3/18/18:
"8 play at AP, 17 play at Bubble!":
There were three sessions of GTA Sunday Tennis: the early morning one at The Albion Park Courts in Clifton hosted by "Hollywood" Frank Samara and then the two back-to-back late afternoon/early evening Sunday sessions for the two Night Owl groups up at The Wayne Bubble - the first one co-hosted by "Kevlar" Kevin Doyle and "Killer Kat" Kathy Sheldon and the second one hosted by "The Riz" John Rizzo.
Let's first detail the comings and goings at Albion before getting the Bubble results from Kevin, Kat and John.
Samara rolled up to the courts exactly when he said he would at 10:30. Nobody else was there yet, but two young guys he did not recognized had just pulled up in their car. So Frank thought it best to get himself out onto the courts to at least hold one of them (and the one of his preference which is the North Court).
Upon getting out there, he noticed that the net on the North Court was too high as the hook had become detached from the metal loop down on the court. Samara was able to fix that, but he was unable to adjust the net on the South Court which is far too low in the middle right now. Well, as Meat Loaf once sang: "Two out of three ain't bad!" I'm talking about the courts as there are a total of three at Albion (the net on Center Court seemed to be just right).
Frank figured the turnout to be low as the weather was on the cool side as forecast most of the week. Where the weathermen got it slightly wrong, however, was the fact that it was pretty windy (at least it was upon arrival). They had been saying it should be relatively wind-free. They were right about the full sunshine. The peak temperature was forecast to get to about 45 degrees and I'm not sure if it ever actually got there.
At 10:35, "Vintage" Vinnie De Benedetto had also now pulled up to the curb. Soon enough, he was heading down the hill toward the courts. They started hitting to one another on the North Court.
Before they got all that far with their hitting session, "Sneaky" Suzanne Bujara was entering the other gate at the corner of the South Court at 10:40. Frank then started hitting against both Vin and Suzanne. The good news was that the winds had died down by the time they had started this hitting session. The bad news that there did not seem to be a fourth player in sight.
Vin said if nobody else arrived by 11:30, he was going to leave as he had some early afternoon plans anyway. Well, at 11:15, it was the arrival of "Del Brotro" Mike Mole to save the day. After a five minute hitting session, the first Doubles One-Setter of the day was underway as Mike teamed with Suzanne to take on Frank and Vin.
While that One-Setter was still in progress, "Nate the Great" Nathan Fernandes walked toward the courts and then entered the area at 11:40. And just as the One-Setter finished at 11:50, Natalia "Nitro" Sout and "Hurricane" Jose Gonzales had both pulled up to the curb and soon made their way down the hill toward the courts.
With a total of seven players on hand, Vin decided to soon leave to enable Frank and Jose to team to take on the tandem of Mike and Suzanne while Nate and Natalia would have a hitting session with each other over on Center Court. And when that one ended at 12:16, Samara suggested that he step off along with Bujara to allow Fernandes and Sout to face Mole and Gonzales. As Suzanne had some things to do at home, she decided to leave at this time.
Then the two proposed teams above went into a prolonged hitting session of almost twenty minutes which initially was about getting used to the new balls that Jose had brought into play for the match as the older balls were even flatter due to the cold temps. The One-Setter finally got underway at 12:35.
So Samara was sitting out on the sidelines of the North Court watching the Doubles action when there was a surprise appearance made by "Stealth" Omar Santos. Frank led Omar to Center Court for a hitting session.
And just as Samara proposed the idea of a Singles One-Setter to Santos, the Doubles One-Setter on the North Court had ended. Frank then called out to see who might want to play Singles (thinking it may end up being Omar versus someone else). Instead, Santos opted to join the guys for Doubles while Natalia said she wanted to play some Singles against Samara. And not just a hitting session...she wanted to play sets!
While the four guys had a lengthy Doubles battle on the North Court, Samara and Sout had a couple of fun sets of Singles on Center Court.
The last one finished about five minutes prior to 2pm and Frank had to leave. As he was walking off the courts, it seemed the guys were going to have a Rematch One-Setter with Natalia sitting on the bench as a spectator. But Nate later informed Frank via text that it was scrapped once Omar had to leave early.
Let's get to the action!
