5/28 Results.

5/28/18:

"Laurie-Nina at NTC, Janice-Liz at MP, Tim-Scott in R.P., 4 at NTC, 2 Matches + 10 at C.G.!":

There were five sessions of GTA Memorial Day Monday Tennis: an early morning one at Nutley Tennis Club that featured the conclusion of the Challenge Match that had begun last week between Laurie "L-Boogie" Boughton and "Energetic" Nina Kallay (with Laurie reporting); then another morning session at Memorial Park in Rutherford featuring a Challenge Match between friends, "J-Wow" Janice Wang and Elizabeth "Liz" Cho (with Elizabeth reporting); then an early afternoon session at Fellowship Park in Ridgefield Park featuring an impromptu Challenge Match between "The Professor" Tim Nguyen and "The Bachelorette's Prize" Scott Manrose (as Scott answered Tim's Open Challenge…with both reporting); then a late afternoon/early evening second session at NTC hosted by "The Riz" John Rizzo; and finally a marathon session at the Cedar Grove Courts that started in the early afternoon with a Challenge Match between "J-Rod" Joe Rodrigues and "The Scorpion Dragon" Dino Celis (as Dino answered Joe's Open Challenge, with Dino reporting) and then lasted into the night where another Challenge Match between "The Smackdown" Sally Pillay and "The Marathon Woman" Doinks Srinivasan (with both reporting).  There are also contributions to this report made by "The Webmaster" Senthil Kumar and "Super Mario" Marijus Kuzavas.

Let's first go to NTC, then to Rutherford, then back to NTC before we head up to Cedar Grove.

The NTC Result:

2 out of 3 Sets Challenge Match:

Laurie Boughton over Nina Kallay, 6-0, 5-7, 6-3, to successfully defend her # 12 Rank in the Women's Division!  In the process, Kallay made her official GTA Debut as the New # 16 Ranked Player in the Women's Division.  Laurie: 2 Aces!

The Lowdown from Laurie: Nobody is more surprised than me…tee-hee!  We resumed this match at 3-3 in the 2^nd Set with me serving first.  And more important than winning, I made a GREAT friend in Nina.  She is a wonderful person as well as great player. :-)

I have overcome my nerves, or learned how to just take one point at a time (and you do know me, even when often down Love-40, I do fight back).

Samara's Notes: I thank Laurie for her timely and entertaining reporting while also congratulating her on a hard-fought victory.  I also welcome Nina to the league as well.

We now shift northeast a bit to go to Rutherford.

The Memorial Park Result:

2 out of 3 Sets Challenge Match:

Janice Wang over Elizabeth Cho, 6-1, 6-3, to successfully defend her # 4 Rank in the Women's Division!  In the process, Cho entered the division as the New # 17 Ranked Player.  No Aces.

Samara's Notes: They started the match at 9:30am.  Elizabeth then registered for the tournament (as Janice later did as well).  We are happy to have both of them in the GAH8 Tournament.

We now head further north to Fellowship Park in Ridgefield Park.

The Fellowship Park Result:

2 out of 3 Sets Challenge Match:

Tim Nguyen over Scott Manrose, 6-0, 6-0, to successfully defend his # 47 Rank in the Intermediate Division!  No Aces.

Tim's Take: We started the match around 1:10.  Scott managed to put in a good match with many spin shots which led to Deuce games.

The Manrose Presentation: I accepted Tim's challenge to play.  Not much to say about this one as he is much better than me in every facet of the game.

Samara's Notes: I thank both for their timely reporting.  I also congratulate Tim on a highly impressive victory.  And Scott should not get too down on himself as he is still in the midst of a match with "SWAT" Rich Liu where the sets were split.  Sometimes (most of the time, actually), tennis is all about the style match-ups.  And this seems to be one of those occasions where the match-up was really favorable for one (Tim) and not so much for the other (Scott).

We now go back to Nutley for the second session of the day at NTC.

The NTC Results:

2 out of 3 Sets Doubles Match:

Ryan Pienciak/John Rizzo over Adam Pienciak/Mike Mole, 6-3, 6-4, to successfully defend their #152 Rank in the Doubles Division!  In the process, A. Pienciak/Mole entered the division as the New # 173 Ranked Team.  No Aces.

