9/11/16:
"Samara hosts 7 at AP, Rizzo hosts 4 at NTC, Kris hosts 8 at C.G.!:
There were three sessions of GTA Sunday Tennis: the usual morning one at Albion Park in Clifton (hosted by "Hollywood" Frank Samara), a late afternoon/early evening one at Nutley Tennis Club (hosted by "The Riz" John Rizzo) and then the usual night session at The Cedar Grove Courts (hosted by "The K Man" Kris Srinivasan).
And now for how the session at Albion unfolded.
Samara pulled up to the curb at 10:35. Down on the courts, he saw a hitting session going on between "DC3" David Cardenas and "Big George" Jorge Solano on the North Court. And on the South Court, "Big Returns" Ralph Bernard was practicing his serve alone.
So Samara stepped onto South Court to enter into a hitting session with Bernard. Ralph told Frank he had arrived at the courts at 10:30.
At 10:45, a couple of adult guys and a bunch of young children took over Center Court (and had one of the mommies watching). Suddenly, balls were being "shanked" in both directions.
When nobody else arrived by 11am, Frank and Ralph decided to shift over to the North Court to face Jorge and David in a Doubles One-Setter. Thankfully, "The Family Affair" then shifted over to the South Court to put some distance between the two camps.
At 11:20, "The West Wing" Rick Pienciak arrived and took the bench to watch the action in progress on the North Court. Five minutes later, his son "The Lumberjack" Ryan Pienciak also made his way to that bench. They both watched for a while before deciding to take Center Court to hit with one another.
When that initial One-Setter ended exactly at 11:47, both Ralph and David had to leave. Jorge was ready to head home as well, but The Pienciaks pleaded with him to stay as we needed him to at least have a foursome for some more Doubles. Thankfully, Solano stayed on for one more.
That next one got going at 11:50. Five minutes later, a young couple that we often see at Albion took Center Court to hit with one another.
"Coach" Dino Celis made his arrival at 12noon and he watched the action on Court One from the sidelines. He would have to wait a while as the second One-Setter of the day was a long one. It went to a Tiebreak and did not finish until 12:42. Solano was now able to leave.
Both Frank and Rick felt like they needed a bit of a breather, so Ryan and Dino started hitting with one another on the North Court. Then, at 12:52, The Pienciaks had a new set of opponents: Celis/Samara.
A little after 1pm, "MC" Mike Carucci arrived with a bucket of balls to practice his serve. He was going to set up shop on Center Court (the young couple had already left), but then "The Family Affair" also left (disgusted as they thought someone in our crew stole the soccer ball that they left at the fence near the entrance gate...by the way, there is already a fall session of farm or little league baseball now taking place in Albion Park). So Mike then shifted to the South Court for his solo practice.
When the third Doubles One-Setter of the day ended exactly at 1:24, everyone was exhausted (although quite windy, the temps were still very hot and the humidity did not quite break the way the weather forecasters had predicted it would). So Carucci never got the chance to get involved in any official action, but he seemed OK with it as he stated he really just wanted to practice anyway.
And, thus, we only had a total of seven official competitors for the session.
Let's now get to all the Albion action!
