4/26/18:
"Samara hosts 25 at C.G.!":
There were just one session of GTA Thursday Night Tennis, but it was a big one as "Hollywood" Frank Samara acted as the host at The Cedar Grove Courts.
The session actually got underway before his arrival and there were plenty of players there by the time he rolled into the parking lot at 7pm.
"The Riz" John Rizzo got there around 6:30 and saw that "Ice Berg" Scott Bergenfeld was already there waiting for the arrival of "The Bulgarian Bull" Jordan Bachvaroff so that they could play some Singles. But soon there were too many other players there not named Jordan for that Singles action to be an option.
Also, "Kerosene" Kyle Eng was out on Court Two giving a lesson to two slightly younger students (a young man and a young lady). "The K Man" Kris Srinivasan, upon seeing the entire place fill up with GTA players, kindly asked Kyle to take the lesson to the two courts down the road and Kyle obliged.
Samara saw that some Mixed Gender Doubles action was already underway on Court One as "J-Rod" Joe Rodrigues was teaming with "Dominant" Dawn Peterson to take on "Bravo" Brenda Jordan and Natalia "Nitro" Sout. On Court Three and also already in progress was a Men's Doubles One-Setter featuring Bachvaroff teaming with "The Adonis" Don Moya to face the duo of "Kevlar" Kevin Doyle and "NC-17" Nick Caputo.
On Court Four, Rizzo/Bergenfeld were just starting a Rematch One-Setter against Tito "The Titan" Castolo and Frank "Hydro" Hohorst. And with "The Marathon Woman" Doinks Srinivasan soon making her way across the street, she joined hubby Kris in following the GTA Mixed Doubles Champions: "Super Mario" Marijus Kuzavas and "The Smackdown" Sally Pillay over to Court Two for a full GTA Mixed Doubles Championship Match.
It was a nice night for tennis as earlier in the day we had a peak temperature of 70 degrees, so it still felt quite comfortable in the evening hours. Couple that with the fact that players knew they would be getting an organized session (due to Samara's announcement earlier in the day that he would be acting as host), the turnout started to get strong.
"The Scorpion Dragon" Dino Celis arrived at 7:10 and took a seat next to Samara on the bench alongside Court Four. Dino would be the only player of the evening to never get involved in any official action (though he later would have a private hitting session with Natalia on Court Two).
At 7:15, "Hurricane" Jose Gonzales also arrived. Ten minutes later, Fadia "Finesse" Nicolas would do the same. Another five minutes after that, it was "King Crush" Chris Chiaro. Twenty minutes later at 7:50, it was "CB" Chris Barbieri. We were starting to have a logjam situation.
Still, the players kept coming: "Queen B" Louise Bysiek at 8pm..."The Webmaster" Senthil Kumar at 8:05..."Salsa Picante" Edwin Ortega at 8:10..."L-Bo" Louise Boughton at 8:25 who ended up being the last official arrival of the evening.
We ended up with an impressive total of 25 official competitors (and that does not include Dino who only got involved in that hitting session with Natalia). Now, let's get to the action!
The Cedar Grove Results:
Tito Castolo/Frank Hohorst over John Rizzo/Scott Bergenfeld, 6-2! No Aces. This was the One-Setter to get the session rolling soon after 6:30. It likely finished on Court Four a little before 7pm.
Brenda Jordan/Natalia Sout over Joe Rodrigues/Dawn Peterson, 7-5! No Aces. Not sure when this one got going on Court One, but it ended at 7:45. Afterward, Joe was happy to hang out on the bench with Frank and Dino as he is still recovering from fairly recent hernia surgery.
Kevin Doyle/Nick Caputo over Jordan Bachvaroff/Don Moya, 7-5! Nick: 1 Ace on Don; and Don: 1 Ace on Kevin! Again, not sure when it started...but it finished on Court Three exactly at 7:47.
Tito Castolo/Frank Hohorst over John Rizzo/Scott Bergenfeld, 6-4! Tito: 1 Ace on Scott. These four played this one on Court Four from 7:05 to 7:35.