The Albion Park Results:
Frank Samara/Vinnie De Benedetto over Mike Mole/Suzanne Bujara, 6-1! Frank: 1 Ace on Suzanne! It went like this: Mike held serve (30-Love, 30-15, Double Game Point was reduced to Deuce, but then came another Game Point and the hold), Frank held at Love, but Suzanne was the first one to be broken (Love-15, 15-All, but then onto Double Break Point, a rebound to Deuce, Break Point, 2nd Deuce, Game Point, 3rd Deuce, Double Fault for Break Point and then the break) for 1-2. Vinnie held (Love-15 went straight to Double Game Point and the hold) and Mole was broken (Love-15 shifted to 30-15, then 30-All and a Double Fault to set up Break Point which was followed by another Double Fault to break himself) to fall to 1-4. Samara held again (started with a well-placed but not fast-paced sideline Ace on Suzanne, it then went to 30-Love, 30-15, Double Game Point and the hold) while Bujara was broken again (Love-30 shifted to 30-All, but then came Break/Match Point and the break) to take the loss. We played this on the North Court from 11:21 to 11:50.
Jose Gonzales/Frank Samara over Mike Mole/Suzanne Bujara, 6-0! No Aces. Here's how it went down: Mike was broken (Love-30, 15-30, Double Break Point, Break Point and the break), Jose held (15-Love, a Double Fault for 15-All and then point for point to Game Point and the hold), Suzanne was broken as she started at Love-15, it shifted to 30-15, but then shifted again to Break Point and the break and then Frank held (15-Love, 15-All, then onto Double Game Point and the hold) for a 4-0 lead. Mole was then broken again (Love-30, 15-30, a Double Fault to set up Double Break Point, then Break Point and the break) while Gonzales held again and this time around it was at Love as he put it away on Triple Game/Match Point! This early afternoon bagel was served up on the North Court and its making took 17 minutes (from 11:59 to 12:16)!
Mike Mole/Jose Gonzales over Nathan Fernandes/Natalia Sout, 6-3! No Aces. This one also took place on the North Court and lasted from 12:35 to 1:08. When Santos arrived at 12:50, the score was 2-2.
Frank Samara over Natalia Sout, 6-0! No Aces. The breakdown: Frank held (Love-15 went straight to Double Game Point, then Game Point and the hold), Natalia was broken (Love-15 then point for point to Break Point, Deuce, Break Point, 2nd Deuce, Break Point yet again and then finally the break), Samara held again (30-Love, 30-15, Double Game Point and the hold), Sout was broken again (15-Love went straight to Double Break Point, then Break Point and the break), Hollywood held once more (Love-15 went straight to Double Game Point, then Game Point and the hold) while Nitro was broken yet again and this time around it was at Love as it was Triple Break/Match Point when she hit an ill-timed Double Fault to break herself! We played this on Center Court from 1:10 to 1:30.
Omar Santos/Nathan Fernandes over Mike Mole/Jose Gonzales, 6-4! Jose: 2 Aces on Omar in the same game! This was contested on the North Court from 1:10 to 1:52. At 1:30, the score was 3-2 (I don't know in which team's favor it was) and that led to Samara and Sout playing a Rematch One-Setter. Meanwhile, Santos was in fine form as it may be the most consistent and solid level of play we have ever seen from him.
Frank Samara over Natalia Sout, 6-0! No Aces. The dirty lowdown: Frank held (30-Love shifted to 30-All, Game Point and the hold), Natalia was broken (Love-30, 15-30, Double Break Point and the break), Samara held again (Triple Game Point, Double Game Point and the hold), Sout was broken again (15-Love went right to Double Break Point, then came Break Point and the break), The Wood held again (15-Love then point for point to Game Point, Deuce, Game Point and the hold) while The OGM was broken (Love-15 shifted to 30-15 shifted again to Break/Match Point and then came the break) to eat her second bagel (perhaps she prefer it better to be referred to as a doughnut) of the day. This was also played on Center Court as it lasted from 1:32 to 1:54.
Samara's Notes: Natalia wanted so desperately to win at least one game...especially as we headed into this second One-Setter. She did come closer this time around. The points felt somewhat more intense in this one. And the duration was two minutes longer...reflecting the fact that the rallies were lengthier and that the games were closer as well. Ms. Sout made some great gets and she also hit at least a handful of excellent return winners along the way. But she also often had problems with my deep slicing backhand shots. She said she had a lot of fun and wants to test herself more in Singles as the year moves forward. Hopefully, she becomes a more active part of the Women's Division this season.
We now turn this report over to Kevlar Kevin, Killer Kat and The Riz for the results from The Bubble!
