm Men’s Pro Doubles Semi
5:30pm Men’s Pro Doubles Semi
6:30pm Color Guard
7:00pm Men’s CPRT Doubles Final
8:00pm Mixed Pro Doubles Final
9:00pm Men’s Pro Paddleball Doubles TBD
ESPN & WATCH ESPN APP – SUNDAY, 9AM – 3PM PDT
Racquetball– Sunday, September 27th, 2015 – All Times Pacific
9:00am Women’s Pro Final
10:00am Men’s Pro Final
11:00am Mixed Pro Final
Handball – Saturday, September 27th, 2015 – All Times Pacific
12:00pm Men’s Big Ball 3 Wall Singles Final
12:30pm Women’s Big Ball 3 Wall Doubles Final
1:00pm Men’s Big Ball 3 Wall Doubles Final
1:00pm Women’s Big Ball 1 Wall Doubles Final
*we will make the camera transition from 3W to 1W to close out the day; toggling between the two finals as we move things around
1:30pm Men’s Big Ball 1 Wall Singles Final
2:00pm Women’s Big Ball 1 Wall Singles Final
2:30pm Men’s Big Ball 1 Wall Doubles Final