4/28/17:
"Mehta-Shiao in Montclair, Samara hosts 26 at C.G.!":
GTA Friday Tennis first took place at The Mountainside Park Courts in Montclair featuring a full 2 out of 3 Sets Challenge Match between buddies, "The AM Rush" Anish Mehta and Tony "Sure Shot" Shiao, and then at The Cedar Grove Courts which was hosted by "Hollywood" Frank Samara and the session ended up being an epic one...perhaps not in terms of important matches, but definitely when one considers the turnout of players over the course of one continuous session - 26 official competitors!
Before we get to the comings and goings up at Cedar Grove, let's first get Tony's recap of the result from Montclair.
The Montclair Result:
2 out of 3 Sets Challenge Match:
Anish Mehta over Tony Shiao, 7-5, 6-4, to successfully defend his # 5 Rank in the Advanced Division! Tony: 3 Aces in the 1st Set; and Anish: 2 Aces (one in each set)!
The Sure Shot from Shiao: It was a very challenging match and we both had a few unforced errors as we adjusted to the heat and glaring sun. Anish's game was on point with moving the ball and he had a few good serves to my backhand that I couldn't return. I am looking forward to a rematch and its always a pleasure playing against him since we are always hitting it hard!
Samara's Notes: I thank Tony for reporting that result in a very timely manner. I also congratulate Anish on the impressive victory.
And now how things went down up at Cedar Grove.
Samara pulled up to the courts at 7:30pm. As should be expected on such a beautiful night (temps slowly dropping from a peak temperature of 80 degrees, near-perfect evening weather for tennis), all four courts were full. The good news was the fact that it was all GTA...and that's the way it would stay for the entire evening (and we still ended up having logjam situations).
On Court One, both Jay "The Rising" Phoenix and "Holy Moly" Mike Mole were catching their breath having just finished a Singles One-Setter against one another.
On Court Two, "Nate the Great" Nathan Fernandes was teaming with "Big Kaz" Mike Kazlauskas to take on "Super Mario" Marijus Kuzavas and "The Smackdown" Sally Pillay.
On Court Three, "The Bulgarian Bull" Jordan Bachvaroff was having a hitting session with "Big George" Jorge Solano.
And on Court Four, it was Mixed Doubles done "Battle of The Sexes" style as "The Vin Man" Vinnie De Benedetto teamed with "The Ambidextrous Machine" Herb Reiner to face off against "Killer Kat" Kathy Sheldon and "Dominant" Dawn Peterson.
Phoenix asked Samara if he wanted to step out onto their court, but Frank had to get caught up with all that was going on...so that led to Jay and Mike entering into another One-Setter against each other.
Just as they got that one underway, usual Cedar Grove host "The K Man" Kris Srinivasan made his way across the street and over to the courts.
During the action, Vin joked that by teaming with Herb...they had now formed the oldest team in the history of the league. And a lot of truth is said in jest as I do believe this to be true. I may be off with the numbers a bit, but I think Vin is 68 years old while Herb is 82 (perhaps a couple more...I may have lost track over the past couple of seasons). If my numbers are correct, however, that would give them a combined team age of 150 years...unprecedented! There's no precedent, baby!
Starting at 7:50, it was like the floodgates had opened: first, it was "Spin Doctor" Dan Martinelli and Tito "Touch" Castolo finding a spot on the bench alongside Court Four. Five minutes later, "The Marathon Woman" Doinks Srinivasan, "Latino Heat" Jose Gonzales and Santosh "Ever" Reddy gathered around said bench.
At 8pm, it was Natalia "Nitro" Sout, "Ragin" Rajan Shah and "Teej" T.J. Shah also now gathering around. And another five minutes after that, "2 Tall" Dave Zhu did the same, but chose to check out the scene on Court One instead.
Samara received a call at 8:10 from "The Webmaster" Senthil Kumar who asked Frank if it was crowded. Frank confirmed that it was and Senthil said he would just stay home then. We were already up to a total of 19 players at that time.
