5/30/17:
There was a surprise session of GTA Tuesday Night Tennis at The Cedar Grove Courts (hosted by "The K Man" Kris Srinivasan). I use the word "surprise" because the weather throughout the day made the possibility of a session seem quite uncertain.
Thankfully, the courts did dry in time. And even more reason to be thankful is the fact that Kris is both willing and quick to update the entire league that he will host a session there at a moment's notice. So kudos to The K Man!
We now turn this report over to Kris.
It was a relatively tranquil session as suspected given the weather conditions, but a few willing bodies were ready to do "the rain dance" if needed. The rains would hold off, but the night did end on a "mist-ical" note.
We moved in as The Pickle Ballers were calling it a day. It would be just four of our players to kick off the proceedings and that's all we needed to get some Doubles going. We would soon see "The Raging Bull" Jordan Bachvaroff followed by Edgar Valencia, Mike Mole, Tito Castolo, T.J. Shah, Rajan Shah and Laurie Boughton.
The Cedar Grove Results:
Chris Chiaro/Kris Srinivasan over Nathan Fernandes/Natalia Sout, 6-1! No Aces.
Chris opened up a new can of balls, but they felt heavy and less sprightly. Nate would team up with Natalia to take on me and Chris. It didn't exactly pan out to be a "Nat King Cool" show as Chris was all business and poor Natalia, coming off her recent knee injury, couldn't play her usual game.
Nathan Fernandes/Kris Srinivasan over Chris Chiaro/Natalia Sout, 6-3! No Aces.
Chris did well to hold both his service games that each went to multiple Deuces. Natalia started playing well, but her lack of play in recent weeks surely reflected upon her consistency. It was Nate's turn to get cracking for a predictable result.
Mike Mole/Tito Castolo over Jordan Bachvaroff/Edgar Valencia, 6-2! No Aces.
Edgar is a solid player and his deep slices seemed to be effective. But Tito started dictating turns to not allow his opponents settle into a rhythm.
2 out of 3 Sets Doubles Match:
Chris Chiaro/Nathan Fernandes over Rajan Shah/T.J. Shah, 6-0, 6-3, to become the New # 20 Ranked Team in the Doubles Division! No Aces.
After our first two One-Setters, I stepped out with Natalia for T.J. and Rajan to play with Chris and Nate. My plan was for T.J. and Rajan not to play together, but it is so natural for them to team together as cousins (aka The Inseperables)…they opted for that instead. They were run over in the 1st Set, but came up with a good fight in the 2nd Set…but still for a losing cause.
Jordan Bachvaroff/Edgar Valencia leading Mike Mole/Tito Castolo, 5-4 (Incomplete when the lights went out at 10pm)! No Aces.
It was a close and compelling match that was cut short when Jordan was serving up 30-15, just agonizingly shy of two points for the win! His team would remain officially winless for the night, but as J-Rod would put it, they had a "balanced and enjoyable" set. Edgar was happy to play a solid and competitive match as Jordan was rueful he couldn't see the finish line.
Nathan Fernandes/Kris Srinivasan leading Chris Chiaro/Laurie Boughton, 4-2 (Incomplete when the lights went out at 10pm)! No Aces.
While two courts were busy, it was a hitting session among Laurie, Natalia and I that would then reduce down to just two players as Nat dropped off. Eventually, we got Laurie to play a match that would remain incomplete. We did get to see attractive net play from Laurie as well as a superb return of Nate's serve for a thumping winner. Nate and Chris came up with some delightful shots and, as promised, I paid back Laurie with volleys at the net to settle the score. Overall, there was plenty of noise (you betcha with Laurie around) and a finish that saw no one losing.
It was a quiet but still active session in Cedar Grove with a slight drizzle that was more of a mist in the last 10 minutes as the temps were actually climbing upward.
On a different note, The Picklers will be gone after next week and are expected to show up in the autumn only. As the Verona Tennis Courts now have lights, we will not be seeing the Verona folks this year…unlike last year when they occupied two nights with our own Levy Lorenzo acting as "the double agent"...:-). Cheers!
Samara's Notes: I thank Kris for so often acting as the main host for the GTA up at Cedar Grove and providing us with reports that are colorful, comprehensive and informative.
Sincerely,
Frank Samara
862-596-3354
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