GTA Monday Night Tennis took place at The Cedar Grove Courts with "Hollywood" Frank Samara acting as host and with assistance from the usual host, "The K Man" Kris Srinivasan.
As Samara was running late and heading toward Cedar Grove, he was starting to wonder if it was all an exercise in futility as he got closer to his destination.
At 7:10 as he pulled off of Route 46 West in the Little Falls area, there was a misty drizzle (meanwhile further east in the Passaic/Clifton/Nutley area, it was completely dry and with a clear sky) as there were dark clouds overhead. Five minutes later as Little Falls gave way to Cedar Grove, it actually turned into a steady light rain.
Frank contemplated just turning around and heading back toward the highway and then home, but he then remembered the magical and mystical powers of The K Man. Already this season there has been a handful of occasions where it rained very nearby to the courts at Cedar Grove only to have the courts themselves remain mostly dry.
So Samara continued on in his trek toward the courts. Sure enough when he arrived there at 7:20, the rain had stopped and the courts were mostly dry (except for a couple of minor puddles from rain that had occurred earlier in the evening).
Courts Three and Four were full of GTA players while Courts One and Two had a family on them that soon left as they became available to us as well.
On Court Three, a Mixed Doubles One-Setter was in progress featuring GTA Champion: "King Crush" Chris Chiaro and "Killer Kat" Kathy Sheldon taking on "Kevlar" Kevin Doyle and "Bravo" Brenda Jordan. As it turns out, there was a prior Mixed Doubles One-Setter on that court where Sheldon had teamed with "J-Bach" Jordan Bachvaroff against Doyle and Jordan.
And on Court Four, there was yet another Mixed Doubles One-Setter that had just ended at the time of Samara's arrival where "J-Rod" Joe Rodrigues teamed with "Dominant" Dawn Peterson to face "Latino Heat" Jose Gonzales and "Stay-Cay" Stacy Casias.
As soon as that one ended, Bachvaroff took the place of Rodrigues in teaming with Peterson against Gonzales and Casias. J-Rod was happy to ride the bench alongside Court Four with Samara for a while before both of them could make their way back onto the court for some Doubles action.
At 7:25, a steady drizzle started…but it never escalated and it did not last all that long. Ten minutes later, "Coach" Dino Celis arrived. Five minutes after that, so did "The Lumberjack" Ryan Pienciak.
At 7:50, The King and Queen of The Cedar Grove Courts, Kris and his wife "The Marathon Woman" Doinks Srinivasan made their way across the street and came over to the courts.
By this time, Men's Doubles action had taken over Court Three as Chiaro was teaming with Rodrigues to face Celis and Pienciak.
On Court One, The Srinivasans were going to split up as Kris would team with Kevin to face Frank and Doinks. As all this was going on, The Gawleys (Rowdy Rob and Laura The Aura, the GTA Women's Champion) had also arrived. They ended up hitting with Brenda on Court Two. Eventually, Kathy would join them for some Doubles action.
And then more and more Doubles One-Setters kept emanating from there. We had a total of sixteen official competitors which was fairly impressive given the uncertain weather conditions and the somewhat non-committal announcement from Samara earlier in the day as to whether or not he would attend the session.
The Cedar Grove Results:
Jordan Bachvaroff/Kathy Sheldon over Kevin Doyle/Brenda Jordan, 6-4! Jordan: 1 Ace on Brenda. This was the first official action of the night and it took place on Court Three (not sure of the start and finish times).
Jose Gonzales/Stacy Casias over Joe Rodrigues/Dawn Peterson, 6-0! No Aces. Not sure when this one got underway on Court Four, but it ended at 7:20 just as Samara arrived.
Chris Chiaro/Kathy Sheldon over Kevin Doyle/Brenda Jordan, 6-0! No Aces. Again, not sure when this one began on Court Three, but it finished at exactly 7:36.
Jordan Bachvaroff/Dawn Peterson over Jose Gonzales/Stacy Casias, 7-5! No Aces. This one took place on Court Four from 7:21 to 8:06. Jordan wanted it noted that Dawn had hit an excellent Overhead Smash that went right down the line.
Chris Chiaro/Joe Rodrigues over Dino Celis/Ryan Pienciak, 6-3! No Aces. Court Three hosted this one from 7:45 to 8:10.
