10/28 Results.

10/28/17:

"Just 4 play Doubles at C.G.!":

There were just one session of GTA Saturday Tennis…an evening one at The Cedar Grove Courts which was reported somewhat late by Dennis "The Menace" Cabanatan and featured a full Men's Doubles Match.

The Cedar Grove Result:

2 out of 3 Sets Doubles Match:

Nathan Fernandes/Dennis Cabanatan over Levy Lorenzo/Nick Inciong, 6-2, 6-4, as both teams entered the Doubles Division as the New # 107 and # 108 Ranked Teams respectively!  No Aces.

Samara's Notes: I thank Dennis for reporting this result…better late than never…LOL!

 

Sincerely,

Frank Samara

Gtasamara5@gmail.com

 

 

 

10/27 Results.

10/27/17:

"9 play (1 new) at PAC, New Champs part of 14 at C.G.!":

There were two concurrent sessions of GTA Friday Night Tennis: the usual (and likely the last for the season) one at The Park Ave. Courts in Nutley and then the usual one at The Cedar Grove Courts.

In Nutley, "Hollywood" Frank Samara acted as the host…but the session came together with the efforts of "Richie" Rich Liu, "The Riz" John Rizzo and "K-Bee" Kyle Eng.  A slight upward tick in the temps (from the night before) did not result in a major bump in the turnout…but for a night in Nutley, it was somewhere in the average range in terms of the amount of competitors who played. 

When Samara pulled into the lot at 7:35, only Court Four was still vacant.  On Court One there was a couple that is often at the courts as the husband runs his wife through the paces of a practice session while their children watch from the bench outside the fence.

On Court Two, Rizzo was hitting with "Latino Heat" Jose Gonzales.  On Court Three, there was already a Doubles One-Setter underway as Liu was teaming with "Muha" Muhammad Haque to take on the formidable tandem of "G-Pop" Gyorgy Papp and "The Terminator" Tomas Molinar.

Walking out onto Court Four just as Frank was trying to find his place amongst the courts, was a lone guy who seemed like he may be looking for the group.  He never said anything, however, and Rich did not recognize him.  Soon, he started practicing his serve.

When Eng was the next to arrive at 7:45, he said that the lone wolf on Court Four was his buddy, "T-Jay" Teja Jayanthi.  Teja is pronounced like the "déjà" in "déjà vu."  Kyle said he told Teja about the league and was looking to team with him during this session.

Soon, the two of them teamed to take on Liu/Haque while Papp/Molinar had already moved on to now be facing Gonzales/Rizzo.  And these were our nine competitors for the evening as the players would shift to different match-ups along the way.  There were no cameo appearances.

After we break down the action from Nutley, we will then detail what took place up at Cedar Grove.

The Park Ave. Courts Results:

Gyorgy Papp/Tomas Molinar over Rich Liu/Muhammad Haque, 6-0!  No Aces.  This one took place on Court Three.  Rich estimated it started somewhere around 7:20.  It ended exactly at 7:43.  This was a bit of a mismatch as Muhammad is still looking to gain experience playing tennis while Gyorgy and Tomas are very experienced…quite likely to each have a 4.0 USTA Rating at the very least (perhaps higher).

Gyorgy Papp/Tomas Molinar over Jose Gonzales/John Rizzo, 6-4!  No Aces.  Once I heard it was at 3-3, that got my attention and I started taking basic notes of the progress of this One-Setter.  G-Pop and The Terminator went up 5-3 and then The Riz was on serve.  He was at Break/Match Point, but then it went to Deuce, Game Point, 2^nd Deuce where Jose scored with a big winner of an Overhead Smash to make it Game Point again and then came the hold for 4-5 (John said he was never broken in this One-Setter).  Papp then held (Double Game/Match Point, it ended on Game/Match Point) to get the win precisely at 8:18 (this one got underway on Court Three at 7:45, but after the first game ended they shifted over to Court Four at 7:48 as the net is still far too low on Court Three…though it may have been a strategic mistake for Jose and John to make that move as the low net favored their style of play and they had won that initial game on John's serve…he had held his serve on all three service opportunities!).

2 out of 3 Sets Doubles Match:

Kyle Eng/Teja Jayanthi over Rich Liu/Muhammad Haque, 6-1, 7-5, as both teams entered the Doubles Division as the New # 105 and # 106 Ranked Teams in the Doubles Division!  No Aces.  It was the official GTA Debut of Teja Jayanthi.

The Skinny: The 1^st Set got underway on Court Two at 7:57.  It ended at 8:20.  Feeling like they had just been on the receiving end of a mismatch, Rich then went with Muhammad to Court One for a hitting session while Kyle and Teja did the same on Court Two.  But after close to ten minutes of that, all four parties involved realized they wanted more Doubles action.  So the 2^nd Set started around 8:30 and ended on Court Two at 9:05.  This set was much closer as Rich and Muhammad were actually up 5-4 before they got tight and let Kyle and Teja back into the match to take three straight games to close it out in impressive fashion.  We already knew that Kyle is quite the player and now we see that Teja comes loaded with ammo as well.

Even though it was not planned to be that way, Rich said to record it as a full match as he felt that the opposition deserved as much.  Plus, he was really proud of how his partner Muhammad picked up his game and tried so hard to play against much more experienced opposition.

Meanwhile, John had Frank take his place to take on the formidable foes, Papp/Molinar, with Jose as his partner.

Gyorgy Papp/Tomas Molinar over Jose Gonzales/Frank Samara, 6-2!  Tomas: 1 Ace on Jose!  Seeing the pace of their previous match-up, I didn't want to take the time on the changeovers to note the games…so I committed them to memory throughout the contest (not noting the winners, just the flow of the games).  Here's the basic breakdown: Gyorgy held at Love, Frank was broken (15-Love then point for point until 30-All, a small shift to Break Point and then the break) and Tomas held at Love after hitting a big Ace up the T against Jose when it was 30-Love to set up Triple Game Point ("Big T" would be another fitting nickname for Tomas) to take a 3-0 lead for his team!  Jose held serve (15-Love, 15-All then onto Double Game Point and the hold) to get his team onto the scoreboard, but Papp held again (Love-15 shifted to 30-15, 30-All, Game Point, Deuce, Game Point, 2^nd Deuce, Game Point again and then the hold) for 4-1.  Samara held (Love-15 then point for point until 30-All, mini-shift to Game Point, Deuce, Break Point, 2^nd Deuce, Game Point and the hold) to pull to 2-4, but Molinar held again…though this time in a struggle (Love-15 went straight to Double Game Point, but then that was reduced to Deuce and then it went to Game Point, 2^nd Deuce, Game Point, 3^rd Deuce, Break Point, 4^th Deuce, Game Point, 5^th Deuce, Game Point and then finally the hold) to extend his team's lead to 5-2!  Gonzales was then broken (Triple Break/Match Point, Double Break/Match Point, it ended on Break/Match Point when Frank unceremoniously dumped his shot into the net) to take a loss tougher than the score indicates!  We played this one on Court Four from 8:20 to 8:52.

The Skinny: The very best teams in the GTA would be hard-pressed to defeat Papp/Molinar in a full match.  I came into this One-Setter completely cold without any warm-up and actually played surprisingly well except for three of four shank shots off the frame of my racquet as their pace coupled with dramatic topspin is a lot to get used to and throws off one's timing.  Jose was particularly impressed with my level of play as he felt he was not on his game and that perhaps that became contagious for me as the One-Setter progressed as my level did eventually drop somewhat.  I think my unusual style caught them off-guard initially and then they adjusted.  It is fun to play against Gyorgy and Tomas (both Jose and John agree) as their level of play immediately forces you to raise your level up just to counter them…or else quickly face the consequences!

Kyle Eng/Teja Jayanthi over Jose Gonzales/John Rizzo, 6-1!  No Aces.  This took place on Court Two and only lasted from 9:07 to 9:24…just 17 minutes!

The Skinny: Jose and John did not expect this type of onslaught from the opposition.  Rizzo had grown cold having sat out a set and could not regain the momentum he had in his impressive outing earlier against Papp/Molinar.  Kyle and Teja quickly and stunningly jumped out to a 4-0 lead.  John was on serve and at 30-All when he hit a rare and unfortunate Double Fault to set up Break Point and then came the break to put his team down 0-5!  Teja was then broken on Double Break Point when he also hit a Double Fault that served to break himself and that allowed the opposition onto the scoreboard.  Not to be outdone, Jose was on serve and at Double Break/Match Point when he, too, hit a Double Fault to break himself and end the match!

Rich Liu over Muhammad Haque, 6-0!  Rich: 2 Aces!  Court One hosted this one from 9:09 to 9:22…just 13 minutes long!  Rich said that despite the lopsided score and short duration, Muhammad made several great gets to extend the rallies and he continues to show much improvement week after week.

Jose Gonzales/Frank Samara over John Rizzo/Rich Liu, 6-2!  Jose: 1 Ace on John!  As we got this one underway on Court Two at 9:25, I again decided to not note the games during the changeovers (just committing them to memory instead).  Also of note, Jose and I switched our return of service sides as I took the Deuce court rather than the Ad court (a rare occurrence…though I do defer to partners with this preference from time to time).  The quick lowdown: Jose held serve (15-Love, 15-All then onto Double Game Point and the hold), Rich was broken (started off with a Double Fault and then it went point for point to 30-All when another Double Fault set up Break Point and then came the break) and Frank held at Love for a fairly quick 3-0 lead!  John held (Love-15 then point for point until 30-All, a slight shift to Game Point, Deuce, Game Point, 2^nd Deuce, Game Point and the hold) to get his team on the board, but Gonzales then held again (30-Love, 30-15, Double Game Point and then a big Ace up the T against John for the hold) to extend his team's lead to 4-1!  Liu held (15-Love, Double Fault for 15-All, 15-30 then a shift to Game Point and the hold) to pull to 2-4, but then Samara held again (15-Love then a shift to 15-30 and then another shift to Game Point and the hold) for 5-2.  Rizzo was then broken (Love-15 shifted to 30-15, 30-All, Game Point, Deuce, Game Point, 2^nd Deuce, Break/Match Point and then the break) to end the match which finished at 9:52.

The Skinny: This was another battle that felt closer than the score indicates.  Rizzo still never regained his rhythm and was also dealing with a bit of heel pain.  Meanwhile, Gonzales finally found his game in this one while Samara also stayed strong.  Liu had his hot and cold moments, but he is another competitor who continues to make great strides in his game on a consistent basis nowadays.

It ended a fun session and then three of us (Samara, Rizzo and Liu) went to Franklin Steakhouse which has become out new Friday night tradition after these sessions…though we may have to pick a new location depending upon where we play next Friday night.

And now we head up to Cedar Grove to check out their Friday night scene where "The K Man" Kris Srinivasan acted as the main host and provides the majority of the following report, but we also had results directly submitted by "Super Mario" Marijus Kuzavas and "The Marathon Woman" Doinks Srinivasan.

Kris and Marijus were on opposite sides of the GTA Doubles Championship Match (the Main Event of the evening) as Srinivasan's partner was Frank "Hydro" Hohorst (together they are the 2017 Monk Memorial Champs) and the partner for Marijus was "Big Kaz" Mike Kazlauskas (as a tandem they are the 2017 M2 Champs). 

