Salt Lake City, UT, WPH Press, 2/19/18– The Utah Handball Association proudly hosted the 2018 Utah State Singles at the Sports Mall, home to the Salt Lake City Aces R48 Player’s Stop. Rocky Mountain superstar Kevin Price, Salt Lake City Aces tournament director Matt Stalsberg, 55+ world champion Gary Scoggin, Salt Lake City prodigy Chris Torres, and top national master star Jim Karner highlighted the strong men’s open singles field. “This was undoubtedly one of the most talent laden field of ballers in recent memory for the State Singles,” stated tournament director and head JR WPH Salt Lake City coach Ted McManus.
Men’s Open Singles
In the Open singles quarterfinals, top-seeded Kevin Price, fresh off the WPH SR48 stop in Las Vegas, took down Matt Stalsberg, while fourth-seeded and current #6 ranked SR48 Pro Sonny Roberts took down Chris Torres.
In the bottom bracket, second-seeded-seeded Carson Taysom overcame reigning 55+ World Champ Gary Scogin in a tight breaker, while third-seeded Jim Karner advanced to the semifinals by ousting Ryan Campbell.
The semifinals saw Price continue his stellar play in defeating Roberts and Karner overcoming Taysom in a tiebreaker.
The final was a chess match between two percentage handball stalwarts, as Price and Karner matched wits in two close games. Price was able to build leads in both games and maintain those leads to clinch the title. “I was hitting it well and keeping him off-balance,” stated Price. “I won’t be able to make the next SR48 stop in Houston in March, but I’m looking forward to playing in the SR48 in May at the Aces Player’s Championship.”
Final: Price def Karner 21-17, 21-14
The Open consolation final saw Zac McManus defeat Robert Silvester.
A Singles
In another talent laden field, the A semifinals saw Manny Medoza defeat Jordan Payne in the top half of the bracket, while the lower bracket semi was a battle of BYU professors Gus Hart and his fellow Couger Rex Nielsen, with Hart ousting his academic faculty rival in a close tiebreaker. In the final, Medoza won in two straight against Dr. Hart.
The A consolation saw Levi McCormick bouncing back from an opening round loss to defeat sparring partner and fellow Heber handballer Bryce Brown.
B Singles
The B singles featured a round robin format with all young up-and-coming talent. Nearly all of the B singles matches were close, with five of the 10 matches going to tiebreakers. In the end, Logan Jensen, representing Herm Olsen’s Utah State squad, clinched the title with four wins, followed closely by his brother Jarod Jensen, who racked up three wins.
C Singles
In the C semifinals, top-seeded Tito Sotelo was ousted by Ashton Steadman, while the bottom of the bracket saw fellow Heber Handballers Kevin “Kball” Torres taking down Carlos Sotelo. In the final, Steadman reigned over Torres in yet another tiebreaker.
The C consolation saw more of Team Sotelo, this time Sergio, notching the win over Bob O’Donnell.
60 Singles
The 60 singles featured a round robin with Rick Moldover, Herm Olsen, Dan Price, Brian Scott and Larry Lewis. Keeping with the theme of the weekend, a number of these matches determined in tiebreakers. Dan Price emerged as the 60+ champion with four wins, followed in second by Bryon Scott with three wins.
Thank you to all that helped put this one together. Special thanks to Gary Scogin for help with the draws and game day court assignments.
Ted McManus
WPH Reporter