The AP Results:
Frank Samara/Ralph Bernard over Jorge Solano/David Cardenas, 6-4! Jorge: 1 Ace on Ralph. It went like this: Jorge held serve (Ralph hit a drop shot winner for Love-15, but then Jorge hit two consecutive un-returned serves on the way to Double Game Point and then came the hold), Ralph held (three consecutive un-returned serves to make it Triple Game Point, then a Double Fault for Double Game Point, but then came the hold), but David was the first to be broken (Jorge hit a big-time Overhead Smash for 15-Love, but then there was a Double Fault for 15-All, an un-returned serve for 30-15, but then another Double Fault to make it 30-All, another un-returned serve to set up Game Point, but then an excellent and extended rally that was ended with an impressive drop shot winner from Frank for Deuce, Game Point again where Ralph made a nice get/winner combo for 2nd Deuce, then Break Point, 3rd Deuce, Break Point and then another Double Fault to break himself) to go down 1-2. Frank held (Ralph blew a volley for Love-15 and then it went point for point to Break Point as there was an un-returned serve, a winning volley by David and a blown volley by Jorge along the way and then came Deuce where an un-returned serve set up Game Point and then came the hold) and Solano was broken (Love-15 then point for point to Break Point and David had a winning volley along the way, but on that B.P. it was Frank hitting a highly impressive passing shot winner for the break) to fall to 1-4! But Bernard was also broken (Love-15 where Jorge blew a volley to make it 15-All, but then it was straight to Double Break Point where Frank hit a winning Overhead Smash to make it Break Point, but then came the break) and Cardenas held (Love-15, un-returned serve for 15-All and then a Double Fault for 15-30, but then David made a nice get/winner combo for 30-All and then on Game Point he hit another un-returned serve to secure his hold) to pull to 3-4. Samara was then broken (Love-15 then point for point to Break Point as Jorge made an amazing get/winner combo along the way and Frank blew a volley to set up that B.P. and then came the break) to knot the score at 4-4! But then Big George was broken again (Love-15 then point for point to Break Point as along the way David hit a winning Overhead Smash, Frank hit a very nice winning Overhead Smash and soon followed with another winning Overhead Smash, but then it went to Deuce where Jorge scored an impressive corner Ace against Ralph for Game Point, but then David blew a volley to make it 2nd Deuce, then Game Point again where David blew another volley to make it 3rd Deuce and then Frank hit a passing shot winner to set up Break Point, but then came 4th Deuce, Break Point again where Frank scored with a show-stopping volley for the break) and then Big Returns held (15-Love shifted to 15-30 where Ralph hit a winner on the way to the next shift which was to Game/Match Point where Jorge hit a winning volley to make it Deuce, then came the 2nd Game/Match Point, then 3rd Deuce and an un-returned serve for the 3rd Game/Match Point and then another un-returned serve to secure the hold) to seal the deal! We played this one on the North Court from 11am to 11:47.
Frank Samara/Jorge Solano over Ryan Pienciak/Rick Pienciak, 7-6 (7-5)! No Aces. The dirty lowdown: Rick was broken (Double Fault to set up Triple Break Point, an un-returned serve for Double Break Point, then Break Point where another un-returned serve made it Deuce, then another Break Point where Frank hit a winning drop shot return) and Jorge held (Love-30 shifted to Game Point with three consecutive un-returned serves and then a 4th straight un-returned serve secured the hold) to go up 2-0. Ryan then held (an un-returned serve for 30-Love, Double Fault for 30-15, Double Game Point and another un-returned serve for the hold) and Frank was broken (Rick hit a winner for Love-15 and then it went point for point to Break Point as Ryan blew two volleys along the way, but that break came before it could ever get to Deuce) to make it 2-2. Papa Pienciak was broken again (un-returned serve for 30-Love, but then Frank hit a winner as it soon shifted to 30-All, then came Break Point and the break) and Solano held again (Frank hit a winning Overhead Smash for 15-Love, a Double Fault for 15-All, but then onto Double Game Point as Frank hit another winning Overhead Smash along the way and then Frank whipped out his Windmill Overhead Smash to secure his partner's hold) for 4-2. Son Pienciak held again (an un-returned serve for 15-Love where Frank then hit a winning lob return for 15-All, but then it was straight to Double Game Point as Frank blew an overhead along the way, the hold came on Game Point) to pull to 3-4, but then Samara held as well (Love-15 where Jorge hit a winning volley for 15-All, but then it shifted to Double Break Point as Ryan hit a winner along the way, but then Jorge hit a winning Backhand Volley