And Doinks ended up getting involved in an impromptu full Women's Doubles Match as she teamed with Natalia "Nitro" Sout to take on the 2017 W2 Finalists: "Killer Kat" Kathy Sheldon and "Dominant" Dawn Peterson.  We also got a couple of additional scores from "The Icon" Nick Inciong.

So we will now turn this report over to Kris and get the feedback from the others along the way.

We had a decent amount of activity on Friday…a chilly evening, but still good for GTA Tennis.  Apart from the GTA Doubles Championship Match that had been planned for the evening, we also had an impromptu full Women's Doubles Match as well.  The other players who came subsequently got to play right through the night.  

I do not have some results, most notably involving Syed Rashid, Mike Sindler, Jordan Bachvaroff and Fadia Nicolas.

Samara's Notes: I reached out to both Syed and Fadia (figuring that Jordan and Mike do not check their e-mails all that often) and Fadia got back to me just before releasing this report to confirm that it was the four of them…but they were only involved in a lengthy hitting session together.  It is a shame that they did not play at least one set as it would take the official turnout from 14 players to 18 competitors overall.  And we now bounce this back to Kris.

The Cedar Grove Results:

GTA Doubles Championship Match:

Marijus Kuzavas/Mike Kazlauskas over Kris Srinivasan/Frank Hohorst, 6-1, 6-1, to become the New GTA Doubles Champions!  Marijus: 4 Aces (two on each and two in each set); and Mike: 1 Ace on Kris in the 1^st Set!

The K has his say: Well, the scores adequately reflect the beating we got and it was a resounding one. With both the big guys serving well and covering the net with their wide wingspan, we got caned and thumped out quickly!

The Scoop from Super Mario: The 1st Set went 4-0, 4-1 then onto 6-1.  The 2nd Set went 2-0, 2-1 then onto 6-1.  It was a good and fun match despite the score.  They had some Game Points in several games which would have change the score somewhat.  Mike and I both served very well and that made it difficult for them to get into those games.  Their service games were much more competitive, but we were able to play the crucial points better.

Samara's Notes: I thank both for their very timely reporting.  I also must congratulate Marijus and Mike on such an impressive victory…true dominance!  It is an authoritative way to begin their first reign as the GTA Doubles Champions.  We now go back to Kris for more results.

Nathan Fernandes/Frank Hohorst over Marijus Kuzavas/Kris Srinivasan, 6-3!  Marijus: 1 Ace on Frank!

The K has his say: It was a combination of Frank upping his game and Marijus dropping his, combined with an error-free game by Nate and that sealed the deal for the team in control.

2 out of 3 Sets Women's Doubles Match:

Doinks Srinivasan/Natalia Sout over Kathy Sheldon/Dawn Peterson, 6-3, 6-4, to become the New # 7 Ranked Team in the Women's Doubles Division!  No Aces.

The K has his say: They played these two sets for an eternity and, from the seriousness of it, it looked like it had become a full match.

Samara's Notes: At the time of the match that evening, Kathy was unsure if it should be reported as a full match given the fact that their team (Sheldon/Peterson) are still in the yet-to-be-played Finals of the ongoing W2 Women's Doubles Tournament.  But since making it a full match would have no impact on the tourney as the winning team (the 2017 W2 Champs) will get elevated to being the New # 2 Ranked Team in the Women's Doubles Division and next Top Contenders, this rank change is somewhat irrelevant.  Once informed, Kathy was fine with it and Doinks was quite thankful as the match took nearly two hours to complete!  Once again, we go back to Kris.    

Ryan Pienciak/Kris Srinivasan over Mike Mole/Frank Hohorst, 6-0!  No Aces.

The K has his say: This One-Setter went by so fast that there was chance to catch up for Mike and Frank. 

Mike Mole/Frank Hohorst leading Ryan Pienciak/Kris Srinivasan, 5-4 (Incomplete when the lights went out at 10pm)!  No Aces.

The K has his say: It was a superb One-Setter that saw an incredible tussle between the two teams.  It was a different Mike/Frank combo in this set as they started off beautifully winning the first game.  So it was up until it was 3-All before Mike and Frank got to play aggressive and steady enough to put themselves up 5-3!  A comfortable hold by us would make it 5-4 in favor of Mike and Frank.  It was at this time that we had the drama of the night.  Mike was serving and doing so superbly.  He was comfortably placed at 40-15 (Double Game/Match Point) with Frank performing greatly at the net.  They should have wrapped up the set on that next point as my return of serve (to Mike's serve) hit the net-cord, but not only did Frank retrieve the ball…but he then had a sweet drop shot close to the post on the Deuce side.  Ryan, who was by the net on the Ad court side, ran so fast horizontally to not only get the ball that was dying…but to then also put it over to the other side!  "Incredible" is inadequate to describe what happened, but it was amazing!  We won that point and the "high" from the previous shot evidently kept Ryan going in the next point as he was all over the court to seize that point as well after a back and forth rally for 4 to 5 shots!  We got the next point and as Mike was about to hit his second serve, the lights went out!  We were also deprived off tying up the set at 5-All, but full credit goes to Mike and Frank for giving a good game, and "The Superman Show" by Ryan who was probably influenced having just come from his daughter's Halloween party…:-)

Nathan Fernandes/Natalia Sout over Levy Lorenzo/Dennis Cabanatan, 6-0!  No Aces.

Levy Lorenzo/Dennis Cabanatan over Nathan Fernandes/Natalia Sout, 6-1!  No Aces.

The K has his say: Those above two One-Setters could probably use some verification.  Dennis mentioned the scores and that he was not on his game in that first one.  I have also completely missed out two sets that involved Nick Inciong.

Samara's Notes: I reached out to Nick and he reported the following two results (though he was not entirely sure of the score of the second one).  I then reached out to Levy for verification, but never heard back from him.

Nathan Fernandes/Dennis Cabanatan over Levy Lorenzo/Nick Inciong, 6-0!  No Aces.

Levy Lorenzo/Nick Inciong over Nathan Fernandes/Dennis Cabanatan, 6-4!  No Aces.

Samara's Notes: I thank Nick for his prompt response.  We now go back to Kris for the last word.

The final say from The K: Despite the cold and chilly evening, it was a relaxed weekend feeling as close to ten of us ended up hanging out for another hour of crazy and fun talk!  Cheers!

Samara's Notes: As always, I thank Kris for being "the host with the most" up at Cedar Grove.  And I again thank everyone else for their timely contributions to this report.

Sincerely,

Frank Samara

Gtasamara5@gmail.com

 

 

 

10/26 Results.

10/26/17:

"Samara hosts 9 at C.G.!":

There were just one session of GTA Thursday Night Tennis and it was the usual one at The Cedar Grove Courts with "Hollywood" Frank Samara acting as the host.  A slight dip in the temps caused a major dip in the turnout as we went from having 28 official competitors on Wednesday night to just nine players the next night!

While it may have been windy elsewhere, the air was relatively still and calm at the courts.  Still, there was definitely a chill in the air…but once you got moving out on the courts, it felt refreshing and reinvigorating.  It was the type of evening where you could just play all night long and not get all that sweaty or exhausted.

When Samara pulled into the lot at 7:20, only Court Four was occupied.  Four of our players were out on it as GTA Champion: "Nate the Great" Nathan Fernandes and "Del Brotro" Mike Mole were hitting against "The Bulgarian Bull" Jordan Bachvaroff and the usual host of the Cedar Grove sessions, "The K Man" Kris Srinivasan.  They got a Doubles One-Setter going with those same teams just five minutes later.

At that same moment, "Spin Doctor" Dan Martinelli rolled into the lot and then took a seat next to Frank on the bench outside the fence of Court Four.  And then The Hecklers got going.  The Wood and The Doc would have been happy to just bust balls all night long.  They would eventually be pulled into the action, however.

There would never be any non-GTA players at the courts the entire evening.  At 7:45, "The Levitator" Levy Lorenzo arrived.  The chilly conditions seemed to affect him much more than they did the quite comfortable and relaxed Hecklers on the bench.  Levy was pacing back and forth trying to stay warm.

When the first One-Setter ended at 7:55, Frank and Spin told Levy to take the place of Kris (who was willing to step off for others at that time) as he seemed to need to get moving the most.  Then when we had "The Rogue" Rob Gawley arrive at 8pm, we now had our second foursome for some action over on Court Three.

We decided to have it be The Foundation (Samara/Martinelli) versus Kris and Rob.  We got that Doubles One-Setter officially underway at exactly 8:07.

Talk about timing!  Just three minutes later, "The Marathon Woman" Doinks Srinivasan made her way across the street only to find that she was now "the ninth wheel" and would have to wait quite a while as both One-Setters were still in the early stages.  She was pacing back and forth, practice swinging and doing whatever else she could to stay warm out in the parking lot.  We were worried that she was going to turn into a "Doinksicle!"  LOL!

When the second Doubles One-Setter of the night finished on Court Four, Levy was nice enough to sit the next one out and take a seat on the bench to let Doinks come in and play.  And then when the third One-Setter ended on Court Three exactly at 9:01 (a 56 minute set!), Spin stepped off like George Costanza to allow Levy back into the action.

And those were the only nine players we had the entire evening.  There were no cameo appearances either…so let's get to the action!

The Cedar Grove Results:

Nathan Fernandes/Mike Mole over Jordan Bachvaroff/Kris Srinivasan, 6-2!  Mike: 1 Ace on Kris (a funny one because it occurred just as Jordan let out a big burp…perhaps it distracted his partner, Kris, so we called it "The Burp Ace!" LOL!).  This was contested on Court Four from 7:25 to 7:55.

Nathan Fernandes/Levy Lorenzo over Jordan Bachvaroff/Mike Mole, 6-2!  Mike: 1 Ace on Nate.  Also conducted on Court Four, this one lasted from 8:02 to 8:40.

