"2 play at RHP, 6 play at AP, MXD2 Semi part of 17 at C.G.!":
GTA Wednesday Night Tennis took place at three locations: Robin Hood Park in Clifton (hosted by "The S Bomber" Genalin Capan), Albion Park in Clifton (hoste by "Hollywood" Frank Samara and The Cedar Grove Courts (hosted by "Papa K" Kris Srinivasan, but also with some earlier scores sent in by "The Legendary" Chazz Weldon and it later featured the MXD2 Semifinal Match featuring "Super Mario" Marijus Kuzavas and "Spicy" Sally Pillay taking on The Gawleys ("Rowdy Rob" and "Laura the Aura") with Laura sending in additional details).
So we first go to the brief RHP recap from Gen, then detail the comings and goings at Albion and then head up to C.G. for all the details from there via Chazz, Kris and Laura.
The RHP Result:
Mike Mole over Genalin Capan, 6-0! Mike: 1 Ace.
Gen's Notes: They started hitting at 4:40. They hit for 25 minutes. So the One-Setter began somewhere around 5:05 and ended sometime before 5:47 (when Gen sent the text message to Frank).
Samara's Notes: I thank Gen for reporting that score in a very timely fashion.
Samara pulled up to the curb at Albion Park along with his daughter and son in the car. Parked ahead of him already waiting there were "The Vin Man" Vinnie De Benedetto and "C.A.T." Christine Toth. Both found the location rather easily.
Except for a recent appearance at Cedar Grove, we have not seen Christine in action for a while. Frank had just assumed it was because she was helping her ailing mother more (as she told us she would).
As it turns out, her mom passed away a few weeks ago after finally relenting to a ten year struggle against Parkinson's disease. I believe Christine said her mother was only 70 years old.
On behalf of the entire GTA, I offer Christine our condolences.
While my children ran off to the playground area, the three of us headed toward the courts. Two young guys (named Jack and Anthony) shifted over from the North Court to the South Court (and I'll call the one in the middle Center Court). As there are entrance gates at opposite corners of the facility, it does not make sense to call any of them the Entrance Court. And none of them has a "Championship Court" history in our league. So we then took the North Court.
Just five minutes later, both "The Lumberjack" Ryan Pienciak and "Lucky" Leo Victor made their way downhill toward the court. Samara opted out of participating in the first Doubles One-Setter as he instead chose to hold Center Court while watching his kids play out in the park and playground area.
A few minutes later, Jack's dad (never got his name) joined his son and his son's friend Anthony out on the South Court. By the way, this is the best court to avoid the late-day glare of the sun setting (live and learn!). Jack saw the pen and pad in Frank's hand and asked him what it meant.
Samara briefly explained the league (and its history at Robin Hood Park) to Jack's dad, but fell short of inviting them to the group. Their hitting session reflected the fact that Jack's dad is experienced but rusty while the two young guys (likely still in their late teens) are athletic but inexperienced.
Then another young guy approached Frank while he was on Center Court just to confirm that he was holding the court. Samara was willing to part with it, but the young guy was a gentleman and said that Frank had it first and he should continue to hold it.
Everyone we met at Albion Park seems very nice. Samara's two children were able to play with a couple of other kids in the park. The only minor complaints were the glare of the setting sun (though not as bad as RHP as the trees on the west side of the courts are much taller and closer and block most of it) and the slant of the courts (intentionally done for drainage purposes and not nearly as bad as the true slope that exists at the courts at Ravine).
Victor willingly sat out of the second One-Setter to allow Samara into it. During it, "J-Rod" Joe Rodrigues arrived at 6:40 and would soon start hitting with Leo on Center Court. Also around this time, Jack's dad, Jack and Anthony left the South Court. They were quickly replaced by that other young guy who had approached Samara along with two other guys.
So we will have some other tennis players to deal with at Albion…at least on weekdays. "Spin Doctor" Dan Martinelli maintains that all the courts have been available there on Sunday mornings.
When that second One-Setter finished at 7:05, Samara got set to depart (along with his kids) as did De Benedetto. Joe and Leo shifted over to the North Court to get a Doubles One-Setter going against Ryan and Christine.
At the same time, Jack, Anthony and another young guy named Rob took over Center Court while Jack's dad talked to some people out in the park. They are very friendly and if they are truly regulars there, they will likely get involved with us at some point.
The third and final One-Setter got underway exactly at 7:07. The Samaras left the park at 7:10. Joe and Christine sent in the score and details of that last encounter at AP.
