4/14/17:
"Samara hosts 16 at C.G.!":
GTA Friday Night Tennis took place at The Cedar Grove Courts after a sunny, but cooler day (with a peak temperature only around 62 degrees) which managed to avoid too much of a temp drop. As such, it was a nice evening for tennis as the temps at least stayed in the mid-50 degree range.
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 as early as 6:25 after the usual Cedar Grove host, "The K Man" Kris Srinivasan, had sent a text to Frank and an e-mail to the entire league that he was looking to get things rolling at 6pm.
When Samara pulled into the parking lot, it initially seemed like the GTA only had one of the four courts at its disposal as there was a Mixed Doubles One-Setter taking place on Court Four featuring couple versus couple - "Super Mario" Marijus Kuzavas and "Spicy" Sally Pillay going up against "CB" Chris Barbieri and "Amiable" Andrea Lim.
Court Three featured three guys that Samara had never seen before and Court Two had "The Ambidextrous Machine" Herb Reiner hitting with his friend Miroslav Glavic. Also known as Mirav, Mr. Glavic only likes to hit and never seeks to get involved in any official action with us. Still, he is a nice guy nonetheless.
Kris was joined by his son, "The Silent Assassin" Jay Srinivasan, and also "The Art Font" Arthur Fontanilla. They asked Samara, upon his arrival, if the two guys out on Court One were "with us" (i.e. part of the GTA). Frank had to take a good look before he realized that they in fact were.
It was "The WB" William Bobila hitting against his good friend and usual Doubles partner, Fred Suba. We asked them if they would mind playing some Doubles with us, but they then decided to give up the court entirely as they had already been there hitting for an hour and had played some additional tennis earlier in the day as well.
So they never became part of any official action. Neither did young Jay as he only had an extended hitting session with Papa Kris on Court One before deciding to head home for the evening. This was quite understandable as they had family visiting in celebration of his mom's (aka Doinks) birthday.
Had those three players competed, the count of official competitors would have been 19 rather than 16. Anyway, not only have I digressed...but I have also jumped ahead somewhat.
The three unknown guys also soon left Court Three to play some basketball at the nearby court instead. This enabled Samara and Fontanilla to have an extended hitting session on that court while Papa and Son Srinivasan did the same thing on Court One.
Jay "The Rising" Phoenix was the next to arrive at 6:55. Frank called him over to Court Three to join their hitting session.
Five minutes later, when the younger Jay (Srinivasan) decided to head home..."Holy Moly" Mike Mole was on his way toward the courts. This led to Men's Doubles getting set up on Court Three as Kris joined Art to play against Marius and the elder Jay (Mr. Phoenix).
Meanwhile, Mike took the place of Marijus on Court Four as the teams switched things up in another Mixed Doubles One-Setter. And Samara thought it best to head over to Court One to hold that one for any other players that may be on their way.
Soon enough, Natalia "Nitro" Sout arrived at 7:10 and soon entered into a hitting session with Frank on that very court. Five minutes later, "Big Kaz" Mike Kazlauskas joined them. And yet another five minutes after that, "Big George" headed over to that court to make it a foursome.
At 7:35, just as "Spin Doctor" Dan Martinelli was arriving to make an extended cameo appearance, Herb and Miroslav left Court Two as they both decided to head home. We now had all four courts at our disposal, but it would only end up needing that amount very briefly.
The four guys on Court Three decided to play a Rematch One-Setter while Pillay wanted to mix it up with some of the heavier-hitting guys. So we set up a new Mixed Doubles One-Setter on Court Four as Solano and Sout would now take on Barbieri and Lim.
Meanwhile, Pillay would team with Kazlauskas to take on Samara and Mole on Court Two (we shifted away from Court One due to its damaged net). This left Court One ripe for the taking.
And at 7:50, that was just what Dwight Thomas Sr. and Jr. (aka The Dwights) did. Eventually, Kris extended an invitation to them to get involved in some Doubles with us and they ended up doing quite well against another impressive tandem once again.
The last two arrivals of the evening were "Latino Heat" Jose Gonzales at 8:20 and "2 Tall" Dave Zhu ten minutes later. Their late arrivals gave us a total of 16 official competitors for the evening. The somewhat light turnout was to be expected given the slightly chilly conditions and the fact that it was Good Friday after all.
Let's get to the scores!
The Cedar Grove Results:
Marijus Kuzavas/Sally Pillay over Chris Barbieri/Andrea Lim, 6-2! No Aces. Not sure when this one got underway on Court Four, but it ended exactly at 6:52. Afterward, Chris said that he and Andrea can't seem to get past that 6-2 score no matter which team they face. Well, that would soon change a little later in the evening.