Frank Samara/Dan Martinelli over Kris Srinivasan/Rob Gawley, 6-4!  No Aces.  It went like this: Spin was broken (Love-15 shifted straight to Double Game Point where Rob hit a drop shot winner for Game Point, then it went to Deuce, Break Point where Kris blew an overhead to bring it back to 2^nd Deuce which was where Kris hit a blistering return winner to bounce it back to Break Point only to have an un-returned serve send it to 3^rd Deuce, Break Point again where another un-returned serve now made it 4^th Deuce, Break Point again and yet another un-returned serve as Rob netted yet another return attempt which now brought it to 5^th Deuce and then still one more Break Point where Rob redeemed himself with another drop shot winner to get the break…shocked I remembered all the winners in this one!) and then Rob held at Love after he started off with a truly un-returnable serve and then Frank blew a volley to set up Triple Game Point and then came the hold for a 2-0 lead.  Frank held serve (an un-returned serve for 15-Love, then 30-Love, 30-15 where Kris blew an overhead to make it Double Game Point where another un-returned serve secured the hold) and then Kris was broken (an un-returned serve for 15-Love and then point for point until 30-All, Break Point where Kris blew another overhead to basically break himself) as the set was leveled at 2-2.  Martinelli was broken again (Kris hit a vicious volley winner for Love-15 and then Spin made a great get in the next point which led to it becoming 15-All and then an un-returned serve made it 30-15 where Frank then blew a volley to make it 30-All and then it was Game Point where Kris had back-to-back winning volleys to take it to Deuce and then Break Point where he finished things off with a winning Overhead Smash to get the break as it suddenly became "The Kris Show!"), but Gawley was also broken and this was a game that went so long that I could only remember the early and late winners (Kris continued his hot streak in the early stages of this one with a laser-like passing shot winner and a whopper of a winner on the way to Triple Game Point, then it was Double Game Point where a Double Fault made it Game Point, then it went to Deuce, Game Point, 2^nd Deuce, Double Fault for Break Point, 3^rd Deuce and then all Break Points to 6^th Deuce where Frank hit a winner to set up the next Break Point where Spin then hit a winner to finally get the break) and tie things up again, this time at 3-3!  Samara held again (an un-returned serve for 15-Love, 15-All, a Double Fault for 15-30 where Rob hit a nice winner to set up Double Break Point where Frank made a great get/winner combo to take it down to Break Point where Frank followed with another winner to bring it to Deuce and then came Game Point where Frank secured his own hold with a dramatic drop shot winner as it seemed like Mr. Samara and Mr. Gawley were trying to one-up one another with drastic slice shots constantly being pulled out of their respective "bag of tricks") to go up 4-3, but then Srinivasan held as well and it was at Love as he hit un-returned serves twice against Spin as now he was the returner who could not dial it in and now we knotted the score once more, this time at 4-4!  The Doc finally held serve (Kris hit another missile-like passing shot winner for Love-15, it was then Love-30 before an un-returned serve shifted the momentum to 30-All which was where Kris hit a net-cord-aided return winner to set up Break Point where Spin feared he would be broken a third time, but he mustered up another un-returned serve to bring it to Deuce where perhaps the best rally of the match was played and it led to Game Point being set up where Frank locked down his partner's hold with a winning Windmill Overhead Smash) and then The Rogue was broken again (Love-15, 15-All and then onto Double Break/Match Point where Kris scored with his third highly impressive passing shot winner of the set to reduce his team's deficit to Break/Match Point but then came the break) to take a tough loss!  Court Three hosted this one from 8:07 to 9:01…56 minutes long…the type of duration usually reserved for Tiebreaker One-Setters!

The Skinny: All four of us had triumphant moments to boost our egos only to then burst those balloons with errant shots of buffoonery!  It was competitive yet fun…good-natured trash talking and laughs all around…the way we like it!  Any true criticism was always self-directed as Frank often called himself a jerk-off (as usual) while Rob frequently said, "You suck, Gawley!"  Good times!

Jordan Bachvaroff/Mike Mole over Nathan Fernandes/Doinks Srinivasan, 6-1!  No Aces.  These four faced off on Court Four from 8:48 to 9:18.  After this one, The Champ headed home.

Kris Srinivasan/Rob Gawley over Frank Samara/Levy Lorenzo, 6-3!  No Aces.  Here's how it went down: Frank was broken for the first time of the night (Kris hit yet another passing shot winner for Love-30, it went to Triple Break Point, Double Break Point and then the break), Kris was broken (Kris blew an overhead to make it Love-30, an un-returned serve made it 15-30, then Double Break Point and Break Point where Rob blew an overhead to allow the break), Levy was broken at Love after Kris hit a big-time Overhead Smash winner to set up Triple Break Point and then Rob was the first to hold serve (started with back-to-back un-returned serves and then Rob scored with an awesome passing shot winner of his own to set up Triple Game Point, but instead of getting what looked to be a certain Love hold, that lead was reduced to Game Point before finally getting the hold) for 3-1.  Samara was broken again (Love-15 and then point for point until 30-All as Kris hit a winning return along the way, it then took a slight shift to Game Point where Kris scored with a well-executed drop shot winner to make it Deuce and then it went to Break Point where Frank scored with a surprising get/winner combo to bounce it back to 2^nd Deuce, then came another Break Point where Frank hit a dramatic drop shot winner for 3^rd Deuce, then Game Point, 4^th Deuce, Break Point and finally the break) to fall to 1-4, but Srinivasan was also broken again (15-Love where Frank hit a highly effective passing shot winner of his own for 15-All and then a Double Fault made it 15-30, Double Break Point and then another Double Fault to break himself) to cut his team's lead to 4-2.  Lorenzo was broken at Love yet again as Kris hit a drop shot winner to set up Triple Break Point and then Frank blew a volley to allow the break as their team fell to 2-5, but then Gawley was also broken in the longest game of the night where I only remembered the winners that took place before it went to Deuce (30-Love where Levy hit a sizzling return winner to reverse the momentum and then it went to 30-All where an un-returned serve set up Game/Match Point, then Deuce, 2^nd Game/Match Point, 2^nd Deuce, Break Point, 3^rd Deuce, Break Point, 4^th Deuce, 3^rd Game/Match Point, 5^th Deuce, Break Point, 6^th Deuce, Break Point, 7^th Deuce, Double Fault for Break Point and then the break) to have his team's lead cut to 5-3.  But then The Wood was broken for the third straight time (Rob hit a killer drop shot winner for Love-30, then Kris blew a drop shot attempt to make it 15-30, then 30-All where Frank blew a volley and that set up Break/Match Point and then came the break on the 4^th M.P. overall) to get the big "L!"  This was contested on Court Three from 9:04 to 9:46.  Rob and Levy both left soon after.

The Skinny: The tone was a little more serious in this one as Levy doesn't bring the levity that Spin provides (he took his Heckler antics over to the next court, much to Jordan's dismay) and Frank seemed to lose the edge he had in the previous One-Setter.  Levy also seemingly got cold having sat out for a while on the bench.  Kris and Rob, however, gained some momentum in this one and also developed a higher level of teamwork as a result.

Mike Mole/Dan Martinelli over Jordan Bachvaroff/Doinks Srinivasan, 6-2!  Mike: 4 Aces (two on each and the first one each was dubiously disputed by both as Doinks and Jordan offered up the excuse of "I wasn't ready!" when really they should have been…LOL!).  Down 2-5, Jordan was broken at Love to end this one.  He said he could not concentrate due to the chicanery offered up by the man best known as simply Spin!  This one occupied Court Four from 9:23 to 9:50.  Jordan left soon after.

That left five of us behind: Kris/Doinks, Mike, Spin and me.  We had a bull session that ran until 10:45.  It was filled with non-stop laughter.  One memorable moment was when Spin wanted to say that he likes skinny chicks, but instead said that he likes "chinny sticks!"  We then joked that it sounded like a good name for a new snack.  If they ever hit the market, please notify us…as they owe us royalties!  LMAO!   

Sincerely,

Frank Samara

Gtasamara5@gmail.com

 

 

 

10/25 Results.

10/25/17:

"Liu-Knitzer part of 6 at PAC, 28 play (2 new) at C.G.!":

There were two sessions of GTA Wednesday Night Tennis and it was the usual ones at both the Park Ave. Courts in Nutley (co-hosted by "Richie" Rich Liu and "The Riz" John Rizzo) and at The Cedar Grove Courts (co-hosted by "The K Man" Kris Srinivasan, "The S Bomber" Genalin Capan and "Spin Doctor" Dan Martinelli).

So let's get the lowdown from both locations now.  The first one up at the plate is Richie Rich!

On a cool and pleasant Wednesday evening in Nutley, Dan and I completed a Best of 3 Sets Singles Challenge Match. 

The PAC Results:

2 out of 3 Sets Challenge Match:

Dan Knitzer over Rich Liu, 7-5, 6-3, to become the New # 32 Ranked Player in the Intermediate Division!  No Aces.

The Richie Rich Recap: It was a hard-fought match where there like some 20 Deuces in the 1st Set alone!  Congrats to Dan, as he was very consistent and quick in making impressive gets off of hard shots during extended rallies.

The 1st Set was very competitive where each game seemed to go to Deuce and multiple times.  Both Dan and I pretty much held serve till the end where I dropped a couple games to lose 7-5.  The 2nd Set was also competitive for the most part as Dan was up 3-0, then I came back to tie it at 3-3 only to then lose at 6-3.  Dan used the lob to really get me as I missed some crucial slams off those countless lobs.  Dan played a very consistent game throughout and deserves the win.  I hope he gives me a rematch soon.

Samara's Notes: I thank Rich for his timely reporting and comprehensive commentary.  We now grab some additional results from The Riz and will then go back to Rich for an incomplete result.

Tom La/Nick Caputo over John Rizzo/Edgar Valencia, 6-0!  No Aces.

2 out of 3 Sets Doubles Match:

John Rizzo/Nick Caputo over Tom La/Edgar Valencia, 6-3, 6-3, as both teams entered the Doubles Division as the New # 103 and # 104 Ranked Teams respectively!  No Aces.

The Riz Report: We did take a really long break between sets because I was not going to play again…but thankfully my foot seemed to hold up through it all.

Samara's Notes: I thank John for his timely reporting and now we go back to Rich for just a little bit more.

After our long match (which ran from approximately 7:45 to 9:30), Dan played Edgar Valencia in what was intended to be a Singles One-Setter. 

Dan Knitzer leading Edgar Valencia, 4-3 (Incomplete when the lights went out at 10pm)!  No Aces.

The Richie Rich Recap:  I had fun watching then along with John as it seemed Edgar was making Dan run all over the place.  Dan sure got a good workout this night.

Samara's Notes: Again, thanks to Rich for all he is doing for the GTA as he has brought many new players to our league this season via his Meet-Up Group.  We now head up to Cedar Grove where Kris will first set the tone with his overall view of the session (along with a slew of results) and then we will also have contributions from Gen and Spin along the way as well.

It turned out to a beautiful night for GTA Tennis despite the fall in temperature.  With absolutely no wind, it didn't feel cold.  On the contrary, it made it a pleasant evening session.  It was a massive turnout as I believe we had 28 players total with the well-organized women kicking off the evening session early, followed up by a stream of other players at regular intervals.  There is every chance I am going to miss a few results.  Hopefully, input from others will help fill the gaps.

Samara's Notes: We now go to Gen for the first couple scores (along with her commentary which will then be followed by feedback from Kris).

Doinks initiated the match by sending a text to the rest of us early in the morning.  She coordinated with Brenda and Dawn to play us this evening around 6:45.  We took Court 3 and started to warm-up.  Dawn and Brenda started hitting on one side of the court. Sally Pillay was nice enough to hit with me for a few minutes until Doinks joined us.

The Cedar Grove Results:

Doinks Srinivasan/Genalin Capan over Brenda Jordan/Dawn Peterson, 6-2!  No Aces.

Gen's Notes: None of us were able to hold serves till 2-2.  Doinks was the first to hold her service game for us to take the lead at 3-2.  We took the next three games for the win.  The momentum started to pick up with more rallies in the mix.  The last game went to multi-Deuces as Brenda/Dawn saved 2 Match Points before we finally closed out the set on the third one.  The set lasted 30 minutes, played from 7:08 to 7:38.

