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Middle States Diamond Regional

Posted on July 6, 2022 by under Pickleball, Travel.    

Every time I try to get caught up, I fall further and further behind on the blog. There’s just so much stuff going on and, when I had planned to compete in one tournament per month at the beginning of the year, I completely underestimated how many tournaments there truly are — if I count the local ones. It’s been more like a tournament every week. And, even then, I have to really pick and choose because there are often multiple tournaments going on in the same weekend.

Despite not having the best results, I really enjoyed participating in the Middle States Regional pickleball tournament last year so Brian and I traveled to St. Louis again this year. The tournament was held at the same location, Dwight Davis Tennis Center, but the difference is, instead of being a “golden ticket” event for Nationals, the regional tournaments are now qualifiers for the Diamond Amateur Championships. Click here for an explanation of how you qualify for Nationals. It’s not as straight forward as it used to be, unless you play in one of the National Championship Series tournaments, which are the new “golden ticket” tournaments rather than regionals.

This tournament is most memorable to me because it was my first ever triple crown. It’s the best results I’ve ever gotten in any tournament that I’ve participated in so far (thanks to my awesome partners Kendra Wicks and Ramon Lozano)…

  • 3.0 19+, 35+ women’s singles – GOLD
  • 3.0 19+ women’s doubles – GOLD
  • 3.5 35+ mixed doubles – GOLD

Gold Medals

Here are some podium pics:

Singles
Singles Women's Doubles
Mixed Doubles   Untitled
Mixed Doubles

Play was canceled on the first day due to rain so I ended up playing both women’s doubles and women’s singles on the same day. Thankfully, due to multiple tournaments happening on the same weekend, the field was a lot smaller this year (about 200 players less than last year) so I didn’t have to play that many games. Women’s doubles and singles were both round robin formats rather than a regular double elimination bracket. Since my rating is still pretty low, I got to play 3.0 which was pretty manageable for me. The biggest challenge I had was getting combined with 19+ age group for singles. I was literally the oldest person in our division! But I pulled through and won gold.

Ramon and I had a pretty smooth run in mixed doubles. We played in the exact same division we played in last year (with different partners). I think we had an easier time for a couple of reasons: (a) there were fewer teams playing this year, and (b) we’d both improved a lot since last year. I guess it’s also worth mentioning that we make a pretty good team. Ramon is easily one of my most favorite mixed doubles partners. He is always so encouraging and patient.

Here are a few more pics from the tournament…

Ching and Jen Reifschneider

Huddled in the Tent

Brian

I think the weather this year was better than last year but not by much. LOL. It was a fun, productive trip overall and I was super happy with my results because it qualified me to compete in the Diamond Amateur Championships at Pictona in Holly Hill, Florida in December.

Until next time, GNG.

Related Stories

  • Middle States Regional Championships on June 7, 2021
  • 2022 Diamond Amateur Championships on December 12, 2022
  • Mid-South Diamond Regional Tournament on May 29, 2023
  • USAP Newport Beach Highlights on August 7, 2022
  • PPA Kansas City Open on September 4, 2023

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