4/10/17:
"Samara hosts 15 (2 return) at C.G.!":
GTA Monday Night Tennis took place at The Cedar Grove Courts after a beautiful and sunny day (with a peak temperature of 82 degrees) gave way to a very nice evening for tennis as the temps dropped into the lower 70 to upper 60 degree range with just a bit of a breeze.
Earlier in the day, "Hollywood" Frank Samara had promised the league that he would begin hosting the session no later than 7:30pm. Happily, he was able to get there early at 7:10.
Upon getting out of his car, he saw an unfamiliar couple on Court One while Court Two was completely vacant. Court Three featured some of our younger players (both members of the Cedar Grove High School Tennis Team), Peter Corso and Matias Dioses hitting against one another.
And on Court Four, Frank was quite shocked to see "Ice Berg" Scott Bergenfeld back on the courts so soon after his recent injury (more on that in just a bit) as he was aligned with "Latino Heat" Jose Gonzales in hitting against "Nate the Great" Nathan Fernandes while "The Bulgarian Bull" Jordan Bachvaroff was still lacing up his sneakers and getting ready to join them.
Scott explained that his recent injury was not a torn meniscus as once feared, but rather a bad cyst on his knees. His mobility is still somewhat limited and he is shaking off a bit of rust from the longer winter's break. He does not regret the decision that was made to remove him from both the Advanced and Intermediate Divisions as it will take him some time to get back to playing full Singles Matches. Plus, he would have soon been eliminated for inactivity anyway. He looks forward to returning to the ranks of both divisions in a proper, competitive manner.
At 7:20, GTA Champion: "King Crush" Chris Chiaro arrived. Samara suggested that Fernandes go hit with Chris while Frank would join the other three for Doubles on Court Four. Chris and Nate were going to take the vacant Court Two, but then the two young guns left Court Three...so that was where Chiaro and Fernandes went instead.
It was also at this same time that usual Cedar Grove host, "The K Man" Kris Srinivasan, made his way across the street...ready for some action. So Samara decided to let him take his place in the coming Doubles One-Setter instead.
When "Big Kaz" Mike Kazlauskas arrived at 7:30, Samara joined him in heading toward Court Three for some Doubles with Chiaro and Fernandes (as Mike would team with Chris and Frank would do so with Nate). Within five minutes, they had the official action underway.
At 8pm, Dwight Thomas Sr. and Jr. (aka The Dwights) took over Court One just as that previous couple was leaving it. Kris extended an early invitation to them to get involved in some Doubles with us, but they stated they wanted first wanted to just hit with one another for awhile.
Five minutes later, both Natalia "Nitro" Sout and "The Lethal Lefty" Lou La Forgia arrived separately but at the same time. They decided to wait a while to see when an opportunity would arise for each to get involved in some Doubles.
At 8:35, a lone man and his "Rock Lobster" took over Court Two for a solo hitting session. And then five minutes after that, Tito "Touch" Castolo had also arrived...and the logjam was building.
The good news was that the loner left Court Two at 9:05. The timing was perfect as "Automatic" Anna Mazur and Stan "The Man" Selwa arrived just five minutes later. Within another five minutes, they had a "Battle of The Sexes" One-Setter underway against one another.
Their late arrival gave us a total of 15 official competitors for the evening (two of them, Bergenfeld and Selwa, making their official GTA Returns). The turnout may have been somewhat disappointingly light given the fine conditions, but it still was a solid session nonetheless.
Let's get to the scores!
The Cedar Grove Results:
Jose Gonzales/Scott Bergenfeld over Kris Srinivasan/Jordan Bachvaroff, 6-2! Jose: 1 Ace on Kris. It was the official GTA Return of Scott Bergenfeld. This one got underway on Court Four at 7:30 and it ended at 8:05.
Chris Chiaro/Mike Kazlauskas over Nathan Fernandes/Frank Samara, 6-3! No Aces. In the interest of saving time, I did not note who hit what winners where and when...so here is the basic breakdown: Nathan was broken (30-Love shifted straight to Break Point and the break) and Chris held serve (30-Love, 30-15, Double Game Point, Game Point and the hold) for a 2-0 lead. Frank held (15-Love, 15-All then onto Double Game Point and the hold) and then Mike was broken in an epic struggle (30-Love, 30-15, Double Game Point was cut down to Deuce, Game Point, 2nd Deuce, Break Point, 3rd Deuce, Break Point, 4th Deuce, Game Point, 5th Deuce, Game Point, 6th Deuce, Break Point, 7th Deuce, Break Point and finally the break!) to level the set at 2-2! Fernandes was broken again (15-Love then went right to Double Break Point, the break came on Break Point) while Chiaro held again (15-Love then point for point to Game Point, Deuce and then all Game Points though to 3rd Deuce, one more Game Point and then the hold) for 4-2. Samara was broken (Love-30, 15-30, Double Break Point, Break Point and then the break) as his team fell behind 2-5, but Kazlauskas was broken again and this time it was at Love after starting off with a Double Fault. The score was now 5-3 in favor of Chiaro/Kazlauskas with service returning to Nate the Great for a third time. He, too, was broken at Love as this one ended on Triple Break/Match Point! We played this on Court Three from 7:35 to 8:13.