Brenda Jordan/Dawn Peterson over Doinks Srinivasan/Genalin Capan, 7-6 (7-3)!  No Aces.

Gen's Notes: We started again with an exchange of breaks for 1-1.  Gen held for 2-1 and then Dawn was broken on her serve to extend our lead to 3-1.  We had leads at 3-2 and 4-2.  Then Brenda/Dawn took the next three games to take the lead at 5-4.  Brenda was then serving for the set.  This service game went back and forth with multiple Game Points/Break Points.  Doinks and I saved 2 Match Points and then got the break for 5-All!  Gen held for 6-5.  Dawn's service game was another battle (multi-Deuces). Doinks and I had our chances, but did not convert 2 Break Points.  Dawn eventually held for 6-All to take us to a Tiebreaker.

In the TB: Brenda/Dawn took lead at 2-1. Then we got the next two points for 3-2.  Then Brenda/Dawn won the next five points to take the set.  We played this one from 7:38 to 8:34…four minutes shy of a full hour!  This set is a definite Nominee for One-Set Women's Doubles Match of the Year.

We had intended to play a full match, but decided to stop after what would have been the 2nd Set since people were waiting to play.  Overall, they were very competitive sets…especially that last one.  Everyone played well.  We had some really intense rallies which made for a fun and spirited atmosphere.   Good stuff, ladies!

As Dawn started to drive-off we noticed she had a very large, cuddly stuffed bear on the passenger side of her car.  We took a photo-op moment with Snuggles (aka "Ted" as per Mike Mole).  I sent the pictures on a separate e-mail to Frank.  I hope you get to see it.

Samara's Notes: I concur with Gen's opinion on that last One-Setter being a very likely Nominee at season's end.  As for the photos, I did get them…but I am, unfortunately, so far behind with various issues…that I do not know when I will be able to share them with the league.  "The Accelerator" Abhilash Gadi sent me a very nice pic of his complete of a half marathon he had completed in Brooklyn (I believe) the day before he competed in the M-Dub Mixed Doubles Tournament and I still have failed to get that out to the group.  He may end up becoming our new "Marathon Man" (a moniker once owned by Ron Ruiz).  Let's now get the feedback from Kris on those first couple One-Setters.

The K has his say: This turned out to be a great couple of One-Setters as we got to see terrific plays made by every one of them.  It was a great comeback and spirited play by Brenda and Dawn to stay in the second one to take out their opponents in the TB!  It was good to see Brenda play strong in the second set unlike at times in the past when she used to get tired as the match would progress.  Dawn was packing some smoking shots as well.  Gen was brilliant at the net and Doinks was flowing in her shots. The women would have played the deciding 3^rd Set to make it a full match if not for the players waiting on the sidelines for their chance to play.

Arthur Fontanilla/Fadia Nicolas over Kris Srinivasan/Omar Santos, 6-3!  No Aces.

We started right away without warming up and it reflected in our game.  Arthur was practicing with a hopper earlier and he played many shots that were brutal.  Fadia was steady and solid.  We were just starting to get warmed up when the match concluded.

Moka Pathan/Ray Spadaro over Jay Phoenix/Joe Rodrigues, 6-4!  No Aces.

They had a very good match as all the players had their moments of glory.  Ray was amazing and was a satisfied man having played a smart game.  It was great to hear Jay making his usual noises, enlivening the atmosphere.  Joe and Moka showed their aggressive game and focus.  It was a close match that ended to Ray's thrill of getting to close it out in victorious fashion.

Marijus Kuzavas/Sally Pillay over Mike Mole/Jose Gonzales, 7-6 (8-6)!  No Aces.

It was a very close match that started beautifully for Mike and Jose, winning the first four games before a solid comeback by the reigning GTA Mixed Doubles Champs.  Jose was serving superbly and Marijus was less than sharp at first before coming back good and strong with it.  Sally was sharp at the beginning of the night before coming off the rails as the night progressed.

Levy Lorenzo/Myet Delgra over Nick Inciong/Rona Mendoza, 7-5!  No Aces.  It was the official GTA Debut of both Myet Delgra and Rona Mendoza.

It was a very good match that saw two new female players coming in from Nutley as they specifically looked to play with us.  I talked to both Myet and Rona and welcomed them to the league by setting up a Mixed Doubles match for them.  Both are good players and are excellent additions to our Women's Division.  They got to play only one set, but it was an exceptionally lengthy one that both enjoyed.  There was a plenty of cross-court tussle between Nick and Myet on many points.  She was game for the most part.

Ryan Pienciak/Joe Rodrigues over Mike Mole/Tito Castolo, 7-6 (7-1)!  No Aces.

It was another close match that went the distance.

Nathan Fernandes/Natalia Sout over Moka Pathan/Ray Spadaro, 7-5!  No Aces.

It was a very good win for Nate and Natalia after beginning behind, down 3-5.  There were amazing shots from Natalia to some well-placed shots and she was quite focused.  Nate was his usual brilliant self, jumping in at crucial times and his slices proved effective on many occasions.  His confidence in Natalia has grown tremendously by seeing her consistency and involvement.  It was good for them to build strongly as a team, beating Men's Doubles teams consistently these days.  It would be a good time to challenge Marijus and Sally.

Samara's Notes: Right now, Marijus and Sally must first play the 2017 M-Dub Champs: Rich Liu and "Killer Kat" Kathy Sheldon.  There has been much negotiating back and forth as their four schedules have been in conflict.  As of now, the match is set for Monday, November 6^th.  We now go back to Kris.

Rob Gawley/Natalia Sout over Dan Martinelli/Suzanne Bujara, 6-3!  No Aces.

A wily Rob and a steady Natalia made it tough for the opponents.  I had suggested Spin team with Natalia against Rob and Susan.  What can I say when Rob won't let go of Nat...:-).  Well, Spin was robbed of teaming with Natalia by "The Rogue"...:-).

Samara's Notes: Spin did not report that result (I hope he was actually in that one), but he did report some others which we will get to a little later in this report.  Let's first grab a couple more scores from Kris.

Levy Lorenzo/Nick Inciong over Marijus Kuzavas/Omar Santos, 6-3!  No Aces.

Ryan Pienciak/Kris Srinivasan over Nathan Fernandes/Dino Celis, 7-5!  Ryan: 2 Aces on Dino!

It turned out to be good match after we were almost shut down at one stage trailing 3-5!  Ryan was serving superbly and did well to keep us in the loop.  But it was a disaster from my side against two good players doing well.  Nate hardly makes errors and Dino was serving great on either side with incredible zip.  Dino's shots were solid, but his misses and lack of mobility played a role in the ultimate outcome.

Samara's Notes: We now turn to Spin for those additional results before we let Kris have his final thoughts on the session as well as some great news for the league going forward.

Sally Pillay/Fadia Nicolas over Dan Martinelli/Suzanne Bujara, 6-2!  No Aces.  

The Spin from Spin: Sally was hilarious!  She could not serve to save her life or the lives of others.  The rest of her game was great, but she was in a serving funk "fer" sure.  Case in point: our only two games were courtesy of her Double Faulting them away.  

Tito Castolo/Doinks Srinivasan over Dan Martinelli/Sally Pillay, 6-1!  No Aces.

The Spin from Spin: Sally's serving woes continued in this one, but to a lesser extent.  It was I who stunk up the place.  Doinks and Tito were nearly perfect as this set was over in no time.  Doinks decided to take charge from the outset and set the teams.  She said, and I quote, "Let's play Tito and I versus you two.  It will be the Filipinos versus 'the others'!"  Spin jumped all over "the others" comment.

Dan Martinelli/Tito Castolo leading Sally Pillay/Doinks Srinivasan, 3-1 (Incomplete when the lights went out at 10pm)!  No Aces.

The Spin from Spin: Again, it was the ever so bold Doinks who said "let's do a 'Battle of the Sexes' set!"  She was quite feisty on this night.  Between her laughter and Sally's screams, it was sure a fun set that had me wishing the lights would stay on until 11!

A crowd gathered and stayed at the courts for a good deal of time after the lights went out.  Kudos to the injured Natalia who toughed it out playing with a splint on her hand!  A twisted and sprained thumb would not deny her some GTA Tennis action.  

Samara's Notes: I thank Spin for his colorful commentary.  We now bounce back to Kris for some more color commentary as well as some important news.

The K has his say: It was an incredible night of intense, non-stop action with great matches and spirited plays.  With two new women players joining the GTA, it looks great for the Women's Division as the league further expands.  Earlier, I received a text message from the Cedar Grove Township Recreation Department Director asking me about the "Referee Chair"...:-).  I gave them the full lowdown and then incidentally asked for an extension of the lights being left on deadline (just like they favored us with last year).  As a result, we have been assured of lights being left on until December 1st for which I'm grateful and thankful, indeed!  Hopefully, we will have decent weather for us to enjoy outdoor GTA Tennis thru November as well.  Cheers!

Samara's Notes: I thank everyone in both Nutley and Cedar Grove for their hosting duties and very timely reporting.  This is how the league continues to grow and I am very appreciative of the efforts of all involved.  And major kudos to Kris for all his negotiating efforts with Cedar Grove Parks and Rec these past few years.  As they said on "Seinfeld": "Did the K Man do it or did the K Man do it?!?!"  Well, he did…once again!

Sincerely,

Frank Samara

Gtasamara5@gmail.com

 

 

 

10/23 Results.

10/23/17:

"Doinks/Levy host 8 at C.G.!":

There were just one session of GTA Monday Night Tennis and it was the usual one at The Cedar Grove Courts with both "The Marathon Woman" Doinks Srinivasan and "The Levitator" Levy Lorenzo stepping up as impromptu hosts and submitting results.

So let's get the lowdown from both of them now.

The Cedar Grove Results:

Nick Inciong/Rafaelo Kazakov over Edgar Valencia/Doinks Srinivasan, 7-5!  No Aces.

3 out of 5 Sets Doubles Match:

Levy Lorenzo/Tito Castolo over Rob Gawley/Justin Berardo, 6-1, 6-2, 6-2, to successfully defend the # 84 Rank in the Doubles Division!  In the process, Gawley/Berardo entered the division as the New # 102 Ranked Team.  No Aces.

Levy Lorenzo/Tito Castolo leading Rob Gawley/Justin Berardo, 4-0 (Incomplete when the lights went out at 10pm)!  No Aces.

The Levy Lowdown: I teamed with Tito, "The Illusionist!"

Samara's Notes: I thank both Doinks and Tito for their very timely reporting.  And now Tito has earned yet another moniker.

Sincerely,

Frank Samara

Gtasamara5@gmail.com

 

 

 

10/22 Results.

10/22/17:

"6-Team W-Dub part of 19 at AP, 5 at NTC, Weldon-Phoenix at C.G.!":

This year was the second time we held a W-Dub Women's Doubles Tournament (which has a multi-year history in the GTA) with a format similar to both the Monk Memorial Men's Doubles Tournament and the M-Dub Mixed Doubles Tournament whereby the teams would be selected via lottery-style with the higher-ranked women drawing the names of the lower-ranked women out of a hat (a bag, actually).