The Wayne Bubble Results:
The 3 to 5pm session (scores submitted by Kevin and Kathy):
Vlad Smolyanskiy/Jeanette Pegg over Kevin Doyle/Sam Senowitz, 6-4! No Aces.
The Kevlar Commentary: Vlad had to leave after that, so the three of us then played Canadian Doubles for the rest of the session.
Brenda Jordan/Robin Wilson over Kathy Sheldon/Marie Easton, 6-2! No Aces.
Kathy Sheldon/Robin Wilson over Brenda Jordan/Marie Easton, 7-5! No Aces.
Kathy Sheldon/Robin Wilson leading Brenda Jordan/Marie Easton, 3-1 (Incomplete when the session ran out of time)! No Aces.
The Chat from Kat: The ladies played some fierce Doubles today...very competitive! We're looking for an appropriate nickname for Brenda because she is so good at the net. We were calling her "The Octopus," but that's not a cute enough name. Any suggestions?
Samara's Notes: First off, I thank both Kevin and Kathy for their very timely reporting of these results. Second, I agree with Kat about needing a new moniker for Brenda. I gave Brenda the "Bravo" nickname several seasons ago, mainly because I'm a fan of alliteration and could not think of anything more appropriate. But I confess that it was mentally lazy on my part. So now I hereby offer up "Volley Girl," as a play off the term: "Valley Girl." Because I do concur with Kat and the other ladies about Ms. Jordan's excellent net game. She has become very effective with those put-away volleys the past few seasons. I hope Brenda likes it.
We now go to The Riz for the scores from the 6 to 8pm session.
Ryan Pienciak/Tom La over Senthil Kumar/John Rizzo, 6-1! No Aces.
Ryan Pienciak/John Rizzo over Dan Hwang/Tom La, 6-2! No Aces.
Ryan Pienciak/John Rizzo over Senthil Kumar/Dan Hwang, 6-4! No Aces.
Ryan Pienciak/Tom La over Senthil Kumar/Dan Hwang, 6-2! No Aces.
Syed Rashid/Mike Sindler over Rich Liu/Frank Hohorst, 6-4! No Aces.
Frank Hohorst over Rich Liu, 6-4! No Aces.
Samara's Notes: I also thank John for sending in those results in a very timely fashion.
All the best,
Frank Samara
gtasamara5@gmail.com
"8 play at AP, 17 play at Bubble!":
There were three sessions of GTA Sunday Tennis: the early morning one at The Albion Park Courts in Clifton hosted by "Hollywood" Frank Samara and then the two back-to-back late afternoon/early evening Sunday sessions for the two Night Owl groups up at The Wayne Bubble - the first one co-hosted by "Kevlar" Kevin Doyle and "Killer Kat" Kathy Sheldon and the second one hosted by "The Riz" John Rizzo.
Let's first detail the comings and goings at Albion before getting the Bubble results from Kevin, Kat and John.
Samara rolled up to the courts exactly when he said he would at 10:30. Nobody else was there yet, but two young guys he did not recognized had just pulled up in their car. So Frank thought it best to get himself out onto the courts to at least hold one of them (and the one of his preference which is the North Court).
Upon getting out there, he noticed that the net on the North Court was too high as the hook had become detached from the metal loop down on the court. Samara was able to fix that, but he was unable to adjust the net on the South Court which is far too low in the middle right now. Well, as Meat Loaf once sang: "Two out of three ain't bad!" I'm talking about the courts as there are a total of three at Albion (the net on Center Court seemed to be just right).
Frank figured the turnout to be low as the weather was on the cool side as forecast most of the week. Where the weathermen got it slightly wrong, however, was the fact that it was pretty windy (at least it was upon arrival). They had been saying it should be relatively wind-free. They were right about the full sunshine. The peak temperature was forecast to get to about 45 degrees and I'm not sure if it ever actually got there.
At 10:35, "Vintage" Vinnie De Benedetto had also now pulled up to the curb. Soon enough, he was heading down the hill toward the courts. They started hitting to one another on the North Court.
Before they got all that far with their hitting session, "Sneaky" Suzanne Bujara was entering the other gate at the corner of the South Court at 10:40. Frank then started hitting against both Vin and Suzanne. The good news was that the winds had died down by the time they had started this hitting session. The bad news that there did not seem to be a fourth player in sight.
Vin said if nobody else arrived by 11:30, he was going to leave as he had some early afternoon plans anyway. Well, at 11:15, it was the arrival of "Del Brotro" Mike Mole to save the day. After a five minute hitting session, the first Doubles One-Setter of the day was underway as Mike teamed with Suzanne to take on Frank and Vin.