Five minutes later, "RK Fire" Rafaelo Kazakov stepped onto Court Four just to ultimately step back off of it and join the gang near the bench. Ten minutes more and it was GTA Women's Champion: Laura "The Aura" Gawley and her hubby, "Rowdy" Rob Gawley arriving together. They were not pleased with the crowded court situation (just kidding...sort of...LOL!).
At 8:40, the last official competitor of the evening made his arrival...it was "The DH" Dan Hwang. And at 9:30, "Coach" Dino Celis rolled into the lot to make an extended cameo appearance.
Enough chit chat, let's get to the scores!
The Cedar Grove Results:
Jay Phoenix over Mike Mole, 6-3! No Aces. Not sure when this one got underway on Court One, but it ended around 7:25.
Kathy Sheldon/Dawn Peterson over Vinnie De Bendetto/Herb Reiner, 6-4! No Aces. Again, don't know when it started...but this foursome finished this one on Court Four at 7:40. The points were competitive, but the women were just a little craftier and more consistent than The Oldest Team Ever!
Nathan Fernandes/Mike Kazlauskas over Marijus Kuzavas/Sally Pillay, 6-3! No Aces. Yet again, not sure when it began, but it ended on Court Two at 7:55.
Jay Phoenix over Mike Mole, 6-4! No Aces. This second One-Setter between the two lasted from 7:34 to 8pm on Court One.
Frank Samara/Kris Srinivasan over Jordan Bachvaroff/Jorge Solano, 6-2! No Aces. I only noted the flow of the games (to save time) and not who hit what winners where and when, so here's the basic breakdown: Jorge was broken (Triple Break Point, Double Break Point, Double Fault for the break) and Frank held serve (15-Love then point for point to Game Point and the hold) for a 2-0 lead. Jordan held (Triple Game Point, the hold came on Double Game Point), but then so did Kris (30-Love shifted to Break Point, Deuce, Game Point and the hold) for a 3-1 lead. Solano was broken again (Triple Break Point cut down to Break Point, but then the break) while Samara held again and this time at Love for a 5-1 lead. Bachvaroff also held again (Triple Game Point, the hold came on Double Game Point) to pull to 2-5. But then Srinivasan also held again (30-Love shifted to 30-All, Game/Match Point and the hold) to get the win! We played this on Court Three from 7:40 to 8:08.
The Skinny: Jordan and Jorge did not play all that poorly, but Frank and Kris just both happened to be "on" on this occasion.
Dan Martinelli/Kathy Sheldon over Vinnie De Bendetto/Dawn Peterson, 6-4! Dawn: 1 Ace on Kathy (a ripper as described by Spin); and Spin: 1 Ace on Dawn (a "caught her napping" type of Ace). They played this proper Mixed Doubles One-Setter on Court Four from 7:55 to 8:35.
The Skinny: At first, it seemed like it was going to be another "Battle of The Sexes" One-Setter, but the ladies thought better of that and said they wanted to split up for this one. Dawn chose Vin as her partner and that was all it took to rev up Spin (he doesn't like to not be wanted...LOL!). Still, it appeared to be yet another hard-fought contest.
Jose Gonzales/Tito Castolo over Marijus Kuzavas/Mike Kazlauskas, 6-1! No Aces. Court Two hosted this one from 8:10 to 8:35. While the end result may not be an upset, the lopsided score certainly is. The Lanky Lithuanians (aka M&M) got chopped down to size by the deceptive Jose and the ever-crafty Tito.
Rajan Shah/T.J. Shah over Jordan Bachvaroff/Jorge Solano, 6-2! No Aces. This was contested on Court Three from 8:15 to 8:55. For Jordan and Jorge, it was new opposition...but the same outcome!
Dave Zhu/Natalia Sout over Santosh Reddy/Doinks Srinivasan, 6-2! Dave: 2 Aces on Santosh! This Mixed Doubles One-Setter took place on Court One from 8:20 to 8:50.
