2/28/18:
"12 play (1 New) at C.G., 12 play (1 New) at Bubble!":
There were two sessions of GTA Wednesday Night Tennis: the typical weeknight session at The Cedar Grove Courts with GTA Champion: "Nate the Great" Nathan Fernandes, "Ice Berg" Scott Bergenfeld and "The Marathon Woman" all sending in result from it; and the usual Night Owls session up at The Wayne Bubble run by "The Riz" John Rizzo along with "Hollywood" Frank Samara acting as host to collect scores along the way.
First, we will get the scores from the Cedar Grove session starting with Scott's report as he seemed to be involved in the earliest action. We will then weave in additional results submitted by Doinks and Nate along the way as there was some overlapping..
The Cedar Grove Results:
Scott Bergenfeld/Doinks Srinivasan over Mike Mole/Umang Jain, 7-6 (7-2)! No Aces. It was the official GTA Debut of Umang Jain.
Samara's Notes: Umang "Ash" Jain has been trying to make his official GTA Debut since the summer of last season. It is nice to now have him officially with us.
Marijus Kuzavas/Sally Pillay over Nathan Fernandes/Ray Spadaro, 6-1! No Aces (apparently).
Marijus Kuzavas/Sally Pillay over Nathan Fernandes/Ray Spadaro, 6-0! No Aces (apparently).
2 out of 3 Sets Doubles Match:
Scott Bergenfeld/Ray Spadaro over Mike Mole/Umang Jain, 6-4, 6-3, as both teams entered the Doubles Division as the New # 144 and # 145 Ranked Teams respectively! Mike: 1 Ace on Ray in the 1st Set; and Scott: 2 Aces (one on each) in the 2nd Set.
The Skinny from Scott: The one light on the far side near the corner was out. It was causing the sever on that side havoc. No one held their serve on that side.
2 out of 3 Sets Mixed Doubles Match:
Tito Castolo/Sally Pillay over Marijus Kuzavas/Doinks Srinivasan, 6-3, 6-2, as both teams entered the Mixed Doubles Division as the New # 60 and # 61 Ranked Teams respectively! No Aces (apparently).
Tito Castolo/Sally Pillay over Marijus Kuzavas/Doinks Srinivasan, 6-0! No Aces (apparently).
Nathan Fernandes/Roger Karapin over Erik Jensen/Laurie Boughton, 6-3! No Aces (apparently).
Scott Bergenfeld over Umang Jain, 6-0! No Aces.
Nathan Fernandes/Scott Bergenfeld over Erik Jensen/Laurie Boughton, 6-1! No Aces.
The Skinny from Scott: We just got this one in on time because then the lights went out. It was a good night for me…went 5-0!
Tito Castolo/Sally Pillay leading Marijus Kuzavas/Doinks Srinivasan, 4-1 (Incomplete when the lights went out at 10pm)! No Aces (apparently).
Samara's Notes: I thank Scott, Doinks and Nate for reporting these results in such a timely manner. Nate had said there was also a One-Setter involving "The Levitator" Levy Lorenzo, but he could not remember the score and other details…so he refrains from reporting any "Fake News!"
We now head up to Wayne to see how everything unfolded up there. On a side note, for the first time this season...the courts across the street (Nellis Drive) from The Bubble were lit and there were players out on the courts.
As the usual Night Owls players made their arrivals around 9pm, Rizzo tried to figure out what the best match-ups would be. He had told Samara earlier in the day that he would not be playing due to pain in his heel and possible bone spurs.
Without Rizzo and Samara, there were eight players ready for action...so that was a good thing. Of those eight, five were men and three were women. We were going to put "Kevlar" Kevin Doyle with the ladies as he is very familiar with that situation, but "TC" Ted Cedroski surprised us all by saying he would like to take that spot instead. And Kevin was fine with it.
So, on Court Two, it was Doyle teaming with Sam "Slam" Senowitz going up against Vlad "The Impaler" Smolyanskiy and Sean "The Shillelagh" McHugh. And then on Court Three it was Ted teaming with "Rockin" Robin Wilson to face Fadia "Finesse" Nicolas and "J-Pegg" Jeannette Pegg.
John and Frank were both willing to sit out the entire night and just hang out in the lounge, but "The Adonis" Don Moya seemed eager to play. So the deal was that both Rizzo and Samara would hit to Moya with John moving as little as possible.
As the three of us started to head toward Court One, there was a man sitting on a chair in the lounge area who asked which court we were taking. It appeared he had still been hanging out there (as others were...and often do...as well) from having participated in an earlier group. As we needed a fourth for Doubles, we invited him to join us.
