Rhonda Rajsich, a former standout basketball player at Stephen F. Austin State University, earned her first professional win in the first LPRA stop of the new year by topping current U.S. OPEN champion, Kerri Wachtel in the finals. In the preceding round, she’d logged her second straight tournament victory over Gudinas in the semifinals. She had placed second at the LPRA Denver event in December, losing to Jackie Paraiso Rice.

"I just decided to start having fun again," Rajsich said of her recent success on the tour. "After playing so bad in Canada (LPRA/Saskatoon) I just decided to loosen up and have fun on the court."

In her quarterfinal match, Rajsich lost the first game to Kersten Hallander, 15-7, but bounced back to take the next three 15-13, 15-10, 15-11. She also lost the first game of her semifinal match against Gudinas, 15-11, and came back to win three close ones, 15-10, 16-14, 15-13, to earn her spot in the finals.

Her opponent in the finals was Wachtel who just finished a five-game thriller with Jackie Paraiso Rice. Rajsich kicked her habit of dropping the first game by coming hot out of the box and taking the first two games 16-14, 15-5. Wachtel evened the match at two games apiece by going on her own two-game run 15-8, 16-14. It all came down to one game and Rajsich was due as she downed Wachtel 15-11 for her first pro tournament win.

Her finals appearance in two straight tournaments vaulted Rajsich back into the No. 4 spot in the rankings, the same position she held last year at this point. Last season, her first on the LPRA tour, Rajsich shocked everyone by earning a spot in the finals of the U.S. OPEN but since then her success has been limited and her talent only repeated in spurts.

"I realized that I was thinking too much on the court," Rajsich explains. "In basketball you don't figure out how to run a play during the game, you figure it out in practice so that when it's game time you can be loose and just play. That is what I am trying to do in racquetball now. I just go out there and play loose and have fun."

The LPRA may be at its most competitive level in years. One or two players no longer dominate the circuit and most tour regulars have a shot at winning a stop this year. 

"There are five tournaments left this year and the fact that it's not Cheryl (Gudinas, No. 1) or Jackie (Paraiso Rice, No.2) in the finals every time shows that we're all trying to get better." But Rajsich still has plenty of respect for the two players that have been on top since she started playing on the tour, "It's good that they are up there. It gives us something to strive for."