Also like last season, this tourney came hot on the heels of last week's M-Dub as that event was postponed one week by rain the previous Sunday.  Unlike last year, however, our plans to once again host the event at the Cedar Grove Courts would soon go awry.

The day started off so promising with weather that truly was perfect...especially for this time of year.  The morning temps were in the lower 60 degree range, but would soon climb to the lower 70's with full sunshine and virtually no humidity.  All of this coupled with just the slightest breeze...not nearly enough to negatively affect play, but just enough to keep things cool.

What was not cool was the situation we soon encountered at Cedar Grove.  The host of the event, "Hollywood" Frank Samara, had a chance to get to the courts early.  As he came down Little Falls Road and started to approach the parking lot, he noticed it was already filled with many cars!  He briefly thought that perhaps the ladies (twelve of them confirmed to be participating) all decided to get an early start.

Upon pulling in, he saw "Laidback" Laurie Boughton getting out of her car.  The two greeted each other before being greeted by grim reality...all four courts were under the control of...INTERLOPERS!  Yes, I have said it!  Courts Three and Four both had Men's Doubles action going on while Courts One and Two had Men's Singles action underway.

None of the faces looked familiar...and it appeared as if this may be an organized group of gents (at least the eight on Courts Three and Four). 

We now definitely had a dilemma on our hands.  All of our ladies started arriving one after another (I did not note the timing of each as I was already so preoccupied with the predicament at hand) and then finding out what we were up against.

Along the way, "Vintage" Vinnie De Benedetto arrived (he had told Samara he would be a likely spectator for this Sunday's event) and informed us that even one of the two courts down the road was occupied.  Thus, of six available courts, five of them were already taken by a little after 10am.

While the amazing weather was likely motivation for such a turnout, we had never before seen anything like this on a Sunday morning at Cedar Grove.  Frank sent a text message to the usual host at Cedar Grove, "The K Man" Kris Srinivasan, somewhere along the way...but it turns out he was not home anyway.

Soon after, his wife "The Marathon Woman" Doinks Srinivasan made her way across the street to soon join in on the shock and awe of all the others representing the GTA.

Samara asked De Benedetto if he could head over to Albion Park in Clifton to see what the situation was there in terms of court availability.  With Doinks now there, we had eleven of our twelve ladies in place with only "S-Ko" Susan Koshy running late and still on her way.  That turned out to be a good thing actually as we contacted her and redirected her to Albion (which is a shorter trip coming from Bergen County anyway).

Once we overheard the foursome on Court Four say "let's play another set," we knew the die was cast.  We all decided to head to Albion without even receiving the word from Vin.  We all left around 10:10.

At 10:15, Vin called Frank to say all three courts (which is all we would need for a 12-Woman/6-Team Event) were available...but that he could only hold one in the meantime.  Samara's reply was that everyone was already on their way and the arrivals would start in about five minutes.

Sure enough, Fernanda and Frank were the first two to pull up to the courts of Albion at 10:20.  Susan was already there and talking to Vin on the sidelines of the North Court.  By 10:25, most of the rest of the ladies had arrived with the last couple of stragglers striding down the hill by 10:30. 

Besides the good news being that we now had The Albion Park Courts all to ourselves for the tourney, this year's format doubled last season's as we had 12 women forming six teams rather than just six women forming three teams (last year it was supposed to be eight women forming four teams, but those plans fell apart at the last minute).

We knew it was historic having twelve of our ladies all there at once and a couple of times it had been mentioned that we should take a photo...but, unfortunately, that never happened.

Given the delay (due to the last-minute change of location), we had the following "quasi" single elimination format: two rounds of action - First Round/One-Set Eliminators and The Semifinals all to be played in the same day (hopefully). 

I say "quasi" single elimination format because we would have three simultaneous One-Setters to see which three teams would win to advance and then we would have one losing team (of the three teams that seemingly failed to advance) that lost by the closest margin become the "Lucky Losers" and still advance to the Semis where they would face the team that would win by the widest margin.  And that would leave the other two winning teams to face one another in the other Semi. 

The Semis would feature full matches except that if the first two sets were split, those matches would be decided by a 10-Point Super Tiebreak.  The Finals (to be played at a later date) would have to be a full 2 out of 3 Sets Match (per the rules of the league, all Tournament Finals...like Championship Matches and/or matches for rank...must go a full three sets if the first two are split).

With all the ladies present and spread out on the three courts in various hitting sessions, Samara then had to do his traditional duty of presenting a bag full of tickets for each woman to dig into in order to pull out the name of their partner.

It would begin with the highest-ranked woman picking first, GTA Women's Champion: Laura "The Aura" Gawley, then "The Argentine Machine" Fernanda Toker and so on and so on until the lowest-ranked "captain", Brenda "Bravo" Jordan would be left with the partner whose ticket was the one never removed from the bag.

So Laura picked first and got the "Laurie" ticket as in Laurie Boughton.  Laura and Laurie would team to form a "Laidback Aura."

Next up was Fernanda who pulled the ticket that read "Louise" which meant her partner would be "Lady B" Louise Bysiek.  Toker had been familiar with her from non-GTA events as an opponent rather than as a teammate.

Doinks Srinivasan was next to choose and she pulled the "Suzanne B." ticket out of the bag...which meant she'd be teaming with "Sue B. Newbie" Suzanne Bujara.

"C.A.T." Christine Toth was to follow with her draw and the ticket that was produced had the name "Fadia" on it...as in "Fabulous" Fadia Nicolas.  Christine was happy with this pick as they recently became familiar with each other and played a full match as a team that got them ranked in the Women's Doubles Division (currently they are the # 7 Ranked Team).  That rank would be on the line if they made it to the Semis. 

"Killer Kat" Kathy Sheldon would be last to pick (but not the last of the captains to get paired off with someone) and she pulled the "Dawn" ticket out of the bag...that meant her partner would be "Dominant" Dawn Peterson...and that also meant that they would be the second team currently ranked in the Women's Doubles Division (right at the bottom of it in the # 14 spot) to now be in this event.

As stated earlier, Brenda Jordan was the last of the "captains" to be getting paired with a lower-ranked partner.  She would not, however, get to pull the ticket from the bag as there was only one choice left...and that was Susan Koshy.  Like Christine/Fadid and Kat/Dawn, this was a happy reunion of players already familiar with one another.

From there, the First Round Match-Ups were to follow traditional tourney format rules with the top captain's team facing the lowest-ranked captain's team and then working our way toward the middle for the other two matches.  And that set the First Round Matches as follows:

Gawley/Boughton versus Jordan/Koshy (to be played on the North Court).
Toker/Bysiek versus Sheldon/Peterson (to be played on the South Court).
Srinivasan/Bujara versus Toth/Nicolas (to be played on Center Court).

As stated earlier in this report, the three winning teams would advance to the Semis along with the "Lucky Losers" (i.e. the team that lost by the slimmest margin of those three First Round Matches).

The first of the First-Round One-Setters officially got underway on the North Court at 10:45.  The second one would begin on Center Court at precisely 10:47.  And the third one would get started on the South Court at exactly 10:51.  Later, the significance of noting those starting times would come into play.

Frank and Vin both sat on the bench alongside the North Court as the two willing spectators they had planned on being all along (with Samara still nursing a knee injury...a contusion under his right kneecap, actually...from Friday night action). 

Soon, we would get some unexpected additional observers.  The first two, "Lean Daddy" Dean Delgado (arriving at 11:10) and "The Headhunter" Ralph Bernard (arriving at 11:15), thought they would have the Albion Park Courts all to themselves as they had rightfully assumed that the W-Dub Women's Doubles Tournament would be at Cedar Grove.  They soon learned of the predicament and subsequent change of plans.

We got a good laugh at the fact that Ralph had issued an e-mail earlier asking if anyone would be playing at the courts in Nutley.  The funny thing was that he did not have The Park Ave. Courts in mind...he was talking about Albion Park in Clifton!  When Frank asked him where he lives and the reply was Montclair, Samara found Mr. Bernard's mistake to be even more amusing (as it is not as if Ralph lives a county or so away...LOL!).

GTA Champion: "Nate the Great" Nathan Fernandes arrived at 11:20 having just come from Cedar Grove where now all four courts were clear!  He was soon followed onto the courts by "Hurricane" Jose Gonzales.  And five minutes after those two arrivals, "J-Rod" Joe Rodrigues also came down the hill, through the gate and out onto the courts as all three had to wait on the sidelines for just a bit.

The first four guys to arrive (Dean, Ralph, Nate and Jose) would soon be able to start a Doubles One-Setter on the North Court with it being Fernandes/Bernard versus Gonzales/Delgado.  That got underway at 11:25.

With the last of the three First Round One-Setters finishing just two minutes later, we then had a new situation on our hands as two of those three match-ups ended with a 6-2 score.  As we did the week before at the M-Dub Mixed Doubles Tournament to determine the match-ups in the following round, we had to now go to a second round of criteria to determine which team would advance to the Semis.

Since it took Toker/Bysiek twelve minutes longer to dispose of Sheldon/Peterson than it did Gawley/Boughton to bounce Jordan/Koshy out of the First Round, that meant that Kathy and Dawn were "The Lucky Losers" being given a second chance and getting to advance to the Semis where they would face the team that won by the widest berth - Christine and Fadia.

And that also meant that the other two tandems would do battle in the other Semi - Gawley/Boughton versus Toker/Bysiek.  The two losing teams to be eliminated were Jordan/Koshy and Srinivasan/Bujara.  The original plan was to have those two teams face off in a third full 2 out of 3 Sets Match (with 10-Point Super Tiebreak allowed) in a Non-Tournament battle that would still enable each team to get ranked in the Doubles Division.

But now with so many of the guys present, those plans were scrapped and now people would have to sit out as the North Court became the home of the Non-Tourney One-Setters.

Natalia "Nitro" Sout arrived at 11:35 in street clothes as the injury she sustained on Friday night forced her to withdraw her name from consideration for this tourney (though it pained her even more not to play) and she echoed the same observation of her Mixed Doubles partner, Nate...she had just come from Cedar Grove where all four courts were now available!

Having done his good deed for the day and also having gotten the chance to see the ladies in action, Vin called it a day and headed home around 11:40.

At 11:55, Kris Srinivasan made a surprise arrival.  Like his wife Doinks, it was his first time ever at the courts of Albion. 

Dino "The Dragon" Celis ambled his way down the hill toward the courts at 12:10.

At 12:35, two ballsy young kids (I say ballsy because it was clear that plenty of adults were using the three courts) made their way through the gate and then sat their skinny asses down in the corner of the North Court.  During an extended changeover between sets on Center Court, they tried to take that court over only to be told by the ladies that the match was still in progress.

They then took a seat next to J-Rod and you would have thought that this pair of brothers had just found their long-lost dad!  At 12:55, mere minutes after the Semi on Center Court had ended...they ran out onto the court and simply took it over!  For all I know, they may be relatively nice kids as they were never a problem beyond that.  I'm just consistently stunned by the sense of entitlement of much of our youth nowadays.

They never asked anyone directly if they could have the courts (unless they asked Joe...and what could he tell them when put in that position anyway).  I know that when we were young, if we had seen a crowd of adults occupying the courts...we would have just traveled to another nearby park to check the availability there.  Times have definitely changed!