Chris Barbieri/Sally Pillay over Mike Mole/Andrea Lim, 6-3! No Aces. This one was also played on Court Four and only lasted from 7:03 to 7:32. I say "only" because it likely would have taken longer had they decided to do the customary changeovers.
Marijus Kuzavas/Jay Phoenix over Kris Srinivasan/Arthur Fontanilla, 6-4! Arthur: 1 Ace on Marijus. This battle took place on Court Three from 7:07 to 7:35.
Marijus Kuzavas/Jay Phoenix over Kris Srinivasan/Arthur Fontanilla, 6-4! No Aces. Same court as before. Same score as before. This one lasted from 7:37 to 8:12.
Chris Barbieri/Andrea Lim over Jorge Solano/Natalia Sout, 7-5! No Aces. Court Four hosted this one from 7:38 to 8:15. Not only did Barbieri/Lim get further than two games in a losing set, they actually won their first One-Setter here in the GTA! It was an impressive victory that displayed why we must consider Barbieri an early contender in the running for Most Improved Player of The Year at season's end. He has always been a great get-maker...but now the consistency in his shot-making is starting to rise to the level of his overall athleticism.
Mike Kazlauskas/Sally Pillay over Frank Samara/Mike Mole, 7-6 (8-6)! Sally: 1 Ace on Frank! In the interest of saving time, I did not note who hit what winners where and when...so here is the basic breakdown: Mike M. was broken (Frank blew what should have been a sure-fire Windmill Overhead Smash and that made it Love-30, it then went 15-30, Double Break Point, Break Point and the break), Mike K. was broken (Love-15, 15-All, 15-30, Double Fault for Double Break Point and then another Double Fault for the break), but Frank was the first to hold serve (30-Love, 30-15, Double Game Point and the hold) for 2-1. Sally also held (started with a Double Fault, Love-30, 15-30, a big Ace up the T against Frank for 30-All, Game Point and the hold) and then Mole was broken again (15-Love went straight to Double Break Point and the break) to fall to 2-3. Kazlauskas was also broken again and this time it was at Love after starting off with a Double Fault! But Samara was broken (15-Love went straight to Double Break Point and the break) to fall behind again, this time at 3-4. Pillay was also broken (started with a Double Fault, 15-All and then another Double Fault for 15-30, Double Break Point, Break Point and then the break) and then Holy Moly finally held (Double Fault for Love-30, then it shifted straight to Game Point and the hold) to finally reclaim the lead for his team at 5-4. Big Kaz also managed to hold (15-Love, 15-All but then right to Double Game Point, Game Point, Double Fault for Deuce, Game Point and the hold) and then Hollywood was broken again (Triple Break Point got cut down to Break Point, but then came the break) to once again lose the lead for his team as they fell to 5-6! But Spicy Sally was also broken after starting off with a Double fault, it was then 15-All before heading right to Double Break Point and then the break which brought about the Tiebreak! In the Breaker: Mike M. held his lone serve while Mike K. was broken on the first of his two but then held his second for 1-2. Frank held the first of his two serves for a 3-1 lead, but was then broken on his second for 3-2. Sally was broken on the first of her two serves for 2-4 at the changeover, but then held her second to pull to 3-4. Mole held his first for a 5-3 lead, but was then broken on his second for 5-4. Kazlauskas was broken on the first of his two serves to fall to 4-6 and set up Match Point. He then held his second, but it was still 5-6 and a second Match Point against his team with service returning to Samara. The Wood was broken on the first of his two serves for 6-6 at the second changeover and then he was broken again to hand over a 7-6 lead to the opposition with Pillay coming up to serve. And she then held on that winning point which was the 3rd M.P. overall, but the first Match Point in her team's favor...one was all they needed! We played this one on Court Two from 7:40 to 8:26.
The Skinny: This was a tight roller coaster ride where all four players had many moments to be proud of, but also had some head-shakers which caused some of them to yell out and question themselves. Yeah, with three of these four in the mix...things can get a bit noisy...except for Mole who takes it all in stride silently. Kazlauskas doesn't get loud, but does get quite angry at himself when he hits those Double Faults. Pillay can scream with the best of them and Samara can utter noises that seem to be from another world at times. This early in the season, this certainly seems like it should be a Nominee for One-Set Specialty Doubles Match of The Year at season's end.
Dwight Thomas Sr./Dwight Thomas Jr. over Marijus Kuzavas/Arthur Fontanilla, 6-2! Marijus: 1 Ace on Sr. Court Three hosted this one from 8:20 to 8:53. After this, Art and Junior had a hitting session with one another that was both lengthy and hard-hitting.
