6/23/17:
"Shiao-Mole 1-Setters at HP, Marie's Tennis Party in F.L.!":
GTA Friday Tennis first took place at the Holster Park courts in Clifton as Tony "Sure Shot" Shiao and "Magic" Mike Mole split a couple of One-Setters (as reported by Mike). They got these two in just before the rains came (not sure if they were trying to complete a full 2 out of 3 Sets Challenge Match or not).
On tap for The Cedar Grove Courts was the last of the two GTA Intermediate Invitational Semifinal Matches. This one would be between "The Annihilator" Nihar Panda and "Tailor Made" Raj Tailor. But as "Hollywood" Frank Samara was driving from Passaic to Fair Lawn, he started receiving a bunch of text messages from Nihar concerning the status of the match.
First, Panda was reporting the uncertainty of it getting started as there were already dark clouds in the sky at Cedar Grove. Also, he did not have a cell number to reach Tailor at...just an e-mail address (and Samara confirmed he only had the same as well). Then the rain hit and Nihar informed Frank that the match would have to be rescheduled...hopefully for later in the weekend, though that had yet to be confirmed.
As for Samara, he was heading to Fair Lawn to attend "The Olympian" Marie Salamon's indoor group season-ending party. She has been running this group and having this close-out party for twenty years now! As an occasional sub for the past couple of seasons, this was Frank's second invitation to the festivities.
This year, the execution of the event exceeded last year's as Marie had an ideal amount of attendees: 16! This meant she had four per court and four of the five courts there were booked for the party. For the first hour, she just had two of the courts. So, from 7pm to 7:30, half the group warmed up while the other half socialized in the upstairs lobby. And then at 7:30, the two halves switched.
From 8pm to 10pm, there would be Doubles action (always three of the sets were pure Mixed Doubles while the fourth would be Mixed Gender Doubles as there were nine men and seven women) on four of the courts. Every 40 minutes (so that would make three distinct timeslots over the course of two hours), the match-ups would be switched.
As he has in the past, Samara asked Salamon if he could at least record his action as being for the GTA and Marie wholeheartedly encouraged it. So even though 16 players competed over the course of the entire session, only nine make it into the following results. And the last three don't even get to join the ranks of the league as that last One-Setter was never finished. Oh well!
Still, it was a very fun night and the after party (after the tennis, that is) lasted all the way until midnight! I thank Marie not only for inviting me, but for her generosity as well as she sent me home with a bag of food that fed my family the entire weekend!
We will first grab those couple of scores from Mike and then detail the action in Fair Lawn.
The Holster Park Results:
Tony Shiao over Mike Mole, 6-1! Tony: 2 Aces!
Mike Mole over Tony Shiao, 7-5! No Aces.
The Mole Memo: Total time of play (both sets) was 3:40 to 4:50. Both of them were really good One-Setters.
Samara's Notes: I thank Mike for his very prompt reporting of those scores (via text just shortly after they were over).
The Fair Lawn Results:
Ralph Nadal/Arlene Hyde over Frank Samara/J.D. Lee, 6-3! Ralph: 2 Aces (one on each, both were up the T and the one on Frank was on Match Point)! It was the official GTA Return of Ralph Nadal and the official GTA Debut of Arlene Hyde. The quick skinny: Ralph held, J.D. held, Arlene held and Frank held for 2-2. Nadal held again, Lee held again, Hyde held again, but Frank was the first to be broken for 3-5. Then Rafa held a third straight time and impressively closed it out with a big booming Ace up the middle! This was played on Court Four from 8pm to 8:30.
Samara's Notes: I've played against Ralph a few times in the past in Fair Lawn. His greatest on-court asset is that big serve of his (along with powerful forehand ground-strokes) and his best off-court asset is his sense of humor. Marie said that Arlene usually plays at Penny Jung's tennis parties. I'm not sure where she is based, but if she ever decided to come play with us on a regular basis...she would be one of the strongest competitors in our Women's Division. Her most impressive skill was her consistency to hit winning volleys.
