8/28/17:
"2 play in Wayne, 8 at PAC (1 new, 1 return), 19 play at C.G.!":
There were three sessions of GTA Monday Tennis: a late afternoon/early evening one at The Pointview Courts in Wayne (the home courts of "The Webmaster" Senthil Kumar) as Senthil battled "Salsa Picante" Edwin Ortega in three consecutive One-Setters (as reported by Edwin); one at The Park Ave. Courts in Nutley that was hosted by "the three-headed monster" of "Kaptain" Keith Lewkowitz, "Richie" Rich Liu and "Hollywood" Frank Samara (as reported by Frank); and then the usual one at The Cedar Grove Courts where we had a veritable slew of reporters that was first made up of the Top 3 players in the league - GTA Champion: "Nate the Great" Nathan Fernandes, "King Crush" Chris Chiaro and "The Lumberjack" Ryan Pienciak plus "Instant" Moka Pathan and "The Levitator" Levy Lorenzo who submitted his report to "Spin Doctor" Dan Martinelli (who states that he is simply the messenger).
We will first get the scores from Edwin, then detail the comings and goings in Nutley and finally piece together the full recap of what took place at Cedar Grove.
The Pointview Results:
Edwin Ortega over Senthil Kumar, 6-3! No Aces.
Senthil Kumar over Edwin Ortega, 6-4! Edwin: 1 Ace.
Senthil Kumar over Edwin Ortega, 7-5! Edwin: 3 Aces!
The Edwin Edition: Senthil and I played 3 One-Setters. It was going to be just a couple of sets, but we split the first two so we decided to continue on further. There were long rallies and a few long Deuce games (one was at least 5 or more), but in the end Senthil held and prevailed.
Samara's Notes: I thank Edwin for his very timely reporting and also his commentary as well.
Now we will detail what transpired in Nutley.
Samara pulled into the parking lot of The Park Ave. Courts at 7:55. As he walked up the hill toward the four parallel courts, he saw that they were all full. But as he looked further, he saw that two of the four had some familiar faces on them.
If we are calling the court closest to the entrance gate Court One (I can't remember if I have been consistent with this in the past...I think I've always called it Court One...but I may have also called it Court Four), then we had some GTA players on Courts Two and Four.
On Court Two, Kaptain Keith was on the sidelines overseeing a hitting session that had "Fantastic" Fausto Murg teaming with a young lady who looked quite familiar and on the other side of the net it was "The Net Minder" Arunraj Nair teaming with a man I knew I had never seen before. Keith explained that he was not playing because he had an epidural earlier in the day for some back issues, but is cleared to return to action in a day or two.
Over on Court Four it was Richie Rich teaming with Edgar "Valentino" Valencia taking on two young guys that were completely unfamiliar to me.
On Court One, it was a couple having a hitting session with one another and they were there for quite a while and eventually replaced by a pack of people (seemed like four guys and two girls and they were spraying balls all over the place!).
And on Court Three, it was about six to eight high school aged guys (perhaps the Nutley High School Tennis Team, though I did not notice any uniforms). The good news was that they left at 8:05.
Samara took Court Three to hold it and also to gain the best vantage point to watch the action on Courts Two and Four as simultaneously as possible.
Soon, Fausto and Arunraj shifted over to Court Three to have a hitting session with one another. This left the young lady and the new guy on Court Two to keep hitting with each other while Keith had conversations with both of them.
At 8:13, Rich and Edgar emerged from their Doubles One-Setter victorious. I believe the score was 6-3. When I asked Rich for the info on the new guys, he said they had just met them earlier in the evening. He did not even know their names. As Liu and Valencia headed from Court Four to Court Three to challenge Murg and Nair, the two other guys on Court Four immediately entered into a Singles Match against one another...so I decided not to bother trying to get their info.
What was intended to be a full 2 out of 3 Sets Doubles Match got underway on Court Three as Liu/Valencia were seeking revenge against Murg/Nair for the tough loss they were dealt by them just a couple of weeks ago.
"J-Rod" Joe Rodrigues walked onto the courts at 8:25. At that time, I asked Keith if his two players would be up for some Doubles. They agreed as long as they could be split up as both of them felt like they are still fairly new to the sport of tennis.
As I approached the young lady, she said (before I could even introduce myself) that I looked familiar to her. It turns out she is "Neon" Deon Miller who had played with us a few times (she says three years ago...maybe it is that long ago already) at Robin Hood Park. She has lost some weight since then and her game has improved as well. She has been playing in Keith and Rich's meet-up group for a couple of seasons now.
Then I met the nice gentleman on the other side of the net. His name is Joe Renga and he lives right down the street from the Park Ave. Courts. He got involved with The Kaptain and Liu Crew more recently and was excited about the idea of joining something even bigger as he is looking for more people with which to play tennis.
So we decided it would be the Joe R's versus Hollywood Neon. And after that One-Setter finished and both Miller and Renga had to leave, Samara and Rodrigues decided to enter into a Singles One-Setter against one another...which we will get to later.