Spin left a couple of minutes after this one ended as the chill was getting to him while he was sitting still on the bench (it was not so bad provided you were out on the court playing).
Jose Gonzales/Natalia Sout over Jorge Solano/Sally Pillay, 7-6 (7-2)! Jose: 1 Ace on Sally. Jose and Nat jumped out to a 5-0 lead in the Tiebreak. From there, it went to 5-1 and 6-1 with a Match Point in their favor. That one was saved to make it 6-2, but then they sealed the deal on the 2nd M.P.! This foursome faced off on Court Four from 8:30 to 9:44...quite a one-set marathon, indeed!
Mike Kazlauskas/Kris Srinivasan over Mike Mole/Dave Zhu, 6-4! No Aces. This one was played on Court Two from 8:32 to 9:06.
Mike Kazlauskas/Dave Zhu over Frank Samara/Mike Mole, 6-3! Mike K.: 2 Aces on Mike M.! Again, this is the basic breakdown: Dave was broken (started with a Double Fault, 15-All then straight to Double Break Point and the break), Frank was broken (Triple Break Point, the break came on Double Break Point), but Mike K. was the first to hold serve (Love-30 shifted to 30-All and then a sideline Ace against Mike set up Game Point and then came the hold) to go up 2-1. Mike M. was broken (15-Love then point for point until 30-All, then it went to Break Point, Deuce, Double Fault for Break Point and then another Double Fault to break himself) to fall to 1-3, but Zhu was broken again (15-Love shifted to 15-30, 30-All, Double Fault for Break Point and then the break) and then Samara held (15-Love then point for point until 30-All, then it went to Break Point, Deuce, Game Point and the hold) to bring it back to 3-All. Kazlauskas held again and this time it was at Love after starting off with another sideline Ace on Mike, but Mole was broken again (a 30-Love start shifted to 30-All, Game Point, Deuce, Game Point, 2nd Deuce, Break Point and then the break) to fall to 3-5. And then 2 Tall Zhu finally held serve (Love-15 went straight to Double Game/Match Point and the hold) to get the win. We played this one on Court Two from 9:10 to 9:39. After it ended, Big Kaz and 2 Tall Zhu had a hitting session with one another to finish off the evening.
Sincerely,
Frank Samara
gtasamara5@gmail.com
862-596-3354
"Samara hosts 16 at C.G.!":
GTA Friday Night Tennis took place at The Cedar Grove Courts after a sunny, but cooler day (with a peak temperature only around 62 degrees) which managed to avoid too much of a temp drop. As such, it was a nice evening for tennis as the temps at least stayed in the mid-50 degree range.
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 as early as 6:25 after the usual Cedar Grove host, "The K Man" Kris Srinivasan, had sent a text to Frank and an e-mail to the entire league that he was looking to get things rolling at 6pm.
When Samara pulled into the parking lot, it initially seemed like the GTA only had one of the four courts at its disposal as there was a Mixed Doubles One-Setter taking place on Court Four featuring couple versus couple - "Super Mario" Marijus Kuzavas and "Spicy" Sally Pillay going up against "CB" Chris Barbieri and "Amiable" Andrea Lim.
Court Three featured three guys that Samara had never seen before and Court Two had "The Ambidextrous Machine" Herb Reiner hitting with his friend Miroslav Glavic. Also known as Mirav, Mr. Glavic only likes to hit and never seeks to get involved in any official action with us. Still, he is a nice guy nonetheless.
Kris was joined by his son, "The Silent Assassin" Jay Srinivasan, and also "The Art Font" Arthur Fontanilla. They asked Samara, upon his arrival, if the two guys out on Court One were "with us" (i.e. part of the GTA). Frank had to take a good look before he realized that they in fact were.
It was "The WB" William Bobila hitting against his good friend and usual Doubles partner, Fred Suba. We asked them if they would mind playing some Doubles with us, but they then decided to give up the court entirely as they had already been there hitting for an hour and had played some additional tennis earlier in the day as well.
So they never became part of any official action. Neither did young Jay as he only had an extended hitting session with Papa Kris on Court One before deciding to head home for the evening. This was quite understandable as they had family visiting in celebration of his mom's (aka Doinks) birthday.
Had those three players competed, the count of official competitors would have been 19 rather than 16. Anyway, not only have I digressed...but I have also jumped ahead somewhat.
The three unknown guys also soon left Court Three to play some basketball at the nearby court instead. This enabled Samara and Fontanilla to have an extended hitting session on that court while Papa and Son Srinivasan did the same thing on Court One.
Jay "The Rising" Phoenix was the next to arrive at 6:55. Frank called him over to Court Three to join their hitting session.