The AP Results:
Vinnie De Benedetto/Christine Toth over Ryan Pienciak/Leo Victor, 7-5! No Aces. Here's the basic breakdown: Serving at 2-1, Leo hit a Double Fault to break himself and level it at 2-2. Christine was then broken, but so was Ryan for 3-3. Vin was broken at Love and then Victor held for a 5-3 lead. Then came the game of the match with Toth on serve as it went to multiple Deuces (too many for the competitors to count and Samara dealt with repeated distractions) and it also saw De Benedetto/Toth save two Match Points (in a battle where they mostly had Game Points) before finally getting the hold to make it 4-5! Pienciak was then broken again to tie it up at 5-5, De Benedetto held again and then it was an Unlucky Leo who was broken to take the loss! They played this on the North Court from 5:50 to 6:32.
Frank Samara/Vinnie De Benedetto over Ryan Pienciak/Christine Toth, 6-2! Ryan: 2 Aces (one on each); and Christine: 1 Ace on Vinnie! It went like this: Frank was broken (Vin blew a volley for Love-15, then it was 15-All until Christine hit a winner and then Ryan hit a winner to make it Double Break Point and then came the break), Ryan was broken (Frank hit a guided missile-like passing shot winner for Love-30 and then it was Triple Break Point where Ryan hit an impressive Ace up the T against Frank to cut it down to Double Break Point, but then came the break), but Vinnie was the first to hold serve (Frank hit a winning Backhand Volley for 15-Love and then an excellent and extended rally led to 15-All, but then it was straight to Double Game Point and the hold) for 2-1. Christine was broken (Ryan hit a winning Overhead Smash for 15-Love, but then it was right to Double Break Point where Ryan hit a winning volley for Break Point and then it was Deuce where Frank hit a whopper of an Overhead Smash that found Ryan as its unintended target which brought it back to Break Point, then it was 2nd Deuce where Ryan hit another winning Overhead Smash of his own for Game Point, but then Frank hit a winner for 3rd Deuce where Vin hit a blistering winning return for Break Point and then Frank hit a winning volley that he seemed to have on a string to curve it around the constantly poaching Ryan to get the break) and then Samara held (Love-30 shifted to 30-All as Frank hit an un-returned serve and then another monster of an Overhead Smash, but then Christine hit a winning Backhand Volley for Break Point which was where Vin hit a winning Overhead Smash for Deuce and then Christine blew a volley for Game Point where Frank finished things off with an impressive winner down the middle) to go up 4-1! Pienciak held (Ryan made a great get only to have Vin send it back as a winning volley for Love-15, it was then 15-All where Ryan nailed Vin with a corner Ace for 30-15 and then Ryan hit a winning Overhead Smash to make it Double Game Point where he got the hold) to pull to 2-4. But from there, De Benedetto held again (15-Love shifted to Double Break Point as Ryan hit a winning return along the way, but then it shifted again to Deuce as Frank hit a winner along the way and then Ryan blew a volley to make it Game Point and then Ryan blew another volley to allow the hold) and Toth was broken again (she started off with a slow and short Ace up the T against Vin, but that shifted right to Double Break/Match Point as Frank first hit a winner in one point and then scorched a return winner behind the poaching Ryan to get to the DB/MP which was where the break came) to take the loss. The action was closer than the score indicates. We played this on the North Court from 6:35 to 7:05.
Ryan Pienciak/Christine Toth over Joe Rodrigues/Leo Victor, 6-2! No Aces (apparently). They got this one underway on the North Court exactly at 7:07 (not sure when it ended). Joe reports that Ryan was strong at the net and Christine had some nice shots as well.
Samara's Notes: We now head up to Cedar Grove where we will first get a couple scores that were sent in by Chazz and then the full report from Kris along with some additional details added by Laura.
The Cedar Grove Results:
Chazz Weldon over Edwin Ortega, 6-2! No Aces. This one was played from 4:30 to 5:14.
Chazz Weldon over Edwin Ortega, 6-2! Chazz: 1 Ace. This one was played from 5:20 to 6:08. Chazz said it was great fun and Edwin had some good topspin shots.
We now let Papa K take it away!
The night started out quietly before the avalanche of our players were sidelined due to a lack of tennis courts. Marijus and Sally were probably the first to arrive for their MXD2 Mixed Doubles Semifinal Match that they had rescheduled… or perhaps it was Jordan Bachvaroff who came first.
It was good that Jordan grabbed Court One as The Wednesday Ladies occupied Court Two. The Verona Crew, much to my chagrin, took both Courts Three and Four for most of the night.