Just as these youngsters got their wish, "Spin Doctor" Dan Martinelli and "Instant" Moka Pathan made their way down the hill to the courts.  Having first played their usual Sunday football game, they then went to the Cedar Grove Courts only to find it looking like a ghost town!  Spin thought that it was too soon for the tourney to have ended that early.  He then pondered if a major catfight-style battle royal may have ended the proceedings prematurely.

Thankfully, he thought to then check out the scene at Albion and arrived in time to see the balance of the last Semi being played out on the South Court.  This battle would eventually find its way to the 10-Point Super Tiebreak! 

And after that marathon match finished a couple of minutes before 1:15, the kids shifted from Center Court to the South Court (per the suggestion of Fadia who was on the North Court and perhaps getting bothered by their errant balls streaming over onto their court).  Perhaps the kiddies felt less comfortable now surrounded by so many adults as they left the courts entirely just five minutes later.

They were only a minor fly in the ointment on a day that would not be denied.  The tourney went as smoothly as it could have given the somewhat problematic circumstances.  And we ended up having a session that included 19 official competitors.  It would have been twenty had Samara played at least a One-Setter...and he was willing to do so, but there was always others more eager to play.  The man also known as The Wood thought it wise to just "let it go" and save himself for another day.  

The Albion Park Results:

W-Dub First Round One-Setter:
Laura Gawley/Laurie Boughton over Brenda Jordan/Susan Koshy, 6-2!  No Aces.  It was the official GTA Return of Susan Koshy.  Laura and Laurie went from 1-0 to 1-2 before taking the last five games straight for the win!  This one occupied the North Court from 10:45 to 11:09.

W-Dub First Round One-Setter:
Christine Toth/Fadia Nicolas over Doinks Srinivasan/Suzanne Bujara, 6-1!  No Aces.  This was contested on Center Court from 10:47 to 11:11.

W-Dub First Round One-Setter:
Fernanda Toker/Louise Bysiek over Kathy Sheldon/Dawn Peterson, 6-2!  No Aces.  The South Court hosted this one from 10:51 to 11:27.

The situation was now such that we had two teams that had lost by the same margin, 6-2!  We knew that Doinks and Suzanne were now definitely out of it having been on the losing end of a 6-1 score.  But which team would become "The Lucky Losers": Brenda and Susan or Kathy and Dawn.

Well, the next determinant of who would advance and who would be eliminated was length of play (this rule was used to determine match-ups...not advancement or elimination...in last week's M-Dub Mixed Doubles Tournament), i.e. the duration of each One-Setter.

Sheldon/Peterson had the edge as it took their opposition 36 minutes to dispose of them while it took the adversaries of Jordan/Koshy just 24 minutes (a full 12 minutes less) to rid their rivals. 

For the Semis, the team had won by the widest margin would now face "The Lucky Losers" while the other two teams would form the other match-up.

Those last two teams, Gawley/Boughton and Toker/Bysiek, soon got their battle underway on the South Court at exactly 11:34 while Dawn, Kat and Christine all left together to go down the road for a bathroom break.  This left Doinks and Fadia to have a hitting session on Center Court which was soon joined by Suzanne taking Fadia's side and Susan taking the side of Doinks for the hitting practice.

The three ladies returned from said bathroom break twenty minutes after their departure at 11:30 (i.e. they got back by 11:50).  The second Semi began on Center Court at 11:55.

But we have to go back in time just a bit for our next result.

Non-W-Dub Men's Doubles One-Setter:
Nathan Fernandes/Ralph Bernard over Jose Gonzales/Dean Delgado, 6-3!  Jose: 1 Ace on Ralph (a strategic slice that Jose was proud of, but Ralph thought was cheap...LOL!)!  This one took place on the North Court from 11:25 to 11:58.

W-Dub Semifinal:
Fernanda Toker/Louise Bysiek over Laura Gawley/Laurie Boughton, 6-2, 4-6, 10-8 (STB), to advance to the Finals of the 2017 W-Dub Tournament as both teams entered the Women's Doubles Division as the New # 15 and # 16 Ranked Teams respectively!  No Aces.

1st Set (quick recap): Fernanda and Louise jumped out to a 2-0 lead and then Laura held to cut that lead to 2-1 before it went to 3-1 and that was where Boughton was broken (despite having been up Double Game Point, she hit a Double Fault that made it Game Point before going to Deuce and then the break) as her team fell to 1-4 and the set would go to 5-1 before it became 5-2 and then the set went to Toker/Bysiek at 12:14 (it had begun on the South Court at 11:34)!  Two minutes later, they got the next set underway.

2nd Set (quick recap): Laura and Laurie had leads of 2-1, 3-1, 3-2, 4-2, 4-3, 5-3 and 5-4 where Gawley held (Triple Game/Set Point, it ended on Double Game/Set Point) to level the match at 12:58.  It was now time for the 10-Point Super Tiebreak!

The STB: Fernanda hit a Double Fault on her lone serve and then Laura held both of her serves as her first one was un-returned and Laura then hit a walloping winner for a 3-0 lead!  Louise held both of her serves as each went un-returned as her team pulled to 2-3.  Laurie held the first of her two serves as Laura hit a passing shot winner for 4-2 at the first changeover, but then Boughton was broken on her second for 4-3.  Toker was broken on both of her serves as she made a great get only to have Laura waiting at the net to hit the winning volley for the first point and then Gawley/Boughton took that next point as well for a 6-3 lead.  Gawley then held the first of her two serves with a truly un-returnable serve that gave her team what seemed to be a solid 7-3 lead.  But then The Champ was broken on her second serve as Laura uncharacteristically blew an overheated overhead attempt and then Bysiek again held both of her serves as the first one came before the second changeover and then the second serve ended in a hold as Laura compounded her team's problems with a blown volley as well!  Boughton held the first of her two serves as that one went un-returned for a 8-6 lead, but then she was broken on her second for 8-7.  Toker held the first of her two serves as Louise hit a winning volley and then The Argentine Machine held her second as well as it went un-returned as her team took their first lead in the TB at 9-8.  And then came the longest point and most exciting rally of the match as neither team wanted to budge after Laura had served it up and then Fernanda hit a well-angled shot that bounced onto the court but soon bounded far off of it as all those in attendance thought the match was over only to then have Gawley gamely hurl herself toward the ball and bring it back it with a shot fueled by pure desperation (perhaps some perspiration as well) to keep it in play as they played on until it was Laurie who eventually coughed up the unforced error with an errant shot into the net!  What a way it was to end this epic encounter!  And end it did at precisely 1:13.

The Skinny: Laura and Fernanda always impress with their great get-making and overall strategic play.  Gawley adds a bit more pop and aggression to her shots while Toker takes her time constructing the points in the hopes of drawing the error from the other side.  To that end, Laurie sometimes helped her cause...yet at other times she gutted out great shots with gusto and enthusiasm.  When it comes to the entertainment factor, nobody tops Boughton who has now earned a new nickname with her constant outburst of "Suge!"  That is short for sugar...unless she is calling for Suge Knight to get out of jail and murder us all...LOL!  But the surprise story of this contest was the outstandingly consistent play from Louise.  Ms. Bysiek may not have the mobility she once had due to injury, surgery, increasing age...whatever factors you want to attribute the loss of speed to are all fair game.  She more than makes up for that though with fast hands (i.e. quick reflexes) to any shot within her reachable perimeter (she actually made quite the game get on one occasion now that I think about it).  Not only does Lady B send the ball back over the net, but she often confounds her opponents with her crafty placements...sometimes lobs, sometimes well-angled shots or short volleys and/or outright drop shots.  Toker later said that when she offered to cover most of the court and make most of the gets so as not to tire Bysiek out, Louise's reply to her was: "I don't get tired."  Well, she proved it today!  She was then set to play in a Doubles Final for some other league later in the afternoon!  Nate said another good nickname for her should be "Jeez Louise!"  On another note, this battle may also have a chance at being a Nominee for Women's Doubles Match of The Year at season's end.

W-Dub Semifinal:
Kathy Sheldon/Dawn Peterson over Christine Toth/Fadia Nicolas, 6-1, 6-0, to become the New # 7 Ranked Team in the Women's Doubles Division while also advancing to the Finals of the 2017 W-Dub Tournament!  No Aces (though Christine felt she had been denied one via a disputed call made by Kathy...only reason I mention this is because it was made public at the courts...the situation was settled by the end of the match).  This was contested on Center Court from 11:55 to 12:52. 

The Consequences: Now the Final is set - Sheldon/Peterson vs. Toker/Bysiek!  The winning team will become the New # 2 Ranked Team in the Women's Doubles Division and the next Top Contenders in line for a shot at the reigning GTA Women's Doubles Champions: Gawley and "The Smackdown" Sally Pillay!  It seems the Final will not be played this week due to conflicting schedules and what look to be certain washout days this coming Tuesday and Wednesday.  The four ladies involved hope to get it played the following week.

Let's get to the rest of the day's action!

Ralph Bernard/Brenda Jordan over Joe Rodrigues/Susan Koshy, 6-1!  Ralph: 1 Ace on Susan.  This was played on the North Court from 12:02 to 12:30.

Dean Delgado/Susan Koshy over Ralph Bernard/Suzanne Bujara, 6-1!  No Aces.  Also contested on the North Court, this one lasted from 12:32 to 12:55.  After it ended, Ralph and Joe had a hitting session with one another.

Ralph Bernard/Fadia Nicolas tied with Joe Rodrigues/Brenda Jordan, 5-5 (Incomplete when Brenda said she was getting too tired and had to go)!  No Aces.  They started this on the North Court at 1:10 and then "stopped short" like Frank Costanza at 1:45.  The premature stoppage then led to another hitting session between Ralph and Joe.

Moka Pathan/Dino Celis over Kris Srinivasan/Dino Celis, 6-1!  Dino: 2 Aces on Kris (one was on his very first serve of the day); and Kris: 1 Ace on Dino (on his very first serve going up against Dino who was returning from the Ad court...it was revenge after Dino's first Ace and prior to his second later in the contest)!  The South Court hosted this one from 1:43 to 2:03.

Nathan Fernandes/Doinks Srinivasan over Kris Srinivasan/Dino Celis, 6-4!  No Aces.  This was also played on the South Court and it got underway at 2:06.  Not sure when it finished as I left the courts around 2:10 as Spin, Moka and Joe were tossing a softball around in the park nearby the courts.

It was a lovely day to play just about anything involving a spheroid! 

And keeping that in mind, we now take you to the Nutley Tennis Club where "The Riz" John Rizzo hosted a session that featured five players including himself.

The NTC Results:

Ray Spadaro/Dan Knitzer over John Rizzo/Rich Liu, 6-4!  No Aces.  Despite now being on the clay courts, John's foot pain (residual from Friday night at the Park Ave. Courts) was painfully obvious...so much so that the rest of the guys insisted he sit out the next one and get some rest.  Thankfully Edgar Valencia was there to take his place.

Ray Spadaro/Dan Knitzer over Rich Liu/Edgar Valencia, 6-4!  No Aces.  Stingray and The Dark Knight had quite a day and they capped it with a win over Richie Rich and Edgar the Edge!