Jose Gonzales/Tito Castolo over Nathan Fernandes/Kris Srinivasan, 6-4! No Aces. Court Two hosted this battle from 8:38 to 9:23. While the score was closer against new opponents, the result was the same...as Jose and Tito were on an impressive roll.
Rob Gawley/Laura Gawley over Rafaelo Kazakov/Sally Pillay, 6-1! No Aces. This Mixed Doubles action took place on Court Four from 8:45 to 9:07.
The Skinny: At the outset, it was suggested that The Gawleys should be split up for better balance...but Rob chirped up and said, "I need some playing time with my partner!" Samara's retort was that Mr. Gawley is "very territorial" and that earned a laugh from The Rowdy One (aka Squash Boy).
Marijus Kuzavas/Doinks Srinivasan over Rajan Shah/T.J. Shah, 6-1! No Aces. This one took place on Court Three and the duration was from 9pm to 9:31.
Dave Zhu/Natalia Sout over Dan Hwang/Santosh Reddy, 7-5! Dave: 1 Ace on Santosh. Court One once again was the site for three of these four players (Dan took the place of Doinks) and it lasted from 9pm to 9:35.
Laura Gawley/Sally Pillay over Rafaelo Kazakov/Rob Gawley, 6-1! Laura: 1 Ace on Rafaelo (on the very first point of the match!); and Sally: 1 Ace on Rafaelo! Court Four hosted this "Battle of The Sexes" style Mixed Doubles action from 9:09 to 9:35.
The Skinny: This time The Gawleys were willing to split up, but they opted for the "B.O.T.S." format. Laura came out of the gate with the blast of an Ace against Rafaelo, but then the ladies stalled as she ended up being broken. This was the first time this season that the reigning GTA Women's Champions have teamed together, so perhaps it was a slight bit of team rust. But they shook it off swifter than Taylor Swift encircled by her numerous ex-boyfriends as they then took six straight games off the gents! The Champs do look ready for whatever team may emerge victorious from the ongoing W2 Women's Doubles Tournament!
Kris Srinivasan/Jorge Solano over Jose Gonzales/Jordan Bachvaroff, 6-4! No Aces. They got this one underway on Court Two at 9:27 and the Match Point was finished exactly as the lights went out at 10pm!
Frank Samara/Tito Castolo over Rajan Shah/T.J. Shah, 6-2! No Aces. No changeovers to save time (and shorter notes as a result), so here is the cut to the quick: Rajan was broken (Double Fault for Double Break Point, Break Point and another Double Fault for the break), Tito held (Triple Game Point, the hold came on Double Game Point), T.J. was broken (15-Love shifted to 15-30, 30-All, Break Point and the break) and Frank held (Love-15 went straight to Double Game Point and the hold) for a fairly quick 4-0 lead. But then R. Shah held (30-Love, 30-15, Double Fault for 30-All, Game Point, Deuce, Game Point and the hold) and Castolo was broken at Love to have his team's lead cut to 4-2. Teej was broken (30-Love shifted to Break Point and the break) and Samara held again (Triple Game/Match Point, the hold came on Double Game/Match Point) to get the win just in time at 9:58 (we started this one on Court Three at 9:35)!
The Skinny: For the second night in a row, the tandem of Samara/Castolo jumped out to an early lead and what looked to be a sure win...until they again lost a little ground. This time around, however, they were able to regroup and put it away just in time to earn a complete victory.
Rob Gawley/Laura Gawley leading Dan Hwang/Santosh Reddy, 3-2 (Incomplete when the lights went out at 10pm, they had begun this one on Court One at 9:40...not sure if they decided to forego the changeovers or not)! No Aces (apparently).
Sally Pillay/Natalia Sout leading Rafaelo Kazakov/Doinks Srinivasan, 5-0 (Incomplete when the lights went out at 10pm, this one got underway on Court Four at 9:40 and I do know that they did decide to forego the changeovers to save time...but it still wasn't enough...a case of "Saved by The Bell" for sure!). No Aces (apparently).