Once Rizzo got out on the court and started hitting shots, he said he could likely play some Doubles provided Moya was willing to do most of the running. And what started out as a potential One-Setter situation developed into a full 2 out of 3 Sets Doubles Match. We also had time to play an additional One-Setter after that.
The new player is "The E-Double" Elias Eid and he is a very sound player...plus he is a very nice guy. He is a welcome addition to the league.
As the One-Setters on Courts Two and Three both got underway around 9:15 (five minutes before we started our full match on Court One), we will go to those scores first. Then we will detail the full match on Court One before bouncing back to those other courts for some other results.
The Wayne Bubble Results:
Fadia Nicolas/Jeannette Pegg over Ted Cedroski/Robin Wilson, 6-4! No Aces (apparently). This one got underway on Court Three at 9:15. Not sure when it finished, but after it was over...Jeannette left early as she was not feeling well. She had warned John from the outset that this could be a possibility.
Vlad Smolyanskiy/Sean McHugh over Kevin Doyle/Sam Senowitz, 7-6 (7-5)! Sam: 4 Aces (2 on each)! They got this one started on Court Two at 9:15. Don't know exactly when it ended, but it did last longer than the action on Court Three.
After Jeannette headed home and the above One-Setter had finished, Ted recruited Sean to come over to Court Three for Mixed Doubles action. This led to the other three guys (Kevin, Vlad and Sam) to play Canadian Doubles for the rest of the evening.
Court Three ended up having a full 2 out of 3 Sets Mixed Doubles Match. But before we get to that, we will first detail the 2 out of 3 Sets Men's Doubles Match that took place on Court One.
2 out of 3 Sets Doubles Match:
John Rizzo/Don Moya over Frank Samara/Elias Eid, 6-4, 6-3, to successfully defend their # 57 Rank in the Doubles Division! In the process, Samara/Eid entered the division as the New # 146 Ranked Team. No Aces. It was the official GTA Debut of Elias Eid. After a hitting session that lasted a little over ten minutes, the match got underway at 9:20.
1st Set: Don was broken (15-Love then point for point until 30-All, Break Point and the break), Elias was broken at Love after hitting a Double Fault to set up Triple Break Point, but John was the first to hold serve (30-Love shifted to 30-All, Game Point, Deuce, Game Point, 2nd Deuce, Game Point and the hold) to go up 2-1. Frank was broken (15-Love then point for point to Game Point, Deuce, Break Point and the break) while Moya held at Love to increase his team's lead to 4-1! Eid then held (30-Love, then a Double Fault for 30-15, 30-All, Game Point, Deuce, Game Point, 2nd Deuce, Game Point and the hold) and Rizzo was broken at Love after hitting a Double Fault on Triple Break Point to have his team's lead cut to 4-3. Samara then held (Love-15 shifted to 30-15, 30-All, Game Point and the hold) to knot the score at 4-4. But from there, The Adonis held again (30-Love, 30-15, Double Game Point and the hold) and The E-Double was broken (30-Love went straight to Break/Set Point and the break) as this set concluded at 9:58. Two minutes later, the next set was underway.
2nd Set: John held (15-Love then point for point until 30-All, Break Point, Deuce, Game Point, 2nd Deuce, Game Point and the hold), Frank held (Triple Game Point, the hold came on Double Game Point), Don held (Love-30, 15-30, Double Break Point and then a bounce to Deuce, Game Point and the hold), but Elias was the first to be broken (Triple Break Point, the break came on Double Break Point) for 1-3. Rizzo held again (got off to a Triple Break Point start only to take it straight through Deuce, Game Point and the hold) to go up 4-1, but then Samara also held again (15-Love shifted to 15-30 shifted again to Game Point, Deuce, Game Point and the hold) for 2-4. Moya also held again (Love-15 then point for point until 30-All, Game Point, Deuce, Break Point, 2nd Deuce, Game Point and the hold) to increase his team's lead to 5-2. Eid held (15-Love went straight to Double Break/Match Point, but that was saved to make it Break/Match Point which was also then saved to get to Deuce, then came Game Point and the hold) to pull to 3-5, but then The Riz had his third straight hold (15-Love, 15-All then onto Double Game/Match Point, it then went to Game/Match Point which is where the hold came on the 4th M.P. overall) for a hard-fought victory as this match came to a close at 10:35.
We decided we had time to play a One-Setter and we thought it best to switch up the teams with Don and Elias teaming to take on Frank and John. But before we get to that action (as it was the One-Setter to close out the session), we will now go that full 2 out of 3 Sets Mixed Doubles Match (which likely ended right around 11pm).
