After only a month from returning home from the US Open in Naples, Florida, Brooke had us back on the road in pursuit of a Golden Ticket for the APP Tour Biofreeze USA Pickleball National Championships, coming this November in Mesa, AZ. We hopped in the car on Friday and made the 5 1/2 hr trek to Cincinatti, OH Sawyer Park Cincy Riverfront. She had two entries in the APP Tour: Vlasic Classic -Cincinnati, which was a qualifier tournament to play in this year's Nationals. Brooke was slated to play Women's singles age 40-49 on Saturday 5/11 and Mixed Double's 4.5, 30+ on Sunday 5/12, with partner Armando Ocando.
We woke up Saturday to rain which put a delay in all the matches for the day. Brooke received a message that pool and bracket play would be changed from a single game to 15 in pool to a single game to 11 and best of 3 to 11 in bracket play, to a single game to 15. Her start time was also pushed back about 1.5 hours to accommodate the delay. With just a few competitors shy of 1000, these things will happen, in order for everyone to get their games in. There's just something about single's day and the wind, and this tournament didn't disappoint, with forecasts of 18-20mph winds throughout the day.
Each category was limited to 6 players or teams, which meant Brooke had 5 games in pool play in order to determine seeding and only the top 4 would move on to bracket play. The day was rough, playing a single game to 11, in high winds and waiting upwards of an hour to get an available court for the next match. In the end of Pool play, Brooke had won all 5 games, earning her the top seed for bracket play, only giving up 10 points total. The precision and power of the new Pro 1 paddle really helped her on this gusty day. Her match scores were, 11-1, 11-0,11-3,11-2 & 11-4. The top four competitors went into the semi-finals. The winner of the Semi-Final determined who would play for Gold, and the loser of each game determined who would play for Bronze. This was a single game to 15 and Brooke won in the semi's 15-7 which secured her spot to play for Gold in the finals. In the Gold medal match Brooke won 15-6, winning Gold and her Golden ticket to play in Biofreeze USA Pickleball National Championships, coming this November in Mesa, AZ! Brooke made a clean sweep to secure her spot, this fall.
We spent a total of 7 hours on Saturday and finally got back to our room around 9:00PM
A video of the Gold Metal match is available to watch in Brooke's video section. It's the second video listed.
Sunday came with much better weather in the 70's and no wind. Brooke and Armando were slated to start around 2:30 for their 4.5 Mixed Doubles matches age 30+. Pool play consisted of a single game to 15 and bracket play was a single game to 15 in the semi's with best of 3 to 11 in the finals.
Brooke and Armando won their first match 16-14 which set the tone on the level of play. They ended up winning every pool match earning top seed. Their stats were PE 76, and PA 42 (gave up 42 points in 5 games) with a point differential of 34. The rest of their match scores were 15-6, 15-10, 15-12, 15-0, so the competition was very good.
In the semi-finals they beat the 4th seed 15-5 and secured their spot in the Gold medal match. In the Finals, they had to play best of three to 11, win by 2. The first set they made a great run, but lost their very first game, for the day 5-11. They came back in the second set winning 12-10 and forced a 3rd set game. In the 3rd set, they came through and won 11-6, also closing down the tournament. They were some of the last people to collect their medals around 9-9:30PM. Needless to say, the Bronze winners did not stick around for a photo opp. This win earned Brooke and Armando not only a Gold medal but a Golden Ticket to play in Biofreeze USA Pickleball National Championships, coming this November in Mesa, AZ. Congrats to Brooke and Armando!
A video of the Gold Metal match is available to watch in Brooke's video section. It's the first video listed. Grab a bucket of popcorn, because that 3 set match lasted 1hr and 3 mins! It's what you expect to see in a Gold medal round!
Both Brooke's Gold Wins were with Engage's new Pursuit Pro 1. This wasn't the first medals for Brooke to win using their newest line. She also won Silver in the US OPEN a month ago in Women's singles using this brand new state of the art paddle.
We packed up and got on the road around 10PM and rolled in to the Peters' Homestead around 3:30 AM Monday morning! I believe her next matches are within a couple hours of home, which makes this husband a happy fellow!
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