to make it Break Point and then it went to Deuce where Jorge hit a spectacular winning volley for Game Point and then Frank hit a drop shot winner to lock down his own hold) to go up 5-3. The West Wing held (un-returned serve for 30-Love, but then Frank hit a drop shot winner for 30-15 where an un-returnable serve made it Double Game Point, then came Game Point and the hold) and Big George was finally broken (Love-30 shifted to 30-All right after Jorge hit an amazing reflex volley, but then he hit a Double Fault for Break Point where Ryan then hit a monster Overhead Smash for the break) as it was all leveled at 5-5! The Lumberjack held yet again and this time it was at Love as Jorge blew a volley to make it 30-Love, an un-returned serve set up Triple Game Point and then an un-returnable serve secured the hold to go up 6-5! But Hollywood held again as well (Jorge hit an excellent winning volley for 15-Love, it was then 30-Love where Jorge blew a volley to make it 30-15, but then an un-returned serve set up Double Game Point and then came the hold) to force the Tiebreak! In the Breaker: Rick was broken on his lone serve, Jorge was broken on the first of his two serves, but then hit an un-returned serve to go up 2-1. Ryan held the first of his two serves, but then Rick blew a volley to make it 2-3. Frank was broken on the first of his two serves as Ryan hit an excellent winner into the corner to make it 3-3 at the changeover. Frank then held his second serve after hitting a drop shot to draw the error from Rick to make it 4-3 in his team's favor. Papa Pienciak held his first serve after his son hit an awesome winning Backhand Volley for 4-4 and then an un-returned serve on the second service made it 5-4 as his team took their first lead in the TB! But Solano held his first serve after hitting a winning Overhead Smash and then he held his second as well to set up 6-5 and Match Point with service going back to Son Pienciak who would then be broken as Frank made a great get that caught the opposition by surprise as all they could muster up was an error to end it! We played this on the North Court as well and it lasted from 11:50 to 12:42!
Dino Celis/Frank Samara over Ryan Pienciak/Rick Pienciak, 6-1! Rick: 1 Ace on Dino. Here's how it went down: Rick was broken (started with a Double Fault and then Frank hit a winner for Love-30, it then shifted to 30-All where a wind-aided curveball of an Ace set up Game Point, but then Frank hit a winner for Deuce only to have Ryan hit a blast of an Overhead Smash for Game Point, 2nd Deuce and another Double Fault made it Break Point, then 3rd Deuce where Frank hit a winning Overhead Smash to make it Break Point once again and then came the break) and Frank held (a drop shot winner from Dino and an un-returned serve paved the way to Triple Game Point, then that lead was cut to Game Point, but then came the hold) for 2-0. Ryan held (Love-30 shifted to Game Point as Rick hit a winning volley and then there was an un-returned serve along the way and then the rally of the match ended with a highly impressive passing shot winner by Ryan to secure his own hold) to get onto the scoreboard, but from there Dino held (Love-15 then point for point until 30-All as there was an un-returned serve, a winner by Ryan and another un-returned serve along the way, but then it went to Game Point and the hold), Papa Pienciak was broken again (Frank hit a winning Overhead Smash for Love-15, but then it shifted to 30-15 after Frank blew an overhead and there was an un-returned serve, then came a Double Fault for 30-All where Dino then hit a net-cord winner to set up Break Point and then Dino hit a highly impressive passing shot winner for the break), Samara held again (Ryan hit a whopper of an Overhead Smash for Love-15 and then it went point for point until 30-All as it was an un-returned serve, another winning Overhead Smash by Ryan and then another un-returned serve, but then it went to Game Point where Rick hit a winning return to make it Deuce only to have Frank hit a net-cord winner to set up Game Point and then came the hold) and then Ryan was finally broken (Frank hit a big-time Overhead Smash to set up Triple Break/Match Point, but then Ryan hit a winning Overhead Smash to cut it to Double Break/Match Point and then Rick hit a major Overhead Smash to reduce it to Break/Match Point only to have Dino hit a nice get/winner combo to end it) to get the "L!" This one was also done on the North Court as it got underway at 12:52 and finished at 1:24.
We now head to Nutley for the scores from John.
The NTC Results:
Senthil Kumar/Dan Hwang over John Rizzo/Nick Inciong, 6-4! No Aces (apparently).
John Rizzo/Nick Inciong over Senthil Kumar/Dan Hwang, 6-1! No Aces (apparently).
Senthil Kumar/Dan Hwang over John Rizzo/Nick Inciong, 6-3! No Aces (apparently).
Samara's Notes: I thank John for reporting those results. And now we head up to Cedar Grove to let The K take it away!