Let's go to the scores!
The Park Ave. Results:
Fausto Murg/Arunraj Nair over Rich Liu/Edgar Valencia, 7-6 (7-5)! Edgar: 2 Aces (one on each, first on Fausto and then on Arunraj...not back-to-back, but in the same game)! They got this one underway on Court Three at 8:15. Not sure when it finished as they went right into the next one. Remember that the original intent was to play a full 2 out of 3 Sets Doubles Match. But the clock had other ideas.
Samara's Notes: I got to watch the first twenty minutes of this set and I decided I have to give new monikers to both Rich and Arunraj. I said that Liu should be called "The Alley Cat" as he loves to hit straight-line forehand winners right down the Doubles Alley. It is a highly effective passing shot that he hits regularly. And I had originally said that Arunraj was "The Net Minder" (which he still is, but was also then being called "The Net Monster" and "The Net Master"). But now I think we have to got with "Air" Nair as he is quite quick and also gets some good elevation leaping for would-be lobs while he is positioned at the net ready to pounce.
Frank Samara/Deon Miller over Joe Rodrigues/Joe Renga, 6-3! Deon: 1 Ace on Rodrigues; and Frank: 1 Ace on Renga! It was the official GTA Debut of Joe Renga and the official GTA Return of Deon Miller. We started hitting on Court Two at 8:35 and got this one officially underway at 8:40. I did not write down the games during the changeovers, but I did memorize them all and then wrote them down once we were finished (I did not note who hit what winners). Here's the basic breakdown: Deon held serve (got off to a 30-Love lead, then it was 30-15 when she surprised Rodrigues with a short serve that landed on the T-line for an Ace and that put her up Double Game Point and then came the hold), J-Rod was broken (30-Love shifted to 30-All, then Game Point, Deuce, Game Point, 2nd Deuce, Break Point and the break), Frank held (15-Love, 15-All then onto Double Game Point which was reduced to Deuce, Break Point, 2nd Deuce and a sideline Ace on Renga to set up Game Point and then came the hold) and Renegade was broken (30-Love, Double Fault for 30-15 and then straight to Break Point, Deuce, Break Point again and then the break) to fall to 0-4. Miller was broken (15-Love shifted to 15-30, 30-All, Break Point and the break) and Rodrigues held (Love-15 went straight to Double Game Point which was then cut down to Deuce and then it was all Game Points to 4th Deuce and then another Game Point and finally the hold) to pull to 2-4. Samara held again (Love-15 shifted to 30-15, 30-All, Game Point, Deuce, Break Point, 2nd Deuce, Game Point and the hold) to increase his team's lead to 5-2, bur Renga held (15-Love, Double Fault for 15-All, but then onto Double Game Point and the hold) to pull to 3-5. Neon held (15-Love, 15-All and then onto Double Game/Match Point and the hold for the win) to return to the league in victorious fashion! This One-Setter ended exactly at 9:17.
Samara's Notes: As I stated earlier, Neon Deon has definitely improved since the last time she was in the GTA. She always had amazing get-making speed, but now her game is much more consistent. She is playing with greater confidence now as well. Renga started off a little shaky and seemingly unsure of himself, but later in the One-Setter he started firing off some nice forehand returns and outright winners! Keith was like: "Where did those come from?!?!" It led to me joking that we should call him "The Ringer" as perhaps he was holding back his true skill level. But actually he just started getting hotter as he got more use to our style of play (both Neon and I have offbeat styles that can be quite confounding for the competition). I think a nickname that has a better "ring" to it (see what I did there...LOL!) is "Renegade" Renga. He is a really nice guy and I hope he continues to play with us as we move forward.
Fausto Murg/Arunraj Nair leading Rich Liu/Edgar Valencia, 6-5 (Incomplete when the lights went out at 10pm)! Arunraj: 1 Ace on Rich.
