4/17/17:
"Samara hosts 21 (1 return) at C.G.!":
GTA Monday Night Tennis took place at The Cedar Grove Courts (hosted by "Hollywood" Frank Samara as the usual host, "The K Man" Kris Srinivasan, was only available to make a late, but somewhat extended cameo appearance).
Upon Samara's arrival at 6:55, the situation was not looking all that bad…though signs of a coming disappointment were looming.
On Court One, "Drill Instructor" Don Moya was hitting with his girlfriend, Janice Wang. Don said that, after some hitting, they would be willing to play some Doubles.
On Court Two, there was a Doubles One-Setter already underway as GTA Champion: "King Crush" Chris Chiaro teaming with "Dominant" Dawn Peterson to take on "J-Rod" Joe Rodrigues and "Holy Moly" Mike Mole.
On Court Three, "The Bulgarian Bull" Jordan Bachvaroff was squaring off against "Ice Berg" Scott Bergenfeld in Singles action.
And on Court Four, young Peter Corso was hitting with his friend (who I later found out to be Brian Reemer…not sure of the spelling of his last name).
"Nate the Great" Nathan Fernandes was already waiting on the sidelines and he informed Frank upon his arrival that Rob and Laura Gawley had already come by and decided to head down to the two older courts down the street in order to hit with one another.
At 7pm, we saw a familiar face that we had not seen for quite some time – "The Speed Demon" Dan Praport. Dan was hoping to shake off some rust as he has not played much for the past few seasons due to various injuries.
Five minutes later, Fernandes and Praport joined Moya and Wang on Court One for some Doubles.
At 7:20, Corso and Reemer left Court Four which enabled Samara to step on it and hold it. The timing was perfect (for the moment, at least) as that was when The Gawleys returned to the lot and they soon joined Frank on the court for a hitting session.
But just five minutes later, someone not from our group arrived and started eyeing up the courts. Another five minutes after that, he was joined by a second man.
At 7:35, both "Mr. 500" Levy Lorenzo and "Nik@Nite" Nik Agharkar arrived separately. Samara had them join The Gawleys on Court Four for some Doubles, but the two guys waiting outside the fence were already making it clear that they did not like this situation.
At 7:40, two more guys made it a total of four and now this clique was hovering for the next court to open up so they could pounce on it. They tried to do it just five minutes later when the One-Setter on Court One finished, but the guys there made it clear they wanted to hit some more.
At 7:50, after the second One-Setter on that court ended, Chiaro graciously and wisely invited the foursome to take that court over (though they complained along the way that they really wanted to have Court One instead).
These guys have been regulars at The Cedar Grove Courts for longer than we have been playing there. And they surely would have raised a stink had they not been given a court anytime soon. That situation was not nearly as frustrating as the next one to arise just ten minutes later.
At 7:55, Bachvaroff and Bergenfeld finished what they cut down to a Singles One-Setter (as the original plan was to make it a full 2 out of 3 Sets Challenge Match) as they saw the pack of players that were waiting continue to build. We actually thought it had been a full match given the fact they had begun hitting around 6:30 and started playing at 6:40. It was a true one-set marathon.
Scott was ready to leave, but Jordan wanted to stick around for some Doubles. So Chiaro, Samara and Mole headed over to Court Three to get some Doubles underway.
At 8pm, a father arrived with his young daughter and a bucket of balls. He, too, was quite hawkish in the way he approached the fence alongside Court Four. When he saw that they finished a One-Setter there at 8:10, he immediately started heading toward that court.
Laura rightfully argued that they had just gotten that court a short while ago. She asked the gang over on Court One when they would be done, but they had only begun their second One-Setter not too long before that.
It led to The Gawleys leaving entirely and this guy getting his way pretty much immediately. His daughter was somewhere in the 8 to 10 year old age range, so to say the hitting session was somewhat less that productive is something of an understatement. Perhaps that does not matter anyway.
Well, for thirty minutes (as the father/daughter duo did not leave until 8:40), we only had two of the four courts. And the four guys on Court Two stayed all the way until lights out at 10pm as they were not about to be told by anyone that they were there too long.
I guess this is how things will be as we move forward throughout the season. So, again, be warned that Singles Matches should only be scheduled there if they are going to start around 6pm or 6:30 at the latest. And we will likely have to eat some crap along the way to avoid some of the outsiders to make a complaint with the Cedar Grove Parks and Rec Dept.
It also means that we should consider whatever other late-night lit court options we have out there as our group continues to grow (which is a great thing and should never be discouraged). We just need to be realistic about how many people we can have playing at Cedar Grove all at once.
Getting back to the backlog of arrivals – it was Natalia "Nitro" Sout at 8:05, Dennis "The Menace" Cabanatan at 8:10, "MC Quick" Mike Carucci (making his first-ever appearance at Cedar Grove) at 8:20, both "The Marathon Woman" Doinks Srinivasan and Tito "Touch" Castolo at 8:25 and last (but not least) it was "Laidback" Laurie Boughton at 8:30.
Kris came to make his cameo at 9:05 and likely left around 9:45.
We ended up with an impressive total of 21 official competitors and most in attendance seemed to have fun. Personally, I was distracted, felt frustrated and played like garbage most of the night as a result.
Enough whining! Let's get to the scores!