The Cedar Grove Results:
2 out of 3 Sets Challenge Match:
Scott Bergenfeld over Michel Encarnacion, 6-2, 6-3, to successfully defend his # 14 Rank in the Advanced Division! Bergenfeld's rank in the Intermediate Division was not on the line since he is still active in the ongoing GTA Intermediate Title Tournament. No Aces (apparently).
It looked even at the beginning when I was watching it before I went to the other side to hit the ball with Herb Reiner and my son Sairaj.
Kris Srinivasan/Tito Castolo over Scott Bergenfeld/ Felix Castolo, 6-2! No Aces.
Tito got Scott with his drop shots. Getting to the ball was no problem for Scott, but putting the ball over the net was. He did get to play his signature forehand "whippers." Felix was steady with hardly any unforced errors.
Kris Srinivasan/Tito Castolo over Dino Celis/Dan Martinelli, 6-1! No Aces.
Tito did his magic!
Dino Celis/Felix Castolo over Kris Srinivasan/Tito Castolo, 6-2! No Aces.
Dino's aggressive shots got the better of Tito as the pace of the shots overwhelmed his attempts to play soft. It was a lesson from Dino as to how to play aggressively to "no-pace" shots. All the drop shots didn't work either as Dino was charging in like an enraged bull! Felix was pretty good (just like Tito) in getting back all the balls and his sliced overhead shots are a little different from the more fast-paced overheads of Tito's.
Scott Bergenfeld over Edwin Ortega, 6-4! No Aces (apparently).
It looked like Edwin gave a nice scare to Scott!
Edwin Ortega/Felix Castolo leading Kris Srinivasan/Dan Martinelli, 5-4 (Incomplete when the lights went out at 10pm)! Edwin: 1 Ace on Spin!
The never-ending games meant a set that never properly ended as 40 minutes were not enough to complete it before the lights went out. We missed out on so many opportunities to close a couple of games which could have saved time and also ensured a closure. Full credit goes to Edwin and Felix for staying strong. Amazing effort from Spin, as always, running coast to coast and also going in for all the drop shots.
It turned to be a night of some decent action even though it was not planned. Cheers!
Samara's Notes: As always, thanks to Kris for all he does for the GTA up at Cedar Grove.
All the best,
Frank Samara
"Samara hosts 7 at AP, Rizzo hosts 4 at NTC, Kris hosts 8 at C.G.!:
There were three sessions of GTA Sunday Tennis: the usual morning one at Albion Park in Clifton (hosted by "Hollywood" Frank Samara), a late afternoon/early evening one at Nutley Tennis Club (hosted by "The Riz" John Rizzo) and then the usual night session at The Cedar Grove Courts (hosted by "The K Man" Kris Srinivasan).
And now for how the session at Albion unfolded.
Samara pulled up to the curb at 10:35. Down on the courts, he saw a hitting session going on between "DC3" David Cardenas and "Big George" Jorge Solano on the North Court. And on the South Court, "Big Returns" Ralph Bernard was practicing his serve alone.
So Samara stepped onto South Court to enter into a hitting session with Bernard. Ralph told Frank he had arrived at the courts at 10:30.
At 10:45, a couple of adult guys and a bunch of young children took over Center Court (and had one of the mommies watching). Suddenly, balls were being "shanked" in both directions.
When nobody else arrived by 11am, Frank and Ralph decided to shift over to the North Court to face Jorge and David in a Doubles One-Setter. Thankfully, "The Family Affair" then shifted over to the South Court to put some distance between the two camps.
At 11:20, "The West Wing" Rick Pienciak arrived and took the bench to watch the action in progress on the North Court. Five minutes later, his son "The Lumberjack" Ryan Pienciak also made his way to that bench. They both watched for a while before deciding to take Center Court to hit with one another.
When that initial One-Setter ended exactly at 11:47, both Ralph and David had to leave. Jorge was ready to head home as well, but The Pienciaks pleaded with him to stay as we needed him to at least have a foursome for some more Doubles. Thankfully, Solano stayed on for one more.
That next one got going at 11:50. Five minutes later, a young couple that we often see at Albion took Center Court to hit with one another.
"Coach" Dino Celis made his arrival at 12noon and he watched the action on Court One from the sidelines. He would have to wait a while as the second One-Setter of the day was a long one. It went to a Tiebreak and did not finish until 12:42. Solano was now able to leave.
