11/4/16:
"Samara hosts 17 at C.G.!:"
There was just one session of GTA Friday Night Tennis: the usual later session up at The Cedar Grove Courts hosted by "Hollywood" Frank Samara (with some assistance from the usual host there, "The K Man" Kris Srinivasan).
Let's now recap all that transpired up at Cedar Grove.
Samara pulled into the parking lot at 7:10 just as "The Rainmaker" Richard Reicht, "The Webmaster" Senthil Kumar and "Latino Heat" Jose Gonzales were all doing the same thing.
Only one of the four courts were occupied as out on Court Four there was Mixed Doubles action featuring Tito "Touch" Castolo and "Killer Kat" Kathy Sheldon going up against "Kevlar" Kevin Doyle and "Dominant" Dawn Peterson as the reigning GTA Mixed Doubles Champions: Castolo/Peterson decided to split up for this one. They estimated that they got things started around 6:45.
In the parking lot, "J-Bach" Jordan Bachvaroff was talking to "Big Returns" Ralph Bernard. Ralph then told Frank that he had just finished playing three sets of Singles against his friend, "Steppin' to the AM" Anish Mehta. It was never intended to be a match for the GTA as they chose to keep it unofficial. But since Ralph took two of the three, perhaps next time these two get together it will be an official 2 out of 3 Sets Challenge Match. Bernard was tired and left soon after.
Kris came across the street at 7:20 soon after Jordan had joined Senthil, Jose and Richard out on Court Three that soon became a Doubles One-Setter at 7:25.
"Nate the Great" Nathan Fernandes arrived at 7:30. First, he spent some time near the bench where Frank and Kris were sitting as they all talked tennis for a bit. Five minutes later, they decided to go out onto Court One to begin a hitting session with Samara and Srinivasan hitting against Fernandes.
At 7:45, two guys took over Court Two (thankfully, one brought a broom to sweep away the leaves). I believe one or both of them play tennis with Bachvaroff from time to time. They were there until 9:15. Having just three of the four courts was never much of an issue anyway.
At 8pm, "2 Tall" Dave Zhu arrived. His services were needed on Court One so that some official Doubles could be played there.
Dennis "The Menace" Cabanatan arrived at 8:10. Ten minutes later, he was able to take the place of Reicht out on Court Three as Richard left at that time after having played just one lengthy Doubles One-Setter.
Also at 8:20, "The Sultan of Swing" Raj Shah pulled into the parking lot. Arriving hot on his heels were the other two Shahs: "Teej" T.J. and "Ragin" Rajan.
At 8:35, "The Marathon Woman" Doinks Srinivasan came across the street. She ended up becoming the last official competitor making it 17 for the night. And at 8:40, "Coach" Dino Celis arrived but it would only be for an extended cameo appearance.
It was a strong turnout given the fact that the temps were dropping from the 50 degree range into the upper 40's as the evening grew older.
The Cedar Grove Results:
2 out of 3 Sets Mixed Doubles Match:
Tito Castolo/Kathy Sheldon over Kevin Doyle/Dawn Peterson, 6-2, 3-6, 6-2, as both teams entered the Mixed Doubles Division as the New # 46 and # 47 Ranked Teams respectively! Tito: 1 Ace on Dawn in the 1st Set. This was played on Court Four from 6:45 to 8:25 with the 1st Set ending at 7:15 and the next one starting a minute later. The 2nd Set finished at 7:54 and the final set got underway four minutes after that.
Senthil Kumar/Jordan Bachvaroff over Jose Gonzales/Richard Reicht, 7-5! Jose: 3 Aces (2 on Senthil and 1 on Jordan)! This one took place on Court Three and lasted from 7:25 to 8:15.
