12/6/17:
"13 (14?) play at The Bubble!":
There was just one session of GTA Wednesday Night Tennis as there were no results reported from The Cedar Grove Courts. "Hollywood" Frank Samara acted as the host (in terms of collecting the scores) of the Night Owls session up at The Wayne Bubble organized by "The Riz" John Rizzo.
While there were actually 14 competitors at The Bubble session, I only collected the scores that featured thirteen of the players as I did not bother to attempt to grab the results from Court Two as first it was Ted Cedroski going up against Henry Mendoza in one or two Singles One-Setters and then Ted faced Vlad Smolyanskiy in one after that as well. So, whatever action Ted was involved in will have to remain unofficial.
The Wayne Bubble Results:
2 out of 3 Sets Women's Doubles Match:
Kathy Sheldon/Jeanette Pegg over Susan Koshy/Robin Wilson, 6-3, 6-1, as both teams entered the Women's Doubles Division as the New # 27 and # 28 Ranked Teams respectively! No Aces. This was the first official action of the evening as it got underway on Court Three at 9:10. Not sure when it ended, but likely well before 10:30. Afterward, the four ladies socialized for quite a while.
2 out of 3 Sets Doubles Match:
Kevin Doyle/Sean McHugh over Vlad Smolyanskiy/Sam Senowitz, 6-3, 6-3, as both teams entered the Doubles Division as the New # 127 and # 128 Ranked Teams respectively! Sam: 2 Aces (1 on Kevin in the 1st Set and 1 on Sean in the 2nd Set)! This got officially underway on Court One at 9:12. Not sure when it finished as it led right into a Doubles One-Setter where Mendoza took the place of Smolyanskiy (more on that one a little later).
Don Moya/Paul Mallick over Frank Samara/John Rizzo, 6-3! Paul: 1 Ace on Frank! It went like this: Frank held serve (Love-30 shifted to 30-All right after Don blew a volley, but then it went to Break Point where an un-returned serve brought it to Deuce and then Don blew another volley to set up Game Point where another un-returned serve secured the hold), Don held (Paul hit a vicious volley winner for 15-Love, but then he blew two consecutive volleys to shift it to 15-30, it then went to Double Break Point where an un-returned serve brought it to Break Point where Paul hit a crushing Overhead Smash winner to make it Deuce which was where Frank hit a very nice volley winner to make it Break Point again, then it went to 2nd Deuce back-to-back un-returned serves took it to Game Point and then the hold), John held (an un-returned serve for 15-Love only to go straight to Double Break Point where Don blew a volley to make it Break Point and then it went to Deuce with another un-returned serve bringing it to Game Point, 2nd Deuce, Game Point again and then the hold) and Paul also held (an un-returned serve for 15-Love and then a corner Ace against rank for 30-Love, it was then 30-15 where Don hit a volley winner to make it Double Game Point and then came the hold) as we were all on serve at 2-2. Samara was the first to be broken (two consecutive un-returned serves for 30-Love, but then a hard shift to Break Point as Paul hit a scathing return winner along the way and then came the break), but Moya held again (started with a Double Fault and then it was point for point until 30-All where Frank blew a volley to set up Game Point, then came Deuce where Paul hit another punishing Overhead Smash winner to set up Game Point once again which Don finished off with a winning volley) to go up 4-2. Rizzo also held again (Don hit another winning volley to make it Love-15 where an un-returned serve made it 15-All and then it was point for point until 30-All where another un-returned serve set up Game Point where John secured his own hold with a truly great get/winner combo) to pull to 3-4, but Mallick also held again (Don scored with a scorching volley winner for 15-Love, it then went to 15-All, 30-15 where an un-returned serve set up Double Game Point and then another un-returned serve secured the hold) to go up 5-3. Hollywood was then broken a second straight time (Don hit an awesome Backhand Volley winner for Love-15 where an un-returned serve made it 15-All only for Don to then hit a winning Overhead Smash and a blazing return winner on the way to Double Break/Match Point which is where this one ended) to take the loss! We played this one on Court Four from 9:42 to 10:17.