Both Frank and Rick felt like they needed a bit of a breather, so Ryan and Dino started hitting with one another on the North Court. Then, at 12:52, The Pienciaks had a new set of opponents: Celis/Samara.
A little after 1pm, "MC" Mike Carucci arrived with a bucket of balls to practice his serve. He was going to set up shop on Center Court (the young couple had already left), but then "The Family Affair" also left (disgusted as they thought someone in our crew stole the soccer ball that they left at the fence near the entrance gate...by the way, there is already a fall session of farm or little league baseball now taking place in Albion Park). So Mike then shifted to the South Court for his solo practice.
When the third Doubles One-Setter of the day ended exactly at 1:24, everyone was exhausted (although quite windy, the temps were still very hot and the humidity did not quite break the way the weather forecasters had predicted it would). So Carucci never got the chance to get involved in any official action, but he seemed OK with it as he stated he really just wanted to practice anyway.
And, thus, we only had a total of seven official competitors for the session.
Let's now get to all the Albion action!
The AP Results:
Frank Samara/Ralph Bernard over Jorge Solano/David Cardenas, 6-4! Jorge: 1 Ace on Ralph. It went like this: Jorge held serve (Ralph hit a drop shot winner for Love-15, but then Jorge hit two consecutive un-returned serves on the way to Double Game Point and then came the hold), Ralph held (three consecutive un-returned serves to make it Triple Game Point, then a Double Fault for Double Game Point, but then came the hold), but David was the first to be broken (Jorge hit a big-time Overhead Smash for 15-Love, but then there was a Double Fault for 15-All, an un-returned serve for 30-15, but then another Double Fault to make it 30-All, another un-returned serve to set up Game Point, but then an excellent and extended rally that was ended with an impressive drop shot winner from Frank for Deuce, Game Point again where Ralph made a nice get/winner combo for 2nd Deuce, then Break Point, 3rd Deuce, Break Point and then another Double Fault to break himself) to go down 1-2. Frank held (Ralph blew a volley for Love-15 and then it went point for point to Break Point as there was an un-returned serve, a winning volley by David and a blown volley by Jorge along the way and then came Deuce where an un-returned serve set up Game Point and then came the hold) and Solano was broken (Love-15 then point for point to Break Point and David had a winning volley along the way, but on that B.P. it was Frank hitting a highly impressive passing shot winner for the break) to fall to 1-4! But Bernard was also broken (Love-15 where Jorge blew a volley to make it 15-All, but then it was straight to Double Break Point where Frank hit a winning Overhead Smash to make it Break Point, but then came the break) and Cardenas held (Love-15, un-returned serve for 15-All and then a Double Fault for 15-30, but then David made a nice get/winner combo for 30-All and then on Game Point he hit another un-returned serve to secure his hold) to pull to 3-4. Samara was then broken (Love-15 then point for point to Break Point as Jorge made an amazing get/winner combo along the way and Frank blew a volley to set up that B.P. and then came the break) to knot the score at 4-4! But then Big George was broken again (Love-15 then point for point to Break Point as along the way David hit a winning Overhead Smash, Frank hit a very nice winning Overhead Smash and soon followed with another winning Overhead Smash, but then it went to Deuce where Jorge scored an impressive corner Ace against Ralph for Game Point, but then David blew a volley to make it 2nd Deuce, then Game Point again where David blew another volley to make it 3rd Deuce and then Frank hit a passing shot winner to set up Break Point, but then came 4th Deuce, Break Point again where Frank scored with a show-stopping volley for the break) and then Big Returns held (15-Love shifted to 15-30 where Ralph hit a winner on the way to the next shift which was to Game/Match Point where Jorge hit a winning volley to make it Deuce, then came the 2nd Game/Match Point, then 3rd Deuce and an un-returned serve for the 3rd Game/Match Point and then another un-returned serve to secure the hold) to seal the deal! We played this one on the North Court from 11am to 11:47.
