4/20/18:
"2 at Albion, 2 in Wayne, 23 (1 New) at The Bubble!":
There were three sessions of GTA Friday Tennis: the first took place in the afternoon at Albion Park in Clifton as "Del Brotro'" Mike Mole and "The S Bomber" Genalin Capan got together for an extended hitting session followed by a couple of One-Setters (with Gen reporting).
The second was a little later at The Nellis Drive Courts in Wayne as "Salsa Picante" Edwin Ortega and "Stealth" Omar Santos ended up playing an epic One-Setter (as reported by Omar).
The third and final session of the evening was the GTA Friday Night Bubble Party at The Wayne Bubble. Much like the week before, the format was a hybrid of the two formats they have bounced back and forth between (the early two-hour non-stop session and the extended four-hour-plus session) as this one was three and a half hours of action for the players involved (and the breaks between sets were almost always fairly short). When some of them left early, that allowed the two hosts ("The Riz" John Rizzo and "Hollywood" Frank Samara) to step in and take their places.
Before we get to all that happened at that epic session (the last of this season until sometime in October), we need to now backtrack to Clifton, then go outside on Nellis Drive in Wayne before heading into The Bubble to close out the night's events.
Take it away, Gen!
We played from 2:15 to 4:30. First, we hit for an hour and practiced serving. Then we played a couple of One-Setters. It was windy and chilly, but at least the sun was out.
The Albion Park Results:
Mike Mole over Genalin Capan, 6-1! Mike and Gen: 1 Ace each! We played this one from 3:20 to 3:40. Mike was up 4-0 before I won that lone game.
Mike Mole over Genalin Capan, 6-2! Mike: 1 Ace. We played this one from 3:50 to 4:20. This time, Mike was up 5-0 before I won those two games.
Samara's Notes: I thank Gen for her very timely reporting and additional details. We now go to Wayne for the report from Omar.
The Nellis Drive Courts Result:
Omar Santos over Edwin Ortega, 7-6 (7-4)! Edwin: 2 Aces; and Omar: 1 Ace!
The Stealth Report: We played from 5pm to 6:15. The conditions were quite windy. I was up 5-1 and then I was broken and that led to him winning five straight games to take a 6-5 lead. I broke back to force the Tiebreak. I should have won 6-1. It felt like playing two sets.
Samara's Notes: I thank Omar for his timely reporting along with his corresponding commentary.
And now it is up to The Bubble we go!
Per the usual, "Hollywood" Frank Samara promoted the GTA Friday Night Bubble Party while "The Riz" John Rizzo went into his usual organizer mode (for these Bubble events) as he began collecting registrations and making plans for snacks, beverages, etc.
Rizzo's usual focus was primarily collecting the paid registrations and then organizing the above accommodations. Samara was in charge of collecting the scores and also sometimes helping with the match-ups.
With it being the last Friday Night Wayne Bubble Party until at least October, demand (i.e. turnout) was strong enough to dictate that the session go longer than two or even three hours. We ended up with a total of 23 players, but it was more like twenty for the course of much of the session as "The Adonis" Don Moya only played a One-Setter as he recently sprained his ankle (thankfully, not too severe of a sprain).
And then, per the usual, Rizzo and Samara both got involved in the action late in the session to come in to replace the players that left before closing time. Usually, they are happy to do so...and John was this time around, but Frank was suffering from a fall he had earlier in the week at home in the middle of the night. The fall was the result of a major Charlie Horse cramp of his left hamstring that immediately sent him back down onto his butt (after having just woken up and then getting up) with his upper back and neck crashing into the edge of the couch. Going into this session, the pain in most areas had subsided. The only lingering effect was pain and tightness in the area behind his left knee.
Before I go further with the details of how this session unfolded, I just want to once again thank The Riz for offering up his time, services and funds to host this event for the benefit of the GTA. And I acted as the host of the session in the traditional sense of how we use the term "hosting", i.e. I collected the scores of all the action along the way.
Usually in my results write-ups, I detail the order of entry and/or appearance as the session progresses...but not this time around! This time around, it is fairly obvious by the way they took the courts as you will see from the opening round of play. All I will say is was yet another epic session...one that was fitting to close out this part of the indoor season until it resumes in the fall.