Frank Samara/J.D. Lee leading Ralph Nadal/Arlene Hyde, 3-1 (Incomplete when Marie blew the whistle at 8:40 to switch things up)! No Aces.
Samara's Notes: It was decided that the teams should continue to play out games until time was up...and not just stop when a set was completed. So I first asked Robin "The Ultimate" Altman (who was assisting Marie in running the party) if we should count all games played as Marie was going to present a gift to both the male player and the female player who had won the most games over the course of the entire evening. Robin felt the total should included all games and so did Marie.
As for the incomplete One-Setter, Lightning Lee (very fast and adept at making gets) and I were finally starting to find our rhythm when we had to call it quits as a team. In terms of games toward the gifts, Rafa and Arlene left the court with a 7 to 6 lead over us. That would come into play at the end of the night.
Frank Samara/Robin Altman over J.D. Lee/Elizabeth Resnick, 6-3! Frank: 1 Ace on Elizabeth on the very first point of the match (a well-placed one on the sideline...not a bully serve)! It was the official GTA Debut of Elizabeth Resnick. This was played on Court One from 8:45 to 9:10.
Samara's Notes: I can't remember how the games went, but I obviously served (also held) first when you see the detail about the Ace. I do recall that Robin and I always had the lead. In fact, we may have gone up 5-1 when J.D. and Elizabeth started to mount a mini-comeback. This was my first time ever meeting Elizabeth and she has a great sense of humor on the court. All four of us had a great time in this One-Setter. And the more I get to know Robin, the more she reveals her sly sense of humor to me as well. Ms. Altman is such a solid Doubles partner as she knows just where to hit her shots. Mr. Lee is a force to be reckoned with as he hits big serves, big forehands and seems to be all over the court. Ms. Resnick is a crafty lefty who is able to throw the opposition off-guard with a somewhat unusual style. I will give her the moniker of Ridgewood Resnick as that is where she is originally from and she was wearing a wristband with an "R" on it in honor of her original hometown. Even though she is somewhat out of our area, she had me add her to our mailing list as she may try to come down our way sometime.
Frank Samara/Robin Altman leading J.D. Lee/Elizabeth Resnick, 2-1 (Incomplete when Marie blew the whistle at 9:20 to switch things up once again)! No Aces.
Frank Samara/Tula Savickas tied with Horst Savickas/Carin (don't know the last name), 5-5 (Incomplete when the entire tennis session shut down at 10pm...we began this one on Court Two at 9:25)! Horst: 1 Ace on Frank (a nice one on the sideline)!
Samara's Notes: Another one that was a whole lot of fun. It is a shame that we did not reach a proper conclusion as it would have been the official GTA Return of both Horst and Tula Savickas. But perhaps it is just as well as Marie does not have the last name info of Carin who will soon be moving away anyway. Plus, Mr. and Mrs. Savickas are back up in NJ for the summer and may decide to swing by either Albion Park in Clifton or Cedar Grove for some GTA action. It was great seeing both of them again.
During the party session (which was definitely a lot of fun and featured more food than 16 people could reasonably consume), I had the chance to meet Frank Hohorst. He is a very nice guy. Even though he is somewhat out of the area (I forget where he currently resides), he also had me add him to our mailing list as he, too, may swing down our way to officially join the league at some point.
Late in the party portion of the evening, Marie presented the gift bags to the male player with the most games won and the female player with the most games won. For a brief moment, they thought it was me as I had won 19 games throughout the evening when counting the incomplete sets as well. But once Ralph Nadal realized this, his total went from 18 games to 21. So, it all came back to that opening One-Setter! And Marcia Yu was the winner on the women's side.
All in all, it was great fun and good times!