Frank Samara/Jorge Solano over Ryan Pienciak/Rick Pienciak, 7-6 (7-5)! No Aces. The dirty lowdown: Rick was broken (Double Fault to set up Triple Break Point, an un-returned serve for Double Break Point, then Break Point where another un-returned serve made it Deuce, then another Break Point where Frank hit a winning drop shot return) and Jorge held (Love-30 shifted to Game Point with three consecutive un-returned serves and then a 4th straight un-returned serve secured the hold) to go up 2-0. Ryan then held (an un-returned serve for 30-Love, Double Fault for 30-15, Double Game Point and another un-returned serve for the hold) and Frank was broken (Rick hit a winner for Love-15 and then it went point for point to Break Point as Ryan blew two volleys along the way, but that break came before it could ever get to Deuce) to make it 2-2. Papa Pienciak was broken again (un-returned serve for 30-Love, but then Frank hit a winner as it soon shifted to 30-All, then came Break Point and the break) and Solano held again (Frank hit a winning Overhead Smash for 15-Love, a Double Fault for 15-All, but then onto Double Game Point as Frank hit another winning Overhead Smash along the way and then Frank whipped out his Windmill Overhead Smash to secure his partner's hold) for 4-2. Son Pienciak held again (an un-returned serve for 15-Love where Frank then hit a winning lob return for 15-All, but then it was straight to Double Game Point as Frank blew an overhead along the way, the hold came on Game Point) to pull to 3-4, but then Samara held as well (Love-15 where Jorge hit a winning volley for 15-All, but then it shifted to Double Break Point as Ryan hit a winner along the way, but then Jorge hit a winning Backhand Volley to make it Break Point and then it went to Deuce where Jorge hit a spectacular winning volley for Game Point and then Frank hit a drop shot winner to lock down his own hold) to go up 5-3. The West Wing held (un-returned serve for 30-Love, but then Frank hit a drop shot winner for 30-15 where an un-returnable serve made it Double Game Point, then came Game Point and the hold) and Big George was finally broken (Love-30 shifted to 30-All right after Jorge hit an amazing reflex volley, but then he hit a Double Fault for Break Point where Ryan then hit a monster Overhead Smash for the break) as it was all leveled at 5-5! The Lumberjack held yet again and this time it was at Love as Jorge blew a volley to make it 30-Love, an un-returned serve set up Triple Game Point and then an un-returnable serve secured the hold to go up 6-5! But Hollywood held again as well (Jorge hit an excellent winning volley for 15-Love, it was then 30-Love where Jorge blew a volley to make it 30-15, but then an un-returned serve set up Double Game Point and then came the hold) to force the Tiebreak! In the Breaker: Rick was broken on his lone serve, Jorge was broken on the first of his two serves, but then hit an un-returned serve to go up 2-1. Ryan held the first of his two serves, but then Rick blew a volley to make it 2-3. Frank was broken on the first of his two serves as Ryan hit an excellent winner into the corner to make it 3-3 at the changeover. Frank then held his second serve after hitting a drop shot to draw the error from Rick to make it 4-3 in his team's favor. Papa Pienciak held his first serve after his son hit an awesome winning Backhand Volley for 4-4 and then an un-returned serve on the second service made it 5-4 as his team took their first lead in the TB! But Solano held his first serve after hitting a winning Overhead Smash and then he held his second as well to set up 6-5 and Match Point with service going back to Son Pienciak who would then be broken as Frank made a great get that caught the opposition by surprise as all they could muster up was an error to end it! We played this on the North Court as well and it lasted from 11:50 to 12:42!