Samara's Notes: I thank John for sending in those results in a very timely fashion.

We now take this report up to Cedar Grove where there seemed to be only one official result as there was a full 2 out of 3 Sets Challenge Match between "The Legendary" Chazz Weldon and Jay "The Rising" Phoenix (as reported by Chazz). 

Kris and Doinks also reported seeing "The Bulgarian Bull" Jordan Bachvaroff and "Del Brotro" Mike Mole out on the courts later in the evening.  Jordan was playing Singles with his non-GTA sparring partner while they were not sure who Mike was with and if it was actual play or just a hitting session.  I reached out to Mike via e-mail and text and never received a reply, so it will have to remain unofficial.

And now let's get the word from Chazz.

The Cedar Grove Result:

2 out of 3 Sets Challenge Match:
Chazz Weldon over Jay Phoenix, 7-6 (7-2), 6-2, to successfully defend his # 18 Rank in the Advanced Division!  No Aces. 

All That Chazz: Kudos to Jay as in the 1st Set he fought back from being down 2-5 to level it at 5-5!  He then held serve to take a fourth straight game and go up 6-5, but then I also held and we were headed for the Tiebreak.  The 2nd Set was not as close, but still fun nonetheless.

Samara's Notes: I thank Chazz for his very timely reporting of this match and also congratulate him on an impressive victory. 

All the best,
Frank Samara
gtasamara5@gmail.com

10/21 Results.

10/21/17:

"Gawley-Toker at C.G.!":

There were just one session of GTA Saturday Tennis…a late afternoon/early evening one at The Cedar Grove Courts which featured the GTA Women's Championship Match between GTA Women's Champion: Laura "The Aura" Gawley and her Top Contender: "The Argentine Machine" Fernanda Toker (as reported by both).

So let's get the lowdown from both of them now.

The Cedar Grove Result:

GTA Women's Championship Match:

Laura Gawley over Fernanda Toker, 6-3, 6-1, to complete her fifth successful GTA Women's Championship defense of her first reign!  No Aces.

The Lowdown from Laura: We started the match at 5:35 and finished at around 6:50.  Fernanda was super steady, as always!  She really was effective moving me from side to side and she got to everything! We both did a lot of running!  It was a lot of fun! Hopefully, I'll be able to get out of bed on Sunday morning for the Women's Doubles Tournament!

Toker's Take: She is so f'n amazing!  We played for an hour and a half and I had so much fun playing with her.  I called her all different type of bad names and I made her laugh.  We had really long rallies and I had a lot of chances to break her and to hold my serve, but she is so good that I couldn't capitalize on them.  Al least she said that she was so tired that she didn't know if she would be able to get out of bed the next day…so that made me happy.  She had 5 Match Points and I wouldn't give up but, in the end, the best prevailed!

Samara's Notes: I thank both for reporting this result in such a timely manner (along with their commentary as well).  I also congratulate Laura on yet another highly impressive victory over a foe as feisty as Fernanda.  And I think we are seeing a really nice friendly rivalry developing here.  The scores make it seem somewhat lopsided, but I've seen their battles on the court and the rallies they have are anything but that. 

I think we all hope to see more of their matches in the future.  And I am sorry I had to miss this one as Fernanda gave me the heads-up and the invite ahead of time, but it was still somewhat short notice so I was busy with my kids at the time.

Sincerely,

Frank Samara

Gtasamara5@gmail.com

 

 

 

10/20 Results.

10/20/17:

"10 play at PAC, 18 play (1 return) at C.G.!":

There were two concurrent sessions of GTA Friday Night Tennis: one at The Park Ave. Courts in Nutley as "Hollywood" Frank Samara acted as host as some of the players were there as a result of "Richie" Rich Liu's Meet-Up Group while others were GTA veterans such as "The Riz" John Rizzo and "The Speed Demon" Dan Praport; the other was at The Cedar Grove Courts as we received results from "The Legendary" Chazz Weldon and "The Lumberjack" Ryan Pienciak along with the usual co-hosts (aka The First Couple of Cedar Grove) "The Marathon Woman" Doinks Srinivasan and "The K Man" Kris Srinivasan.

We will first recap the comings and goings at Park Ave.

Samara thought he was getting there early when he pulled into the parking lot at 6:50, but then he saw Rizzo, Liu and "Vintage" Vinnie De Benedetto standing together on Court One waiting for a fourth player to arrive.  Shockingly, Courts Two, Three and Four were all vacant (but not for long)!

With just the four of us hitting for a while, we decided to start playing with the teams being Frank and Vin versus John and Rich.  We said that if it ends up just being the four of us, it could be played as a full 2 out of 3 Sets Doubles Match.  If, however, a fifth or seventh wheel shows up…it would be limited to just a One-Setter to allow others to play.  We got the official action underway exactly at 7:01.

At 7:10, "Kaybee" Kyle Eng arrived and took Court Two to start practicing his serve.  Just when it was starting to seem like we may be faced with the "fifth wheel" situation, both "Muha" Muhammad Haque and Edgar "Valentino" Valencia made their way to Court Two as well.

Then, for just a bit, we thought we may have a "seventh wheel" situation.  But at 7:20, it was "Fantastic" Fausto Murg arriving to save the day.

Once our 1^st Set ended at 7:30, we decided to make it a full Doubles Challenge Match on Court One.  Around that same time, two outsiders took Court Four.

At 7:35, "The Speed Demon" Dan Praport arrived and took Court Three.  Just when it seemed like he may be the odd man out (a ninth wheel, if you will), just a few minutes later we saw "DC-10" David Caicedo arriving and we suggested he head over to Court Three to hit with Dan.

And those are the ten competitors we had for the rest of the evening…on a night where the weather was absolutely amazing…it felt much more like early September rather than mid to late October!  As such, some Singles One-Setters broke out among the Doubles One-Setters.

Let's get to the action!

The Park Ave. Courts Results:

2 out of 3 Sets Doubles Match:

John Rizzo/Rich Liu over Frank Samara/Vinnie De Benedetto, 6-3, 6-1, to become the New # 4 Ranked Team in the Doubles Division!  Rich: 2 Aces on Vinnie in the 1^st Set!

1^st Set: Rich held serve (an un-returned serve for 30-Love, 30-15 where Vin blew a volley to set up Double Game Point which was where he was then victimized by a service-line Ace for the hold), Frank held (an un-returned serve and then a victorious volley by Vin soon led to Triple Game Point where Rich hit a nice passing shot winner to make it Double Game Point which was where Vin hit a vicious volley winner to secure his partner's hold), John held (Love-15 shifted straight to Double Game Point as Rich hit a mishit volley winner along the way and then he secured his partner's hold with a Samara-like Windmill Overhead Smash winner), but Vin was the first to be broken (Love-15 shifted to 30-15 as Rich hit another mishit volley winner along the way and then it shifted again as Vin blew a volley along the way and then ended up getting broken) to fall to 1-3.  Liu held again (started with a sideline Ace on Vin, then it was 15-All before back-to-back un-returned serves set up Double Game Point where a third consecutive un-returned serve locked down the hold) to increase his team's lead to 4-1, but Samara also held again and it was at Love as he started off with an un-returned serve, Rich blew an overhead and then there was another un-returned serve to secure the hold to pull to 2-4!  Rizzo was broken (started off with a Double Fault and then it went point for point to Break Point as Rich hit a winning Overhead Smash, Frank hit a winning volley, Rich hit yet another winning Overhead Smash and Vin hit a winning Overhead Smash as well to set up that BP which was where Frank hit a passing shot return for the break) to have his team's lead cut to 4-3, but De Benedetto was broken again (Frank blew an overhead to make it Love-15, it then went to Love-30 before shifting straight to Game Point as Frank hit a net-cord-aided winner along the way, but then John hit a drop shot winner for Deuce, it then went to Break Point and 2^nd Deuce where Vin blew a volley to bring it back to Break Point where he was then broken) to fall again, this time to 3-5.  And then Richie Rich had his third straight hold (John hit a winner for 15-Love, a Double Fault for 15-All and then Vin blew an overhead and it was off and running to Double Game/Set Point where Frank blew a volley to allow the hold and drop the set) to end this set at 7:30 (we had begun this one on Court One at 7:01).  Two minutes later, the next set would get underway.

2^nd Set: Frank held (an un-returned serve for 15-Love where John hit a winner for 15-All, it then went straight to Double Game Point which was then cut down to Deuce, Game Point again, 2^nd Deuce where Vin hit a winning volley for Game Point where Frank made a great get that led to them winning the point to secure his own hold), Rich held (back-to-back un-returned serves made it 30-Love, it then shifted to 30-All where another un-returned serve set up Game Point where Vin blew a volley to allow the hold) and then Vin was once again the first one to be broken (John made an amazing get only to have Frank waiting at the net to put away the easy volley winner for 15-Love and then it went point for point until 30-All as Rich hit a drop shot winner and later a passing shot winner along the way and then Rich hit another winner for the mini-shift to Break Point where Vin broke himself with a Double Fault) for 1-2.  John held (an un-returned serve for 15-Love, a passing shot return winner from Frank for 15-All, but then it was off and running to Double Game Point as Frank blew a volley along the way and then he blew an overhead to enable the hold), Samara was broken (Vin blew an overhead for Love-30, an un-returned serve for 15-30 which was where John made an awesome get/winner combo to set up Double Break Point which was where Rich hit a net-cord-aided winner for the break), Liu held again and this time it was at Love as John started things off with a powerful passing shot winner, Vin blew a volley and then Rich hit a pair of passing shot winners to set up the hold and then to cause it to happen to take a quite commanding 5-1 lead.  And then De Benedetto was broken once again (Frank hit his most venomous volley winner for 15-Love, but then Rich hit a net-cord-aided return winner for 15-All and then he also hit a passing shot winner on the way to Double Break/Match Point, it then went to Break/Match Point only to have Frank dump an unforced error into the net to end this one in unceremonious fashion) to take a tough and somewhat surprisingly lopsided loss!  The match ended exactly at 7:54.

The Skinny: Afterward, both John and Frank felt that they were both a bit off their game…like always half a step behind and not quite getting a rhythm.  This was evidenced by the fact that early on in the 1^st Set, Samara had hit a shot where his own racquet swung back on the follow-thru to sting him right under his right kneecap.  It was painful, but did not stop him from continuing to play on…nor was it an excuse for his poor performance.  It had absolutely nothing to do it.  Vin, too, felt he had an off-night as he was also not quite in sync (no Justin Timberlake here…maybe more like Chris Kirkpatrick…LOL!).  The MVP of the match was Rich who was on the money much more often than not.  In fact, it was the most consistent performance we have ever seen from him.  He credited much of it to recently getting his racquet restrung and now having much more control over his shots.  Very telling about how this match went was the fact that it was "A Tale of Two Servers" as Rich was never broken on serve while Vin was never able to hold serve.

It has been quite the week for Mr. Liu as first he ended up becoming one half of the # 2 Ranked Team in the Mixed Doubles Division and now he is one half of the # 4 Ranked Team in the Doubles Division…not too shabby!