Sincerely,
Frank Samara
Gtasamara5@gmail.com
862-596-3354
"Mehta-Shiao in Montclair, Samara hosts 26 at C.G.!":
GTA Friday Tennis first took place at The Mountainside Park Courts in Montclair featuring a full 2 out of 3 Sets Challenge Match between buddies, "The AM Rush" Anish Mehta and Tony "Sure Shot" Shiao, and then at The Cedar Grove Courts which was hosted by "Hollywood" Frank Samara and the session ended up being an epic one...perhaps not in terms of important matches, but definitely when one considers the turnout of players over the course of one continuous session - 26 official competitors!
Before we get to the comings and goings up at Cedar Grove, let's first get Tony's recap of the result from Montclair.
The Montclair Result:
2 out of 3 Sets Challenge Match:
Anish Mehta over Tony Shiao, 7-5, 6-4, to successfully defend his # 5 Rank in the Advanced Division! Tony: 3 Aces in the 1st Set; and Anish: 2 Aces (one in each set)!
The Sure Shot from Shiao: It was a very challenging match and we both had a few unforced errors as we adjusted to the heat and glaring sun. Anish's game was on point with moving the ball and he had a few good serves to my backhand that I couldn't return. I am looking forward to a rematch and its always a pleasure playing against him since we are always hitting it hard!
Samara's Notes: I thank Tony for reporting that result in a very timely manner. I also congratulate Anish on the impressive victory.
And now how things went down up at Cedar Grove.
Samara pulled up to the courts at 7:30pm. As should be expected on such a beautiful night (temps slowly dropping from a peak temperature of 80 degrees, near-perfect evening weather for tennis), all four courts were full. The good news was the fact that it was all GTA...and that's the way it would stay for the entire evening (and we still ended up having logjam situations).
On Court One, both Jay "The Rising" Phoenix and "Holy Moly" Mike Mole were catching their breath having just finished a Singles One-Setter against one another.
On Court Two, "Nate the Great" Nathan Fernandes was teaming with "Big Kaz" Mike Kazlauskas to take on "Super Mario" Marijus Kuzavas and "The Smackdown" Sally Pillay.
On Court Three, "The Bulgarian Bull" Jordan Bachvaroff was having a hitting session with "Big George" Jorge Solano.
And on Court Four, it was Mixed Doubles done "Battle of The Sexes" style as "The Vin Man" Vinnie De Benedetto teamed with "The Ambidextrous Machine" Herb Reiner to face off against "Killer Kat" Kathy Sheldon and "Dominant" Dawn Peterson.
Phoenix asked Samara if he wanted to step out onto their court, but Frank had to get caught up with all that was going on...so that led to Jay and Mike entering into another One-Setter against each other.
Just as they got that one underway, usual Cedar Grove host "The K Man" Kris Srinivasan made his way across the street and over to the courts.
During the action, Vin joked that by teaming with Herb...they had now formed the oldest team in the history of the league. And a lot of truth is said in jest as I do believe this to be true. I may be off with the numbers a bit, but I think Vin is 68 years old while Herb is 82 (perhaps a couple more...I may have lost track over the past couple of seasons). If my numbers are correct, however, that would give them a combined team age of 150 years...unprecedented! There's no precedent, baby!
Starting at 7:50, it was like the floodgates had opened: first, it was "Spin Doctor" Dan Martinelli and Tito "Touch" Castolo finding a spot on the bench alongside Court Four. Five minutes later, "The Marathon Woman" Doinks Srinivasan, "Latino Heat" Jose Gonzales and Santosh "Ever" Reddy gathered around said bench.
At 8pm, it was Natalia "Nitro" Sout, "Ragin" Rajan Shah and "Teej" T.J. Shah also now gathering around. And another five minutes after that, "2 Tall" Dave Zhu did the same, but chose to check out the scene on Court One instead.
Samara received a call at 8:10 from "The Webmaster" Senthil Kumar who asked Frank if it was crowded. Frank confirmed that it was and Senthil said he would just stay home then. We were already up to a total of 19 players at that time.