The Cedar Grove Results:
Chris Chiaro/Dawn Peterson over Joe Rodrigues/Mike Mole, 7-5! No Aces. Not sure when this one began on Court Two, but it ended exactly at 7:29. They would enter into a Rematch, but first…
Don Moya/Janice Wang over Nathan Fernandes/Dan Praport, 6-3! No Aces. It was the official GTA Return of Dan Praport. After hitting for about five minutes or so, they got this one underway on Court One around 7:10. It finished precisely at 7:46. After a nine minute hitting session between Nate and Dan (in an attempt by Praport to shake off more rust), they also entered into a Rematch…but first…
Jordan Bachvaroff over Scott Bergenfeld, 7-5! Jordan: 1 Ace. Scott estimated this One-Setter to be one hour and 15 minutes long as he felt like they started it at 6:40 and it ended right at 7:55 on Court Three.
Chris Chiaro/Dawn Peterson over Joe Rodrigues/Mike Mole, 6-0! No Aces. Court Two briefly hosted this one as it only lasted from 7:30 to 7:49!
Rob Gawley/Laura Gawley over Levy Lorenzo/Nik Agharkar, 6-1! Rob: 1 Ace on Levy. This foursome faced off on Court Four from 7:40 to 8:10.
Nathan Fernandes/Dan Praport over Don Moya/Janice Wang, 6-0! No Aces. Quite the reversal of fortune on Court One in terms of the outcome (it lasted from 7:55 to 8:23). I guess that brief intermezzo of a hitting session worked wonders…LOL!
Chris Chiaro/Frank Samara over Mike Mole/Jordan Bachvaroff, 6-4! Mike: 1 Ace on Frank; and Chris: 1 Ace on Jordan! In order to save time, I only noted the flow of the games (not who hit what winners) and they went as follows: Mike was broken (15-Love to Double Break Point and the break) and Chris held serve (30-Love, 30-15, Double Game Point and the hold) for a 2-0 lead. Jordan held (Triple Game Point, the hold came on Double Game Point), but so did Frank (Love-15 shifted to 30-15, 30-All, Game Point, Deuce, Double Fault for Break Point, 2nd Deuce, Break Point, 3rd Deuce, Game Point) to extend his team's lead to 3-1. Mole held (Triple Game Point was cut down to Game Point, but then came the hold), but Chiaro held again (30-Love, 30-15, Double Game Point and the hold) for a 4-2 lead. Bachvaroff also held again (15-Love, 15-All then onto Double Game Point and the hold), but Samara was broken (Love-30, then 15-30, Double Break Point and the break) to knot the score at 4-4. Holy Moly was broken (15-Love went straight to Double Break Point, but then bounced back to Deuce, a looping topspin Ace up the T against Frank for Game Point, 2nd Deuce, Break Point and the break) and then King Crush held a third straight time (after Jordan questioned the mark of a serve that Mike said was good…it was not an Ace, but it was un-returned for 15-Love, The Champ got amped up and scored what may have been his biggest Ace ever right up the T against Jordan to go up 30-Love, it then went to Triple Game/Match Point, Double Game/Match Point and then finally the hold on Game/Match Point) to seal the deal! We played this on Court Three from 8pm to 8:35.
The Skinny: Chiaro was the true difference-maker in this one as he was pretty much on the money the entire time while the rest of us had good moments coupled with less than good ones.
Dennis Cabanatan/Natalia Sout over Nik Agharkar/Doinks Srinivasan, 6-4! No Aces. Court One hosted this one from 8:30 to 9:02.
Levy Lorenzo/Tito Castolo over Mike Carucci/Laurie Boughton, 6-0! No Aces. Also, no changeovers! Hey, who put these two crafty Filipinos together?!?! Why, they did, of course…LOL! This one took place on Court Three from 8:42 to 9:02.
Nathan Fernandes/Janice Wang over Don Moya/Dan Praport, 6-3! No Aces. This foursome faced off on Court Four from 8:48 to 9:18.
Dennis Cabanatan/Nik Agharkar over Chris Chiaro/Natalia Sout, 6-2! No Aces. This one got done on Court One. It lasted from 9:04 to 9:27.
Levy Lorenzo/Tito Castolo over Mike Carucci/Laurie Boughton, 6-0! No Aces. They switched sides of the court (Court Three) since the prior One-Setter, but again there were no turnovers. The result remained the same. Time of play: 9:04 to 9:27.
Nathan Fernandes/Janice Wang over Don Moya/Dan Praport, 6-3! No Aces. Also, no changeovers here as well as these four faced off again on Court Four. It lasted from 9:20 to 9:50.
Mike Carucci/Doinks Srinivasan leading Frank Samara/Laurie Boughton, 5-3 (Incomplete when the lights went out at 10pm)! No Aces. We also decided to forego the changeovers in the hopes of getting it done…still, I remembered how it was going: Laurie was broken (Love-30, 15-30 Double Break Point, Double Fault), Doinks held in a struggle (Love-30, 15-30, Double Break Point went to Deuce and then it was all Game Points until 3rd Deuce, Break Point, 4th Deuce, Game Point and the hold) and Frank was broken (Love-15, 15-All then onto Double Break Point where Mike hit a painful roller right over the net-cord for the break) to get off to a 0-3 start! Mike was broken (Love-15, 15-All then onto Double Break Point and the break) to allow the opposition onto the scoreboard, but Boughton was broken again (Double Fault for Love-30, 15-30, Double Break Point and the break) to go down 1-4. Srinivasan held again (Love-15 then point for point until 30-All, Game Point and the hold) to go up 5-1, but then Samara managed to hold at Love while Carucci was broken again (Double Fault for Love-30, 15-30, Double Break Point and the break) to have his team's lead cut to 3-5! Laidback Laurie was on serve for the third time and down Love-15 when we went to black (we had begun this one on Court Three at 9:30)!
Dennis Cabanatan/Tito Castolo tied with Chris Chiaro/Natalia Sout, 4-4 (Incomplete when the lights went out at 10pm)! No Aces.
Sincerely,
Frank Samara
862-596-3354
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