Photographers: Mike Boatman and Geoff Thomsen
Semi-Finals: Shane Vanderson vs. Jack Huczek
The later semifinal between Huczek and Vanderson was also highly anticipated. There was concern that with how Jack looked the entire week Shane might not be able to get going. Jack is playing some of his best racquetball this week and only seems to keep getting stronger and more focused as he advances each round. Jack’s intensity, focus, and power appear to be at all-time highs. Vanderson’s backhand is deadly when it’s on, and his splats from deep court on both sides can be menacing to opponents. He would need to play his best racquetball today in a chance to head to the Sunday finals on the stadium court.
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Semi-Finals: Jason Mannino vs. Rocky Carson
The Mannino/Carson final was highly anticipated by the fans, promising to be an epic war between the two players. Both came out with aggressive, yet controlled play. They both played fundamental, high percentage racquetball. The players were four minutes into the match before Jason hit the first skip and fifteen minutes in the crowd witnessed a total of three skips: two from Jason and one from Rocky. Both players were hitting well, and pinches and splats were tight and low along with accurate passes. It was a slow march to 3-3. Rocky began to build a little momentum, and started edging ahead of Jason and slowly climbed to a score of 10-3. Jason’s backhand splat return of serve sailed high to the right wall and gave Rocky a setup in the server’s box. Rocky took a backhand reverse pinch chest high and buried it into the corner to win game one, 11-3.
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