Five minutes later, "RK Fire" Rafaelo Kazakov stepped onto Court Four just to ultimately step back off of it and join the gang near the bench. Ten minutes more and it was GTA Women's Champion: Laura "The Aura" Gawley and her hubby, "Rowdy" Rob Gawley arriving together. They were not pleased with the crowded court situation (just kidding...sort of...LOL!).
At 8:40, the last official competitor of the evening made his arrival...it was "The DH" Dan Hwang. And at 9:30, "Coach" Dino Celis rolled into the lot to make an extended cameo appearance.
Enough chit chat, let's get to the scores!
The Cedar Grove Results:
Jay Phoenix over Mike Mole, 6-3! No Aces. Not sure when this one got underway on Court One, but it ended around 7:25.
Kathy Sheldon/Dawn Peterson over Vinnie De Bendetto/Herb Reiner, 6-4! No Aces. Again, don't know when it started...but this foursome finished this one on Court Four at 7:40. The points were competitive, but the women were just a little craftier and more consistent than The Oldest Team Ever!
Nathan Fernandes/Mike Kazlauskas over Marijus Kuzavas/Sally Pillay, 6-3! No Aces. Yet again, not sure when it began, but it ended on Court Two at 7:55.
Jay Phoenix over Mike Mole, 6-4! No Aces. This second One-Setter between the two lasted from 7:34 to 8pm on Court One.
Frank Samara/Kris Srinivasan over Jordan Bachvaroff/Jorge Solano, 6-2! No Aces. I only noted the flow of the games (to save time) and not who hit what winners where and when, so here's the basic breakdown: Jorge was broken (Triple Break Point, Double Break Point, Double Fault for the break) and Frank held serve (15-Love then point for point to Game Point and the hold) for a 2-0 lead. Jordan held (Triple Game Point, the hold came on Double Game Point), but then so did Kris (30-Love shifted to Break Point, Deuce, Game Point and the hold) for a 3-1 lead. Solano was broken again (Triple Break Point cut down to Break Point, but then the break) while Samara held again and this time at Love for a 5-1 lead. Bachvaroff also held again (Triple Game Point, the hold came on Double Game Point) to pull to 2-5. But then Srinivasan also held again (30-Love shifted to 30-All, Game/Match Point and the hold) to get the win! We played this on Court Three from 7:40 to 8:08.
The Skinny: Jordan and Jorge did not play all that poorly, but Frank and Kris just both happened to be "on" on this occasion.
Dan Martinelli/Kathy Sheldon over Vinnie De Bendetto/Dawn Peterson, 6-4! Dawn: 1 Ace on Kathy (a ripper as described by Spin); and Spin: 1 Ace on Dawn (a "caught her napping" type of Ace). They played this proper Mixed Doubles One-Setter on Court Four from 7:55 to 8:35.
The Skinny: At first, it seemed like it was going to be another "Battle of The Sexes" One-Setter, but the ladies thought better of that and said they wanted to split up for this one. Dawn chose Vin as her partner and that was all it took to rev up Spin (he doesn't like to not be wanted...LOL!). Still, it appeared to be yet another hard-fought contest.
Jose Gonzales/Tito Castolo over Marijus Kuzavas/Mike Kazlauskas, 6-1! No Aces. Court Two hosted this one from 8:10 to 8:35. While the end result may not be an upset, the lopsided score certainly is. The Lanky Lithuanians (aka M&M) got chopped down to size by the deceptive Jose and the ever-crafty Tito.
Rajan Shah/T.J. Shah over Jordan Bachvaroff/Jorge Solano, 6-2! No Aces. This was contested on Court Three from 8:15 to 8:55. For Jordan and Jorge, it was new opposition...but the same outcome!
Dave Zhu/Natalia Sout over Santosh Reddy/Doinks Srinivasan, 6-2! Dave: 2 Aces on Santosh! This Mixed Doubles One-Setter took place on Court One from 8:20 to 8:50.