2 out of 3 Sets Doubles Match:

Ryan Pienciak/Mike Mole over Adam Pienciak/John Rizzo, 6-4, 6-2, as both teams entered the Doubles Division as the New #174 and #175 Ranked Teams respectively.  No Aces.

Samara's Notes: I thank John for his timely reporting. 

Finally, let's get to the action at Cedar Grove…which will quite likely not be written in the order in which it was played.  We will start with the full Challenge Match.                                                                            

The Cedar Grove Results:

2 out of 3 Sets Challenge Match:

Dino Celis over Joe Rodrigues, 3-6, 6-3, 6-2, to become the New # 30 Ranked Player in the Advanced Division!  Joe: 5 Aces; and Dino: 1 Ace!

 

The Details from Dino: Great match!  Joe was serving well and hitting some nice deep ground strokes.  He's definitely improved his game.  We played from 2:40 to 4:20.

 

Samara's Notes: I thank Dino for his very timely reporting and congratulate him on a hard-fought victory.  Also, kudos to Joe for a fine effort!  We now turn this report over to Senthil, Doinks, Sally and Marijus (some of their reports overlapped one another).

 

Senthil Kumar/Fadia Nicolas over Edwin Ortega/Jose Gonzales, 6-2!  No Aces.

Edwin Ortega/Jose Gonzales over Senthil Kumar/Fadia Nicolas, 6-1!  No Aces.

Nick Inciong/Doinks Srinivasan over Senthil Kumar/Edwin Ortega, 6-3!  No Aces.  Nick and Doinks had been down 0-3 before taking six straight games to make the comeback.

Senthil Kumar/Edwin Ortega over Nick Inciong/Doinks Srinivasan, 7-6 (7-5)!  No Aces.

 

Edwin Ortega/Kris Srinivasan over Senthil Kumar/Tim Nguyen, 7-5!  No Aces.

 

2 out of 3 Sets Mixed Doubles Match:

Marijus Kuzavas/Laura Gawley over Sheel Dhande/Sally Pillay, 7-5, 6-2, as both teams entered the Mixed Doubles Division as the New # 59 and # 60 Ranked Teams respectively!  No Aces.  It was the official GTA Debut of Sheel Dhande. 

 

The Scoop from Super Mario: Sheel Dhande is Sally's partner in our 7.0 Mixed Doubles League in the USTA and they are going to Sectionals next weekend, thus they needed some practice playing together outside.  Also, Sheel lives in Montclair, so he may do more with the GTA going forward.

 

Samara's Notes: I thank Marijus for the additional info and also welcome Sheel to the GTA!  As I look at his e-mail address, a moniker immediately comes to mind: "The Shield!"

 

Sheel Dhande/Sally Pillay over Marijus Kuzavas/Doinks Srinivasan, 7-6 (7-5)!  No Aces. 

2 out of 3 Sets Challenge Match:

Sally Pillay over Doinks Srinivasan, 6-4, 6-4, to successfully defend her # 5 Rank in the Women's Division!  No Aces.

The Details from Doinks: I played this full match after the three Doubles One-Setters.

Sally says: We played after already being exhausted.  She played well.

Samara's Notes: I thank everyone for their very timely reporting.  It is truly appreciated.       

Sincerely,

Frank Samara

Gtasamara5@gmail.com

 

 

 

 

5/26 Results.

5/26/18:

"2 Matches in MP, 1 Match TBC in AP, 2 Matches part of 9 at C.G., 4 at NTC!":

There were four sessions of GTA Saturday Tennis: the first was a morning one at Mountainside Park in Montclair as "The Dark Knight" Dan Knitzer answered two Open Challenges at once (one issued by "The Headhunter" Ralph Bernard and the other issued by Carl "Rusty" Brownson…I give him that temporary nickname as it is both his current status and also a play off of his last name…and he was making his official GTA Debut in that match).  Dan played these matches back-to-back (quite impressive!)  Ralph provided the write-up for the first one while both Dan and Carl contributed for the second encounter.