While that One-Setter was still in progress, "Nate the Great" Nathan Fernandes walked toward the courts and then entered the area at 11:40. And just as the One-Setter finished at 11:50, Natalia "Nitro" Sout and "Hurricane" Jose Gonzales had both pulled up to the curb and soon made their way down the hill toward the courts.
With a total of seven players on hand, Vin decided to soon leave to enable Frank and Jose to team to take on the tandem of Mike and Suzanne while Nate and Natalia would have a hitting session with each other over on Center Court. And when that one ended at 12:16, Samara suggested that he step off along with Bujara to allow Fernandes and Sout to face Mole and Gonzales. As Suzanne had some things to do at home, she decided to leave at this time.
Then the two proposed teams above went into a prolonged hitting session of almost twenty minutes which initially was about getting used to the new balls that Jose had brought into play for the match as the older balls were even flatter due to the cold temps. The One-Setter finally got underway at 12:35.
So Samara was sitting out on the sidelines of the North Court watching the Doubles action when there was a surprise appearance made by "Stealth" Omar Santos. Frank led Omar to Center Court for a hitting session.
And just as Samara proposed the idea of a Singles One-Setter to Santos, the Doubles One-Setter on the North Court had ended. Frank then called out to see who might want to play Singles (thinking it may end up being Omar versus someone else). Instead, Santos opted to join the guys for Doubles while Natalia said she wanted to play some Singles against Samara. And not just a hitting session...she wanted to play sets!
While the four guys had a lengthy Doubles battle on the North Court, Samara and Sout had a couple of fun sets of Singles on Center Court.
The last one finished about five minutes prior to 2pm and Frank had to leave. As he was walking off the courts, it seemed the guys were going to have a Rematch One-Setter with Natalia sitting on the bench as a spectator. But Nate later informed Frank via text that it was scrapped once Omar had to leave early.
Let's get to the action!
The Albion Park Results:
Frank Samara/Vinnie De Benedetto over Mike Mole/Suzanne Bujara, 6-1! Frank: 1 Ace on Suzanne! It went like this: Mike held serve (30-Love, 30-15, Double Game Point was reduced to Deuce, but then came another Game Point and the hold), Frank held at Love, but Suzanne was the first one to be broken (Love-15, 15-All, but then onto Double Break Point, a rebound to Deuce, Break Point, 2nd Deuce, Game Point, 3rd Deuce, Double Fault for Break Point and then the break) for 1-2. Vinnie held (Love-15 went straight to Double Game Point and the hold) and Mole was broken (Love-15 shifted to 30-15, then 30-All and a Double Fault to set up Break Point which was followed by another Double Fault to break himself) to fall to 1-4. Samara held again (started with a well-placed but not fast-paced sideline Ace on Suzanne, it then went to 30-Love, 30-15, Double Game Point and the hold) while Bujara was broken again (Love-30 shifted to 30-All, but then came Break/Match Point and the break) to take the loss. We played this on the North Court from 11:21 to 11:50.
Jose Gonzales/Frank Samara over Mike Mole/Suzanne Bujara, 6-0! No Aces. Here's how it went down: Mike was broken (Love-30, 15-30, Double Break Point, Break Point and the break), Jose held (15-Love, a Double Fault for 15-All and then point for point to Game Point and the hold), Suzanne was broken as she started at Love-15, it shifted to 30-15, but then shifted again to Break Point and the break and then Frank held (15-Love, 15-All, then onto Double Game Point and the hold) for a 4-0 lead. Mole was then broken again (Love-30, 15-30, a Double Fault to set up Double Break Point, then Break Point and the break) while Gonzales held again and this time around it was at Love as he put it away on Triple Game/Match Point! This early afternoon bagel was served up on the North Court and its making took 17 minutes (from 11:59 to 12:16)!
Mike Mole/Jose Gonzales over Nathan Fernandes/Natalia Sout, 6-3! No Aces. This one also took place on the North Court and lasted from 12:35 to 1:08. When Santos arrived at 12:50, the score was 2-2.
Frank Samara over Natalia Sout, 6-0! No Aces. The breakdown: Frank held (Love-15 went straight to Double Game Point, then Game Point and the hold), Natalia was broken (Love-15 then point for point to Break Point, Deuce, Break Point, 2nd Deuce, Break Point yet again and then finally the break), Samara held again (30-Love, 30-15, Double Game Point and the hold), Sout was broken again (15-Love went straight to Double Break Point, then Break Point and the break), Hollywood held once more (Love-15 went straight to Double Game Point, then Game Point and the hold) while Nitro was broken yet again and this time around it was at Love as it was Triple Break/Match Point when she hit an ill-timed Double Fault to break herself! We played this on Center Court from 1:10 to 1:30.