Frank Samara/Kris Srinivasan over Nathan Fernandes/Dave Zhu, 7-5! No Aces. It went like this: Frank held serve (Kris blew a volley for Love-15, but then it shifted to 30-15 as Kris hit back-to-back winning volleys, but then came a shift to Break Point as first Dave hit a drop shot winner followed by a winning drop shot return by Dave as well and then it went to Deuce, Break Point, 2nd Deuce, Game Point, 3rd Deuce, Break Point, 4th Deuce, Game Point and then Dave blew a volley to allow the hold...and I likely forgot some of the winners along the way in that one), Dave held at Love as he hit two winners on the way to Triple Game Point where Kris blew a volley to allow the hold, Kris held (15-Love where Dave hit a vicious winning volley for 15-All, but then it was on the way to Double Game Point with an un-returned serve along the way) and Nathan held at Love as Frank blew an overhead to set up Triple Game Point where Dave hit another emphatic volley winner to secure his partner's hold as all were on serve at 2-2! Samara was the first to be broken (an un-returned serve and then a blown overhead by Dave made it 30-Love, but then it shifted straight to Break Point where Nate hit an awesome return winner for the break), but Zhu held again (Kris hit a winning return for Love-15, it shifted to 30-15, then it went to 30-All, Game Point, Deuce, Game Point again and then the hold) to go up 4-2. Srinivasan was broken (Nate blew an overhead to make it 15-Love, but then it shifted to 15-30 only to shift again to Game Point as both Dave and Nate each blew volleys, but then Frank blew a volley to make it Deuce and then it was all Game Points until 4th Deuce...and I definitely forgot the winners along the way there...which was where a Double Fault set up Break Point, but then it went to 5th Deuce, Break Point where Dave hit such a precise winner at the baseline that it had Kris spin his way out of his sneaker and go down with what was the equivalent of a blowout!) to fall to 2-5! But then Fernandes was also broken (15-Love then point for point until 30-All...and Dave had blown a volley along the way there...and then Kris hit a drop shot winner to set up Break Point where Nate blew an overhead to break himself) and Hollywood then held (Frank hit a winning Overhead Smash which he then followed with another winner for 30-Love, but then Frank blew a volley to make it 30-15 and then it went to 30-All where Nate blew an overhead to set up Game Point which ended with an un-returned serve) to pull to 4-5! 2Tall Zhu was then broken at Love after hitting a Double Fault to set up Love-30 and then The K Man held (Frank hit a winning volley and then an un-returned serve made it 30-Love, it then went to 30-15 and Double Game Point where Kris made an awesome get/lob winning combo for the hold) to take the lead for his team at 6-5! And then Nate the Great was broken again, but this time it was at Love as Dave blew a volley to set up Triple Break/Match Point which was where Kris hit a mishit winning volley for the win! We played this one on Court One from 8:08 to 8:58!
The Skinny: This One-Setter was a lot of fun, but was also quite competitive. It was not looking good for Samara and Srinivasan once they were down 2-5. But each of them cleaned up their game just enough (and perhaps also got a tad more aggressive) and it ended up paying dividends. Meanwhile, the opposite seemed to happen to the opposition as Fernandes and Zhu started off playing with many clean finishers until errors crept into their game as the match grew older.
Dino did see a little bit of hitting action after this one as he tried out a new racquet (which may have been Nate's, but I cannot remember for sure).
Senthil Kumar/Jordan Bachvaroff over Jose Gonzales/Dennis Cabanatan, 7-5! Jose: 2 Aces on Senthil! The Kumar/Bachvaroff tandem was now 2-0 for the night, but Jordan seemed somewhat envious of Jose's rapidly increasing Ace count. This battle was fought on Court Three from 8:20 to 8:55.
Raj Shah/Dawn Peterson over T.J. Shah/Rajan Shah, 6-0! No Aces. Court Four became Blowout City as this one only lasted from 8:30 to 8:47!
Raj Shah/Doinks Srinivasan over T.J. Shah/Rajan Shah, 6-4! Raj: 5 Aces (3 on T.J., 2 on Rajan and two of them were in the same game)! This one also took place on Court Four and it lasted from 8:50 to 9:30.