The second session was also in the morning hours and it featured a would-be Challenge Match as "SWAT" Rich Liu answered the Open Challenge issued by "The Bachelorette's Prize" Scott Manrose as they played in Albion Park in Clifton (with both reporting), but the excessive heat caused them to split sets and leave it as a "To Be Continued" type situation as both parties seem agreeable to finishing it at a later date.

Then the next session of the day also got started in the morning and then went thru the day at the Cedar Grove Courts and it started off with a Challenge Match between "Super Mario" Marijus Kuzavas and "Del Brotro" Mike Mole (as reported by both), then there was the middle of the session (as being reported by "The S Bomber" Genalin Capan) and later there was another Challenge Match between "Salsa Picante" Edwin Ortega and Jay "The Rising" Phoenix (with Edwin reporting).

The last session of the day took place in the evening at Nutley Tennis Club as "The Riz" John Rizzo hosted a full Doubles Match and reported it.

Let's first go to Montclair for the results from Ralph, Carl and Dan, and then we'll go to Clifton for the result from Scott and Rich, and then get the rest of the scores (starting with both full Challenge Matches) from Cedar Grove and finally the result from NTC.

Before we get to the two match results from Mountainside Park, I feel it is only fair to let Ralph tell his side of the story in terms of what transpired with Tony "Sure Shot" Shiao one day earlier.

Ralph's Rebuttal: In my defense (which was never given a chance to be mentioned in your initial report), Tony and I originally agreed to a 1:30 starting time and then we wound up starting it closer to 3pm as he had to work later then he thought.  I had to be somewhere by 3:45 all along. I was hopeful we would be able to finish a full match, but our 1st Set went long.  I, of course, offered to finish later that day or the next day, but Tony wasn't available.  I am more than willing and ready to finish the match!

Samara's Notes: As they say, "there are always two sides to every story."  I would suggest, at this point, that they just let it stand as an epic One-Setter.  If the two were to play again, they should just start fresh…especially given the fact that it is lopsided.  Had they split sets and only had a deciding 3^rd Set yet to be played, it may have been worth continuing. 

And now for the scores!

The Mountainside Park Results:

2 out of 3 Sets Challenge Match:

Ralph Bernard over Dan Knitzer, 6-3, 6-2, to successfully defend his # 6 Rank in the Advanced Division!  Ralph: 4 Aces; and Dan: 1 Ace!

Ralph's Review: It was good as we were both playing pretty well, so there was no frustration…just good tennis.  We played from 9:30 till 11am.

2 out of 3 Sets Challenge Match:

Dan Knitzer over Carl Brownson, 6-1, 6-1, to successfully defend his # 6 Rank in the Intermediate Division!  In the process, Brownson made his official GTA Debut as the New # 53 Ranked Player in the Intermediate Division.  Carl: 2 Aces!

Carl's Commentary: We started a little after 11am.  Dan crushed me (he kindly said it felt closer). There were, in fact, lots of Deuce games.  My "effectively wild" strategy leaned more toward wild than effective on this occasion.  Dan's spin shots were killing me, and I sprayed probably fifteen forehands down the line long.  Still, it felt great to be out there shaking off the rust.

I look forward to entering the rankings in the second division (i.e. the Intermediate Division), playing some more matches and getting into proper match form.  Great match, Dan!

Dan's Reply: Yes, there were many long games.  Let's do it again soon.

Samara's Notes: I thank all three for their timely reports, but truly offer major kudos to Dan for responding to two Open Challenges and then taking them on back-to-back!  Very impressive!

We now head north to Albion Park in Clifton.

The Albion Park Result:

2 out of 3 Sets Challenge Match:

Rich Liu tied with Scott Manrose, 6-1, 5-7 (To Be Continued)!  No Aces.

The Manrose Presentation: Rich responded to my Open Challenge. We met up at 11.  After the first two sets, we were both exhausted as the sun was beating down on us…so we decided to play the tiebreaking 3^rd Set some other time.  I think Rich is better than me, but we had some good rallies.  Rich, please feel free to add any commentary.

