Racquetball players rally for combined fourth-place nationals showing in Arizona

Thursday, March 14

Tempe, AZ

Liberty University Club Sports

USA Racquetball National Intercollegiate Championships

Junior Paige Jordan and senior Sylvia Growden teamed up to earn a gold medal in the women's doubles Division 1 Red bracket. (Photos by Pam Passburg)

Racquetball players rally for combined fourth-place nationals showing in Arizona

3/22/2024 3:39:00 PM | Racquetball

The Flames finished fifth and the Lady Flames sixth out of 19 teams; both will look to improve on their second-place standing at the last MACRC tournament, April 5-7 at NC State.

Racquetball-team-photo — Liberty brought three coaches, six men's, and six women's players to nationals in Arizona.

Liberty University's men's and women's racquetball teams combined for a fourth-place overall finish — matching last season's best-ever showing — at the March 14-16 USA Racquetball Intercollegiate National Championships hosted by Arizona State University in Tempe, Ariz. The total score was based on the men's team's fifth-place showing with seven players and the women's team's sixth-place performance with five competitors.

"We had three new girls and one new guy this year, so that was pretty good," Head Coach Danny Rodriguez said. "They did pretty well. Everyone medaled, in one way or another."

Individually, Matthew Cook, a freshman from Mauritius, an island off the coast of Madagascar, earned a gold medal in the men's singles Division 3 Blue bracket. Meanwhile, the tandem of junior Paige Jordan and senior Sylvia Growden struck gold in the women's doubles Division I Red bracket. Jordan also captured a silver medal in the women's Division 1 Red bracket while Growden also won the Division 2 Red singles championship. Junior Andrew Cook claimed a silver medal in the Division 2 Blue singles draw.

Bronze medalists for Liberty included senior Luke Hagberg in the men's singles Division 1 Red division, women's singles sophomore Natalie Blank (Division 3 Gold), senior Renee Riegel (Division 4 Gold), and freshmen Madisyn Leyendecker (Division 5 Gold) and Amber Fredenburg (Division 6 Gold), with Fredenburg and Leyendecker also finishing third in Division 3 Red doubles.

Fourth-place finishers receiving pewter medals included the men's doubles tandems of Matthew Cook and senior Timothy Adams in Division 2 Gold and Nathan Cook and graduate Noel George Allapatt from India in Division 3 Gold as well as Adams in Division 4 Gold singles and Allapatt in Division 6 Gold singles and Blank and Riegel in women's Division 2 Gold doubles.

The Flames totaled 623 points to finish fifth behind only Oregon State (1,444), BYU (1,175), Missouri (1,115), and Colorado State (765) in the 19-team field, which was larger than last season's. Meanwhile, the Lady Flames racked up 166 to place behind BYU (955), Oregon State (854), Baldwin Wallace (575), Missouri (277), Arizona State (210), and Washington State (175). Combined, Liberty's total of 789 points trailed only Oregon State (2,298), BYU (2,130), and Missouri (1,392).

Adams, Allapatt, Blank and Riegel all earned All-American awards for advancing to the semifinals of the men's or women's Gold singles or doubles divisions.

The Flames and Lady Flames will both be graduating two players and returning four for next season, when North Carolina State has put in a bid to host the tournament for the first time on the East Coast.

Liberty will travel to NC State in Raleigh, N.C., to compete in its fourth and final MACRC tournament from April 5-7. It is currently in second place in the regular-season standings and looking to move up challenge for the title after finishing first the past two seasons.

"A lot of our players were really impressed with the level of play at nationals, which is a different environment with so much better talent," Rodriguez said. "So a lot of them are practicing more now and I am hoping they will take that enthusiasm with them to the last MACRC event."

By Ted Allen/Staff Writer; Video by Mia Cooper/Club Sports Video & Media Assistant