Sincerely,
Frank Samara
gtasamara5@gmail.com
862-596-3354
"Shiao-Mole 1-Setters at HP, Marie's Tennis Party in F.L.!":
GTA Friday Tennis first took place at the Holster Park courts in Clifton as Tony "Sure Shot" Shiao and "Magic" Mike Mole split a couple of One-Setters (as reported by Mike). They got these two in just before the rains came (not sure if they were trying to complete a full 2 out of 3 Sets Challenge Match or not).
On tap for The Cedar Grove Courts was the last of the two GTA Intermediate Invitational Semifinal Matches. This one would be between "The Annihilator" Nihar Panda and "Tailor Made" Raj Tailor. But as "Hollywood" Frank Samara was driving from Passaic to Fair Lawn, he started receiving a bunch of text messages from Nihar concerning the status of the match.
First, Panda was reporting the uncertainty of it getting started as there were already dark clouds in the sky at Cedar Grove. Also, he did not have a cell number to reach Tailor at...just an e-mail address (and Samara confirmed he only had the same as well). Then the rain hit and Nihar informed Frank that the match would have to be rescheduled...hopefully for later in the weekend, though that had yet to be confirmed.
As for Samara, he was heading to Fair Lawn to attend "The Olympian" Marie Salamon's indoor group season-ending party. She has been running this group and having this close-out party for twenty years now! As an occasional sub for the past couple of seasons, this was Frank's second invitation to the festivities.
This year, the execution of the event exceeded last year's as Marie had an ideal amount of attendees: 16! This meant she had four per court and four of the five courts there were booked for the party. For the first hour, she just had two of the courts. So, from 7pm to 7:30, half the group warmed up while the other half socialized in the upstairs lobby. And then at 7:30, the two halves switched.
From 8pm to 10pm, there would be Doubles action (always three of the sets were pure Mixed Doubles while the fourth would be Mixed Gender Doubles as there were nine men and seven women) on four of the courts. Every 40 minutes (so that would make three distinct timeslots over the course of two hours), the match-ups would be switched.
As he has in the past, Samara asked Salamon if he could at least record his action as being for the GTA and Marie wholeheartedly encouraged it. So even though 16 players competed over the course of the entire session, only nine make it into the following results. And the last three don't even get to join the ranks of the league as that last One-Setter was never finished. Oh well!
Still, it was a very fun night and the after party (after the tennis, that is) lasted all the way until midnight! I thank Marie not only for inviting me, but for her generosity as well as she sent me home with a bag of food that fed my family the entire weekend!
We will first grab those couple of scores from Mike and then detail the action in Fair Lawn.
The Holster Park Results:
Tony Shiao over Mike Mole, 6-1! Tony: 2 Aces!
Mike Mole over Tony Shiao, 7-5! No Aces.
The Mole Memo: Total time of play (both sets) was 3:40 to 4:50. Both of them were really good One-Setters.
Samara's Notes: I thank Mike for his very prompt reporting of those scores (via text just shortly after they were over).
The Fair Lawn Results:
Ralph Nadal/Arlene Hyde over Frank Samara/J.D. Lee, 6-3! Ralph: 2 Aces (one on each, both were up the T and the one on Frank was on Match Point)! It was the official GTA Return of Ralph Nadal and the official GTA Debut of Arlene Hyde. The quick skinny: Ralph held, J.D. held, Arlene held and Frank held for 2-2. Nadal held again, Lee held again, Hyde held again, but Frank was the first to be broken for 3-5. Then Rafa held a third straight time and impressively closed it out with a big booming Ace up the middle! This was played on Court Four from 8pm to 8:30.
Samara's Notes: I've played against Ralph a few times in the past in Fair Lawn. His greatest on-court asset is that big serve of his (along with powerful forehand ground-strokes) and his best off-court asset is his sense of humor. Marie said that Arlene usually plays at Penny Jung's tennis parties. I'm not sure where she is based, but if she ever decided to come play with us on a regular basis...she would be one of the strongest competitors in our Women's Division. Her most impressive skill was her consistency to hit winning volleys.