The Rich Report: Thanks, Scott, for taking the time to play me.  For me, it's always exciting to play a Challenge Match.  Scott is fun to play with.  Let's finish the match soon.  Scott was able to make very good returns and, as a result, we had some long rallies which really wore me out.  We played for like almost two hours counting a few breaks.  As he kept getting the ball back, I eventually made many errors while trying to finish off the point, costing me many games.  It was a great workout.  I look forward to playing Scott again.

Samara's Notes: I thank both of them for their timely reporting and also hope they get the chance to finish this match as soon as possible.

We now dip south a bit for all that took place at Cedar Grove, starting with the two Challenge Matches.

The Cedar Grove Results:

2 out of 3 Sets Challenge Match:

Marijus Kuzavas over Mike Mole, 6-2, 6-0, to successfully defend his # 4 Rank in the Advanced Division!  Marijus: 2 Aces!

 

The Mole Memo: Marijus was too good!  I couldn't get into a rhythm. 

 

The Scoop from Super Mario: We started around 10:20 when it was already hot and getting hotter.  The match lasted till about 11:40.  It was a good match with lots of Deuces in many of the games.  Mike was playing well...just perhaps some unforced errors from him pushed the balance of the match in my favor.

Samara's Notes: I thank both for their timely reporting and congratulate Marijus on a very impressive victory.  We now let Gen briefly take over this report.

It was an early session of GTA Saturday Tennis at Cedar Grove with seven players braving the heat.  Fadia Nicolas was the final arrival.

I got there at noon.  I then joined Sally Pillay and Doinks and Kris Srinivasan for a One-Setter while Marijus and Mike took a much needed break and rest after they finished their Singles Challenge Match that had started earlier in the high heat and humidity.  It was sunny and there was no shade on the courts.

Kris Srinivasan/Sally Pillay over Doinks Srinivasan/Genalin Capan, 6-2!  Kris: 1 Ace on Doinks!  We played this one from 12:15 to 12:40 on Court Four.

Kris Srinivasan/Fadia Nicolas over Mike Mole/Genalin Capan, 6-4!  Fadia: 1 Ace on Mike!  We played from 12:43 to 1:25 on Court Four.

It was a heated session in terms of both the weather and the playing conditions on the courts.  The GTA "peanut gallery" (aka Doinks, Sally, and Marijus) were on the sidelines as they provided some very entertaining commentary which made playing in this heat bearable and a lot of fun. We ended the session by 1:30pm.

Samara's Notes: I thank Gen for her timely reporting of those results along with her commentary.  We now go to Edwin for his score.

2 out of 3 Sets Challenge Match:

Edwin Ortega over Jay Phoenix, 6-2, 6-4, to successfully defend both his # 17 Rank in the Advanced Division and his # 3 Rank in the Intermediate Division!  No Aces.

 

The Scoop from Salsa: We agreed to play a full Challenge Match on such a blistering afternoon (what were we thinking?!?!) and said we would meet at 4pm.  After a warm-up, the match started around 4:20 and ended around 5:30 (I think...it was too hot to remember accurately!).

 

Samara's Notes: I thank Edwin for his timely reporting and congratulate him on an impressive victory.

We now shift east to Nutley for The Riz Report from NTC.

The NTC Results:             

3 out of 5 Sets Doubles Match:

Alfred Chen/Frank Hohorst over Senthil Kumar/John Rizzo, 7-5, 7-5, 6-3, to become the New # 4 Ranked Team in the Doubles Division!  No Aces.

 

The Riz Report: We came back from being down 1-5 in the 1^st Set and led 5-3 in the 2nd Set, but couldn't close either set out.  Alfred played the best of everyone. 

Samara's Notes: I thank John for his very timely reporting.  It is truly appreciated.   

Sincerely,

Frank Samara

Gtasamara5@gmail.com

 

5/25 Results.

5/25/18:

"2 at NTC, Mole-Celis + 2 in MP, 4 at NTC, Liu-Valencia + 1 in BP, 20 at C.G.!":

There were five sessions of GTA Friday Tennis: an early morning one at The Nutley Tennis Club as Laurie "L-Boogie" Boughton was once again offering up her time for another lady to qualify for the upcoming GAH8 Women's Singles Tournament.  This time the opponent is Nina Kallay, who would also be making her official GTA Debut.  Nina had to leave midway through the 2nd Set, however.  The match is likely to be continued on Tuesday.  Laurie has reported the progress of this match thus far. 