We also once again thank Mark Cipollini for his hospitality. We had asked him to come in and play, but he was too busy running The Bubble and later cleaning up after our group as we left in stages. The good news for him was that we did not need him to "work overtime" as we only ran a little long this time around as the last of the official action ended exactly at 11:49 (we had planned to finish at 11:45).
So, we would have had a total of 24 players had Mark competed, but 23 is still nothing to sneeze at...especially for an indoor session in late April. We thank everyone who was a part of it.
Let's get to the action!
The Wayne Bubble Results:
Tom Heidt/Charlie Vreeland over Tim Nguyen/Paul Mallick, 6-1! Paul: 1 Ace on Charlie! Action on Court One officially got the session started as this one began at 8:25 and finished at 8:44 (just nineteen minutes total...though they did decide to forego the changeovers in this one)! This was an impressive win for Gotta Lotta Heidt and Big Charlie V as the combo of Tim Tam and The PM News is a fairly formidable tandem.
Matt Fortunato/Laurie Boughton over Thiyagesh Rei/Suzanne Bujara, 6-2! Thiyagesh: 1 Ace on Matt! Court Two hosted this one from 8:26 to 8:52 (they also decided to forego the changeovers). Matt and Laurie have had a decent amount of success as a Mixed Doubles Team together and that trend picked up right where it left off their last time around.
2 out of 3 Sets Women's Doubles Match:
Astrid Kaiser/Takako Teto over Fadia Nicolas/Denise Savino, 6-2, 6-1, to become the New # 28 Ranked Team in the Women's Doubles Division! It was the official GTA Debut of Takako Teto. No Aces.
The Skinny: First off, we had Takako's name backwards on the Registration List we were including in the News e-mails for much of the week. Kaiser/Teto is a regular team on the USTA circuit and they came here looking to play together more. They are friends of Fadia. The action got underway on Court Four at 8:27. They also did not do the changeovers. The 1st Set ended at 9:02. They switched sides for the 2nd Set (they did not realize, at the time, that they should have left the court after the initial set...it was not a big deal anyway as people were coming on and off the other three courts at a steady clip anyway). The entire match then finished at 9:17 as that 2nd Set was only 15 minutes long!
We know how strong a player Fadia is and Denise is very solid in Doubles...so that tells you just how good a team Astrid and Takako are together. I had the chance to team with Takako and then go up against her later in the evening and I can tell you that she is a very solid player...and also a very nice lady as well. And when I got Takako's e-mail address, it revealed her initials which are an ideal ready-made moniker for her: "TNT!"
Kevin Doyle/Janice Wang over Tito Castolo/Robin Wilson, 6-3! No Aces. Court Three (aka The Show Court) hosted this one from 8:30 to 9pm (another set without the changeovers). The action was very sound as Kevin and Robin (both have improved much...especially Robin) found themselves raising the level of their games to hang with Tito and Janice (even though Doyle and Wilson were on opposite sides). Castolo is always amazing with his adept Doubles ability, but he also had more than the usual amount of misfires...a trend that would continue for him for much of the evening.
Senthil Kumar/Kyle Eng over Mike Mole/Tim Nguyen, 6-2! Mike: 3 Aces (2 on Senthil, 1 on Kyle)! Court One hosted this one from 8:55 to 9:19. It was the first set of the evening where I saw them doing the changeovers.
Tom Heidt/Charlie Vreeland over Thiyagesh Rei/Paul Mallick, 6-2! Thiyagesh: 2 Aces (one on each); and Charlie: 1 Ace on Thiyagesh! These two teams faced off on Court Two from 8:57 to 9:31 (they did not do changeovers).
Matt Fortunato/Laurie Boughton over Kevin Doyle/Suzanne Bujara, 6-2! Laurie: 1 Ace on Suzanne! They put on a show on Court Three from 9:04 to 9:45 (quite lengthy when you consider they did not do the changeovers...we thought they were halfway thru it when they told us the score was only 2-1...they had many multi-Deuce games)!