The Skinny: Afterward, we said it did not feel like a 6-3 set as it was quite competitive. We all had many moments to be proud of while also offering up a couple of head-shaking errors. But, for the most part, we were all pretty much on our game. Kazlauskas was serving big, but that did not lead to service holds. Fernandes did just about everything right except hold serve. Chiaro was crushing the ball as usual...as his "King Crush" moniker implies. Samara came off perhaps somewhat stronger than expected and more than held his own with a mix of slices and gets. Still, it was not enough.
Nathan Fernandes/Jordan Bachvaroff over Chris Chiaro/Mike Kazlauskas, 6-4! No Aces. Nate and Jordan jumped out to a 3-0 lead only to have it get cut down to 3-2. They went up 4-2, but then it went to 4-3 and 5-3. Up 5-4, Jordan was on serve and looked like he may hold at Love as it went straight to Triple Game/Match Point. Instead, his team closed it out on Double Game/Match Point. Fernandes cleaned up his game even more in this one while Bachvaroff was pretty much on the money with aggressive play. At the same time, the errors accumulated for Chiaro and Kazlauskas. Mike was just happy to finally get his first service hold game in this one. This also took place on Court Three and it lasted from 8:16 to 8:57.
Lou La Forgia/Kris Srinivasan over Jose Gonzales/Natalia Sout, 6-2! Jose: 1 Ace on Kris. Court Four hosted this one from 8:25 to 8:50.
Dwight Thomas Sr./Dwight Thomas Jr. over Lou La Forgia/Tito Castolo, 6-3! No Aces. Another battle waged on Court Four. It lasted from 9pm to 9:29 to be exact. Kris was the matchmaker on this one and it turned out to be a tighter contest than the score indicates. The Dwights are such a tough tandem that one can very easily see them rising to the top of our Doubles Division if they ultimately desire to do so.
Chris Chiaro/Mike Kazlauskas over Frank Samara/Jordan Bachvaroff, 6-0! No Aces. Again, this is the basic breakdown: Chris held (Love-15, 15-All then onto Double Break Point, shifted to Deuce, Game Point and the hold), Jordan was broken (Triple Break Point, Double Break Point, Double Fault), Mike held at Love, Frank was broken (15-Love, 15-All then onto Double Game Point, cut down to Deuce, Game Point, 2nd Deuce, Break Point and the break), Chiaro held again (30-Love shifted straight to Break Point, Deuce, Game Point and the hold) and Bachvaroff was broken again (Double Fault to set up Triple Break/Match Point, the break came on Double Break/Match Point) to eat a late night bagel! We played this one on Court Four from 9:03 to 9:23.
The Skinny: Yes, it was a bagel...a doughnut...a goose egg...insert any other cute synonym for zero here. And, yes, it did end it twenty minutes. Still, there were opportunities to convert in both of Chiaro's services and also in Samara's lone one. The difference was that Chris and Mike cleaned up their mutual games from the One-Setter before and came out on fire in this one. Jordan lost the spark and the touch he had in that previous one. And Frank had gotten cold (not due to the weather...just due to sitting for so long) while being relegated to the sidelines for a while there...which now seems like where he should have stayed!
Anna Mazur over Stan Selwa, 6-4! No Aces. It was the official GTA Return of Stan Selwa. These two faced off on Court Two from 9:15 to 9:42 (after which, they continued to play on...but a partial score was not collected). Selwa has improved greatly since last seen in the GTA...and this was his very first time out on the court in 2017. They decided to forego the changeovers in the interest of saving time.
Chris Chiaro/Kris Srinivasan over Nathan Fernandes/Natalia Sout, 6-3! No Aces. Down 3-5, Nate was on serve when it went straight to Triple Break/Match Point, then Double Break/Match Point and then finally it was Break/Match Point where the break ultimately occurred! Court One hosted this one from 9:26 to 9:55. Nate and Nat more than held their own against Chris and Kris. Sout continues to show why she was such a worthy winner of last season's Most Improved Women's Player of The Year award. One last note - they also opted not to do the changeovers in order to save time.