Senthil Kumar/Jordan Bachvaroff over Dennis Cabanatan/Tito Castolo, 6-4! No Aces. Senthil and Jordan were now 3-0 for the night as each opposing team grew more impressive and ended up more impressed! This was played on Court Three from 8:57 to 9:30.
Nathan Fernandes/Dave Zhu over Kris Srinivasan/Jose Gonzales, 6-1! No Aces. This was contested on Court One from 9:03 to 9:40.
Dennis Cabanatan/Tito Castolo leading T.J. Shah/Rajan Shah, 5-1 (Incomplete when the lights went out at 10pm)! No Aces. When the two previous One-Setters on Courts Three and Four each ended at 9:30, Raj Shah suggested having the Court Three winners shift over to Court Four while their losers would then go over to Court Three to face the other losers. The Shahs narrowly avoided a third official loss for the night! This one got underway on Court Three at exactly 9:33. They decided to forego changeovers in an attempt (albeit ultimately futile) to get this one done in time.
Raj Shah/Doinks Srinivasan leading Senthil Kumar/Jordan Bachvaroff, 5-3 (Incomplete when the lights went out at 10pm)! No Aces. Raj and Doinks were up 3-1 before it got leveled at 3-3. They then won the next two games, but could not get the job done on time. And, thus, Senthil and Jordan were able to keep their undefeated streak for the evening intact. This one got underway on Court Four also exactly at 9:33. They also decided to forego the changeovers.
Nathan Fernandes/Kris Srinivasan leading Jose Gonzales/Dave Zhu, 3-1 (Incomplete when they all agreed to end it after the conclusion of the fourth game which was at 9:58...they had begun this one on Court One at exactly 9:42)! No Aces. Also, there were no changeovers.
All in all, it was another awesome session of GTA Friday Night Tennis at Cedar Grove. While the temps may have dipped into the chill zone, the action remained red-hot right until the end!
Best wishes,
Frank Samara
"Samara hosts 17 at C.G.!:"
There was just one session of GTA Friday Night Tennis: the usual later session up at The Cedar Grove Courts hosted by "Hollywood" Frank Samara (with some assistance from the usual host there, "The K Man" Kris Srinivasan).
Let's now recap all that transpired up at Cedar Grove.
Samara pulled into the parking lot at 7:10 just as "The Rainmaker" Richard Reicht, "The Webmaster" Senthil Kumar and "Latino Heat" Jose Gonzales were all doing the same thing.
Only one of the four courts were occupied as out on Court Four there was Mixed Doubles action featuring Tito "Touch" Castolo and "Killer Kat" Kathy Sheldon going up against "Kevlar" Kevin Doyle and "Dominant" Dawn Peterson as the reigning GTA Mixed Doubles Champions: Castolo/Peterson decided to split up for this one. They estimated that they got things started around 6:45.
In the parking lot, "J-Bach" Jordan Bachvaroff was talking to "Big Returns" Ralph Bernard. Ralph then told Frank that he had just finished playing three sets of Singles against his friend, "Steppin' to the AM" Anish Mehta. It was never intended to be a match for the GTA as they chose to keep it unofficial. But since Ralph took two of the three, perhaps next time these two get together it will be an official 2 out of 3 Sets Challenge Match. Bernard was tired and left soon after.
Kris came across the street at 7:20 soon after Jordan had joined Senthil, Jose and Richard out on Court Three that soon became a Doubles One-Setter at 7:25.
"Nate the Great" Nathan Fernandes arrived at 7:30. First, he spent some time near the bench where Frank and Kris were sitting as they all talked tennis for a bit. Five minutes later, they decided to go out onto Court One to begin a hitting session with Samara and Srinivasan hitting against Fernandes.
At 7:45, two guys took over Court Two (thankfully, one brought a broom to sweep away the leaves). I believe one or both of them play tennis with Bachvaroff from time to time. They were there until 9:15. Having just three of the four courts was never much of an issue anyway.