Don Moya/Janice Wang over Tito Castolo/Robin Wilson, 6-0! No Aces. Court Four featured this Mixed Doubles action from 9:24 to 9:41 (again, no changeovers). The team experience of the duo, Moya/Wang, was just too much for Castolo/Wilson.
Mike Mole/Astrid Kaiser over Kyle Eng/Takako Teto, 7-6 (7-3)! Kyle: 1 Ace on Astrid; and Mike: 1 Ace on Teto! The fiercest Mixed Doubles action of the night took place on Court One and lasted from 9:24 to 10:05 (somewhat short considering it was a Tiebreak set and that they did do the changeovers). Initially, we thought it was going to be played "Battle of The Sexes" style as Astrid and Takako were looking to get more time together as a team...but then the ladies must have thought better of it.
Senthil Kumar/Denise Savino over Tim Nguyen/Fadia Nicolas, 6-3! No Aces. This was some solid Mixed Doubles action as well. It took place on Court Two from 9:34 to 10pm (no changeovers). Senthil said his team got off to a slow start (down 0-2) before they began to turn the tide and then it was off and running.
Tom Heidt/Charlie Vreeland over Thiyagesh Rei/Paul Mallick, 6-0! Charlie: 1 Ace on Paul (Charlie said it was one of his best ever)! This Rematch One-Setter took place on Court Four from 9:44 to 10:07 (again, no changeovers). The Heidt/Vreeland tandem (quite experienced together) went 3-0 on the night and capped it with this bagel! Very impressive as they went up against solid teams, indeed.
Tito Castolo/Robin Wilson over Paul Daddio/Janice Wang, 6-2! No Aces. Quite the show indeed on Court Three as this one lasted from 9:53 to 10:18 (no changeovers). Tito finally earned a victory and Robin played some serious defense which enabled his offense. Janice was solid all night, so perhaps it was Paul who got off to a slow start here as he was the latest arrival of the evening.
Matt Fortunato/Laurie Boughton over Denise Savino/Suzanne Bujara, 6-3! No Aces. This one got underway on Court Two at 10:04 (not sure when it finished as I was then in action on Court Four when it ended...also, they did not do the changeovers). Fortunato/Boughton were the second team of the evening to have 3 and "Oh" bragging rights!
Paul Mallick/Fadia Nicolas leading Astrid Kaiser/Takako Teto, 3-2 (Incomplete when Astrid had to leave at 10:31...they had begun this one on Court Four at 10:11...they were not doing the changeovers)! No Aces. In need of a fourth, Samara would head out onto the court to take Mallick's place...more on that later in this report.
2 out of 3 Sets Doubles Match:
Senthil Kumar/John Rizzo over Mike Mole/Kyle Eng, 6-4, 3-6, 6-4, to successfully defend their # 8 Rank in the Doubles Division! In the process, Mole/Eng entered the division as the New # 147 Ranked Team. Kyle: 6 Aces on Senthil (three in the same game!); Mike: 2 Aces (one on each); and John: 1 Ace on Kyle!
The Skinny: This developed into a full match once it was obvious they did not need to leave the court as nobody else was waiting to come on to play. It got underway on Court One at 10:11. At 10:55, they shifted over to Court Two to allow Court One to be closed. The match actually closed out the session as it ended at 11:49. They were doing the changeovers.
2 out of 3 Sets Mixed Gender Doubles Match:
Paul Daddio/Janice Wang over Thiyagesh Rei/Tito Castolo, 6-2, 3-6, 6-2! Per the TMT Rules, Daddio/Wang entered the Mixed Doubles Division as the New # 41 Ranked Team while Rei/Castolo entered the Doubles Division as the New # 148 Ranked Team. No Aces (apparently).
The Skinny: After the previous One-Setter where Tito was victorious over Paul and Janice with Robin Wilson as his partner, Castolo wanted to then team with Wang against Daddio and Thiyagesh Rei. But Paul wanted a chance at revenge against Tito and he ultimately got it here. It got underway on Court Three at 10:20 and it must have ended somewhere around 11:30 (they were not doing the changeovers). There was some truly excellent action here as many of their lengthy and hard-hitting rallies caught our attention as we were over on Court Four. Speaking of which...