2 out of 3 Sets Mixed Doubles Match:
Sean McHugh/Fadia Nicolas over Ted Cedroski/Robin Wilson, 6-4, 6-1, as both teams entered the Mixed Doubles Division as the New # 62 and # 63 Ranked Teams respectively! No Aces. This match was played on Court Three.
Don Moya/Elias Eid over Frank Samara/John Rizzo, 6-2! Don: 1 Ace on Frank. It went like this: Don held at Love and then Frank also held in a game that went from Love-15 straight to Double Game Point and the hold as John hit at least one (maybe two) left-handed volleys (he is a natural right-handed player) that were powerful blocks that became winners. Elias was the first one to be broken (started with a Double Fault, then Love-30 shifted straight to Game Point, Deuce, Break Point and the break) for 1-2. John was also broken (15-Love went right to Double Break Point and then came a Double Fault) while Moya held again (30-Love, Double Fault for 30-15, Double Game Point, Game Point and then a hard second-serve sideline Ace against Frank for the hold) to go up 3-2. Samara was broken (Love-30 shifted to 30-All, Break Point, Deuce, Break Point and the break) while Eid held at Love to take a fairly commanding 5-2 lead. And then Rizzo was broken again (started with a Double Fault and then it went point for point to Break/Match Point, Deuce, it ended on the 2nd Break/Match Point) to take the loss...as this one ended just in time at 11:03 (we had begun this one on Court One at 10:37).
The Skinny: Despite the ongoing foot ailment issues, John was surprisingly effective. He decided to do more with aggressive shot-making as he knew he could not move too well (though he still made a couple of really nice gets) and Don was impressed with this new version of John. Moya, as usual, was very dominant on serve...but hit and miss with his volleys. Frank, also per the usual, had some really nice gets and a bag of confounding slice shots...only to be offset by some really poorly timed shank shots. And Elias, who was concerned about his skill level as he took the court with us, is more than up to the task of competing in the GTA as he has a very solid forehand, makes nice volleys and gets as he manages to play both aggressively and consistently. He is a definite fit for the league.
Overall, it turned out to be quite the productive night with each session producing a new player.
Sincerely,
Frank Samara
gtasamara5@gmail.com
"12 play (1 New) at C.G., 12 play (1 New) at Bubble!":
There were two sessions of GTA Wednesday Night Tennis: the typical weeknight session at The Cedar Grove Courts with GTA Champion: "Nate the Great" Nathan Fernandes, "Ice Berg" Scott Bergenfeld and "The Marathon Woman" all sending in result from it; and the usual Night Owls session up at The Wayne Bubble run by "The Riz" John Rizzo along with "Hollywood" Frank Samara acting as host to collect scores along the way.
First, we will get the scores from the Cedar Grove session starting with Scott's report as he seemed to be involved in the earliest action. We will then weave in additional results submitted by Doinks and Nate along the way as there was some overlapping..
The Cedar Grove Results:
Scott Bergenfeld/Doinks Srinivasan over Mike Mole/Umang Jain, 7-6 (7-2)! No Aces. It was the official GTA Debut of Umang Jain.
Samara's Notes: Umang "Ash" Jain has been trying to make his official GTA Debut since the summer of last season. It is nice to now have him officially with us.
Marijus Kuzavas/Sally Pillay over Nathan Fernandes/Ray Spadaro, 6-1! No Aces (apparently).
Marijus Kuzavas/Sally Pillay over Nathan Fernandes/Ray Spadaro, 6-0! No Aces (apparently).
2 out of 3 Sets Doubles Match:
Scott Bergenfeld/Ray Spadaro over Mike Mole/Umang Jain, 6-4, 6-3, as both teams entered the Doubles Division as the New # 144 and # 145 Ranked Teams respectively! Mike: 1 Ace on Ray in the 1st Set; and Scott: 2 Aces (one on each) in the 2nd Set.
The Skinny from Scott: The one light on the far side near the corner was out. It was causing the sever on that side havoc. No one held their serve on that side.
2 out of 3 Sets Mixed Doubles Match:
Tito Castolo/Sally Pillay over Marijus Kuzavas/Doinks Srinivasan, 6-3, 6-2, as both teams entered the Mixed Doubles Division as the New # 60 and # 61 Ranked Teams respectively! No Aces (apparently).
Tito Castolo/Sally Pillay over Marijus Kuzavas/Doinks Srinivasan, 6-0! No Aces (apparently).
