Michelle Key (born August 18, 1988) is an American

racquetball Racquetball is a racquet sport and a team sport played with a hollow rubber ball on an indoor or outdoor court. Joseph Sobek invented the modern sport of racquetball in 1950, adding a stringed racquet to paddleball in order to increase vel ...

player. Key is a former Pan American Champion in Mixed Doubles (with Sam Bredenbeck). She also has two medals from the

Pan American Games The Pan American Games, known as the Pan Am Games, is a continental multi-sport event in the Americas. It features thousands of athletes participating in competitions to win different summer sports. It is held among athletes from nations of th ...

. She earned silver in the Women's Team event in Toronto in 2015 and bronze in the Women's Team event in Santiago in 2023. Key was ranked 7th at the end of the 2014-15

Ladies Professional Racquetball Tour The Ladies Professional Racquetball Tour is the latest name for the women's professional racquetball tour. It features the world's best players and several events each season - running from September to May - that are mostly played in the USA. Hist ...

(LPRT) season.

Racquetball

Key is a right handed player. Competing at the 2006 International Racquetball World Junior Championships in Arizona, Key won her age group in the singles event. Key also participated in the 3 Wallball World Championships in Las Vegas, Nevada in 2014. Key was back to compete at the 2016 edition of the 3 Wallball World Championships, where she defeated Paola Longoria in the semi-finals.

International career

Key earned her first call up to the United States junior team in 2004, and was a member of the team for over three years. Key competed at the 2014 World Championships in the singles event, where she won a silver medal. Key has competed for the USA three times. She was on Team USA at the

2015 Pan American Games The 2015 Pan American Games (), officially the XVII Pan American Games () and commonly known as the Toronto 2015 Pan-Am Games (Toronto 2015), were a major international multi-sport event celebrated in the tradition of the Pan American Games, ...

in Toronto, where she played Women's Singles. Key lost two of her three matches in the group stage. Her sole win was against Canada's

Jennifer Saunders Jennifer Jane Saunders (born 6 July 1958) is an English actress, comedian, singer, and screenwriter. Saunders originally found attention in the 1980s, when she became a member of The Comic Strip after graduating from the Royal Central School ...

. As a result, was seeded against her teammate

Rhonda Rajsich Rhonda Rajsich (born October 7, 1978) is an American racquetball player. She has been World Champion in Women's Singles twice, and Pan American Champion 6 times (4 times in Women's Singles & twice in Women's Doubles), as well as US Open champ ...

in the Round of 16 in playoffs. Rajsich won that match 15-8, 15-7. However, in the

Women's Team A woman is an adult female human. Before adulthood, a female child or adolescent is referred to as a girl. Typically, women are of the female sex and inherit a pair of X chromosomes, one from each parent, and women with functional uteruses ...

event Key helped the USA get the silver medal. Key's win over Canadian Jennifer Saunders, 15-2, 15-6, in the semi-finals, put the USA into the final. But in the first match of the final, Key lost to

Samantha Salas Samantha Salas Solís (born 15 December 1986) is a Mexican racquetball player. Salas has won six World Championship titles in her career - five in Women's Doubles (all with Paola Longoria) and one in Mixed Doubles (with Rodrigo Montoya). She h ...

, 15-3, 15-9, and Mexico's

Paola Longoria Paola Michelle Longoria López (born 20 July 1989) is a Mexican racquetball player. She is the current Women's World Champion in Singles and the Team event, winning both divisions at the International Racquetball Federation (IRF) 2024 World Ch ...

and

who successfully defended their title and defeated the American pair. Key also represented the USA at the 2016 Pan American Championships in San Luis Potosí, where she partnered with Kelani Bailey in Women's Doubles. They reached the finals with a win over Veronica Sotomayor and

Maria Paz Muñoz Maria may refer to: People * Mary, mother of Jesus * Maria (given name), a popular given name in many languages Place names Extraterrestrial * 170 Maria, a Main belt S-type asteroid discovered in 1877 *Lunar maria (plural of ''mare''), large, d ...

of Ecuador in the semi-finals, 11-15, 15-14, 11-5. In the final, Key and Bailey lost to the Mexican team of

and

, 15-5, 15-10. Key also played singles in San Luis Potosí, and lost in the quarterfinals to Gabriela Martinez of Guatemala, 15-7, 10-15, 11-7. Key played Women's Singles for the USA at the 2016 World Championships in Cali, Colombia, where she lost in the Round of 32 to Mariana Tobon of Venezuela, 4-15, 15-9, 11-4. She also lost to Bolivia's Adriana Riveros during the competition.