Paul Mallick/Fadia Nicolas leading Frank Samara/Takako Teto, 3-2 (Incomplete when Paul had to leave at 10:59...we had begun this one on Court Four at 10:35...and we were doing the changeovers)! No Aces. Here's how it was going: Paul was broken (Love-15 then point for point to Break Point and then the break), Frank was broken (Love-30, 15-30, Double Break Point and the break), Fadia was broken (Love-30, 15-30, Double Break Point and then a bounce back to Deuce, Break Point, 2nd Deuce and then it was all Game Points until 6th Deuce, then Break Point and the break) and Takako was broken (15-Love then point for point until 30-All, a mini-shift to Break Point, Deuce, Break Point again and then the break) as nobody could hold serve at 2-2! It was at this moment that we decided we would only play one more game as Paul informed us after the lengthy 6-Deuce game that he would have to leave by 11pm to go pick up his son (by the way, I neglected to mention earlier that Astrid had to leave to go pick up her daughter). Mallick then managed to go out on a high note with a hold as it went from Love-15 to 30-15, 30-All, Game Point and the hold for a moral victory if not an official one.
Luckily for us, Laurie was still around lounging in the lounge area (you like that?) and was willing to take Paul's place for one more One-Setter for the evening.
Fadia Nicolas/Takako Teto over Frank Samara/Laurie Boughton, 6-4! No Aces. It went like this: Fadia held (Love-15 then point for point until 30-All, a mini-shift to Game Point, Deuce, Game Point again and then the hold), Frank held (30-Love fell straight to Break Point, Deuce and then all Game Points to 3rd Deuce and then another Game Point and the hold), Takako held (Love-30 then went right to Game Point, Deuce, Break Point, 2nd Deuce, Game Point and the hold), but Laurie was the first to be broken (Love-15 then point for point until 30-All, a mini-shift to Game Point, Deuce, Break Point, 2nd Deuce, Break Point and the break) for 1-3. Nicolas was broken (15-Love went straight to Double Break Point, then it went to Break Point and the break), but Samara held again (Love-30 then went right to Game Point and the hold) to level things at 3-3! Teto was broken at Love as her team lost the lead for the first time at 3-4, but then Boughton was broken again (Love-15 shifted to 30-15 shifted again to Break Point, then Deuce, another Break Point and a Double Fault to break herself) to knot the score once more, this time at 4-4! Fadia Finesse then held (15-Love shifted to 15-30 shifted again to Game Point and then came the hold) to reclaim the lead at 5-4 and then came an epic game with Hollywood on serve. He got off to a 30-Love lead only to soon see it shift to 30-All. Then came a great rally where he had a chance to rush the net and that was where Takako hit a high but short-range lob where Frank roared like a grizzly bear to fuel as much air as he could possibly get in leaping upward to intercept the lobbed ball and bring it back down as a thunderous and winning Overhead Smash! The ladies likely never saw a 245 pound man (Yes, 245! We will get back to that after the match) get that high off the ground before. That made it Game Point and it felt like a pivotal moment. But I guess that feel wasn't real as it then went to Deuce, Game Point again, 2nd Deuce, Break/Match Point and the break to take a tough loss as this one ended on Court Four exactly at 11:45 (we had started it precisely at 11:01 and we were doing the changeovers)!
The Far from Skinny: Yes, I confess here publicly for the very first time that I have reached a new all-time high weight of 245 pounds! And it was likely higher than that around the holidays as I truly believe I lost somewhere between five and ten pounds since then. So it is quite possible I was once in the 250 to 255 range! I had not weighed myself since the fall and then came the bad news at a doctor's appointment last Friday that I have ballooned up to a very lofty level of "fattitude!" Two years ago, I thought it was bad enough that I had reached 235. It is obvious that I will need to lose at least 20 to 25 pounds if I am to ever again make an upward move in the Advanced Division.
As for the One-Setter itself, we all had a lot of fun and there were many fun and fast-paced rallies. We were also glad to be able to bring it to its full conclusion as it came on the heels of two aborted half-sets.
It ended up being quite the enjoyable and productive session. Once again, we thank all those who were a part of it.