GTA Mixed Doubles Championship Match:
Marijus Kuzavas/Sally Pillay over Kris Srinivasan/Doinks Srinivasan, 6-1, 6-0, to complete their third successful GTA Mixed Doubles Championship defense of their first reign! No Aces. They got this one underway on Court Two soon after 7:05 and it finished by 7:55.
Chris Chiaro/Jose Gonzales leading Tito Castolo/Frank Hohorst, 3-2 (Incomplete at 8pm when Hohorst had to withdraw from the action due to a calf cramp injury)! No Aces. This one had started on Court Four at exactly 7:43. Frank hung around for a while to watch the action, but then later decided to head home.
John Rizzo/Don Moya over Jordan Bachvaroff/Scott Bergenfeld, 6-3! Jordan: 2 Aces on Don! Court Three hosted this one from 7:54 to 8:29. Jordan and Scott were up 3-0 when Don and John then turned the tables and made a great comeback by taking the last six straight games!
Chris Barbieri/Dawn Peterson over Kevin Doyle/Fadia Nicolas, 6-3! No Aces. This one got done on Court One. It started at 7:54 and finished at 8:24.
Nick Caputo/Tito Castolo over Chris Chiaro/Jose Gonzales, 6-2! No Aces. These four faced off on Court Four from 8:01 to 8:31.
Kris Srinivasan/Natalia Sout over Senthil Kumar/Louise Bysiek, 7-5! No Aces. These two teams battled on Court Two from 8:10 to 9pm. Once it was done, all four players walked off the court to return to the outside area. This gave Dino the opening to take over the court and have a practice hitting session with Natalia. Louise went back out there trying to make some Mixed Doubles happen, but no fourth player ever emerged. Eventually, she left to return to the bench area until she decided to go home.
Edwin Ortega/Doinks Srinivasan over Chris Barbieri/Laurie Boughton, 6-2! No Aces. Court One hosted this one from 8:30 to 8:51.
Nick Caputo/Sally Pillay over Marijus Kuzavas/Fadia Nicolas, 6-1! No Aces. This Mixed Doubles action truly mixed things up as Marijus wanted to get some court time teaming with Fadia since she is the replacement for Doinks as his Mixed Doubles partner in an ongoing USTA Mixed Doubles Tournament. These four were on Court Four from 8:32 to 8:51. With no demand for the court, they were then able to play a Rematch One-Setter...which we will get to in just a bit in this report.
Chris Chiaro/Scott Bergenfeld over Jose Gonzales/John Rizzo, 6-4! No Aces. These teams squared off on Court Three from 8:35 to 9:08.
Nick Caputo/Sally Pillay over Marijus Kuzavas/Fadia Nicolas, 6-3! Fadia: 1 Ace on Sally! Again, they faced off on Court Four. This one lasted from 8:53 to 9:24.
Edwin Ortega/Doinks Srinivasan over Chris Barbieri/Laurie Boughton, 6-4! Edwin: 2 Aces (one on each)! This Rematch One-Setter also took place on Court One...and it had the exact same start and stop times as the One-Setter above on Court Four...8:53 to 9:24!
Chris Chiaro/Scott Bergenfeld over Senthil Kumar/Kris Srinivasan, 6-2! No Aces. Court Three hosted this one from 9:12 to 9:35.
Frank Samara/Sally Pillay over Marijus Kuzavas/Fadia Nicolas, 6-4! No Aces. It went like this: Frank was broken (Love-15, 15-All then onto Double Break Point and then the break), Marijus was broken (Love-15, 15-All then onto Double Break Point and then a Double Fault to break himself), but Sally was the first to hold serve (15-Love then point for point to Game Point and then the hold) for 2-1. Fadia held at Love to level it at 2-2, but then Samara held (Triple Game Point was reduced to Game Point, but then came the hold) to reclaim the lead for his team at 3-2. Kuzavas also held (Triple Game Point, Double Game Point, a Double Fault for Game Point,, but then the hold) to tie things up at 3-3, but Pillay held again (Love-15 then point for point to Break Point...and it should be noted that she hit Double Faults to make it 15-30 and then again for Break Point, but then she went to Deuce, Game Point and the hold) for a 4-3 lead. Nicolas also held again (Triple Game Point, Double Game Point and then the hold) to knot the score once more, this time at 4-4! Hollywood held again (15-Love, 15-All then onto Double Game Point and the hold), but Super Mario was broken (started with a Double Fault and then went straight to Triple Break/Match Point, it then went to Double Break/Match Point where another Double Fault unceremoniously ended matters) to get the "L" out of there just in time as this one finished on Court Four at 9:58 (we had started it at 9:28)!
