7/4

"Samara hosts 8 at HP!":

"The Vin Man" Vinnie De Benedetto greeted "Hollywood" Frank Samara upon his arrival as he pulled into the parking lot at Holster Park at 10:20am for the special session of GTA Monday Tennis - Fourth of July edition, to be played there.  Once again, the weather was beautiful...though a bit hotter than the day before.

As it turns out, Samara was the fourth to arrive.  Vin had been there since 9:15am hitting with Tito "Touch" Castolo.  They took an extended break at 10am and both of them were prepared to leave at 10:15.

But just as they were about to go, "Big George" Jorge Solano arrived.  And as they were of the mindset to return to the courts, that is when Samara pulled in along with his two children, Angeliz and Dante.

The foursome headed back to Championship Court where Vin and Tito had been hitting earlier while the two Samara children headed for the new playground area instead.  Eventually, however, the two of them would get onto the Entrance Court for some tennis practice with one another.

At 10:40, "The Lumberjack" Ryan Pienciak made his way toward Center Court and he was soon followed by his father Rick "Papa" Pienciak and his brother Adam "The Bro" Pienciak.  And another five minutes after that, Ryan's former Clifton High School Tennis Teammate, "TNT" T.J. Shah also arrived to make it another foursome.

Eventually, more members of The Pienciak Family made it to the park and the younger ones enjoyed the shady area outside the fence with the two young Samaras. 

At 11:45, "Spin Doctor" Dan Martinelli stepped onto the courts, but ultimately it would only be to make an extended cameo appearance.  He would have been willing to play had his services been needed.  But we never rose above eight official competitors for the session.

And the sunny weather inspired a shortened session as we all started wilting in the hot July heat.  The last of three Doubles One-Setters ended exactly at 12:11.  Those remaining walked off the courts soon after, leaving behind a couple that had just taken the Entrance Court at 12:05.

Still, the action that we had was fun and exciting.  So, once again, here we go!

The HP Results:

Jorge Solano/Tito Castolo over Frank Samara/Vinnie De Benedetto, 6-4!  No Aces.  It went like this: Frank held serve (Love-15, an un-returned serve for 15-All, but then it was onto Double Break Point only to have back-to-back un-returned serves bring it to Deuce, then it was Game Point and the hold), Jorge was broken (Frank hit a winning volley and Jorge blew an overhead on the way to Triple Break Point, but then that got reversed all the way to Deuce where Frank hit a monster of a winning Overhead Smash to make it Break Point and then came the break) and Vinnie held (Vin hit a winning Backhand Volley followed by another winner he hit for 30-Love, but then Frank blew a drop shot to make it 30-15, it was then Double Game Point where an un-returned serve secured the hold) to go up 3-0.  Tito held (Jorge hit a winning Overhead Smash and there was an un-returned serve for 30-Love, but then it shifted to Break Point as Tito blew an overhead and then there was the rally of the match where Frank made several great gets that led to his team winning the point, but then it went to Deuce, Game Point and the hold) to get his team onto the scoreboard, but Samara held again (Vin blew an overhead and Tito hit a killer return for Love-30, but that shifted to Game Point as Frank hit a winning Overhead Smash, but that was where Tito hit a winner as equally impressive as his winning return earlier to make it Deuce, but then it was Game Point again, 2nd Deuce where Frank hit a winner for Game Point where Frank hit another monster Overhead Smash to secure his own hold) as his team took what seemed to be a somewhat commanding lead at 4-1!  But from there, Solano held (an un-returned serve and Vin blew an overhead for 30-Love, but then it shifted to 30-All where Tito hit a winner for Game Point, Deuce, Game Point, 2nd Deuce, Game Point and the hold), De Benedetto was broken at Love after starting with a Double Fault and then Tito hit a winner and Jorge hit a winning volley along the way, Castolo held again (15-Love where Frank hit a blistering winner for 15-All, but then it went straight to Double Game Point as Jorge hit a winning volley along the way and then came the hold), The Wood was finally broken (a winning Overhead Smash from Tito and a winning volley by Jorge made it Love-30 and that was where Frank hit a rare Double Fault to make it Triple Break Point and next came a shocking Love break) as his team was now down 4-5!  Big George held again (Jorge hit a winning Overhead Smash for 30-Love, it was then Triple Game/Match Point, then Double Game/Match Point where Tito hit a scintillating passing shot winner to seal the deal) as his team took five straight games to cap the comeback!  We played this one on Championship Court from 10:30 to 11:20.

