The 7th Masters Individual Oriamendi Tournament was played at Galarreta, Hernani (1)(2) on December 31, 2016, January 5, and January 7, 2017.
Oriamendi2010 news release announcing the tournament.
January 7, 2017
Final:
Urriza defeated Endika 30-24
Full match video (EITB)
Match preview (Oriamendi2010)
Match article (Oriamendi2010)
Match article, with statistics and linescore (Diario Vasco)
Match linescore source: EITB and Diario Vasco, statistics source: Diario Vasco
Condensed Match linescore (winner always listed 1st).
1-0, 1-1, 2-1, 2-4, 4-4, 4-5, 6-5, 6-8, 7-8, 7-11, 8-11, 8-12, 9-12, 9-13, 14-13, 14-14, 15-14, 15-15, 15-16, 16-16, 16-18, 19-18, 19-20, 19-21, 20-21, 23-21, 23-22, 26-22, 26-23, 28-23, 28-24, 30-24
Scoring
Urriza +23 (including 6 service aces) -3 Endika +21 (including 2 service aces) -7
Balls in play: 218
Time of the match: 62 minutes 30 seconds
About a year ago (January 9 and 18, 2016), Uterga defeated Urriza in two singles tournaments (last year's Oriamendi VI Master (30-27) and Euskal Jai Berri Navidad Festival (30-15)). Since that time, Urriza has appeared in 3 singles tournaments--2 Galarreta long court (Kutxabank, VII Oriamendi Masters), and 1 short court (Euskal Jai Berri Navidad (Labrit)). His record in those tournaments is 7 wins, 0 losses and he has won all three convincingly. He defeated Urterga 3 times, Ion twice, Barrenetxea IV once, and Endika once. His average margin of victory in the 7 matches was 30-21.
Since December 26, 2016 he has defeated Uterga twice by the same margin (30-22) and now Endika. They are arguably the top front and back court players on the Oriamendi2010 roster. The victory over Endika was the most difficult, as the linescore shows. Halfway through the match Urriza trailed. But then he simply took over, outscoring Endika 11-3. When you watch the match, watch how he goes into a higher gear to make anti-climactic a match that was terrifically competitive. He just does more things better than anyone else. And is a joy to watch. With the win, Urriza has now won this tournament 3 times. Uterga and Ezkurra have won it twice.
December 31, 2016
1st Semi-final:
Endika defeated Ion 30-19.
Match article (Oriamendi2010)
Partial linescore (winner always listed 1st).
15-15; 24-15; 28-17; 30-19
Salient scoring statistics. Endika 17 service aces; Ion 1 service ace.
Endika scored over half his points via service aces. In the first half of the match he achieved equality by scoring 8 of his 15 points with aces. His 9 point run to begin the 2nd half of the match was decisive. These two players met in a semi-final of the 2015 tournament, the only other time in the last three years they have played each other in a singles match, Endika won 30-23.
January 5, 2017
2nd Semi-final:
Urriza defeated Uterga 30-22
Preview article
Match article
Selected linescore (winners always listed 1st).
5-6; 11-6; 12-8; 21-10; 22-16; 30-22
Scoring: Urriza +27 (including 7 service aces) -4 (including 1 service fault) Uterga +18 (including 5 service aces) -3 (including 2 service faults).
Urriza followed up his championship victory over Uterga on the short court at Iruna (Pamplona) on December 31, 2016 with this win on the long court. The two victories were by identical scores. In this one a 16-4 run (5-6 to 21-10) gave him a platform to cruise to victory. Uterga fought back with his own 6-1 run at that point but it wasn't enough. At 12-8 a ball from Uterga struck Urriza on the wrist and the match was delayed. Uterga had won the last two editions of this tournament. Uterga, Urriza, and Ezkurra have each won two of the first 6 tournaments.
Note: this tournament was also covered as a series of Galarreta "Star Matches" on the recurring Remonte: Galarreta "STAR" matches page on the right side of the blog. There you can follow such tournaments as these in the larger context of the four match sessions that take place on Thursday's and Saturday's.