The Skinny: Prior to the action starting, Fadia seemed relieved to see Frank taking Nick's place as she let out aloud, "OK, now we're talking!" Well, be careful what you wish for as Samara took the court without any warm-up as he instead was simply fueled by motivation to prove Ms. Nicolas wrong. But the true MVP on his team was Sally as she is certainly earning that "Smackdown" moniker with high-powered offense. And on another note, even though we were low on time...we managed to still do the changeovers.
Here now are two incomplete One-Setters...
Jordan Bachvaroff/Edwin Ortega leading Chris Barbieri/Laurie Boughton, 5-2 (Incomplete when the lights went out at 10pm)! Jordan: 1 Ace on Laurie! As his team was up 5-2, Jordan was on serve and at Double Game/Match Point when we went to dark! This one had begun on Court One at 9:30.
Senthil Kumar/Nick Caputo leading Chris Chiaro/Kris Srinivasan, 5-2 (Incomplete when the lights went out at 10pm)! No Aces. This one began on Court Three at 9:37. Exactly like the situation on Court One, Nick was on serve with a 5-2 lead for his team. They got to Double Game/Match Point where his first serve had went into the net. He was in the process of tossing up the second serve when we went to black!
It was a very fun session...and to have 25 official competitors this early in the season is quite impressive! We thank all those who were a part of it.
Sincerely,
Frank Samara
gtasamara5@gmail.com
"Samara hosts 25 at C.G.!":
There were just one session of GTA Thursday Night Tennis, but it was a big one as "Hollywood" Frank Samara acted as the host at The Cedar Grove Courts.
The session actually got underway before his arrival and there were plenty of players there by the time he rolled into the parking lot at 7pm.
"The Riz" John Rizzo got there around 6:30 and saw that "Ice Berg" Scott Bergenfeld was already there waiting for the arrival of "The Bulgarian Bull" Jordan Bachvaroff so that they could play some Singles. But soon there were too many other players there not named Jordan for that Singles action to be an option.
Also, "Kerosene" Kyle Eng was out on Court Two giving a lesson to two slightly younger students (a young man and a young lady). "The K Man" Kris Srinivasan, upon seeing the entire place fill up with GTA players, kindly asked Kyle to take the lesson to the two courts down the road and Kyle obliged.
Samara saw that some Mixed Gender Doubles action was already underway on Court One as "J-Rod" Joe Rodrigues was teaming with "Dominant" Dawn Peterson to take on "Bravo" Brenda Jordan and Natalia "Nitro" Sout. On Court Three and also already in progress was a Men's Doubles One-Setter featuring Bachvaroff teaming with "The Adonis" Don Moya to face the duo of "Kevlar" Kevin Doyle and "NC-17" Nick Caputo.
On Court Four, Rizzo/Bergenfeld were just starting a Rematch One-Setter against Tito "The Titan" Castolo and Frank "Hydro" Hohorst. And with "The Marathon Woman" Doinks Srinivasan soon making her way across the street, she joined hubby Kris in following the GTA Mixed Doubles Champions: "Super Mario" Marijus Kuzavas and "The Smackdown" Sally Pillay over to Court Two for a full GTA Mixed Doubles Championship Match.
It was a nice night for tennis as earlier in the day we had a peak temperature of 70 degrees, so it still felt quite comfortable in the evening hours. Couple that with the fact that players knew they would be getting an organized session (due to Samara's announcement earlier in the day that he would be acting as host), the turnout started to get strong.