Sincerely,
Frank Samara
gtasamara5@gmail.com
"2 at Albion, 2 in Wayne, 23 (1 New) at The Bubble!":
There were three sessions of GTA Friday Tennis: the first took place in the afternoon at Albion Park in Clifton as "Del Brotro'" Mike Mole and "The S Bomber" Genalin Capan got together for an extended hitting session followed by a couple of One-Setters (with Gen reporting).
The second was a little later at The Nellis Drive Courts in Wayne as "Salsa Picante" Edwin Ortega and "Stealth" Omar Santos ended up playing an epic One-Setter (as reported by Omar).
The third and final session of the evening was the GTA Friday Night Bubble Party at The Wayne Bubble. Much like the week before, the format was a hybrid of the two formats they have bounced back and forth between (the early two-hour non-stop session and the extended four-hour-plus session) as this one was three and a half hours of action for the players involved (and the breaks between sets were almost always fairly short). When some of them left early, that allowed the two hosts ("The Riz" John Rizzo and "Hollywood" Frank Samara) to step in and take their places.
Before we get to all that happened at that epic session (the last of this season until sometime in October), we need to now backtrack to Clifton, then go outside on Nellis Drive in Wayne before heading into The Bubble to close out the night's events.
Take it away, Gen!
We played from 2:15 to 4:30. First, we hit for an hour and practiced serving. Then we played a couple of One-Setters. It was windy and chilly, but at least the sun was out.
The Albion Park Results:
Mike Mole over Genalin Capan, 6-1! Mike and Gen: 1 Ace each! We played this one from 3:20 to 3:40. Mike was up 4-0 before I won that lone game.
Mike Mole over Genalin Capan, 6-2! Mike: 1 Ace. We played this one from 3:50 to 4:20. This time, Mike was up 5-0 before I won those two games.
Samara's Notes: I thank Gen for her very timely reporting and additional details. We now go to Wayne for the report from Omar.
The Nellis Drive Courts Result:
Omar Santos over Edwin Ortega, 7-6 (7-4)! Edwin: 2 Aces; and Omar: 1 Ace!
The Stealth Report: We played from 5pm to 6:15. The conditions were quite windy. I was up 5-1 and then I was broken and that led to him winning five straight games to take a 6-5 lead. I broke back to force the Tiebreak. I should have won 6-1. It felt like playing two sets.
Samara's Notes: I thank Omar for his timely reporting along with his corresponding commentary.
And now it is up to The Bubble we go!
Per the usual, "Hollywood" Frank Samara promoted the GTA Friday Night Bubble Party while "The Riz" John Rizzo went into his usual organizer mode (for these Bubble events) as he began collecting registrations and making plans for snacks, beverages, etc.
Rizzo's usual focus was primarily collecting the paid registrations and then organizing the above accommodations. Samara was in charge of collecting the scores and also sometimes helping with the match-ups.
With it being the last Friday Night Wayne Bubble Party until at least October, demand (i.e. turnout) was strong enough to dictate that the session go longer than two or even three hours. We ended up with a total of 23 players, but it was more like twenty for the course of much of the session as "The Adonis" Don Moya only played a One-Setter as he recently sprained his ankle (thankfully, not too severe of a sprain).
And then, per the usual, Rizzo and Samara both got involved in the action late in the session to come in to replace the players that left before closing time. Usually, they are happy to do so...and John was this time around, but Frank was suffering from a fall he had earlier in the week at home in the middle of the night. The fall was the result of a major Charlie Horse cramp of his left hamstring that immediately sent him back down onto his butt (after having just woken up and then getting up) with his upper back and neck crashing into the edge of the couch. Going into this session, the pain in most areas had subsided. The only lingering effect was pain and tightness in the area behind his left knee.
Before I go further with the details of how this session unfolded, I just want to once again thank The Riz for offering up his time, services and funds to host this event for the benefit of the GTA. And I acted as the host of the session in the traditional sense of how we use the term "hosting", i.e. I collected the scores of all the action along the way.
Usually in my results write-ups, I detail the order of entry and/or appearance as the session progresses...but not this time around! This time around, it is fairly obvious by the way they took the courts as you will see from the opening round of play. All I will say is was yet another epic session...one that was fitting to close out this part of the indoor season until it resumes in the fall.