At 8pm, "2 Tall" Dave Zhu arrived. His services were needed on Court One so that some official Doubles could be played there.
Dennis "The Menace" Cabanatan arrived at 8:10. Ten minutes later, he was able to take the place of Reicht out on Court Three as Richard left at that time after having played just one lengthy Doubles One-Setter.
Also at 8:20, "The Sultan of Swing" Raj Shah pulled into the parking lot. Arriving hot on his heels were the other two Shahs: "Teej" T.J. and "Ragin" Rajan.
At 8:35, "The Marathon Woman" Doinks Srinivasan came across the street. She ended up becoming the last official competitor making it 17 for the night. And at 8:40, "Coach" Dino Celis arrived but it would only be for an extended cameo appearance.
It was a strong turnout given the fact that the temps were dropping from the 50 degree range into the upper 40's as the evening grew older.
The Cedar Grove Results:
2 out of 3 Sets Mixed Doubles Match:
Tito Castolo/Kathy Sheldon over Kevin Doyle/Dawn Peterson, 6-2, 3-6, 6-2, as both teams entered the Mixed Doubles Division as the New # 46 and # 47 Ranked Teams respectively! Tito: 1 Ace on Dawn in the 1st Set. This was played on Court Four from 6:45 to 8:25 with the 1st Set ending at 7:15 and the next one starting a minute later. The 2nd Set finished at 7:54 and the final set got underway four minutes after that.
Senthil Kumar/Jordan Bachvaroff over Jose Gonzales/Richard Reicht, 7-5! Jose: 3 Aces (2 on Senthil and 1 on Jordan)! This one took place on Court Three and lasted from 7:25 to 8:15.
Frank Samara/Kris Srinivasan over Nathan Fernandes/Dave Zhu, 7-5! No Aces. It went like this: Frank held serve (Kris blew a volley for Love-15, but then it shifted to 30-15 as Kris hit back-to-back winning volleys, but then came a shift to Break Point as first Dave hit a drop shot winner followed by a winning drop shot return by Dave as well and then it went to Deuce, Break Point, 2nd Deuce, Game Point, 3rd Deuce, Break Point, 4th Deuce, Game Point and then Dave blew a volley to allow the hold...and I likely forgot some of the winners along the way in that one), Dave held at Love as he hit two winners on the way to Triple Game Point where Kris blew a volley to allow the hold, Kris held (15-Love where Dave hit a vicious winning volley for 15-All, but then it was on the way to Double Game Point with an un-returned serve along the way) and Nathan held at Love as Frank blew an overhead to set up Triple Game Point where Dave hit another emphatic volley winner to secure his partner's hold as all were on serve at 2-2! Samara was the first to be broken (an un-returned serve and then a blown overhead by Dave made it 30-Love, but then it shifted straight to Break Point where Nate hit an awesome return winner for the break), but Zhu held again (Kris hit a winning return for Love-15, it shifted to 30-15, then it went to 30-All, Game Point, Deuce, Game Point again and then the hold) to go up 4-2. Srinivasan was broken (Nate blew an overhead to make it 15-Love, but then it shifted to 15-30 only to shift again to Game Point as both Dave and Nate each blew volleys, but then Frank blew a volley to make it Deuce and then it was all Game Points until 4th Deuce...and I definitely forgot the winners along the way there...which was where a Double Fault set up Break Point, but then it went to 5th Deuce, Break Point where Dave hit such a precise winner at the baseline that it had Kris spin his way out of his sneaker and go down with what was the equivalent of a blowout!) to fall to 2-5! But then Fernandes was also broken (15-Love then point for point until 30-All...and Dave had blown a volley along the way there...and then Kris hit a drop shot winner to set up Break Point where Nate blew an overhead to break himself) and Hollywood then held (Frank hit a winning Overhead Smash which he then followed with another winner for 30-Love, but then Frank blew a volley to make it 30-15 and then it went to 30-All where Nate blew an overhead to set up Game Point which ended with an un-returned serve) to pull to 4-5! 2Tall Zhu was then broken at Love after hitting a Double Fault to set up Love-30 and then The K Man held (Frank hit a winning volley and then an un-returned serve made it 30-Love, it then went to 30-15 and Double Game Point where Kris made an awesome get/lob winning combo for the hold) to take the lead for his team at 6-5! And then Nate the Great was broken again, but this time it was at Love as Dave blew a volley to set up Triple Break/Match Point which was where Kris hit a mishit winning volley for the win! We played this one on Court One from 8:08 to 8:58!