A little later in the morning at Mountainside Park in Montclair, "Del Brotro" Mike Mole and "The Scorpion Dragon" got together for a third Challenge Match in as many days (with Mike reporting).  As that match carried over into the early afternoon, it would soon be followed by what had initially been thought to be yet another full Challenge Match between "The Headhunter" Ralph Bernard and Tony "Sure Shot" Shiao.  It instead ended up being only an epic One-Setter (more on this situation later as reported by Tony).

There was a second session at NTC (the third session of the day, overall) in the early evening with "Hollywood" Frank Samara and "The Riz" John Rizzo somewhat acting as co-hosts as John teamed with "Dynamic Dee" Denise Savino while Frank paired with "San Frannie" Rose Gabriele (I give her that nickname because she was originally a resident of Nutley, but has lived in San Francisco for a few decades now...she was visiting Nutley for the weekend) in a full Mixed Doubles Match.

Then there was a session at Brookdale Park in Bloomfield featuring the continuation of the Challenge Match between "SWAT" Rich Liu and "Effortless" Edgar Valencia, but first there was a One-Setter where Liu faced "The Dark Knight" Dan Knitzer (with Rich reporting both).

And then there was a concurrent session at The Cedar Grove Courts featuring 16 competitors with results being reported by Rizzo (who went there after the NTC session), "The Argentine Machine" Fernanda Toker, "The Marathon Woman" Doinks Srinivasan, "Bravo" Brenda Jordan, "The Lumberjack" Ryan Pienciak, "The Webmaster" Senthil Kumar, "The S Bomber" Genalin Capan and "The Icon" Nick Inciong.

Let's first go to Nutley, then to Mountainside Park before going back to NTC, then to Brookdale Park and then finally to Cedar Grove to gather all the scores for this report.

The NTC Result:

2 out of 3 Sets Challenge Match:
Laurie Boughton leading Nina Kallay, 6-0, 3-3 (Incomplete when Nina had to leave to pick up her son…they will continue the match next week…most likely on Tues.)! 

The Lowdown from Laurie: We were playing on Court Three (which I love), but Court Three is not shady early in the morning like it is in the late afternoon and evening.  The fact that she had to leave worked out well for me as I felt I was on the verge of a heat stroke.  In the 2nd Set, I was freezing and had goose bumps all over!  It was so bizarre…I was freezing cold in the baking sun!  Nina is the real deal and has solid ground strokes (likely took her a while to shake off the rust and get going).  She is a super nice person and I am so glad to have met her.

Samara's Notes: I thank Laurie for her timely reporting and her flexibility with Nina.  This will be Kallay's official GTA Debut once the match is properly concluded.  As both of them are new members at the Nutley Tennis Club, they will have ample opportunities to face one another as this season progresses. 

We now head west to Montclair for the result of Mole-Celis.  

The Mountainside Park Result:

2 out of 3 Sets Challenge Match:
Mike Mole over Dino Celis, 6-3, 4-6, 6-2, to successfully defend his # 12 Rank in the Advanced Division!  No Aces.

The Mole Memo: We played from 11:10 to 1:10.  Tough match...really hot out!  He played really well.

Samara's Notes: I thank Mike for his timely reporting and also congratulate him on yet another impressive victory over Dino…though this one was clearly more hard-fought. 

Tony Shiao over Ralph Bernard, 7-6 (7-5)!  No Aces.

The Sure Shot from Shiao: I sent Ralph a response after he sent an e-mail blast looking for a Challenge Match before the end of the month.  We met up at Mountainside at about 2:30.  We started our match quickly since warming up in the heat was tiring us out.  Ralph took an easy lead at 4-1, but then I battled back and won the next four games and took the lead at 5-4.  I had to trust my forehand which was lacking without a proper warm-up.  Then, before we knew it, we were at the Tiebreak.  To our dismay, we both made unforced errors and blew some critical points.  Within the Tiebreak we traded points, but I was able to capitalize with a 7-5 win at the end of the would-be 1st Set.  I was looking forward to the coming battle, but Ralph then said he had to leave…so he left the courts at 3:20 after about 50 minutes of play.  After that, I ended up hitting with some high school varsity players for a bit. 