We also once again thank Mark Cipollini for his hospitality. We had asked him to come in and play, but he was too busy running The Bubble and later cleaning up after our group as we left in stages. The good news for him was that we did not need him to "work overtime" as we only ran a little long this time around as the last of the official action ended exactly at 11:49 (we had planned to finish at 11:45).
So, we would have had a total of 24 players had Mark competed, but 23 is still nothing to sneeze at...especially for an indoor session in late April. We thank everyone who was a part of it.
Let's get to the action!
The Wayne Bubble Results:
Tom Heidt/Charlie Vreeland over Tim Nguyen/Paul Mallick, 6-1! Paul: 1 Ace on Charlie! Action on Court One officially got the session started as this one began at 8:25 and finished at 8:44 (just nineteen minutes total...though they did decide to forego the changeovers in this one)! This was an impressive win for Gotta Lotta Heidt and Big Charlie V as the combo of Tim Tam and The PM News is a fairly formidable tandem.
Matt Fortunato/Laurie Boughton over Thiyagesh Rei/Suzanne Bujara, 6-2! Thiyagesh: 1 Ace on Matt! Court Two hosted this one from 8:26 to 8:52 (they also decided to forego the changeovers). Matt and Laurie have had a decent amount of success as a Mixed Doubles Team together and that trend picked up right where it left off their last time around.
2 out of 3 Sets Women's Doubles Match:
Astrid Kaiser/Takako Teto over Fadia Nicolas/Denise Savino, 6-2, 6-1, to become the New # 28 Ranked Team in the Women's Doubles Division! It was the official GTA Debut of Takako Teto. No Aces.
The Skinny: First off, we had Takako's name backwards on the Registration List we were including in the News e-mails for much of the week. Kaiser/Teto is a regular team on the USTA circuit and they came here looking to play together more. They are friends of Fadia. The action got underway on Court Four at 8:27. They also did not do the changeovers. The 1st Set ended at 9:02. They switched sides for the 2nd Set (they did not realize, at the time, that they should have left the court after the initial set...it was not a big deal anyway as people were coming on and off the other three courts at a steady clip anyway). The entire match then finished at 9:17 as that 2nd Set was only 15 minutes long!
We know how strong a player Fadia is and Denise is very solid in Doubles...so that tells you just how good a team Astrid and Takako are together. I had the chance to team with Takako and then go up against her later in the evening and I can tell you that she is a very solid player...and also a very nice lady as well. And when I got Takako's e-mail address, it revealed her initials which are an ideal ready-made moniker for her: "TNT!"
Kevin Doyle/Janice Wang over Tito Castolo/Robin Wilson, 6-3! No Aces. Court Three (aka The Show Court) hosted this one from 8:30 to 9pm (another set without the changeovers). The action was very sound as Kevin and Robin (both have improved much...especially Robin) found themselves raising the level of their games to hang with Tito and Janice (even though Doyle and Wilson were on opposite sides). Castolo is always amazing with his adept Doubles ability, but he also had more than the usual amount of misfires...a trend that would continue for him for much of the evening.
Senthil Kumar/Kyle Eng over Mike Mole/Tim Nguyen, 6-2! Mike: 3 Aces (2 on Senthil, 1 on Kyle)! Court One hosted this one from 8:55 to 9:19. It was the first set of the evening where I saw them doing the changeovers.
Tom Heidt/Charlie Vreeland over Thiyagesh Rei/Paul Mallick, 6-2! Thiyagesh: 2 Aces (one on each); and Charlie: 1 Ace on Thiyagesh! These two teams faced off on Court Two from 8:57 to 9:31 (they did not do changeovers).
Matt Fortunato/Laurie Boughton over Kevin Doyle/Suzanne Bujara, 6-2! Laurie: 1 Ace on Suzanne! They put on a show on Court Three from 9:04 to 9:45 (quite lengthy when you consider they did not do the changeovers...we thought they were halfway thru it when they told us the score was only 2-1...they had many multi-Deuce games)!