Frank Samara leading Joe Rodrigues, 5-4 (Incomplete when the lights went out at 10pm)! No Aces. For this one, I was writing down the games and who hit what winners during the changeovers. I had the chance to put this one away and make it official, but Joe had other plans! The dirty lowdown: Joe was broken (an un-returned serve for 15-Love, a shift to 15-30, 30-All, Break Point and the break) and Frank held serve (15-Love then point for point to Game Point and then the hold...and the first four points went like this...un-returned serve, a winning return from Joe, another un-returned serve, a winner from Joe to make it 30-All and then the next two points went to the server) for a 2-0 lead. Rodrigues held (back-to-back un-returned serves made it 30-Love, then it went to 30-15, Double Game Point and the hold) to get on the scoreboard, but Samara held again (Joe hit a winner and then a winning volley to make it Love-30, but then an un-returned serve shifted the momentum and Joe blew an overhead attempt along the way and next it was Game Point where another un-returned serve secured the hold) to go up 3-1. J-Rod also held again (Frank hit a down-the-line passing shot winner which caught the attention of our four guys on Court Three, but then Joe responded with an even more impressive winner for 15-All and he was then off and running to Double Game Point and the hold) to pull to 2-3, but Hollywood held a third straight time (back-to-back drop shot winners made it 30-Love, but then Joe hit another one of those big blast forehand winners to make it 30-15 only to blow a volley and sail it long to set up Double Game Point where an un-returned serve secured the hold) for a 4-2 lead. Joe was broken (Joe hit another walloping winner for 15-Love, but then Frank made a great get/winner combo for 15-All and then the momentum took the game to Double Break Point where Joe hit a net-cord-aided winner to bring it down to Break Point, but then Frank hit a winning return which was also aided slightly by the net-cord to get the break) to fall to 2-5! Frank was then broken for the first time (Frank hit a winner for 15-Love, Joe hit a winner for 15-All, it then went to 15-30, 30-All, Break Point and the break) and then Rodrigues held at Love as he hit three consecutive winners to set up Triple Game Point where he hit a truly un-returnable serve to lock down the hold and pull to 4-5! Samara was on serve as Joe hit yet another winner to make it Love-15, but then an un-returned serve made it 15-All and then it went to 15-30 and Frank was just about to serve to start the next point when the lights went out and darkness was all around us as the clock struck ten!
Samara's Notes: This was a high-quality One-Setter while it lasted. It was a shame we did not have time to go the distance as we could have been playing a potential Nominee for One-Set Singles Match of The Year at season's end. I had the chance to close it out...and I must say that I did not choke or get tight. Joe simply took up the aggression a notch and really started hitting those winners at will. It would have been interesting to see if he could have fully shifted the momentum completely in his favor to get the comeback victory...or would the ever-resilient Samara pull another one out of his as...err, hat! LOL!
And now we head up to Cedar Grove for the report from multiple sources (I cannot even begin to tell you who sent in which scores as many of them overlap one another)…so here we go!
The Cedar Grove Results:
Moka Pathan/Ray Spadaro over Jordan Bachvaroff/Melvin Hyman, 6-0! No Aces.
Nathan Fernandes/Ryan Pienciak over Chris Chiaro/Moka Pathan, 6-4! No Aces.
Moka's Brew: We were down 0-1, then up 3-1, down again 3-4, leveled it at 4-4 and then they took the last two games to win it.
Chris Chiaro/Moka Pathan over Nathan Fernandes/Ryan Pienciak, 7-6 (10-8)! No Aces. Chiaro/Pathan had saved 3 Match Points and Fernandes/Pienciak had saved one Match Point!
Moka's Brew: I don't remember the exact way the games went, but it was pretty much back and forth the whole way. It was a very competitive One-Setter with really good points.
Samara's Notes: This sounds like a likely Nominee for One-Set Doubles Match of The Year! We now get the results that Levy submitted to Spin and then the Doc will explain how it happened.
Tom La/Ray Spadaro over Kevin Doyle/Natalia Sout, 6-1! No Aces.
2 out of 3 Sets Women's Doubles Match:
Brenda Jordan/Dawn Peterson over Kathy Sheldon/Laurie Boughton, 3-6, 6-0, 6-2, to successfully defend their # 4 Rank in the Women's Doubles Division! In the process, Sheldon/Boughton entered the division as the New # 8 Ranked Team. Kathy: 1 Ace on Dawn; and Dawn: 1 Ace on Kathy!
2 out of 3 Sets Doubles Match:
Edwin Ortega/Dennis Cabanatan over Jordan Bachvaroff/Levy Lorenzo, 7-6 (7-5), 6-4, to become the New # 32 Ranked Team in the Doubles Division! No Aces.
The Spin from Spin: Dino Celis and I showed up at CG around 9:15. Levy handed me some post-it notes. I was going to tell him to send the results directly since I did not play, but he was quite nice about it and he is a nice guy. When I got home, I saw that what was written was not complete…so I am sending what he wrote. I am just the messenger here. ;)
Samara's Notes: To clarify what Spin wrote above, he had that the 1st Set of the Men's Doubles Match was a Tiebreak…but without the TB score. In those situations, I assume that it was 7-5 as that is the fairest scenario for both players and/or teams.
We now get a couple more results from Chris.
Chris Chiaro/Ryan Pienciak over Rob Gawley/Laura Gawley, 6-0! No Aces.
Chris Chiaro/Laura Gawley leading Ryan Pienciak/Rob Gawley, 6-5 (last game at 40-15, Double Game/Match Point…Incomplete when the lights went off at 10pm)! No Aces.
Samara's Notes: I thank everyone for their contributions to this report…even if, at times, it was duplication (or even triplication) of the same results. I'd rather have more than nothing at all. And I'd rather get it late than never get it…though late reporting often leads to me having to redo the results and then e-mail them a second time around…and some people do not like that! LOL!
Sincerely,
Frank Samara
862-596-3354
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