It is too bad we couldn't finish the battle, but I guess we will have to settle for a One-Set Match of The Year contender instead of a full match.

Samara's Notes: Tony is being both a gentleman and a sportsman.  It was his understanding (as it was mine) that this was to be a full 2 out of 3 Sets Challenge Match for Ralph's rank.  Given those circumstances, the sudden departure of Mr. Bernard could have been deemed as a forfeit of the balance of the match…and his ranking as well.  Mr. Shiao has decided to let it stand "as is."  That is his decision and I will respect it.  But, for future reference (and this is directed at everyone…not just Ralph), if you throw out an Open Challenge where you indicate it will be a full Challenge Match with rank on the line…it needs to be properly finished or else it would be a forfeit.  The only other scenario is if both competitors agree to continue the match at a later date due to unforeseen circumstances that caused one of the two to leave early (not simple exhaustion or a fear of losing).  Everyone needs to be very clear upfront what is at stake when you enter into any tennis outing - it will either be a competitive and full match with rank on the line or just a One-Setter which is still official for the record book, but not the rankings.  I thank Tony for his timely reporting and his above and beyond sense of fair play in this regard.  

We now go back to NTC.

The NTC Result:

2 out of 3 Sets Mixed Doubles Match:
John Rizzo/Denise Savino over Frank Samara/Rose Gabriele, 5-7, 6-3, 12-10 (STB), as both teams entered the Mixed Doubles Division as the New # 56 and # 57 Ranked Teams respectively!  John: 2 Aces on Rose (one in the 2nd Set and one in the Super Tiebreak)!

1st Set: John held serve (Love-15 start then straight thru to Double Game Point and the hold), Frank held at Love, Denise held (Love-15 shifted to 30-15 shifted again to Break Point, then Deuce, Break Point again, 2nd Deuce, Game Point and the hold), but Rose was the first to be broken (a 15-Love start crumbled to Double Break Point and the break) for 1-3.  Rizzo was then broken at Love, but Samara held again as a Love-15 start shifted to 30-15 shifted again to Break Point, Deuce, Game Point, 2nd Deuce, Game Point again and then the hold to level things at 3-3.  Savino also held again (15-Love then point for point to Game Point, Deuce, Game Point again and then the hold), but Gabriele held this time around (30-Love shifted to 30-All, but then came Game Point and the hold) to knot the score once more, this time at 4-4!  The Riz held (Love-30 start then a hard shift to Game Point and the hold), but Hollywood held a third straight time as it went 15-Love then point for point until 30-All, Break/Set Point, Deuce, 2nd Break/Set Point, 2nd Deuce, Game Point and the hold to stay alive at 5-5!  Dynamic Dee was broken for the first time and it was at Love and then San Frannie held again (15-Love then point for point until 30-All, Break Point, Deuce, Game/Set Point, 2nd Deuce, the hold finally came on the 2nd Game/Set Point which was the 4th S.P. overall!) to get the mini-comeback win of the initial set.  We had begun this set on Court Three at 6:15 (after about a ten minute hitting session...Rizzo only got five minutes of it as he was the late arrival) and the set ended exactly at 7:01.  Two minutes later, we would get the next one underway.

2nd Set: John held (Love-30 where he hit a hard sideline Ace against Rose for 15-30, then 30-All, Break Point, Deuce, Game Point and the hold) and then Frank was broken for the first time and it was at Love for 0-2!  Denise was also broken at Love while Rose held (Triple Game Point, the hold came on Double Game Point) for 2-2.  Rizzo held again (Love-30 start soon reversed course to Game Point and the hold), but then Samara held (Love-15 then straight to Double Game Point and the hold) to even things up at 3-3.  But from there, Savino held (15-Love shifted to 15-30 shifted again to Game Point and the hold), Gabriele was broken (Love-30, 15-30, Double Break Point and the break) and The Riz held yet again (15-Love soon sank to Double Break Point, but then a rebound to Deuce, Game/Set Point, 2nd Deuce, the hold came on the 2nd Game/Set Point) to level the match at 7:38.  We figured we had forty minutes until darkness.  While we likely could have squeezed in a full 3rd Set, we opted for the 10-Point Super Tiebreak instead...which we got going just two minutes later.