Don Moya/Janice Wang over Tito Castolo/Robin Wilson, 6-0! No Aces. Court Four featured this Mixed Doubles action from 9:24 to 9:41 (again, no changeovers). The team experience of the duo, Moya/Wang, was just too much for Castolo/Wilson.
Mike Mole/Astrid Kaiser over Kyle Eng/Takako Teto, 7-6 (7-3)! Kyle: 1 Ace on Astrid; and Mike: 1 Ace on Teto! The fiercest Mixed Doubles action of the night took place on Court One and lasted from 9:24 to 10:05 (somewhat short considering it was a Tiebreak set and that they did do the changeovers). Initially, we thought it was going to be played "Battle of The Sexes" style as Astrid and Takako were looking to get more time together as a team...but then the ladies must have thought better of it.
Senthil Kumar/Denise Savino over Tim Nguyen/Fadia Nicolas, 6-3! No Aces. This was some solid Mixed Doubles action as well. It took place on Court Two from 9:34 to 10pm (no changeovers). Senthil said his team got off to a slow start (down 0-2) before they began to turn the tide and then it was off and running.
Tom Heidt/Charlie Vreeland over Thiyagesh Rei/Paul Mallick, 6-0! Charlie: 1 Ace on Paul (Charlie said it was one of his best ever)! This Rematch One-Setter took place on Court Four from 9:44 to 10:07 (again, no changeovers). The Heidt/Vreeland tandem (quite experienced together) went 3-0 on the night and capped it with this bagel! Very impressive as they went up against solid teams, indeed.
Tito Castolo/Robin Wilson over Paul Daddio/Janice Wang, 6-2! No Aces. Quite the show indeed on Court Three as this one lasted from 9:53 to 10:18 (no changeovers). Tito finally earned a victory and Robin played some serious defense which enabled his offense. Janice was solid all night, so perhaps it was Paul who got off to a slow start here as he was the latest arrival of the evening.
Matt Fortunato/Laurie Boughton over Denise Savino/Suzanne Bujara, 6-3! No Aces. This one got underway on Court Two at 10:04 (not sure when it finished as I was then in action on Court Four when it ended...also, they did not do the changeovers). Fortunato/Boughton were the second team of the evening to have 3 and "Oh" bragging rights!
Paul Mallick/Fadia Nicolas leading Astrid Kaiser/Takako Teto, 3-2 (Incomplete when Astrid had to leave at 10:31...they had begun this one on Court Four at 10:11...they were not doing the changeovers)! No Aces. In need of a fourth, Samara would head out onto the court to take Mallick's place...more on that later in this report.
2 out of 3 Sets Doubles Match:
Senthil Kumar/John Rizzo over Mike Mole/Kyle Eng, 6-4, 3-6, 6-4, to successfully defend their # 8 Rank in the Doubles Division! In the process, Mole/Eng entered the division as the New # 147 Ranked Team. Kyle: 6 Aces on Senthil (three in the same game!); Mike: 2 Aces (one on each); and John: 1 Ace on Kyle!
The Skinny: This developed into a full match once it was obvious they did not need to leave the court as nobody else was waiting to come on to play. It got underway on Court One at 10:11. At 10:55, they shifted over to Court Two to allow Court One to be closed. The match actually closed out the session as it ended at 11:49. They were doing the changeovers.
2 out of 3 Sets Mixed Gender Doubles Match:
Paul Daddio/Janice Wang over Thiyagesh Rei/Tito Castolo, 6-2, 3-6, 6-2! Per the TMT Rules, Daddio/Wang entered the Mixed Doubles Division as the New # 41 Ranked Team while Rei/Castolo entered the Doubles Division as the New # 148 Ranked Team. No Aces (apparently).
The Skinny: After the previous One-Setter where Tito was victorious over Paul and Janice with Robin Wilson as his partner, Castolo wanted to then team with Wang against Daddio and Thiyagesh Rei. But Paul wanted a chance at revenge against Tito and he ultimately got it here. It got underway on Court Three at 10:20 and it must have ended somewhere around 11:30 (they were not doing the changeovers). There was some truly excellent action here as many of their lengthy and hard-hitting rallies caught our attention as we were over on Court Four. Speaking of which...
