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Minnesota Racquetball Association
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Welcome to the Minnesota Racquetball Association (MRA) website. This is your online source for all the news and information for racquetball events throughout the state. The MRA is dedicated to fostering the growth of racquetball by providing programs and competitions that encourage fair play, sportsmanship, fitness, grassroots development, and an increased appreciation for the sport.
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MN State Singles - Another One In the Books
The MN State Single's Championships were held this past weekend at Central Courts and Lifetime Fitness. There were 136 participant that were treated to some great food and hospitality at Central Courts while fans were treated to some fantastic racquetball. The weekend started at 5:00 on Friday night and the final matches completed before 5:00 on Sunday. Over 330 matches were played between the two locations, keeping the tournament staff on their toes to stay on schedule. Overall things ran very smoothly with the matches generally running ahead of schedule throughout the tournament. This was also the first state tournament to run with the R2 Sports Online Software. The feedback thus far has been very good as participants were able to get start times and draws online as well as track results live during the tournament. As with all new systems there were a few glitches, causing a few players some grief in determining when their next match was scheduled, but overall we consider this first run a big success and a step in the right direction.
On to the matches...
With 24 divisions running this weekend we cannot provide press on each of them but will supply the links to the results and draws for people to go take a look. Here are the links to use:
Click Here For the Results Summary Page
Click Here For the Full Draws With Results
Click Here to Generate Media Match Reports for any Division
This year's Men's Open Draw created a buzz among players with Aaron Granberg returning to defend his title but the 2, 3, and 4 seeds from last years tourney absent from the draw due to unfortunate injuries. How would the new 2, 3, and 4 seeds fare against the rest of the open draw and would number 2 seed Jake Bredenbeck rise to the occassion and challenge the returning champion. Well...the seeds came through with 1 (Granberg) vs. 4 (Prince) and 2 (Bredenbeck) vs. 3 (Hart Johnson) facing off in the semis. In each of these matches the top seeds took quick control and ended any hope of an upset and set up the final showdown with returning champion Aaron Granberg and MN's rising Junior star Jake Bredenbeck. I am not sure anyone was really sure how this match would play out, but everyone wanted to watch it. Action ceased on most courts during the match as people refused to report to the tournament desk until it was over. The overflow crowd was treated to a very good match as Junior, Jake Bredenbeck announced his arrival to the rest of the top open players by hanging tight and battling to the end against the returning champ. In the end, Aaron pulled away for his second consecutive state title...but I think there was some new found respect for the grit and tenacity displayed by Jake as he refused to give anything away for free. At only 16, we clearly will be seeing a lot more of Jake in the years to come, but the day belonged to Aaron as he recorded another title for the record books.
Congratulations to Aaron Granberg the Open State Champ and to all the other division champs as well as all the participants that made this a great tournament.
See you all next year!!!
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MRA News & Updates
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Great Tournaments Don't Have To Be Big - 2008 Ektelon Doubles Results
The Ektelon Doubles tournament was held this past weekend at Central Courts. The turnout for the tournament was down this year, however the competition in each draw was solid from top to bottom. There were several epic matches with players giving it all they had.
The premium match of the weekend however had to be the All Age Consolation Final pitting two brothers against each other as well as coupling two open players with two Junior players.
The Match: Jake Bredenbeck & Jordan Barth vs. Shawn Merrill & Sam Bredenbeck.
From the start of this match it was clear that this would be a battle. Neither team would give an inch as they split the first two games 15-14, 14-15 and headed to a tie-breaker. Not until mid-way through the tie-break did we see an opening in the defense of Shawn and Sam. Jake and Jordan jumped on the opportunity however and pulled away with an 11-6 win and the Consolation Championship. Both teams exited the court dripping wet and quite possibly with just a little earned respect for one another.
The Open bracket was very well balanced this year and produced a number of very close matches that couldn't get much closer then the 15-14, 15-14 Open Final win by Jake Bredenbeck and Shawn Merrill over Jon Hofer and Jason Krantz. Both teams came into the match tired but quickly turned it up with $200 in prize money awaiting the winner. In both games Hofer and Krantz led throughout, firing the Blue Ektelon Superball (used for this tournament) at blazing speeds producing odd bounces and unexpected angles. Jake and Shawn struggling to adjust fought their way back from multiple match points against to win 15-14, 15-14 completing yet another Open Doubles win this year.
There were many other great matches. Click here for the Full Draw Results.
Special thanks go out to Karen Bredenbeck for supplying great food yet again!!! What a way to finish up this year's tournament schedule before the State Singles on April 4-6.
New MRA Website Officially Online - Monday, December 10, 2007
Welcome to the new MRA website. As you can see the content on the site is a work in progress. Please register on the site with a valid email address if you would like to receive future MRA Newsletters and other updates generated by this site. If you have any questions or problems navigating the site please use the MRA Suggestion Box in the lower right corner of the main page to contact me. If you have content you would like published on the site such as tournament photos, racquetball articles, or any links you would like to see added please send them to me at: torneld@charter.net
Newsflash!!! The MRA Forum is back up and open for discussions!
We have brought back the Forums to the MRA website. Please note that you will need to register with a valid email address on the site in order to participate in Forum discussions. To register click on the "Register" link on the far right side of the Main Menu bar. Lets try to make the Forums a useful place to exchange information and have open discussions for the racquetball community. If you have any suggestions for Forum Topics please send them to: torneld@charter.net
2007 Tournament Results Have Been Posted
All tournament results received by the MRA have been posted on the website on the Results page under Tournaments on the main menu. We will continue to post tournament results here as they are received. All past tournament results can be found here as well. If a tournament has been missed please don't hesitate to contact a MRA board member and we will update the site. Click here to go to the tournament results page.
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Upcoming Events
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Summer Begins!!!
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Tuesday, April 08, 2008
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Another State Tournament in the books and Summer is approaching fast. This generally means a break from tournaments until early next fall.
If you have any summer events of any type you would like posted please contact me through the MRA suggestion box on this page.
Thanks for a great season...see you all next year.
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