Kristen Walsh Bellows

Kristen Walsh Bellows (nee Walsh, May 5, 1982) is a retired American racquetball player.

Walsh Bellows won her 1st USA Junior title in the Girl’s U12 division in 1995, when she won both singles and doubles with Jesi Fuller.

She also played at the International Racquetball Federation (IRF) World Junior Championships that year, when she and Fuller won Girls U12 Doubles.

In 1996, Walsh Bellows and Fuller won Girls U14 Doubles in both the USA Junior Championships and the IRF World Junior Championships.

She also won Girls U14 Singles at World Juniors, but not in the USA.

Walsh Bellows played doubles with Krystal Csuk in 1998, when they won Girls U16 Doubles at the IRF World Junior Championships.

Walsh Bellows’s most successful junior years were her last three seasons, as she won both singles and doubles with Csuk in both 1999 and 2000 at the USA Junior Championships and the IRF World Junior Championships.

She won Girls U16 in 1999 and U18 in 2000.

In 2000, at 18, Walsh Bellows played in the US National Singles Championships, reaching the quarterfinals, where she lost to Jackie Paraiso.

Later that year, she played in the US National Doubles Championships with Rhonda Rajsich, and they lost to Kim Russell and Kersten Hallander in the quarterfinals.

She played four times in the 2000-01 season, making the quarterfinals once and finishing ranked 14th.

In 2001, she won Girls U18 Singles in the USA and IRF junior championships.

Walsh Bellows played in the US National Singles Championships in 2001, when she lost a tie-breaker, 11-7, to Jackie Paraiso in the Round of 16.

As Walsh Bellows aged out of juniors, she turned her focus to the women's pro racquetball tour.

As a college freshman, Walsh Bellows won Women’s Singles and Women's Doubles at the 2001 USAR Intercollegiate Championship for Baldwin-Wallace College.

She won Women’s Doubles with Elle Summers.

In the 2001 US National Doubles Championships, Walsh Bellows played with Janel Tisinger, and they upset veterans Laura Fenton and Jackie Paraiso Rice in the quarterfinals, 3-15, 15-14, 11-6.

In the semi-finals, they were up 9-1 in the tie-breaker against Malia Bailey and Rhonda Rajsich, but Bailey and Rajsich came back with ten straight points to win the breaker, 11-9, and advance to the final.

Walsh Bellows began the 2001-02 season with a bang by reaching the final in Charlotte, North Carolina.

Walsh Bellows beat Rhonda Rajsich in the Round of 16, Susana Acosta in the quarterfinals, and Claudine Garcia in the semi-finals, but lost to Cheryl Gudinas in the final, 15-11, 15-8, 15-12.

But it was her first pro final in only her 6th event on tour.

Walsh Bellows transferred from Baldwin-Wallace College to the University of Utah for the 2001-2002 academic year, so she played for Utah at the 2002 Intercollegiate Championships.

She had a chance to defend her singles title, as she reached the Women’s Singles final for a second consecutive year, but lost to Krystal Csuk, 15-1, 4-15, 11-9.

At the 2002 US National Singles Championships, Walsh Bellows lost to Jackie Paraiso (then Jackie Rice), 15-6, 15-8, in the quarterfinals, which was the 3rd year running she’d lost to Parasio at National Singles.

In the 2002 US National Doubles Championships, Walsh Bellows played with Cheryl Gudinas, but they were upset by the veteran team of Mary Lyons and Susan Pfahler in the quarterfinals, 15-14, 15-14.

In the 2002-03 pro season, Walsh Bellows didn’t make it past the quarterfinals in any of the eleven events she played, but she was ranked 8th at the end of the season, so maintained her top 10 ranking.

In 2003, Walsh Bellows won Women’s Singles at the USAR Intercollegiate Championships for a second time, as she defeated Krystal Csuk in the final, 15-8, 15-0, to claim her 2nd title in three years.

At the 2003 US National Singles Championships, Walsh Bellows lost to Cheryl Gudinas in the quarterfinals, 15-7, 15-5.

In the 2003 US National Doubles Championships, Walsh Bellows played with Cheryl Gudinas for a second year, and they faced the team that upset them last year: veterans Mary Lyons and Susan Pfahler in the quarterfinals, but this year Walsh Bellows and Gudinas came out on top, winning 15-11, 10-15, 11-7.

The 2003-04 and 2004-05 pro seasons were similar for Walsh Bellows.

In 2003-04, she played all 9 events on tour, and was in five semi-finals, but no finals, and was a then career best 5th in the season ending ranking.

In 2004-05, Walsh Bellows she was in four semi-finals over six events and was again 5th at the end of the season.

But 2004 was a significant year for Walsh Bellows.

She won Women’s Singles and Doubles at the USAR Intercollegiate Championships, defeating Adrienne Fisher in singles final, 4-15, 15-10, 11-3, and teaming up with her mother Marianne Walsh, who had gone back to university as a mature student.

She represented the USA on four occasions, winning gold in Women's Singles at the 2005 Pan American Championships.

On the women's professional racquetball tour, Walsh Bellows won once, and was twice ranked 4th in the season ending rankings.

She was also a five-time USA Racquetball (USAR) collegiate champion (three singles and two doubles titles).

Later that season, Walsh Bellows made her 2nd final in San Diego, where she beat Jackie Paraiso in the quarterfinals and Kerri Wachtel in the semi-finals, before losing to Gudinas in the final, although in the final, Walsh Bellows did come back from two games down to force a 5th game tie-breaker before losing, 15-11, 15-8, 14-16, 9-15, 15-9.

Those finals helped Walsh Bellows finish 6th in the rankings that season.

In the semi-finals, they lost to 2nd seeds Kersten Hallander and Janel Tisinger, 15-8, 15-13.