The Consequences: Just with this one loss, the Samara/De Benedetto tandem likely took themselves out of contention for an official Nomination for Doubles Team of The Year at season's end.  As they say: "No good deed goes unpunished!"  But I've always preferred to be of the ilk to accept a challenge (or even offer up one) at a moment's notice rather than to run and hide and make excuses as to why such a match is not convenient at that time.  Congratulations to both John and Rich on a very impressive victory!

Dan Praport over David Caicedo, 7-5!  Dan: 1 Ace.  Dan jumped out to a 4-1 lead before it was leveled at 4-4!  Praport went up 5-4 only to have Caicedo tie it again at 5-5.  The Speed Demon fought hard to take the next two games to close out his surprisingly tough opponent.  These two battled it out on Court Three for 55 minutes (7:45 to 8:40)!

Fausto Murg/Kyle Eng over Edgar Valencia/Muhammad Haque, 6-0!  Edgar: 2 Aces on Kyle!  These two teams faced off on Court Two from 7:50 to 8:20.  Kyle had to leave the session soon after it ended.

Rich Liu/Vinnie De Benedetto over Frank Samara/John Rizzo, 6-3!  John: 1 Ace on Vin; and Rich: 1 Ace on Frank!  It went like this: John held in a struggle where I failed to remember who hit what winners once it went beyond Deuce (an un-returned serve for 15-Love which was where Frank blew a volley for 15-All and then it went straight to Double Break Point as Rich hit a rapid return winner along the way, but then Frank hit an Overhead Smash winner to cut it to Break Point, then Deuce, Game Point, 2^nd Deuce, Game Point, 3^rd Deuce, Break Point, 4^th Deuce, Game Point, 5^th Deuce, Game Point and finally the hold) , Rich held (Frank made a great get/winner combo for Love-15 and that got the ball rolling to Triple Break Point where Rich made a sick get/passing shot winner combo to reduce it to Double Break Point and then he hit back-to-back un-returned serves to bring it to Deuce, then came Game Point and the hold), but Frank was the first to be broken (Love-30, 15-30, Double Break Point where Rich hit a walloping and winning Overhead Smash for the break) for 1-2.  Vin was also broken (John hit a scorcher of a passing shot return winner for Love-15, then at Love-30 it was Frank blowing what should have been a sure overhead for 15-30 and then it went to Double Break Point, Break Point and the break) and then Rizzo held again (15-Love, 15-All and then on the way to Double Game Point as John hit a precise passing shot winner along the way, then came Game Point, a Double Fault for Deuce and then a soft and short Ace against Vin for Game Point and then came the hold) to reclaim the lead for his team at 3-2.  Liu held again (15-Love then point for point to Game Point where he scored with a sideline Ace against Frank for the hold...no winners in this one) and Samara was broken again (John hit a wicked winner for 30-Love, but then the trend reversed as Rich hit an equally impressive winner followed by a winning drop shot volley by Vin that was pure precision and that made it Break Point where John blew a volley to allow the break) to once again lose the lead for his team at 3-4!  De Benedetto had his first hold of the night (an un-returned serve for 30-Love where Frank hit a winning volley for 30-15 and then another un-returned serve set up Double Game Point, it was then Game Point where Rich hit a venomous volley winner to secure his partner's hold) and then Rizzo was finally broken (Rich hit a winning drop shot return for Love-30 where John hit a winning lob for 15-30 and then came 30-All followed by Break/Match Point where Vin shut it down with a victorious volley winner) to end it!  We also played this one on Court One and it lasted from 8pm to 8:38.

The Skinny: Once again, Rich was on fire and his streak of not being broken on service continued thru this one.  Vin, seemingly inspired by a younger and more athletic partner, picked up his pace as well.  Rich called Vinnie's vintage drop shot volley winner the "shot of the night!"  Meanwhile, Frank and John remained out of rhythm as putting the two of them together only amplified their problems...not solve them. 

Edgar Valencia over Rich Liu, 7-6 (7-3)!  Edgar: 1 Ace.  Again, Court One was the setting as this one almost lasted one hour (8:40 to 9:36)!  Rich's winning streak came to an end and he was so stunned by the result, that he was walking off the court without shaking Edgar's hand!  Mr. Valencia had a big grin on his face as he waited at the net with a waving hand still waiting for the handshake as Mr. Samara directed Mr. Liu to return to the net.  Edgar not only has the edge in Doubles...he is quite the Singles player as well.  In fact, I think that should be Valencia's new moniker: "The Edge!"  And this one may have a shot at being a Nominee for One-Set Intermediate Singles Match of The Year at season's end.

David Caicedo over Fausto Murg, 6-2!  Fausto: 1 Ace.  These two faced off on Court Two from 8:42 to 9:25.

Dan Praport/John Rizzo over Frank Samara/Muhammad Haque, 6-3!  No Aces.  Here's how it went down: Dan held serve (15-Love then point for point to Game Point and the hold as Dan blew a volley along the way, but also had an un-returned serve), Frank held (Muhammad hit a whipping winner for 15-Love and then Dan hit a drop shot that drew the error from Frank for 15-All, but then back-to-back un-returned serves set up Double Game Point and then came the hold), John held (Frank hit a passing shot winner for Love-15, then it went to 15-All before heading to Double Break Point as Dan blew an overhead along the way, it then shifted to Deuce where Frank hit a drop shot that was not a winner but (like Dan's) effectively ended the point to make it Break Point where Dan hit a winner for 2nd Deuce, then came Game Point and the hold), but Muhammad was the first to be broken (an un-returned serve for 15-Love, a shift to 15-30 where a Double Fault set up Double Break Point and then came the break) for 1-3.  Praport was broken (Muhammad hit a winning lob for Love-15, then came Love-30 and 15-30 where the rally of the match ended with Muhammad hitting a short-angle drop shot winner to set up Double Break Point where Muhammad then blew a sure overhead for Break Point, but then he redeemed himself with another drop shot winner for the break) and then Samara held again (an un-returned serve set off the 15-Love then point for point to Game Point order of things as John hit a winning drop shot return along the way followed by a drop shot winner from Frank and then another drop shot winner by Dan and then Frank hit a winning volley to secure his own hold) to level things at 3-3!  Rizzo also held again (Muhammad hit an emphatic return winner for Love-15, but then came the shift to Double Game Point as Dan once again hit a drop shot winner and another drop shot that sufficiently finished the rally and then Muhammad hit a similarly impressive return winner to cut the lead to Game point where he then blew an overhead to allow the hold) and then Haque was broken again (Frank hit a winning volley for 15-Love which is where John hit a winning drop shot return for 15-All and then came a Double Fault for 15-30, but then there was a shift to Game Point as Muhammad hit a winning lob along the way and then hit another winning drop shot return to make it Deuce and then came Break Point and the break) to fall to 3-5.  The Speed Demon then held (Muhammad hit yet another winning return for Love-15, but then things went right to Double Game/Match Point as John first hit a drop shot winner followed by two consecutive un-returned serves, the lead was then cut to Game/Match Point where Muhammad blew another overhead to allow the hold and the win) to earn a somewhat hard-fought victory in what could only be described as "The Battle of the Drop Shots!"  This was contested on Court Three from 8:50 to 9:28.

The Skinny: For all the drop shots that are noted above as either winners or rally-killers, there were also many more where the necessary gets were made to keep the point in play.  John later paid the price for his participation in this one as it made his foot ailment issues once again rear their ugly head.

After the official action ended early, Edgar showed off his surprising quarterback skills as he tossed the pigskin first to Dan (in the role of the speedy wide receiver) and then Rich came out to reprise the role of Defensive Cornerback that he once had back when he played high school football.  Valencia has quite the arm on him and it will be interesting to get him out on the football field as the opposing QB to "Spin Doctor" Dan Martinelli in one of Spin's Sunday football games...hopefully, sometime soon.

It was yet another fun and competitive session in Nutley which was followed by four of us (Samara, Rizzo, Liu and Caicedo) once again going to Franklin Steakhouse as the New York Yankees lost for the third Friday night in a row!

We now head up to Cedar Grove where we will do our best to keep things in chronological order (at least somewhat) by starting things off with the scores from Chazz as his results seemed to have occurred the earliest there.

The Cedar Grove Results:

Chazz Weldon over Edwin Ortega, 6-0!  No Aces.

Edwin Ortega over Chazz Weldon, 6-0!  No Aces.

All That Chazz: We played from 4pm to 4:51. 

Samara's Notes: I thank Chazz for submitting those scores in a very timely (and specific) manner.  Next we go to both Ryan and Doinks who each submitted a few results (one of which was shared).  To try to stay somewhat chronological, we will bounce back and forth between them.

Levy Lorenzo/Mike Sindler over Syed Rashid/Doinks Srinivasan, 6-2!  No Aces.

Ryan Pienciak/Jose Gonzales over Jordan Bachvaroff/Rafaelo Kazakov, 6-0!  No Aces.  It was the official GTA Return of Rafaelo Kazakov.  It is nice to see that The Bulgarians finally had the chance to team together.

Ryan Pienciak/Jose Gonzales over Jordan Bachvaroff/Mike Mole, 6-3!  No Aces.

Ryan Pienciak/Doinks Srinivasan over Jordan Bachvaroff/Rafaelo Kazakov, 6-4!  No Aces.

Kris Srinivasan/Christine Toth over Mike Mole/Doinks Srinivasan, 6-2!  No Aces.

Samara's Notes: I thank both Ryan and Doinks for their very timely reporting.  There is still one more result involving both of them, but since it is an incomplete one that was cut short by the lights going out at 10pm…I'm saving it for the end of this report.

We now turn this report over to Kris.

Dave Zhu/Dennis Cabanatan over Nathan Fernandes/Natalia Sout, 6-4!  No Aces. 

Samara's Notes: I do believe this to be the One-Setter where Natalia said she took a tumble to the surface of the court and injured her right thumb in the process as she quite likely never let go of the racquet before making contact with the ground.

Kris Srinivasan over Mostafa Hussaini, 6-1!  No Aces. 

Samara's Notes: Mo identified himself as "Vampino" to Kris.  Perhaps he has chosen his own preferred moniker.

Kris Srinivasan/Syed Rashid over Levy Lorenzo/Mike Sindler, 6-0!  Kris: 1 Ace on Levy.

Kris Srinivasan/Syed Rashid tied with Levy Lorenzo/Mike Sindler, 5-5 (Incomplete when the lights went out at 10pm)!  No Aces.

The K has his say: Crazy swinging by Syed was well-handled by Mike to a great extent, but Syed was like a madman out to butcher his opponents! 

Samara's Notes: So maybe we should not retire the "Sadistic Syed" moniker just yet...LOL!  And now we get one more incomplete result…this one submitted by Ryan. 

Ryan Pienciak/Doinks Srinivasan leading Jordan Bachvaroff/Rafaelo Kazakov, 3-0 (Incomplete when the lights went out at 10pm)!  No Aces.

Samara's Notes: As always, I thank Kris and Doinks for all they do for the GTA up at Cedar Grove.  And I once again applaud the reporting efforts of Chazz and Ryan as well. 

All the best,

Frank Samara

gtasamara5@gmail.com