Jose Gonzales/Tito Castolo over Nathan Fernandes/Kris Srinivasan, 6-4! No Aces. Court Two hosted this battle from 8:38 to 9:23. While the score was closer against new opponents, the result was the same...as Jose and Tito were on an impressive roll.
Rob Gawley/Laura Gawley over Rafaelo Kazakov/Sally Pillay, 6-1! No Aces. This Mixed Doubles action took place on Court Four from 8:45 to 9:07.
The Skinny: At the outset, it was suggested that The Gawleys should be split up for better balance...but Rob chirped up and said, "I need some playing time with my partner!" Samara's retort was that Mr. Gawley is "very territorial" and that earned a laugh from The Rowdy One (aka Squash Boy).
Marijus Kuzavas/Doinks Srinivasan over Rajan Shah/T.J. Shah, 6-1! No Aces. This one took place on Court Three and the duration was from 9pm to 9:31.
Dave Zhu/Natalia Sout over Dan Hwang/Santosh Reddy, 7-5! Dave: 1 Ace on Santosh. Court One once again was the site for three of these four players (Dan took the place of Doinks) and it lasted from 9pm to 9:35.
Laura Gawley/Sally Pillay over Rafaelo Kazakov/Rob Gawley, 6-1! Laura: 1 Ace on Rafaelo (on the very first point of the match!); and Sally: 1 Ace on Rafaelo! Court Four hosted this "Battle of The Sexes" style Mixed Doubles action from 9:09 to 9:35.
The Skinny: This time The Gawleys were willing to split up, but they opted for the "B.O.T.S." format. Laura came out of the gate with the blast of an Ace against Rafaelo, but then the ladies stalled as she ended up being broken. This was the first time this season that the reigning GTA Women's Champions have teamed together, so perhaps it was a slight bit of team rust. But they shook it off swifter than Taylor Swift encircled by her numerous ex-boyfriends as they then took six straight games off the gents! The Champs do look ready for whatever team may emerge victorious from the ongoing W2 Women's Doubles Tournament!
Kris Srinivasan/Jorge Solano over Jose Gonzales/Jordan Bachvaroff, 6-4! No Aces. They got this one underway on Court Two at 9:27 and the Match Point was finished exactly as the lights went out at 10pm!
Frank Samara/Tito Castolo over Rajan Shah/T.J. Shah, 6-2! No Aces. No changeovers to save time (and shorter notes as a result), so here is the cut to the quick: Rajan was broken (Double Fault for Double Break Point, Break Point and another Double Fault for the break), Tito held (Triple Game Point, the hold came on Double Game Point), T.J. was broken (15-Love shifted to 15-30, 30-All, Break Point and the break) and Frank held (Love-15 went straight to Double Game Point and the hold) for a fairly quick 4-0 lead. But then R. Shah held (30-Love, 30-15, Double Fault for 30-All, Game Point, Deuce, Game Point and the hold) and Castolo was broken at Love to have his team's lead cut to 4-2. Teej was broken (30-Love shifted to Break Point and the break) and Samara held again (Triple Game/Match Point, the hold came on Double Game/Match Point) to get the win just in time at 9:58 (we started this one on Court Three at 9:35)!
The Skinny: For the second night in a row, the tandem of Samara/Castolo jumped out to an early lead and what looked to be a sure win...until they again lost a little ground. This time around, however, they were able to regroup and put it away just in time to earn a complete victory.
Rob Gawley/Laura Gawley leading Dan Hwang/Santosh Reddy, 3-2 (Incomplete when the lights went out at 10pm, they had begun this one on Court One at 9:40...not sure if they decided to forego the changeovers or not)! No Aces (apparently).
Sally Pillay/Natalia Sout leading Rafaelo Kazakov/Doinks Srinivasan, 5-0 (Incomplete when the lights went out at 10pm, this one got underway on Court Four at 9:40 and I do know that they did decide to forego the changeovers to save time...but it still wasn't enough...a case of "Saved by The Bell" for sure!). No Aces (apparently).
Sincerely,
Frank Samara
Gtasamara5@gmail.com
862-596-3354
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