OREGON CITY – Seventeen-year-old Amanda Lindsay of Oregon City has had a lot of success in racquetball since she first took up the sport at eight years of age.
The Oregon City High School senior was a part of mixed doubles teams that won USA Racquetball Junior National titles in 2006 and 2008, and last year she teamed up with Jessica Munoz of Bellingham, Wash. to win a national title in 16-and-under girls doubles.
Lindsay will be going for her third straight Oregon high school singles title later this month. She was state high school champion in mixed doubles in 2009; and she was national high school runner-up in mixed doubles and in girls singles a year ago.
Lindsay and Munoz competed for their first international hardware last December when they traveled to Santo Domingo with Team USA for the Junior Racquetball World Championships. And Lindsay says she was a bundle of nerves when she and her partner first took to the court in a pool-play match with the favored team from Bolivia.
But she and her partner would later upset both Mexico and Bolivia in championship bracket play to claim the world title.
“I was so nervous [in our pool play match with Bolivia],” said Lindsay. “They kept hitting the ball to me, and I couldn’t do anything.”
Lindsay and Munoz lost the pool-play match to the Bolivian team through a tiebreaker. But it was a different story three matches later, when they met the same Bolivian team in the championship final.
Lindsay and Munoz buried the Bolivians in the first game, winning 15-5. And they followed that game up with a 15-13 win to claim the 16-and-under world title.
“In the finals, [the Bolivians] kept hitting it to me, and we were on fire,” said Lindsay. “We were ready to go. We were underdogs and we really wanted to prove ourselves….
“It took [the Bolivians] a game before they figured out that I could play and they stopped hitting it to me all the time.”
The road to the Junior World title also included wins over teams from Canada, Ecuador and Mexico.
“They were definitely underdogs,” said Lindsay’s mom, Susan Griffith. “I think they were ranked fourth. I know they were definitely not supposed to beat Mexico or Bolivia.”
By John Denny
The Clackamas Review
The Oregon City High School senior was a part of mixed doubles teams that won USA Racquetball Junior National titles in 2006 and 2008, and last year she teamed up with Jessica Munoz of Bellingham, Wash. to win a national title in 16-and-under girls doubles.
Lindsay will be going for her third straight Oregon high school singles title later this month. She was state high school champion in mixed doubles in 2009; and she was national high school runner-up in mixed doubles and in girls singles a year ago.
Lindsay and Munoz competed for their first international hardware last December when they traveled to Santo Domingo with Team USA for the Junior Racquetball World Championships. And Lindsay says she was a bundle of nerves when she and her partner first took to the court in a pool-play match with the favored team from Bolivia.
But she and her partner would later upset both Mexico and Bolivia in championship bracket play to claim the world title.
“I was so nervous [in our pool play match with Bolivia],” said Lindsay. “They kept hitting the ball to me, and I couldn’t do anything.”
Lindsay and Munoz lost the pool-play match to the Bolivian team through a tiebreaker. But it was a different story three matches later, when they met the same Bolivian team in the championship final.
Lindsay and Munoz buried the Bolivians in the first game, winning 15-5. And they followed that game up with a 15-13 win to claim the 16-and-under world title.
“In the finals, [the Bolivians] kept hitting it to me, and we were on fire,” said Lindsay. “We were ready to go. We were underdogs and we really wanted to prove ourselves….
“It took [the Bolivians] a game before they figured out that I could play and they stopped hitting it to me all the time.”
The road to the Junior World title also included wins over teams from Canada, Ecuador and Mexico.
“They were definitely underdogs,” said Lindsay’s mom, Susan Griffith. “I think they were ranked fourth. I know they were definitely not supposed to beat Mexico or Bolivia.”
By John Denny
The Clackamas Review
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