2024 USHA Women’s Classic & MO State Singles Championships
St. Louis, MO, WPH Press, 4/28/24
One-hundred-and-twenty players filled the famed St. Louis Hinder Club for the 2025 MO State Singles Championships & USHA Women’s Classic, featuring many of the Race 4 Eight’s top men’s and women’s stars in the last event at the present-day Hinder Club facility.
USHA Women’s Classic
Twenty-five of the world’s top women’s players entered the prestigious 2025 USHA Women’s Classic, headlined by WR48 #2 and Missouri hero Mikaila Esser. Esser was joined in the loaded draw by fellow WR48 pros Ashley Ruiz, Aoife Holden, Kristen Hughes and former WR48 finalist and St. Louis Hinder Club member Suz Entzeroth.
Top-seeded Ashley Ruiz advanced to the final with little difficulty, sweeping Missouri’s Taylor Rumping and Ireland’s Aoife Holden in two games.
The bottom bracket featured the continuation of the best rivalry in women’s handball, as WR48 elite eight members Mikaila Esser and Clodagh Munroe met for a spot in the final after Esser overcame Texas’s Kristen Hughes in the quarterfinals and Munroe survived a first-game scare against Jenny Schmitt to win in two games in their quarterfinal match.
After losing to Munroe at the 2023 WR48 Player’s Championship, Esser bounced back to defeat Munroe several times since September before Munroe ended Esser’s streak in their most recent WR48 encounter at the St. Louis Hinder Club at the 2024 Chapman.
Munroe was able to defeat Esser for the second time in four months at the Hinder Club, surviving a second game charge from the WR48 #2.
“Clodaugh made quick work of Mikaila in the first game, then the second Clodaugh was up 20-10 and Mikaila chipped her way to eighteen before Clodaugh closed it out,” reported Ashley Ruiz.
Munroe met Ruiz for the second time in four weeks, with Munroe defeating Ruiz for fifth at the WR48 Juarez. Munroe continued to be comfortable against the Tucson pro, taking the first game 21-7. Ruiz took control in the second, building a substantial lead and holding off a furious Munroe rally to force a tiebreaker. Munroe’s defense was the difference in the tiebreaker, allowing Ruiz just two points by forcing more than a dozen side outs.
“Clodaugh beat me easily in the first game,” stated Ruiz. “I had a 16-3 lead in the second and she came back to nineteen before I found five points. We went back and forth in the breaker, but I couldn’t win points.”
Quarterfinals
Ruiz def Rumping 21-15, 21-11
Holden def Entzeroth 21-13, 21-4
Munroe def Schmitt 21-20, 21-1
Esser def Hughes 21-7, 21-3
Semifinals
Ruiz def Holden 21-12, 21-4
Munroe def Esser 21-8, 21-18
Final: Munroe def Ruiz 21-7, 19-21, 11-2
2025 MO State Singles Championships
The 2025 MO State Singles Championships featured Race 4 Eight pros Sam Esser, Max Langmack, Jeff Streibig, Mark Doyle, Jab Bike, Shorty Ruiz, Taylor Schmitt and Kevin Pettus, making the 2025 MO State Singles draws one of the best open draws of the season.
Sam Esser was the only Race 4 Eight Elite 8 member entered in the twenty-one player draw and was nearly upset in the quarterfinals by newly minted SR48 star Kevin Pettus on Pettus’s home court at the Hinder Club.
Tournament host and R48 #14 Jeff Streibig blitzed R48 #25 Max Langmack to meet Esser in the upper bracket quarterfinals.
Streibig attacked Esser from the outset of their semifinal match, taking advantage of his home court and home crowd advantage to win the first game, 21-9. Streibig led 18-14 and served for the match twice in game two but could not close out Esser, as Esser held his nerve to force a tiebreaker.
The Missouri Hall of Fame wrestler regrouped in the tiebreaker, showing the mental strength and fortitude that led to many pins in his wrestling career, downing Ruiz 11-1 to advance to the final.
The bottom bracket saw R48 #12 and MO State singles third seed Mark Doyle stunned by Billy Wetzel in the round of sixteen, opening the door for sixth-seeded Ross Colyer to defeat Wetzel to advance to the semifinals.
R48 #10 and second-seeded Shorty Ruiz overcame a 14-17 first-game deficit against R48 #13 Jab Bike to win 21-17, lost the second game 21-2 and bounced back to win the tiebreaker 11-3.
“It was a good (match),” stated Bike. “I felt really good. Probably the best I’ve served up until 17-14 when I had the lead in game one. Didn’t find it there and lost that one. Then in the breaker I missed two fly kills early at 1-1 and couldn’t get the momentum back. I like how I played though I felt good for the most part.”
Ruiz kept Colyer off-balance in game one of the bottom bracket semifinal to take a one game lead. “Too much hop that game,” stated Bike.
Colyer raced to an 18-10 lead in game two and served for the game but came up short, sending Ruiz to the final in a rematch of the 35+ Masters Nationals final from two weeks ago against Streibig.
Streibig dominated the 35+ final against Ruiz on Ruiz’s home court at the USHA Masters Singles Nationals two weeks ago and would aim to repeat on his home court in the last tournament match at the Hinder Club.
Streibig continued the sensational play that carried him to the final in the final, keeping Ruiz off-balance with great serves and fly kills, sending the pro-Streibig crowd into a frenzy. After taking a close first game, Streibig pulled away in game two, seizing the win in the most emotional match of his career.
“Jeff played great all weekend and looked extra focused,” stated tournament director and Race 4 Eight Elite 8 pro Sam Esser. “He served better than anyone in the tournament and tracked down everything. This was the last tournament at the Hinder Club so it was cool to see Jeff win it, as he’s poured so much time and energy into the club and St. Louis Handball. You could tell it meant a lot to him when he scored championship point.”
“It was a really emotional finish to the tourney when Jeff beat Shorty,” stated Women’s Classic finalist Ashley Ruiz. “It was the last tournament match to be played at the club. There were loud cheers and lots of tears. Very fitting for Jeff to win.”
Quarterfinals
Esser def Pettus 21-20, 21-14
Streibig def Langmack 21-12, 21-12
Colyer def Wetzel 21-13, 21-20
Ruiz def Bike 21-17, 2-21, 11-3
Semifinals
Streibig def Esser 21-9, 20-21, 11-1
Ruiz def Colyer 21-10, 21-20
Final: Streibig def Ruiz 21-18, 21-8
Thank you
Thank you to the best tournament director in the business, Eric Hillgren for an outstanding tournament. Thank you to the USHA’s Matt Krueger and Sam Esser for another phenomenal Women’s Classic and showcasing the best women’s players in the U.S. and beyond. Thank you to Ashley Ruiz and Jab Bike for updates and quotes.
Follow all of the brackets from the 2025 MO State Singles Championships & USHA Women’s Classic HERE
For more on the USHA, visit ushandball.org
To help raise funds for the new St. Louis Hinder Club, please visit stlouishinderclub.com
David Fink
WPH Senior Writer