US Championships

Key played for the

Arizona State University Arizona State University (Arizona State or ASU) is a public university, public research university in Tempe, Arizona, United States. Founded in 1885 as Territorial Normal School by the 13th Arizona Territorial Legislature, the university is o ...

at Intercollegiates. Key was the 2011 USA Racquetball Intercollegiate Champion in Women's Singles, as she defeated Sharon Jackson in the final, 15-11, 15-14. That win avenged a loss to Jackson in the 2010 final. Key also played in the doubles tournament at the 2014 edition of the US Open with Lambert. The pair lost to eventual winners Paola Longoria and Verónica Sotomayor . Key was runner-up at the 2016 USA Racquetball National Singles Championships in Highlands Ranch, Colorado, where she lost to

in the final, 15-7, 15-7. Key reached the final by defeating

Janel Tisinger Janel Tisinger (born March 13, 1983) is an American racquetball player. She is the currenUSA RacquetballNational Champion in Women's Doubles winning the title for a 5th time in 2019 with Aimee Ruiz. Tisinger is former World Champion in Women's D ...

in the semi-finals, 15-4, 15-13. Key and her sister Danielle were runners up at the 2013 USA Racquetball National Doubles championship, losing the final to Aimee Ruiz and

, 15-6, 15-8. They got to the final by upsetting that year's defending champions

and

Kim Russell-Waselenchuk Kim may refer to: People and fictional characters * Kim (given name), a list of people and fictional characters * Kim (surname), a list of people and fictional characters ** Kim (Korean surname) *** Kim dynasty (disambiguation), several dynas ...

, 9-15, 15-5, 11-8.

Professional career

Key was a top 10 player on

in 2014-15. In January 2016, she was ranked eighth in the world. Perhaps Key's best pro result is a semi-final finish at the 2016 Paola Longoria Experience tournament in San Luis Potosí. She got to the semis by defeating

Susana Acosta Susana Acosta (born 8 December 1976) is a Mexican racquetball player. A left handed player, Acosta has won several gold medals for Mexico, including at the 2003 Pan American Games. She's also played on the Ladies Professional Racquetball Tour (L ...

, 11-5, 11-1, 11-6, in the Round of 16, and Rajsich in the quarterfinals, 11-2, 2-11, 6-11, 11-4, 11-9. In the semi-finals, Key lost to

Frédérique Lambert Frédérique T. Lambert (born March 27, 1992) is a Canadian racquetball player. Lambert is the current Canadian Champion in Women's Singles and Women's Doubles, and has won eleven Canadian Championships: six in Women's Singles and five in Women' ...

, 11-3, 11-5, 11-3. She also participated in the 2014 edition of the Paola Longoria Experience in the women's double event with Canadian partner Frederique Lambert. The pair opened the tournament with a loss to Mexico's Paola Longoria and Samantha Salas despite winning the first set. In May 2015, she played doubles with Lambert at a tournament in Herndon, Virginia. The pair finished second after losing in the finals to Paola Longoria and Samantha Salas. Playing again with Lambert, the pair made the finals of the 2015 Battle of the Alamo tournament, finishing second after failing to appear for the final. In 2015, she reached the finals of the Open de Cali in Colombia while playing with Lambert, only to lose to Paola Longoria and Samantha Salas Solis in sets of 10-15, 15-10 and 11-5. In March 2016, she participated in the Zócalo Capitalino tournament. In September 2016, she participated in a tour event in Las Vegas.

Personal life

Key was married to racquetball player Daniel De La Rosa, and has two children. Key's younger sister Danielle has also played elite racquetball.

References