"The Scorpion Dragon" Dino Celis arrived at 7:10 and took a seat next to Samara on the bench alongside Court Four. Dino would be the only player of the evening to never get involved in any official action (though he later would have a private hitting session with Natalia on Court Two).
At 7:15, "Hurricane" Jose Gonzales also arrived. Ten minutes later, Fadia "Finesse" Nicolas would do the same. Another five minutes after that, it was "King Crush" Chris Chiaro. Twenty minutes later at 7:50, it was "CB" Chris Barbieri. We were starting to have a logjam situation.
Still, the players kept coming: "Queen B" Louise Bysiek at 8pm..."The Webmaster" Senthil Kumar at 8:05..."Salsa Picante" Edwin Ortega at 8:10..."L-Bo" Louise Boughton at 8:25 who ended up being the last official arrival of the evening.
We ended up with an impressive total of 25 official competitors (and that does not include Dino who only got involved in that hitting session with Natalia). Now, let's get to the action!
The Cedar Grove Results:
Tito Castolo/Frank Hohorst over John Rizzo/Scott Bergenfeld, 6-2! No Aces. This was the One-Setter to get the session rolling soon after 6:30. It likely finished on Court Four a little before 7pm.
Brenda Jordan/Natalia Sout over Joe Rodrigues/Dawn Peterson, 7-5! No Aces. Not sure when this one got going on Court One, but it ended at 7:45. Afterward, Joe was happy to hang out on the bench with Frank and Dino as he is still recovering from fairly recent hernia surgery.
Kevin Doyle/Nick Caputo over Jordan Bachvaroff/Don Moya, 7-5! Nick: 1 Ace on Don; and Don: 1 Ace on Kevin! Again, not sure when it started...but it finished on Court Three exactly at 7:47.
Tito Castolo/Frank Hohorst over John Rizzo/Scott Bergenfeld, 6-4! Tito: 1 Ace on Scott. These four played this one on Court Four from 7:05 to 7:35.
GTA Mixed Doubles Championship Match:
Marijus Kuzavas/Sally Pillay over Kris Srinivasan/Doinks Srinivasan, 6-1, 6-0, to complete their third successful GTA Mixed Doubles Championship defense of their first reign! No Aces. They got this one underway on Court Two soon after 7:05 and it finished by 7:55.
Chris Chiaro/Jose Gonzales leading Tito Castolo/Frank Hohorst, 3-2 (Incomplete at 8pm when Hohorst had to withdraw from the action due to a calf cramp injury)! No Aces. This one had started on Court Four at exactly 7:43. Frank hung around for a while to watch the action, but then later decided to head home.
John Rizzo/Don Moya over Jordan Bachvaroff/Scott Bergenfeld, 6-3! Jordan: 2 Aces on Don! Court Three hosted this one from 7:54 to 8:29. Jordan and Scott were up 3-0 when Don and John then turned the tables and made a great comeback by taking the last six straight games!
Chris Barbieri/Dawn Peterson over Kevin Doyle/Fadia Nicolas, 6-3! No Aces. This one got done on Court One. It started at 7:54 and finished at 8:24.
Nick Caputo/Tito Castolo over Chris Chiaro/Jose Gonzales, 6-2! No Aces. These four faced off on Court Four from 8:01 to 8:31.
Kris Srinivasan/Natalia Sout over Senthil Kumar/Louise Bysiek, 7-5! No Aces. These two teams battled on Court Two from 8:10 to 9pm. Once it was done, all four players walked off the court to return to the outside area. This gave Dino the opening to take over the court and have a practice hitting session with Natalia. Louise went back out there trying to make some Mixed Doubles happen, but no fourth player ever emerged. Eventually, she left to return to the bench area until she decided to go home.
Edwin Ortega/Doinks Srinivasan over Chris Barbieri/Laurie Boughton, 6-2! No Aces. Court One hosted this one from 8:30 to 8:51.