Samara's Notes: As we have already found out from "Mr. 500" Levy Lorenzo (who is also part of The Verona Crew), this is a situation that is likely to continue right into October. So it is somewhat silly for so many of us to keep scheduling important matches there and/or arriving at Cedar Grove on Wednesday nights and then be surprised to find we have to sit out for so long.
This is why I have not made it a priority to get up there on a Wednesday night. I suggest we follow up on the lead given to us by "Stealth" Omar Santos and investigate the nearby courts on Paterson Ave. in Little Falls as they are also lit into the night. At least this can be an alternative location on Wednesday nights. Because there is nothing we can do about the presence of The Verona Crew except to either like it or lump it…LOL!
I now turn this report back over to Kris.
When The Gawleys came minutes after 7:30pm, their Mixed Doubles Match took place on Court Two. That meant there was just one court available for the other players.
So, instead of a jam-packed session, it was a case of a logjam of players…but we did well to get most of our players to at least get some action.
Spin didn't get to play and after an irritated tiff with the Verona folks, Sairaj got to play one at least one set with them. When I introduced Sairaj to them as their fourth player, they wanted to see if he could hit the ball. We did get the use of Court Three for the last 30 minutes.
Nathan Fernandes/Jordan Bachvaroff over Kris Srinivasan/Joe Rodrigues, 6-4! No Aces.
It was the first match of the session (not counting the earlier action between Chazz and Edwin). Just as soon as we started, players started coming and had no choice but to wait. With two points in our favor to go up 5-2, we lost that game and the next three! Nate's input was the key.
MXD2 Semifinal Match:
Rob Gawley/Laura Gawley over Marijus Kuzavas/Sally Pillay, 7-6 (7-5), 7-5, to become the New # 3 Ranked Team in the Mixed Doubles Division while advancing to The Finals of The MXD2 Mixed Doubles Tournament! Marijus: 1 Ace on Laura (up the middle).
The Lowdown from Laura: We had some amazing rallies and many Deuces during the match. The 1st Set couldn't have been any closer and it could have gone either way. We took a 3-1 lead, but they came back to make it 4-4. It was back and forth until 6-6 and the Tiebreak. We won that set and then I served first in the 2nd Set. My serve was broken, but we came back and were leading 4-1. Then they won a few games to make it 4-4. I held serve to make it 5-4 and Marijus served out a very long game. We played at least 6 or 7 Deuce points. We had one Match Point against them, but his serving was too strong. Rob then held serve and, with Sally serving, we won the final game to win the second set 7-5.
It really could not have been much closer. Marijus has a great first serve and is very steady at the baseline. Sally made some great volleys at the net. Marijus seemed to have a slight back problem, which helped us a bit! Time to ice up!
The Say from Papa K: It was a solid and close match that could have gone either way. Despite all the noise buzzing around, the players were focused and they played one helluva match! It was compelling enough for a shot at being a Nominee as a fiercely contested Mixed Doubles Match of The Year! Full credit goes to all the players for their valiant attempt, irrespective of the results. Congrats to The Gawleys, but Marijus and Sally can feel proud of their efforts.
Samara's Notes: I thank both Laura and Kris for the details and commentary. I congratulate The Gawleys on a very impressive victory, but also offer kudos to Marijus and Sally who are always a tough team to deal with and proved that once again here. And I agree with Kris that this is a likely Nominee at season's end. Even though it ended in straight sets, that is about as close as a straight-setter can get.
We now go back to Kris for the rest of the scores.
Raj Shah/Senthil Kumar over Lou La Forgia/Dino Celis, 7-5! No Aces (apparently).
Raj got to play just one set, but went out on a satisfying note ably assisted by The Webmaster.
Nathan Fernandes/Dinesh Viswanathan over Rick Pienciak/Doinks Srinivasan, 6-4! No Aces (apparently).
Nate continued to have his say and Dinesh was able to enjoy some good tennis after the initial wait.
Kris Srinivasan/Jordan Bachvaroff over Lou La Forgia/Dino Celis, 6-1! No Aces.
This was the last full match of the night and an exciting one…especially going toe to toe with Dino. Lou couldn't execute as well as he is known for, usually.
Nathan Fernandes/Dinesh Viswanathan tied with Rick Pienciak/Doinks Srinivasan, 3-3 (Incomplete when the lights went out at 10pm)! No Aces (apparently).
Samara's Notes: As always, all Kris does on behalf of the GTA up at Cedar Grove is greatly appreciated.
Sincerely,
Frank Samara
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