The Skinny: On Wednesday nights, usually the Night Owls group accesses two of the four courts at 9pm and picks up the other two at 9:30 as there is another group there that has those two courts booked until then. On this evening, however, we got three of the four courts at 9pm as that earlier group just needed one this time around. Paul Mallick, who made his official GTA Debut at last week's Friday Night Bubble Party, was one of the four players on Court Four while we were waiting to take it over at 9:30. As we had Samara, Rizzo and Moya all sitting in the lounge area, John came up with the idea of inviting Paul to stick around for some Doubles. Once Rizzo had the chance to pitch him the offer, Mallick was immediately game for it. We felt the best balance would be to team Paul with Don. Turns out that Mr. Mallick was a stronger player than we realized (we never really got to see him play last Friday) as he is very steady (especially at the net) and also hits a very solid forehand. He is also quite the consistent server. Moya was hot and cold as he was serving strong and closing out points when he could get to the net, but he seemingly could not get his forehand going. Rizzo found his groove sooner than Samara did as Frank was the only one of the four to be broken on service and it happened twice…which was truly the only difference in an otherwise close contest.
So going into the Rematch One-Setter, Rizzo thought it best to switch up the service sides as it would enable him to serve first (given the fact that he had been the stronger server in the previous contest). Meanwhile, Moya and Mallick decided to switch up their return of service sides.
Frank Samara/John Rizzo over Don Moya/Paul Mallick, 6-4! Don: 3 Aces (2 on John and 1 on Frank)! Here's how it went down: Don held (Love-30 where a second-serve corner Ace on John made it 15-30 and then it went to Double Break Point where a sideline Ace against John reduced it to Break Point where an un-returned serve brought it to Deuce and still another made it Game Point where Don then scored with a laser-like passing shot winner for the hold), John held at Love as he started off with three consecutive un-returned serves and then Don badly blew what should have been an easy volley winner on Triple Game Point to allow the hold, but Paul was the first to be broken (Frank hit a winner and then Paul blew a volley to make it Love-30, then it was 15-30 where a Double Fault set up Double Break Point where an un-returned serve cut it to Break Point, but then came the break) for 1-2. Frank held (an un-returned serve for 15-Love, 30-Love, 30-15 where an un-returned serve set up Double Game Point and then another un-returned serve secured the hold) to increase his team's lead to 3-1, but Moya held yet again and this time it was at Love as a truly un-returnable serve made it 15-Love where a corner Ace against Frank made it 30-Love and then another truly un-returnable serve set up Triple Game Point and then came the hold to pull to 2-3. Rizzo was then broken at Love as it truly became The Don Show as first he hit a winning lob that just sailed over the attempted Windmill Overhead Smash by Frank, then Don hit a winning Overhead Smash which was then followed up by a whipping return winner to set up Triple Break Point where Don scored with another Overhead Smash winner for the break and to level the set at 3-3! But Mallick was broken again (Don hit a winning volley for 15-Love, a Double Fault made it 15-All, then it was 30-15 followed by 30-All where John hit an emphatic Backhand Volley winner to make it Break Point where Frank then scored with a precise passing shot winner for the break) while Samara held again (30-Love where Don hit a roller of a return over the net for a winner to make it 30-15 only to have it then go to Double Game Point where an un-returned serve secured the hold) to put his team up 5-3. The Adonis held yet again (a truly un-returnable serve for 15-Love, a Double Fault made it 15-All, another truly un-returnable serve for 30-15, then Double Game Point and another Double Fault to cut that lead to Game Point where Frank scored with another precision passing shot winner to bring it to Deuce where an un-returned serve set up yet another Game Point and still another truly un-returnable serve secured the hold) to pull to 4-5! The Riz responded with a hold of his own (Frank badly blew what should have been an easy volley winner to make it Love-15 and that was where John stepped up with an amazing get/winner combo followed by a truly un-returnable serve on the way to Double Game/Match Point where Frank squandered another great get made by John to once again blow an otherwise surefire volley winner to reduce the lead to Game/Match Point where John got the job done on his own with an un-returned serve to get the hold) for the win! This one was also played on Court Four and it lasted from 10:20 to 10:52.
The Skinny: While Moya lamented the fact that he never truly got his forehand going, he at least could have the satisfaction of clearly being the most dominant server of the night. Rizzo, save that one Love break, was quite solid in that regard as well. Samara finally found his footing in this one (except that one game at the end where he almost unwillingly sabotaged his partner's service) and made a true impact on the outcome here. Meanwhile, Mallick was starting to run out of gas as he had already played plenty of tennis before joining us for Doubles.
Henry Mendoza/Sean McHugh leading Kevin Doyle/Sam Senowitz, 3-0 (Incomplete when Mendoza sustained an injury and had to stop playing)! Sam: 1 Ace on Henry! This was the third set of action on Court One. Not sure if it was just a muscle cramp that caused Henry to stop or if it was a bigger issue with his knee. Hopefully, he will make a speedy recovery and be OK to play tennis in the near future.
Sincerely,
Frank Samara
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