Frank Samara/J.D. Lee leading Ralph Nadal/Arlene Hyde, 3-1 (Incomplete when Marie blew the whistle at 8:40 to switch things up)! No Aces.
Samara's Notes: It was decided that the teams should continue to play out games until time was up...and not just stop when a set was completed. So I first asked Robin "The Ultimate" Altman (who was assisting Marie in running the party) if we should count all games played as Marie was going to present a gift to both the male player and the female player who had won the most games over the course of the entire evening. Robin felt the total should included all games and so did Marie.
As for the incomplete One-Setter, Lightning Lee (very fast and adept at making gets) and I were finally starting to find our rhythm when we had to call it quits as a team. In terms of games toward the gifts, Rafa and Arlene left the court with a 7 to 6 lead over us. That would come into play at the end of the night.
Frank Samara/Robin Altman over J.D. Lee/Elizabeth Resnick, 6-3! Frank: 1 Ace on Elizabeth on the very first point of the match (a well-placed one on the sideline...not a bully serve)! It was the official GTA Debut of Elizabeth Resnick. This was played on Court One from 8:45 to 9:10.
Samara's Notes: I can't remember how the games went, but I obviously served (also held) first when you see the detail about the Ace. I do recall that Robin and I always had the lead. In fact, we may have gone up 5-1 when J.D. and Elizabeth started to mount a mini-comeback. This was my first time ever meeting Elizabeth and she has a great sense of humor on the court. All four of us had a great time in this One-Setter. And the more I get to know Robin, the more she reveals her sly sense of humor to me as well. Ms. Altman is such a solid Doubles partner as she knows just where to hit her shots. Mr. Lee is a force to be reckoned with as he hits big serves, big forehands and seems to be all over the court. Ms. Resnick is a crafty lefty who is able to throw the opposition off-guard with a somewhat unusual style. I will give her the moniker of Ridgewood Resnick as that is where she is originally from and she was wearing a wristband with an "R" on it in honor of her original hometown. Even though she is somewhat out of our area, she had me add her to our mailing list as she may try to come down our way sometime.
Frank Samara/Robin Altman leading J.D. Lee/Elizabeth Resnick, 2-1 (Incomplete when Marie blew the whistle at 9:20 to switch things up once again)! No Aces.
Frank Samara/Tula Savickas tied with Horst Savickas/Carin (don't know the last name), 5-5 (Incomplete when the entire tennis session shut down at 10pm...we began this one on Court Two at 9:25)! Horst: 1 Ace on Frank (a nice one on the sideline)!
Samara's Notes: Another one that was a whole lot of fun. It is a shame that we did not reach a proper conclusion as it would have been the official GTA Return of both Horst and Tula Savickas. But perhaps it is just as well as Marie does not have the last name info of Carin who will soon be moving away anyway. Plus, Mr. and Mrs. Savickas are back up in NJ for the summer and may decide to swing by either Albion Park in Clifton or Cedar Grove for some GTA action. It was great seeing both of them again.
During the party session (which was definitely a lot of fun and featured more food than 16 people could reasonably consume), I had the chance to meet Frank Hohorst. He is a very nice guy. Even though he is somewhat out of the area (I forget where he currently resides), he also had me add him to our mailing list as he, too, may swing down our way to officially join the league at some point.
Late in the party portion of the evening, Marie presented the gift bags to the male player with the most games won and the female player with the most games won. For a brief moment, they thought it was me as I had won 19 games throughout the evening when counting the incomplete sets as well. But once Ralph Nadal realized this, his total went from 18 games to 21. So, it all came back to that opening One-Setter! And Marcia Yu was the winner on the women's side.
All in all, it was great fun and good times!
Sincerely,
Frank Samara
gtasamara5@gmail.com
862-596-3354
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