Paul Mallick/Fadia Nicolas leading Frank Samara/Takako Teto, 3-2 (Incomplete when Paul had to leave at 10:59...we had begun this one on Court Four at 10:35...and we were doing the changeovers)! No Aces. Here's how it was going: Paul was broken (Love-15 then point for point to Break Point and then the break), Frank was broken (Love-30, 15-30, Double Break Point and the break), Fadia was broken (Love-30, 15-30, Double Break Point and then a bounce back to Deuce, Break Point, 2nd Deuce and then it was all Game Points until 6th Deuce, then Break Point and the break) and Takako was broken (15-Love then point for point until 30-All, a mini-shift to Break Point, Deuce, Break Point again and then the break) as nobody could hold serve at 2-2! It was at this moment that we decided we would only play one more game as Paul informed us after the lengthy 6-Deuce game that he would have to leave by 11pm to go pick up his son (by the way, I neglected to mention earlier that Astrid had to leave to go pick up her daughter). Mallick then managed to go out on a high note with a hold as it went from Love-15 to 30-15, 30-All, Game Point and the hold for a moral victory if not an official one.
Luckily for us, Laurie was still around lounging in the lounge area (you like that?) and was willing to take Paul's place for one more One-Setter for the evening.
Fadia Nicolas/Takako Teto over Frank Samara/Laurie Boughton, 6-4! No Aces. It went like this: Fadia held (Love-15 then point for point until 30-All, a mini-shift to Game Point, Deuce, Game Point again and then the hold), Frank held (30-Love fell straight to Break Point, Deuce and then all Game Points to 3rd Deuce and then another Game Point and the hold), Takako held (Love-30 then went right to Game Point, Deuce, Break Point, 2nd Deuce, Game Point and the hold), but Laurie was the first to be broken (Love-15 then point for point until 30-All, a mini-shift to Game Point, Deuce, Break Point, 2nd Deuce, Break Point and the break) for 1-3. Nicolas was broken (15-Love went straight to Double Break Point, then it went to Break Point and the break), but Samara held again (Love-30 then went right to Game Point and the hold) to level things at 3-3! Teto was broken at Love as her team lost the lead for the first time at 3-4, but then Boughton was broken again (Love-15 shifted to 30-15 shifted again to Break Point, then Deuce, another Break Point and a Double Fault to break herself) to knot the score once more, this time at 4-4! Fadia Finesse then held (15-Love shifted to 15-30 shifted again to Game Point and then came the hold) to reclaim the lead at 5-4 and then came an epic game with Hollywood on serve. He got off to a 30-Love lead only to soon see it shift to 30-All. Then came a great rally where he had a chance to rush the net and that was where Takako hit a high but short-range lob where Frank roared like a grizzly bear to fuel as much air as he could possibly get in leaping upward to intercept the lobbed ball and bring it back down as a thunderous and winning Overhead Smash! The ladies likely never saw a 245 pound man (Yes, 245! We will get back to that after the match) get that high off the ground before. That made it Game Point and it felt like a pivotal moment. But I guess that feel wasn't real as it then went to Deuce, Game Point again, 2nd Deuce, Break/Match Point and the break to take a tough loss as this one ended on Court Four exactly at 11:45 (we had started it precisely at 11:01 and we were doing the changeovers)!
The Far from Skinny: Yes, I confess here publicly for the very first time that I have reached a new all-time high weight of 245 pounds! And it was likely higher than that around the holidays as I truly believe I lost somewhere between five and ten pounds since then. So it is quite possible I was once in the 250 to 255 range! I had not weighed myself since the fall and then came the bad news at a doctor's appointment last Friday that I have ballooned up to a very lofty level of "fattitude!" Two years ago, I thought it was bad enough that I had reached 235. It is obvious that I will need to lose at least 20 to 25 pounds if I am to ever again make an upward move in the Advanced Division.
As for the One-Setter itself, we all had a lot of fun and there were many fun and fast-paced rallies. We were also glad to be able to bring it to its full conclusion as it came on the heels of two aborted half-sets.
It ended up being quite the enjoyable and productive session. Once again, we thank all those who were a part of it.
Sincerely,
Frank Samara
gtasamara5@gmail.com
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