Dino Celis/Frank Samara over Ryan Pienciak/Rick Pienciak, 6-1! Rick: 1 Ace on Dino. Here's how it went down: Rick was broken (started with a Double Fault and then Frank hit a winner for Love-30, it then shifted to 30-All where a wind-aided curveball of an Ace set up Game Point, but then Frank hit a winner for Deuce only to have Ryan hit a blast of an Overhead Smash for Game Point, 2nd Deuce and another Double Fault made it Break Point, then 3rd Deuce where Frank hit a winning Overhead Smash to make it Break Point once again and then came the break) and Frank held (a drop shot winner from Dino and an un-returned serve paved the way to Triple Game Point, then that lead was cut to Game Point, but then came the hold) for 2-0. Ryan held (Love-30 shifted to Game Point as Rick hit a winning volley and then there was an un-returned serve along the way and then the rally of the match ended with a highly impressive passing shot winner by Ryan to secure his own hold) to get onto the scoreboard, but from there Dino held (Love-15 then point for point until 30-All as there was an un-returned serve, a winner by Ryan and another un-returned serve along the way, but then it went to Game Point and the hold), Papa Pienciak was broken again (Frank hit a winning Overhead Smash for Love-15, but then it shifted to 30-15 after Frank blew an overhead and there was an un-returned serve, then came a Double Fault for 30-All where Dino then hit a net-cord winner to set up Break Point and then Dino hit a highly impressive passing shot winner for the break), Samara held again (Ryan hit a whopper of an Overhead Smash for Love-15 and then it went point for point until 30-All as it was an un-returned serve, another winning Overhead Smash by Ryan and then another un-returned serve, but then it went to Game Point where Rick hit a winning return to make it Deuce only to have Frank hit a net-cord winner to set up Game Point and then came the hold) and then Ryan was finally broken (Frank hit a big-time Overhead Smash to set up Triple Break/Match Point, but then Ryan hit a winning Overhead Smash to cut it to Double Break/Match Point and then Rick hit a major Overhead Smash to reduce it to Break/Match Point only to have Dino hit a nice get/winner combo to end it) to get the "L!" This one was also done on the North Court as it got underway at 12:52 and finished at 1:24.
We now head to Nutley for the scores from John.
The NTC Results:
Senthil Kumar/Dan Hwang over John Rizzo/Nick Inciong, 6-4! No Aces (apparently).
John Rizzo/Nick Inciong over Senthil Kumar/Dan Hwang, 6-1! No Aces (apparently).
Senthil Kumar/Dan Hwang over John Rizzo/Nick Inciong, 6-3! No Aces (apparently).
Samara's Notes: I thank John for reporting those results. And now we head up to Cedar Grove to let The K take it away!
The Cedar Grove Results:
2 out of 3 Sets Challenge Match:
Scott Bergenfeld over Michel Encarnacion, 6-2, 6-3, to successfully defend his # 14 Rank in the Advanced Division! Bergenfeld's rank in the Intermediate Division was not on the line since he is still active in the ongoing GTA Intermediate Title Tournament. No Aces (apparently).
It looked even at the beginning when I was watching it before I went to the other side to hit the ball with Herb Reiner and my son Sairaj.
Kris Srinivasan/Tito Castolo over Scott Bergenfeld/ Felix Castolo, 6-2! No Aces.
Tito got Scott with his drop shots. Getting to the ball was no problem for Scott, but putting the ball over the net was. He did get to play his signature forehand "whippers." Felix was steady with hardly any unforced errors.
Kris Srinivasan/Tito Castolo over Dino Celis/Dan Martinelli, 6-1! No Aces.
Tito did his magic!
Dino Celis/Felix Castolo over Kris Srinivasan/Tito Castolo, 6-2! No Aces.
Dino's aggressive shots got the better of Tito as the pace of the shots overwhelmed his attempts to play soft. It was a lesson from Dino as to how to play aggressively to "no-pace" shots. All the drop shots didn't work either as Dino was charging in like an enraged bull! Felix was pretty good (just like Tito) in getting back all the balls and his sliced overhead shots are a little different from the more fast-paced overheads of Tito's.
Scott Bergenfeld over Edwin Ortega, 6-4! No Aces (apparently).
It looked like Edwin gave a nice scare to Scott!
Edwin Ortega/Felix Castolo leading Kris Srinivasan/Dan Martinelli, 5-4 (Incomplete when the lights went out at 10pm)! Edwin: 1 Ace on Spin!
The never-ending games meant a set that never properly ended as 40 minutes were not enough to complete it before the lights went out. We missed out on so many opportunities to close a couple of games which could have saved time and also ensured a closure. Full credit goes to Edwin and Felix for staying strong. Amazing effort from Spin, as always, running coast to coast and also going in for all the drop shots.
It turned to be a night of some decent action even though it was not planned. Cheers!
Samara's Notes: As always, thanks to Kris for all he does for the GTA up at Cedar Grove.
All the best,
Frank Samara
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