Omar Santos/Nathan Fernandes over Mike Mole/Jose Gonzales, 6-4! Jose: 2 Aces on Omar in the same game! This was contested on the North Court from 1:10 to 1:52. At 1:30, the score was 3-2 (I don't know in which team's favor it was) and that led to Samara and Sout playing a Rematch One-Setter. Meanwhile, Santos was in fine form as it may be the most consistent and solid level of play we have ever seen from him.
Frank Samara over Natalia Sout, 6-0! No Aces. The dirty lowdown: Frank held (30-Love shifted to 30-All, Game Point and the hold), Natalia was broken (Love-30, 15-30, Double Break Point and the break), Samara held again (Triple Game Point, Double Game Point and the hold), Sout was broken again (15-Love went right to Double Break Point, then came Break Point and the break), The Wood held again (15-Love then point for point to Game Point, Deuce, Game Point and the hold) while The OGM was broken (Love-15 shifted to 30-15 shifted again to Break/Match Point and then came the break) to eat her second bagel (perhaps she prefer it better to be referred to as a doughnut) of the day. This was also played on Center Court as it lasted from 1:32 to 1:54.
Samara's Notes: Natalia wanted so desperately to win at least one game...especially as we headed into this second One-Setter. She did come closer this time around. The points felt somewhat more intense in this one. And the duration was two minutes longer...reflecting the fact that the rallies were lengthier and that the games were closer as well. Ms. Sout made some great gets and she also hit at least a handful of excellent return winners along the way. But she also often had problems with my deep slicing backhand shots. She said she had a lot of fun and wants to test herself more in Singles as the year moves forward. Hopefully, she becomes a more active part of the Women's Division this season.
We now turn this report over to Kevlar Kevin, Killer Kat and The Riz for the results from The Bubble!
The Wayne Bubble Results:
The 3 to 5pm session (scores submitted by Kevin and Kathy):
Vlad Smolyanskiy/Jeanette Pegg over Kevin Doyle/Sam Senowitz, 6-4! No Aces.
The Kevlar Commentary: Vlad had to leave after that, so the three of us then played Canadian Doubles for the rest of the session.
Brenda Jordan/Robin Wilson over Kathy Sheldon/Marie Easton, 6-2! No Aces.
Kathy Sheldon/Robin Wilson over Brenda Jordan/Marie Easton, 7-5! No Aces.
Kathy Sheldon/Robin Wilson leading Brenda Jordan/Marie Easton, 3-1 (Incomplete when the session ran out of time)! No Aces.
The Chat from Kat: The ladies played some fierce Doubles today...very competitive! We're looking for an appropriate nickname for Brenda because she is so good at the net. We were calling her "The Octopus," but that's not a cute enough name. Any suggestions?
Samara's Notes: First off, I thank both Kevin and Kathy for their very timely reporting of these results. Second, I agree with Kat about needing a new moniker for Brenda. I gave Brenda the "Bravo" nickname several seasons ago, mainly because I'm a fan of alliteration and could not think of anything more appropriate. But I confess that it was mentally lazy on my part. So now I hereby offer up "Volley Girl," as a play off the term: "Valley Girl." Because I do concur with Kat and the other ladies about Ms. Jordan's excellent net game. She has become very effective with those put-away volleys the past few seasons. I hope Brenda likes it.
We now go to The Riz for the scores from the 6 to 8pm session.
Ryan Pienciak/Tom La over Senthil Kumar/John Rizzo, 6-1! No Aces.
Ryan Pienciak/John Rizzo over Dan Hwang/Tom La, 6-2! No Aces.
Ryan Pienciak/John Rizzo over Senthil Kumar/Dan Hwang, 6-4! No Aces.
Ryan Pienciak/Tom La over Senthil Kumar/Dan Hwang, 6-2! No Aces.
Syed Rashid/Mike Sindler over Rich Liu/Frank Hohorst, 6-4! No Aces.
Frank Hohorst over Rich Liu, 6-4! No Aces.
Samara's Notes: I also thank John for sending in those results in a very timely fashion.
All the best,
Frank Samara
gtasamara5@gmail.com
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