The Skinny: This One-Setter was a lot of fun, but was also quite competitive. It was not looking good for Samara and Srinivasan once they were down 2-5. But each of them cleaned up their game just enough (and perhaps also got a tad more aggressive) and it ended up paying dividends. Meanwhile, the opposite seemed to happen to the opposition as Fernandes and Zhu started off playing with many clean finishers until errors crept into their game as the match grew older.
Dino did see a little bit of hitting action after this one as he tried out a new racquet (which may have been Nate's, but I cannot remember for sure).
Senthil Kumar/Jordan Bachvaroff over Jose Gonzales/Dennis Cabanatan, 7-5! Jose: 2 Aces on Senthil! The Kumar/Bachvaroff tandem was now 2-0 for the night, but Jordan seemed somewhat envious of Jose's rapidly increasing Ace count. This battle was fought on Court Three from 8:20 to 8:55.
Raj Shah/Dawn Peterson over T.J. Shah/Rajan Shah, 6-0! No Aces. Court Four became Blowout City as this one only lasted from 8:30 to 8:47!
Raj Shah/Doinks Srinivasan over T.J. Shah/Rajan Shah, 6-4! Raj: 5 Aces (3 on T.J., 2 on Rajan and two of them were in the same game)! This one also took place on Court Four and it lasted from 8:50 to 9:30.
Senthil Kumar/Jordan Bachvaroff over Dennis Cabanatan/Tito Castolo, 6-4! No Aces. Senthil and Jordan were now 3-0 for the night as each opposing team grew more impressive and ended up more impressed! This was played on Court Three from 8:57 to 9:30.
Nathan Fernandes/Dave Zhu over Kris Srinivasan/Jose Gonzales, 6-1! No Aces. This was contested on Court One from 9:03 to 9:40.
Dennis Cabanatan/Tito Castolo leading T.J. Shah/Rajan Shah, 5-1 (Incomplete when the lights went out at 10pm)! No Aces. When the two previous One-Setters on Courts Three and Four each ended at 9:30, Raj Shah suggested having the Court Three winners shift over to Court Four while their losers would then go over to Court Three to face the other losers. The Shahs narrowly avoided a third official loss for the night! This one got underway on Court Three at exactly 9:33. They decided to forego changeovers in an attempt (albeit ultimately futile) to get this one done in time.
Raj Shah/Doinks Srinivasan leading Senthil Kumar/Jordan Bachvaroff, 5-3 (Incomplete when the lights went out at 10pm)! No Aces. Raj and Doinks were up 3-1 before it got leveled at 3-3. They then won the next two games, but could not get the job done on time. And, thus, Senthil and Jordan were able to keep their undefeated streak for the evening intact. This one got underway on Court Four also exactly at 9:33. They also decided to forego the changeovers.
Nathan Fernandes/Kris Srinivasan leading Jose Gonzales/Dave Zhu, 3-1 (Incomplete when they all agreed to end it after the conclusion of the fourth game which was at 9:58...they had begun this one on Court One at exactly 9:42)! No Aces. Also, there were no changeovers.
All in all, it was another awesome session of GTA Friday Night Tennis at Cedar Grove. While the temps may have dipped into the chill zone, the action remained red-hot right until the end!
Best wishes,
Frank Samara
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