Racquetball makes racket at nationals, placing fourth in men’s, overall standings
3/22/2023 6:04:13 PM | Racquetball
Liberty University’s racquetball team finished fourth out of 15 programs in the men’s and combined standings at last Wednesday’s through Saturday’s USA Racquetball Intercollegiate National Championships hosted by Ohio State University.
The Flames’ men’s team racked up 765 points to finish behind Oregon State (1,660), BYU (1,105), and Missouri (1,072) and the Lady Flames totaled 160 points to place 10th and contribute to the fourth-place team finish behind the same three universities.
Individually, freshman Nathan Cook placed first in the men’s/women’s singles division C/D combined round-robin division with freshman Natalie Blank taking third.
Cook then teamed up with senior Malachi Aviles to finish third in the men’s doubles A/B/D combined round-robin bracket. Aviles also finished fifth in the men’s/women’s singles A/B combined round-robin competition.
In men’s Division 1 doubles, graduate Garrison Walker and senior Trevor Melton came in fourth, as did freshman Andrew Cook and junior Timothy Adams in Division 2 and sophomore Alex Bugnacki and junior Luke Hagberg in single elimination Division 2
Individually, Adams won the Division 3 Blue singles title and Cook finished third in the Division 4 Blue bracket. Melton placed third in the Division 1 Blue singles bracket as did Walker in the Division 2 Gold division. Meanwhile, Bugnacki placed second in the Division 5 Gold division and Hagberg fourth in the Division 6 Gold singles draw.
In the women’s Division 1 doubles, Paige Jordan and Sylvia Growden finished fourth before Growden went on to place second in the Division 1 Red singles bracket and Jordan fourth in the Division 2 Red single-elimination bracket. In Division 3, Blank placed fifth in singles.
From April 13-16, the Flames and Lady Flames will host players from around Virginia and North Carolina in the Liberty University James River Open, an annual event in the LaHaye Recreation & Fitness Center that serves as one of the team’s major fundraisers. That facility will also host the annual Commonwealth Games racquetball tournament in July. With only four courts available, those tournament fields are capped at 70 players.