Five minutes later, when the younger Jay (Srinivasan) decided to head home..."Holy Moly" Mike Mole was on his way toward the courts. This led to Men's Doubles getting set up on Court Three as Kris joined Art to play against Marius and the elder Jay (Mr. Phoenix).
Meanwhile, Mike took the place of Marijus on Court Four as the teams switched things up in another Mixed Doubles One-Setter. And Samara thought it best to head over to Court One to hold that one for any other players that may be on their way.
Soon enough, Natalia "Nitro" Sout arrived at 7:10 and soon entered into a hitting session with Frank on that very court. Five minutes later, "Big Kaz" Mike Kazlauskas joined them. And yet another five minutes after that, "Big George" headed over to that court to make it a foursome.
At 7:35, just as "Spin Doctor" Dan Martinelli was arriving to make an extended cameo appearance, Herb and Miroslav left Court Two as they both decided to head home. We now had all four courts at our disposal, but it would only end up needing that amount very briefly.
The four guys on Court Three decided to play a Rematch One-Setter while Pillay wanted to mix it up with some of the heavier-hitting guys. So we set up a new Mixed Doubles One-Setter on Court Four as Solano and Sout would now take on Barbieri and Lim.
Meanwhile, Pillay would team with Kazlauskas to take on Samara and Mole on Court Two (we shifted away from Court One due to its damaged net). This left Court One ripe for the taking.
And at 7:50, that was just what Dwight Thomas Sr. and Jr. (aka The Dwights) did. Eventually, Kris extended an invitation to them to get involved in some Doubles with us and they ended up doing quite well against another impressive tandem once again.
The last two arrivals of the evening were "Latino Heat" Jose Gonzales at 8:20 and "2 Tall" Dave Zhu ten minutes later. Their late arrivals gave us a total of 16 official competitors for the evening. The somewhat light turnout was to be expected given the slightly chilly conditions and the fact that it was Good Friday after all.
Let's get to the scores!
The Cedar Grove Results:
Marijus Kuzavas/Sally Pillay over Chris Barbieri/Andrea Lim, 6-2! No Aces. Not sure when this one got underway on Court Four, but it ended exactly at 6:52. Afterward, Chris said that he and Andrea can't seem to get past that 6-2 score no matter which team they face. Well, that would soon change a little later in the evening.
Chris Barbieri/Sally Pillay over Mike Mole/Andrea Lim, 6-3! No Aces. This one was also played on Court Four and only lasted from 7:03 to 7:32. I say "only" because it likely would have taken longer had they decided to do the customary changeovers.
Marijus Kuzavas/Jay Phoenix over Kris Srinivasan/Arthur Fontanilla, 6-4! Arthur: 1 Ace on Marijus. This battle took place on Court Three from 7:07 to 7:35.
Marijus Kuzavas/Jay Phoenix over Kris Srinivasan/Arthur Fontanilla, 6-4! No Aces. Same court as before. Same score as before. This one lasted from 7:37 to 8:12.
Chris Barbieri/Andrea Lim over Jorge Solano/Natalia Sout, 7-5! No Aces. Court Four hosted this one from 7:38 to 8:15. Not only did Barbieri/Lim get further than two games in a losing set, they actually won their first One-Setter here in the GTA! It was an impressive victory that displayed why we must consider Barbieri an early contender in the running for Most Improved Player of The Year at season's end. He has always been a great get-maker...but now the consistency in his shot-making is starting to rise to the level of his overall athleticism.