Sincerely,
Frank Samara
gtasamara5@gmail.com
862-596-3354
"Samara hosts 15 (2 return) at C.G.!":
GTA Monday Night Tennis took place at The Cedar Grove Courts after a beautiful and sunny day (with a peak temperature of 82 degrees) gave way to a very nice evening for tennis as the temps dropped into the lower 70 to upper 60 degree range with just a bit of a breeze.
Earlier in the day, "Hollywood" Frank Samara had promised the league that he would begin hosting the session no later than 7:30pm. Happily, he was able to get there early at 7:10.
Upon getting out of his car, he saw an unfamiliar couple on Court One while Court Two was completely vacant. Court Three featured some of our younger players (both members of the Cedar Grove High School Tennis Team), Peter Corso and Matias Dioses hitting against one another.
And on Court Four, Frank was quite shocked to see "Ice Berg" Scott Bergenfeld back on the courts so soon after his recent injury (more on that in just a bit) as he was aligned with "Latino Heat" Jose Gonzales in hitting against "Nate the Great" Nathan Fernandes while "The Bulgarian Bull" Jordan Bachvaroff was still lacing up his sneakers and getting ready to join them.
Scott explained that his recent injury was not a torn meniscus as once feared, but rather a bad cyst on his knees. His mobility is still somewhat limited and he is shaking off a bit of rust from the longer winter's break. He does not regret the decision that was made to remove him from both the Advanced and Intermediate Divisions as it will take him some time to get back to playing full Singles Matches. Plus, he would have soon been eliminated for inactivity anyway. He looks forward to returning to the ranks of both divisions in a proper, competitive manner.
At 7:20, GTA Champion: "King Crush" Chris Chiaro arrived. Samara suggested that Fernandes go hit with Chris while Frank would join the other three for Doubles on Court Four. Chris and Nate were going to take the vacant Court Two, but then the two young guns left Court Three...so that was where Chiaro and Fernandes went instead.
It was also at this same time that usual Cedar Grove host, "The K Man" Kris Srinivasan, made his way across the street...ready for some action. So Samara decided to let him take his place in the coming Doubles One-Setter instead.
When "Big Kaz" Mike Kazlauskas arrived at 7:30, Samara joined him in heading toward Court Three for some Doubles with Chiaro and Fernandes (as Mike would team with Chris and Frank would do so with Nate). Within five minutes, they had the official action underway.
At 8pm, Dwight Thomas Sr. and Jr. (aka The Dwights) took over Court One just as that previous couple was leaving it. Kris extended an early invitation to them to get involved in some Doubles with us, but they stated they wanted first wanted to just hit with one another for awhile.
Five minutes later, both Natalia "Nitro" Sout and "The Lethal Lefty" Lou La Forgia arrived separately but at the same time. They decided to wait a while to see when an opportunity would arise for each to get involved in some Doubles.
At 8:35, a lone man and his "Rock Lobster" took over Court Two for a solo hitting session. And then five minutes after that, Tito "Touch" Castolo had also arrived...and the logjam was building.
The good news was that the loner left Court Two at 9:05. The timing was perfect as "Automatic" Anna Mazur and Stan "The Man" Selwa arrived just five minutes later. Within another five minutes, they had a "Battle of The Sexes" One-Setter underway against one another.
Their late arrival gave us a total of 15 official competitors for the evening (two of them, Bergenfeld and Selwa, making their official GTA Returns). The turnout may have been somewhat disappointingly light given the fine conditions, but it still was a solid session nonetheless.
Let's get to the scores!
The Cedar Grove Results:
Jose Gonzales/Scott Bergenfeld over Kris Srinivasan/Jordan Bachvaroff, 6-2! Jose: 1 Ace on Kris. It was the official GTA Return of Scott Bergenfeld. This one got underway on Court Four at 7:30 and it ended at 8:05.
Chris Chiaro/Mike Kazlauskas over Nathan Fernandes/Frank Samara, 6-3! No Aces. In the interest of saving time, I did not note who hit what winners where and when...so here is the basic breakdown: Nathan was broken (30-Love shifted straight to Break Point and the break) and Chris held serve (30-Love, 30-15, Double Game Point, Game Point and the hold) for a 2-0 lead. Frank held (15-Love, 15-All then onto Double Game Point and the hold) and then Mike was broken in an epic struggle (30-Love, 30-15, Double Game Point was cut down to Deuce, Game Point, 2nd Deuce, Break Point, 3rd Deuce, Break Point, 4th Deuce, Game Point, 5th Deuce, Game Point, 6th Deuce, Break Point, 7th Deuce, Break Point and finally the break!) to level the set at 2-2! Fernandes was broken again (15-Love then went right to Double Break Point, the break came on Break Point) while Chiaro held again (15-Love then point for point to Game Point, Deuce and then all Game Points though to 3rd Deuce, one more Game Point and then the hold) for 4-2. Samara was broken (Love-30, 15-30, Double Break Point, Break Point and then the break) as his team fell behind 2-5, but Kazlauskas was broken again and this time it was at Love after starting off with a Double Fault. The score was now 5-3 in favor of Chiaro/Kazlauskas with service returning to Nate the Great for a third time. He, too, was broken at Love as this one ended on Triple Break/Match Point! We played this on Court Three from 7:35 to 8:13.