Nathan Fernandes/Roger Karapin over Erik Jensen/Laurie Boughton, 6-3! No Aces (apparently).
Scott Bergenfeld over Umang Jain, 6-0! No Aces.
Nathan Fernandes/Scott Bergenfeld over Erik Jensen/Laurie Boughton, 6-1! No Aces.
The Skinny from Scott: We just got this one in on time because then the lights went out. It was a good night for me…went 5-0!
Tito Castolo/Sally Pillay leading Marijus Kuzavas/Doinks Srinivasan, 4-1 (Incomplete when the lights went out at 10pm)! No Aces (apparently).
Samara's Notes: I thank Scott, Doinks and Nate for reporting these results in such a timely manner. Nate had said there was also a One-Setter involving "The Levitator" Levy Lorenzo, but he could not remember the score and other details…so he refrains from reporting any "Fake News!"
We now head up to Wayne to see how everything unfolded up there. On a side note, for the first time this season...the courts across the street (Nellis Drive) from The Bubble were lit and there were players out on the courts.
As the usual Night Owls players made their arrivals around 9pm, Rizzo tried to figure out what the best match-ups would be. He had told Samara earlier in the day that he would not be playing due to pain in his heel and possible bone spurs.
Without Rizzo and Samara, there were eight players ready for action...so that was a good thing. Of those eight, five were men and three were women. We were going to put "Kevlar" Kevin Doyle with the ladies as he is very familiar with that situation, but "TC" Ted Cedroski surprised us all by saying he would like to take that spot instead. And Kevin was fine with it.
So, on Court Two, it was Doyle teaming with Sam "Slam" Senowitz going up against Vlad "The Impaler" Smolyanskiy and Sean "The Shillelagh" McHugh. And then on Court Three it was Ted teaming with "Rockin" Robin Wilson to face Fadia "Finesse" Nicolas and "J-Pegg" Jeannette Pegg.
John and Frank were both willing to sit out the entire night and just hang out in the lounge, but "The Adonis" Don Moya seemed eager to play. So the deal was that both Rizzo and Samara would hit to Moya with John moving as little as possible.
As the three of us started to head toward Court One, there was a man sitting on a chair in the lounge area who asked which court we were taking. It appeared he had still been hanging out there (as others were...and often do...as well) from having participated in an earlier group. As we needed a fourth for Doubles, we invited him to join us.
Once Rizzo got out on the court and started hitting shots, he said he could likely play some Doubles provided Moya was willing to do most of the running. And what started out as a potential One-Setter situation developed into a full 2 out of 3 Sets Doubles Match. We also had time to play an additional One-Setter after that.
The new player is "The E-Double" Elias Eid and he is a very sound player...plus he is a very nice guy. He is a welcome addition to the league.
As the One-Setters on Courts Two and Three both got underway around 9:15 (five minutes before we started our full match on Court One), we will go to those scores first. Then we will detail the full match on Court One before bouncing back to those other courts for some other results.
The Wayne Bubble Results:
Fadia Nicolas/Jeannette Pegg over Ted Cedroski/Robin Wilson, 6-4! No Aces (apparently). This one got underway on Court Three at 9:15. Not sure when it finished, but after it was over...Jeannette left early as she was not feeling well. She had warned John from the outset that this could be a possibility.
Vlad Smolyanskiy/Sean McHugh over Kevin Doyle/Sam Senowitz, 7-6 (7-5)! Sam: 4 Aces (2 on each)! They got this one started on Court Two at 9:15. Don't know exactly when it ended, but it did last longer than the action on Court Three.
After Jeannette headed home and the above One-Setter had finished, Ted recruited Sean to come over to Court Three for Mixed Doubles action. This led to the other three guys (Kevin, Vlad and Sam) to play Canadian Doubles for the rest of the evening.
Court Three ended up having a full 2 out of 3 Sets Mixed Doubles Match. But before we get to that, we will first detail the 2 out of 3 Sets Men's Doubles Match that took place on Court One.
2 out of 3 Sets Doubles Match:
John Rizzo/Don Moya over Frank Samara/Elias Eid, 6-4, 6-3, to successfully defend their # 57 Rank in the Doubles Division! In the process, Samara/Eid entered the division as the New # 146 Ranked Team. No Aces. It was the official GTA Debut of Elias Eid. After a hitting session that lasted a little over ten minutes, the match got underway at 9:20.
