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The Ladies Pro Racquetball Association [LPRA] kicks off its tour circuit September 21-23 at the Charlotte YMCA in Charlotte, North Carolina, where the top players in the world are scheduled to compete for the first title of the 2001-2002 season. For this year, a new scoring system has been put in place for the upcoming season in which matches will be played in a best of five games format, with games played to 15, and scoring on every rally.

Top seeded Cheryl Gudinas (Lisle, Ill.) leads the talent-laden draw.
Gudinas, the reigning World, Pan-American, Tournament of the Americas, and U.S. National Singles champion, finished the 2000-2001 season ranked number one on the LPRA tour after capturing titles in five pro tournaments. She was also named the United States Racquetball Association’s [USRA] Female Athlete of the Year for the second year in a row this past May.

Jackie Paraiso (El Cajon, Calif.) finished last season ranked number two and holds the second seed for the Charlotte tournament. Paraiso finished second to Gudinas at the 2001 U.S. National Singles Championships and teamed up with fourth seeded Laura Fenton (Overland Park, Kan.) to capture the 2001 Tournament of the Americas Doubles title.

Rhonda Rajsich (Phoenix, Ariz.), former basketball standout at Stephen F. Austin State, stormed up the rankings last year to the third spot,
highlighted by a finals appearance at the 2000 Hilton U.S. OPEN Racquetball Championships in Memphis. Rajsich is seeded third in Charlotte ahead of U.S. National Team members Fenton, the fourth seed, and Kersten Hallander (San Diego, Calif.), in the no. 5 spot.

The tournament promises to start off with a bang when USRA Co-Junior Female Athletes of the year square off in the first round. Kristen Walsh (Salt Lake City, Utah) and Adrienne Fisher (Dublin, Ohio) are not strangers when it comes to racquetball as the two recently squared off in the semifinals of the U.S. Junior National Championships this past June in Denver. Walsh, the current U.S. Intercollegiate, World 18-and-under, and U.S. National 18-and-under champion was victorious in that meeting. Fisher, the current U.S. National 16-and-under and World 14-and-under champion may be seeking revenge for the loss.

The tournament also features strong international competition including
Canada’s National Singles champion Lori Jane Powell and team member Jennifer Saunders, plus Mexico’s National Doubles champion Rosy Torres and team member Susy Acosta, along with the Dominican Republic’s National Singles champion Claudine Garcia.

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