The Skinny: Afterward, we said it did not feel like a 6-3 set as it was quite competitive. We all had many moments to be proud of while also offering up a couple of head-shaking errors. But, for the most part, we were all pretty much on our game. Kazlauskas was serving big, but that did not lead to service holds. Fernandes did just about everything right except hold serve. Chiaro was crushing the ball as usual...as his "King Crush" moniker implies. Samara came off perhaps somewhat stronger than expected and more than held his own with a mix of slices and gets. Still, it was not enough.
Nathan Fernandes/Jordan Bachvaroff over Chris Chiaro/Mike Kazlauskas, 6-4! No Aces. Nate and Jordan jumped out to a 3-0 lead only to have it get cut down to 3-2. They went up 4-2, but then it went to 4-3 and 5-3. Up 5-4, Jordan was on serve and looked like he may hold at Love as it went straight to Triple Game/Match Point. Instead, his team closed it out on Double Game/Match Point. Fernandes cleaned up his game even more in this one while Bachvaroff was pretty much on the money with aggressive play. At the same time, the errors accumulated for Chiaro and Kazlauskas. Mike was just happy to finally get his first service hold game in this one. This also took place on Court Three and it lasted from 8:16 to 8:57.
Lou La Forgia/Kris Srinivasan over Jose Gonzales/Natalia Sout, 6-2! Jose: 1 Ace on Kris. Court Four hosted this one from 8:25 to 8:50.
Dwight Thomas Sr./Dwight Thomas Jr. over Lou La Forgia/Tito Castolo, 6-3! No Aces. Another battle waged on Court Four. It lasted from 9pm to 9:29 to be exact. Kris was the matchmaker on this one and it turned out to be a tighter contest than the score indicates. The Dwights are such a tough tandem that one can very easily see them rising to the top of our Doubles Division if they ultimately desire to do so.
Chris Chiaro/Mike Kazlauskas over Frank Samara/Jordan Bachvaroff, 6-0! No Aces. Again, this is the basic breakdown: Chris held (Love-15, 15-All then onto Double Break Point, shifted to Deuce, Game Point and the hold), Jordan was broken (Triple Break Point, Double Break Point, Double Fault), Mike held at Love, Frank was broken (15-Love, 15-All then onto Double Game Point, cut down to Deuce, Game Point, 2nd Deuce, Break Point and the break), Chiaro held again (30-Love shifted straight to Break Point, Deuce, Game Point and the hold) and Bachvaroff was broken again (Double Fault to set up Triple Break/Match Point, the break came on Double Break/Match Point) to eat a late night bagel! We played this one on Court Four from 9:03 to 9:23.
The Skinny: Yes, it was a bagel...a doughnut...a goose egg...insert any other cute synonym for zero here. And, yes, it did end it twenty minutes. Still, there were opportunities to convert in both of Chiaro's services and also in Samara's lone one. The difference was that Chris and Mike cleaned up their mutual games from the One-Setter before and came out on fire in this one. Jordan lost the spark and the touch he had in that previous one. And Frank had gotten cold (not due to the weather...just due to sitting for so long) while being relegated to the sidelines for a while there...which now seems like where he should have stayed!
Anna Mazur over Stan Selwa, 6-4! No Aces. It was the official GTA Return of Stan Selwa. These two faced off on Court Two from 9:15 to 9:42 (after which, they continued to play on...but a partial score was not collected). Selwa has improved greatly since last seen in the GTA...and this was his very first time out on the court in 2017. They decided to forego the changeovers in the interest of saving time.
Chris Chiaro/Kris Srinivasan over Nathan Fernandes/Natalia Sout, 6-3! No Aces. Down 3-5, Nate was on serve when it went straight to Triple Break/Match Point, then Double Break/Match Point and then finally it was Break/Match Point where the break ultimately occurred! Court One hosted this one from 9:26 to 9:55. Nate and Nat more than held their own against Chris and Kris. Sout continues to show why she was such a worthy winner of last season's Most Improved Women's Player of The Year award. One last note - they also opted not to do the changeovers in order to save time.
Sincerely,
Frank Samara
gtasamara5@gmail.com
862-596-3354
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