Ryan Pienciak/Rick Pienciak over T.J. Shah/Adam Pienciak, 6-4!  Adam: 1 Ace on Ryan (a big one right in the corner)!  This one got underway on Center Court at 10:55.  Not sure when it ended as I thought all four were only taking a break in the shade before heading into another one (or continuing on further in a full match), but that never happened.

Frank Samara/Vinnie De Benedetto over Jorge Solano/Tito Castolo, 6-4!  No Aces.  Here's how it went down: Frank held (two un-returned serves led to 30-Love and that was where Tito hit a winning lob to make it 30-15 where another un-returned serve set up Double Game Point and then came the hold), Tito held (a winning volley by Jorge and a winning Overhead Smash from Tito led to Triple Game Point, but then Frank hit a winner on the way down to Game Point where an un-returned serve secured the hold), Vinnie held (it went point for point from 15-Love to Game Point as Jorge hit a winning volley along the way and so did Frank just prior to the Game Point and then an un-returned serve secured the hold), but Jorge was the first to be broken (Jorge hit a winning volley for 30-Love, but then it shifted to 30-All right after Vin hit a winning Overhead Smash and then it was Game Point, Deuce where Frank hit another big-time winning Overhead Smash to make it Break Point, 2nd Deuce, Game Point, 3rd Deuce, Break Point and the break) to go down 1-3.  Samara was then broken at Love as he blew an overhead to start things off, then Jorge hit a winning volley, Vin blew a volley and Jorge hit another winning volley to take the game) to have his team's lead cut to 3-2, but Castolo was also broken (Jorge hit a winning volley for 15-Love, it shifted to 15-30 as Frank also hit a winning volley and that was where Jorge hit a winning Overhead Smash, but then came Break Point and the break) to go down 2-4.  De Benedetto was also broken (30-Love went straight to Break Point, Deuce, Game Point, 2nd Deuce where Tito hit a drop shot winner for Break Point and then Tito hit another drop shot winner for the break) to have his team's lead cut to 4-3, but Solano was also broken as it went from 15-Love to 15-30, 30-All, Break Point and the break for 3-5.  And then came the game of the match, one that went so long that all the winners were forgotten along the way...but suffice to say that Frank hit many of the winners to set up the Match Points only to have either Tito hit some crafty winner or Jorge hit a winning volley to reverse it back to Deuce!  Hollywood had extra incentive to close this one out as his kids were complaining from outside the fence about how thirsty they were and that they wanted to leave!  As Frank was on service, he got off to a Love-30 start only to take it straight to Game/Match Point, Deuce, 2nd Game/Match Point, 2nd Deuce, Break Point, 3rd Deuce, 3rd Game/Match Point, 4th Deuce, Break Point, 5th Deuce, 4th Game/Match Point, 6th Deuce, Break Point and the break to have his team's lead cut to 5-4 as the battle would continue on further!  But then Tito touch was shockingly broken a second straight time as it went Love-15, 15-All, Double Fault for 15-30, Double Break/Match Point, it ended on Break/Match Point which was the 6th M.P. overall!  This rematch was also played on Championship Court and it lasted from 11:22 to 12:11.

Samara's Notes: Spin made his arrival midway through this battle and I believe he thoroughly enjoyed the action as it ended up being quite intense...especially when Samara was trying to end it as early as possible only to be denied repeatedly.  While he could not get it done on his serve, Frank seemingly took his game up another notch while Castolo surprisingly lost his "Tito Touch" as he could not hold his serve for the second time in three tries in this One-Setter.  Both teams could walk away content from this session as each one won a One-Setter with a score of 6-4. 

All the best,
Frank Samara