1st Set: Don was broken (15-Love then point for point until 30-All, Break Point and the break), Elias was broken at Love after hitting a Double Fault to set up Triple Break Point, but John was the first to hold serve (30-Love shifted to 30-All, Game Point, Deuce, Game Point, 2nd Deuce, Game Point and the hold) to go up 2-1. Frank was broken (15-Love then point for point to Game Point, Deuce, Break Point and the break) while Moya held at Love to increase his team's lead to 4-1! Eid then held (30-Love, then a Double Fault for 30-15, 30-All, Game Point, Deuce, Game Point, 2nd Deuce, Game Point and the hold) and Rizzo was broken at Love after hitting a Double Fault on Triple Break Point to have his team's lead cut to 4-3. Samara then held (Love-15 shifted to 30-15, 30-All, Game Point and the hold) to knot the score at 4-4. But from there, The Adonis held again (30-Love, 30-15, Double Game Point and the hold) and The E-Double was broken (30-Love went straight to Break/Set Point and the break) as this set concluded at 9:58. Two minutes later, the next set was underway.
2nd Set: John held (15-Love then point for point until 30-All, Break Point, Deuce, Game Point, 2nd Deuce, Game Point and the hold), Frank held (Triple Game Point, the hold came on Double Game Point), Don held (Love-30, 15-30, Double Break Point and then a bounce to Deuce, Game Point and the hold), but Elias was the first to be broken (Triple Break Point, the break came on Double Break Point) for 1-3. Rizzo held again (got off to a Triple Break Point start only to take it straight through Deuce, Game Point and the hold) to go up 4-1, but then Samara also held again (15-Love shifted to 15-30 shifted again to Game Point, Deuce, Game Point and the hold) for 2-4. Moya also held again (Love-15 then point for point until 30-All, Game Point, Deuce, Break Point, 2nd Deuce, Game Point and the hold) to increase his team's lead to 5-2. Eid held (15-Love went straight to Double Break/Match Point, but that was saved to make it Break/Match Point which was also then saved to get to Deuce, then came Game Point and the hold) to pull to 3-5, but then The Riz had his third straight hold (15-Love, 15-All then onto Double Game/Match Point, it then went to Game/Match Point which is where the hold came on the 4th M.P. overall) for a hard-fought victory as this match came to a close at 10:35.
We decided we had time to play a One-Setter and we thought it best to switch up the teams with Don and Elias teaming to take on Frank and John. But before we get to that action (as it was the One-Setter to close out the session), we will now go that full 2 out of 3 Sets Mixed Doubles Match (which likely ended right around 11pm).
2 out of 3 Sets Mixed Doubles Match:
Sean McHugh/Fadia Nicolas over Ted Cedroski/Robin Wilson, 6-4, 6-1, as both teams entered the Mixed Doubles Division as the New # 62 and # 63 Ranked Teams respectively! No Aces. This match was played on Court Three.
Don Moya/Elias Eid over Frank Samara/John Rizzo, 6-2! Don: 1 Ace on Frank. It went like this: Don held at Love and then Frank also held in a game that went from Love-15 straight to Double Game Point and the hold as John hit at least one (maybe two) left-handed volleys (he is a natural right-handed player) that were powerful blocks that became winners. Elias was the first one to be broken (started with a Double Fault, then Love-30 shifted straight to Game Point, Deuce, Break Point and the break) for 1-2. John was also broken (15-Love went right to Double Break Point and then came a Double Fault) while Moya held again (30-Love, Double Fault for 30-15, Double Game Point, Game Point and then a hard second-serve sideline Ace against Frank for the hold) to go up 3-2. Samara was broken (Love-30 shifted to 30-All, Break Point, Deuce, Break Point and the break) while Eid held at Love to take a fairly commanding 5-2 lead. And then Rizzo was broken again (started with a Double Fault and then it went point for point to Break/Match Point, Deuce, it ended on the 2nd Break/Match Point) to take the loss...as this one ended just in time at 11:03 (we had begun this one on Court One at 10:37).
The Skinny: Despite the ongoing foot ailment issues, John was surprisingly effective. He decided to do more with aggressive shot-making as he knew he could not move too well (though he still made a couple of really nice gets) and Don was impressed with this new version of John. Moya, as usual, was very dominant on serve...but hit and miss with his volleys. Frank, also per the usual, had some really nice gets and a bag of confounding slice shots...only to be offset by some really poorly timed shank shots. And Elias, who was concerned about his skill level as he took the court with us, is more than up to the task of competing in the GTA as he has a very solid forehand, makes nice volleys and gets as he manages to play both aggressively and consistently. He is a definite fit for the league.
Overall, it turned out to be quite the productive night with each session producing a new player.
Sincerely,
Frank Samara
gtasamara5@gmail.com
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