Kris Srinivasan/Kevin Doyle over Frank Samara/Doinks Srinivasan, 6-4! No Aces. It went like this: Doinks held serve (Love-15 shifted to Double Game Point as Frank hit a winner followed by a winning Overhead Smash and then there was an un-returned serve, but then it shifted to Deuce, went to Game Point again where Kris hit a nice passing shot winner to make it 2nd Deuce and then he hit a winning volley to bring it to Break Point, but then Doinks hit a winner for 3rd Deuce and then Kris blew a volley to set up Game Point where he then blew another volley to allow the hold) and Kris was broken (15-Love, Double Fault for 15-All, but then it was on the way to Double Break Point as Frank hit an excellent drop shot return winner and then Doinks hit a net-cord winner to get the break) to start off at 0-2. Frank was also broken (Kris hit an effective passing shot return winner for Love-15, then Frank hit a winner for 15-All, but then Kris hit a winning volley for 15-30, then it was Double Break Point where an un-returned serve cut it to Break Point, but then came the break), but then so was Kevin (an un-returned serve for 15-Love, but then it went straight to Double Break Point where Kris hit an impossible to hit drop shot winner that almost spun itself back over to his side of the court and that made it Break Point where Frank replied with a winner of his own for the break) for 1-3. D. Srinivasan was broken (Kris blew an overhead to make it 15-Love, but then it went right to Double Break Point, but then it shifted to Deuce and Game Point, back to 2nd Deuce and then Break Point where Kris hit a winning volley for the break) and then K. Srinivasan held (Kris hit a winning lob where Doinks was only able to get the tip of her racquet on it and that made it 15-Love, it was then 15-All where two un-returned serves led to Double Game Point where a truly un-returnable serve secured the hold) to level things at 3-3! Samara held (Kris blew a volley for 15-Love, it shifted to 15-30, then it was 30-All where Kevin hit a net-cord winner which immobilized Frank and made it Break Point, then it was Deuce, Game Point, 2nd Deuce, Break Point, 3rd Deuce, Game Point and then the hold…and I may have forgotten some winners along the way in that game), but so did Doyle (Kris hit a winning volley for 15-Love, then it was 15-All before heading straight to Double Game Point where Kris hit another winning volley to secure his partner's hold) to knot the score once more at 4-4! The Marathon Woman was broken at Love as Kris hit an amazing drop shot winner to set up Triple Break Point and then he hit a mishit volley for the break and then The K Man held in a battle as he hit a winner for 15-Love, it shifted to Double Break Point right after Frank hit a fast-reflex Backhand Volley winner, it shifted again to Deuce, it was Break Point where Frank embarrassingly blew what should have been a sure winner of an Overhead Smash to level things again at 5-5…but instead it was now 2nd Deuce, then it went to Game/Match Point, 3rd Deuce and it then ended on the 2nd Game/Match Point! We played this one on Court One from 8pm to 8:49.
The Skinny: This was a very exciting One-Setter that was always neck and neck…until Frank got overzealous and tried to do too much with what should have been an easy Overhead Smash put-away. Kris told him this loss would be on him and he was right. Had Samara put it away properly, it would have once again leveled the match…this time at 5-5. It was the worst place and time for such a hideous Unforced Error. In the words of Kramer: "Look away. I'm hideous!" Yes, it was one of those moments.
Rob Gawley/Brenda Jordan over Laura Gawley/Kathy Sheldon, 7-5! Laura: 1 Ace on Brenda. This was another fiercely contested battle and it took place on Court Two from 8:05 to 8:58.
Chris Chiaro/Joe Rodrigues over Dino Celis/Ryan Pienciak, 7-6 (7-4)! No Aces. The closest contest of the night was conducted on Court Three from 8:13 to 9:08. After this one, both Chris and Joe left.
Jordan Bachvaroff/Stacy Casias over Kris Srinivasan/Doinks Srinivasan, 7-5! Jordan: 1 Ace on Kris. Court Four hosted this foursome from 8:52 to 9:40. Prior to this, Jordan and Stacy had a lengthy hitting session with one another while waiting for two more to join them.
And during much of the above, Frank and Rob were having a fairly lengthy hitting session on Court One.
Ryan Pienciak/Laura Gawley over Dino Celis/Rob Gawley, 6-1! No Aces. This one got done on Court One and the length of time was 9:10 to 9:32.
Ryan Pienciak/Rob Gawley leading Dino Celis/Frank Samara, 5-4 (but Dino was serving at 40-30 to level it at 5-5 when the lights went out at 10pm)! No Aces. We decided to forego the changeovers in the hopes of getting this one done on time on Court One (we began it at 9:33). Since I could not do my normal note-taking every two games, all I could do was remember how the games went without recalling who hit what winners and where…so here's the basic breakdown: Ryan was broken (15-Love went straight to Double Break Point and the break), Dino was broken (started with a Double Fault, then 15-All before going right to Double Break Point and the break), but Rob was the first to hold serve (Triple Game Point, the hold came on Double Game Point) to go up 2-1. Frank was broken (15-Love, 15-All and then onto Double Game Point only to have it shift to Deuce, Break Point and the break), Pienciak held (15-Love to 15-All, but then straight to Double Game Point where Frank blew an overhead to allow the hold) and then Celis was broken at Love to fall to 1-5! Gawley was then broken (Love-15 then point for point to Break Point and then the break…I do remember hitting a redeeming Windmill Overhead Smash somewhere along the way to make up for the prior foolishness) and Samara held (Triple Game Point lead got cut down to Game Point, but then came the hold) to pull to 3-5. The Lumberjack was then broken (Love-15 shifted to 30-15 shifted again to Break Point and then came the break) to have his team's lead cut to 5-4. The Coach was then on serve and jumped out to a 30-Love lead where Rob hit made an absolutely amazing get/passing shot winner combo that had picture-perfect placement that was just out of the reach of Frank to make it 30-15, but then it went to Double Game Point and then it was Game Point (40-30) as Dino sailed a serve through the air with the lights cutting out on it while it was still in midair!
The Skinny: This was quite the One-Setter as the pace was fast and many of the rallies were long as the competitive spirit was high. We all wanted to get this one done on time. I think the major difference was that I started out cold after sitting for a while as the other three were already on their game. Once I picked my game back up, the momentum started to shift. In fact, Rob stated afterwards that he felt that they were saved by the timer (i.e. the lights going off) when it did as we had momentum on our side. In any event, it was a shame that this one could not make it to a full and proper conclusion…regardless of which team would have emerged as the winners.
Kris Srinivasan/Laura Gawley leading Doinks Srinivasan/Stacy Casias, 5-0 (Incomplete when the lights went out at 10pm)! They also decided to forego the changeovers, but still could not complete it as they started this one on Court Four as late as 9:42! No Aces (apparently).
Samara's Notes: It really was a fun session and I'm glad that I did not let the rain scare me away and have me turn around as it almost did!
Sincerely,
Frank Samara
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