Mike Kazlauskas/Sally Pillay over Frank Samara/Mike Mole, 7-6 (8-6)! Sally: 1 Ace on Frank! In the interest of saving time, I did not note who hit what winners where and when...so here is the basic breakdown: Mike M. was broken (Frank blew what should have been a sure-fire Windmill Overhead Smash and that made it Love-30, it then went 15-30, Double Break Point, Break Point and the break), Mike K. was broken (Love-15, 15-All, 15-30, Double Fault for Double Break Point and then another Double Fault for the break), but Frank was the first to hold serve (30-Love, 30-15, Double Game Point and the hold) for 2-1. Sally also held (started with a Double Fault, Love-30, 15-30, a big Ace up the T against Frank for 30-All, Game Point and the hold) and then Mole was broken again (15-Love went straight to Double Break Point and the break) to fall to 2-3. Kazlauskas was also broken again and this time it was at Love after starting off with a Double Fault! But Samara was broken (15-Love went straight to Double Break Point and the break) to fall behind again, this time at 3-4. Pillay was also broken (started with a Double Fault, 15-All and then another Double Fault for 15-30, Double Break Point, Break Point and then the break) and then Holy Moly finally held (Double Fault for Love-30, then it shifted straight to Game Point and the hold) to finally reclaim the lead for his team at 5-4. Big Kaz also managed to hold (15-Love, 15-All but then right to Double Game Point, Game Point, Double Fault for Deuce, Game Point and the hold) and then Hollywood was broken again (Triple Break Point got cut down to Break Point, but then came the break) to once again lose the lead for his team as they fell to 5-6! But Spicy Sally was also broken after starting off with a Double fault, it was then 15-All before heading right to Double Break Point and then the break which brought about the Tiebreak! In the Breaker: Mike M. held his lone serve while Mike K. was broken on the first of his two but then held his second for 1-2. Frank held the first of his two serves for a 3-1 lead, but was then broken on his second for 3-2. Sally was broken on the first of her two serves for 2-4 at the changeover, but then held her second to pull to 3-4. Mole held his first for a 5-3 lead, but was then broken on his second for 5-4. Kazlauskas was broken on the first of his two serves to fall to 4-6 and set up Match Point. He then held his second, but it was still 5-6 and a second Match Point against his team with service returning to Samara. The Wood was broken on the first of his two serves for 6-6 at the second changeover and then he was broken again to hand over a 7-6 lead to the opposition with Pillay coming up to serve. And she then held on that winning point which was the 3rd M.P. overall, but the first Match Point in her team's favor...one was all they needed! We played this one on Court Two from 7:40 to 8:26.
The Skinny: This was a tight roller coaster ride where all four players had many moments to be proud of, but also had some head-shakers which caused some of them to yell out and question themselves. Yeah, with three of these four in the mix...things can get a bit noisy...except for Mole who takes it all in stride silently. Kazlauskas doesn't get loud, but does get quite angry at himself when he hits those Double Faults. Pillay can scream with the best of them and Samara can utter noises that seem to be from another world at times. This early in the season, this certainly seems like it should be a Nominee for One-Set Specialty Doubles Match of The Year at season's end.
Dwight Thomas Sr./Dwight Thomas Jr. over Marijus Kuzavas/Arthur Fontanilla, 6-2! Marijus: 1 Ace on Sr. Court Three hosted this one from 8:20 to 8:53. After this, Art and Junior had a hitting session with one another that was both lengthy and hard-hitting.
Spin left a couple of minutes after this one ended as the chill was getting to him while he was sitting still on the bench (it was not so bad provided you were out on the court playing).
Jose Gonzales/Natalia Sout over Jorge Solano/Sally Pillay, 7-6 (7-2)! Jose: 1 Ace on Sally. Jose and Nat jumped out to a 5-0 lead in the Tiebreak. From there, it went to 5-1 and 6-1 with a Match Point in their favor. That one was saved to make it 6-2, but then they sealed the deal on the 2nd M.P.! This foursome faced off on Court Four from 8:30 to 9:44...quite a one-set marathon, indeed!
Mike Kazlauskas/Kris Srinivasan over Mike Mole/Dave Zhu, 6-4! No Aces. This one was played on Court Two from 8:32 to 9:06.
Mike Kazlauskas/Dave Zhu over Frank Samara/Mike Mole, 6-3! Mike K.: 2 Aces on Mike M.! Again, this is the basic breakdown: Dave was broken (started with a Double Fault, 15-All then straight to Double Break Point and the break), Frank was broken (Triple Break Point, the break came on Double Break Point), but Mike K. was the first to hold serve (Love-30 shifted to 30-All and then a sideline Ace against Mike set up Game Point and then came the hold) to go up 2-1. Mike M. was broken (15-Love then point for point until 30-All, then it went to Break Point, Deuce, Double Fault for Break Point and then another Double Fault to break himself) to fall to 1-3, but Zhu was broken again (15-Love shifted to 15-30, 30-All, Double Fault for Break Point and then the break) and then Samara held (15-Love then point for point until 30-All, then it went to Break Point, Deuce, Game Point and the hold) to bring it back to 3-All. Kazlauskas held again and this time it was at Love after starting off with another sideline Ace on Mike, but Mole was broken again (a 30-Love start shifted to 30-All, Game Point, Deuce, Game Point, 2nd Deuce, Break Point and then the break) to fall to 3-5. And then 2 Tall Zhu finally held serve (Love-15 went straight to Double Game/Match Point and the hold) to get the win. We played this one on Court Two from 9:10 to 9:39. After it ended, Big Kaz and 2 Tall Zhu had a hitting session with one another to finish off the evening.
Sincerely,
Frank Samara
gtasamara5@gmail.com
862-596-3354
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