Nick Caputo/Sally Pillay over Marijus Kuzavas/Fadia Nicolas, 6-1! No Aces. This Mixed Doubles action truly mixed things up as Marijus wanted to get some court time teaming with Fadia since she is the replacement for Doinks as his Mixed Doubles partner in an ongoing USTA Mixed Doubles Tournament. These four were on Court Four from 8:32 to 8:51. With no demand for the court, they were then able to play a Rematch One-Setter...which we will get to in just a bit in this report.
Chris Chiaro/Scott Bergenfeld over Jose Gonzales/John Rizzo, 6-4! No Aces. These teams squared off on Court Three from 8:35 to 9:08.
Nick Caputo/Sally Pillay over Marijus Kuzavas/Fadia Nicolas, 6-3! Fadia: 1 Ace on Sally! Again, they faced off on Court Four. This one lasted from 8:53 to 9:24.
Edwin Ortega/Doinks Srinivasan over Chris Barbieri/Laurie Boughton, 6-4! Edwin: 2 Aces (one on each)! This Rematch One-Setter also took place on Court One...and it had the exact same start and stop times as the One-Setter above on Court Four...8:53 to 9:24!
Chris Chiaro/Scott Bergenfeld over Senthil Kumar/Kris Srinivasan, 6-2! No Aces. Court Three hosted this one from 9:12 to 9:35.
Frank Samara/Sally Pillay over Marijus Kuzavas/Fadia Nicolas, 6-4! No Aces. It went like this: Frank was broken (Love-15, 15-All then onto Double Break Point and then the break), Marijus was broken (Love-15, 15-All then onto Double Break Point and then a Double Fault to break himself), but Sally was the first to hold serve (15-Love then point for point to Game Point and then the hold) for 2-1. Fadia held at Love to level it at 2-2, but then Samara held (Triple Game Point was reduced to Game Point, but then came the hold) to reclaim the lead for his team at 3-2. Kuzavas also held (Triple Game Point, Double Game Point, a Double Fault for Game Point,, but then the hold) to tie things up at 3-3, but Pillay held again (Love-15 then point for point to Break Point...and it should be noted that she hit Double Faults to make it 15-30 and then again for Break Point, but then she went to Deuce, Game Point and the hold) for a 4-3 lead. Nicolas also held again (Triple Game Point, Double Game Point and then the hold) to knot the score once more, this time at 4-4! Hollywood held again (15-Love, 15-All then onto Double Game Point and the hold), but Super Mario was broken (started with a Double Fault and then went straight to Triple Break/Match Point, it then went to Double Break/Match Point where another Double Fault unceremoniously ended matters) to get the "L" out of there just in time as this one finished on Court Four at 9:58 (we had started it at 9:28)!
The Skinny: Prior to the action starting, Fadia seemed relieved to see Frank taking Nick's place as she let out aloud, "OK, now we're talking!" Well, be careful what you wish for as Samara took the court without any warm-up as he instead was simply fueled by motivation to prove Ms. Nicolas wrong. But the true MVP on his team was Sally as she is certainly earning that "Smackdown" moniker with high-powered offense. And on another note, even though we were low on time...we managed to still do the changeovers.
Here now are two incomplete One-Setters...
Jordan Bachvaroff/Edwin Ortega leading Chris Barbieri/Laurie Boughton, 5-2 (Incomplete when the lights went out at 10pm)! Jordan: 1 Ace on Laurie! As his team was up 5-2, Jordan was on serve and at Double Game/Match Point when we went to dark! This one had begun on Court One at 9:30.
Senthil Kumar/Nick Caputo leading Chris Chiaro/Kris Srinivasan, 5-2 (Incomplete when the lights went out at 10pm)! No Aces. This one began on Court Three at 9:37. Exactly like the situation on Court One, Nick was on serve with a 5-2 lead for his team. They got to Double Game/Match Point where his first serve had went into the net. He was in the process of tossing up the second serve when we went to black!
It was a very fun session...and to have 25 official competitors this early in the season is quite impressive! We thank all those who were a part of it.
Sincerely,
Frank Samara
gtasamara5@gmail.com
No comments:
Post a Comment