STB: Frank held his lone serve while Denise was broken on her first, but held her second for 1-2.  Rose held her first for 3-1, but was then broken on her second for 3-2.  John was broken on his first for 2-4 at the changeover where he then hit a similar sideline Ace against Rose to make it 3-4!  Samara held his first for 5-3, but was broken on his second for 5-4.  Savino was broken on her first for 4-6, but held her second for 5-6.  Gabriele was broken on her first for 6-6 at the second changeover, but then held her second for 7-6.  Rizzo then held both of his serves to shift the lead to his team at 8-7.  The Wood was broken on the first of hit two serves to essentially set up a Double Match Point situation.  He then held his second to save the first of those two Match Points as he handed over a 9-8 lead to Dynamic Dee.  She was broken on her first serve to save that second M.P. and make it 9-9 at the third changeover.  Savino then held her second for a 10-9 lead and a third Match Point in her team's favor.  San Frannie held her first to level it again at 10-10!  But then she was broken on her second which set up the 4th Match Point where The Riz held with a hard and low serve against Frank to finally get the win at 12-10 on the 4th M.P. overall!  The time was 7:55 (it was a fifteen minute Super Tiebreak)!

The Skinny: First, it was a great effort by all involved and this looks to be an almost certain Nominee for Mixed Doubles Match of The Year at season's end.  No excuses, but it is interesting to note that it was 3-3 in the 2nd Set when Dee's main man, "Bionic" Bo Folchi, arrived to then watch the rest of the match from a chair right near the net post.  Perhaps he was Savino's good luck charm...or maybe he was Samara's form of Kryptonite (as they had been competitive rivals in the GTA many, many seasons ago).  In any event, it was a good time had by all.  Rose said she had known about NTC since she was growing up in Nutley and had always dreamed of playing there...so she was quite elated and grateful to finally get the chance.  It was truly a fun one, indeed!

Now we will get a couple of scores from Brookdale Park.

The Brookdale Park Results:

Dan Knitzer over Rich Liu, 6-2!  No Aces.

The Rich Report: Dan had his serve going and I had a hard time.  Kudos to Dan!

2 out of 3 Sets Challenge Match:
Edgar Valencia over Rich Liu, 6-3, 2-6, 6-1, to become the New # 20 Ranked Player in the Intermediate Division!  Edgar: 1 Ace! 

The Rich Report: Fast Eddie was full of power and it was tough for me to match.  We played at Brookdale Friday night.  Kudos to Edgar!

Samara's Notes: I thank Rich for reporting these results in a very timely fashion.  I also congratulate Edgar on the impressive victory.

And now we shift west from Brookdale Park to Cedar Grove.

The Cedar Grove Results:

2 out of 3 Sets Mixed Doubles Match:
Tommy Reszkowski/Fernanda Toker over Kris Srinivasan/Doinks Srinivasan, 6-1, 6-3, to become the New # 4 Ranked Team in the Mixed Doubles Division!  No Aces.

Tommy Reszkowski/Fernanda Toker over Kris Srinivasan/Doinks Srinivasan, 6-0!  No Aces.

Toker's Take: We started at 8:05 and finished at 9:25.  The full match itself was about an hour long.

2 out of 3 Sets Mixed Doubles Match:
Mike Sindler/Dawn Peterson over Kevin Doyle/Brenda Jordan, 6-1, 6-1, to become the New # 10 Ranked Team in the Mixed Doubles Division!  No Aces.

Ryan Pienciak over Kyle Eng, 6-1!  No Aces.

Senthil Kumar/Leo Victor over Kris Srinivasan/Arlene Hyde, 6-4!  No Aces.

Janice Wang/Arlene Hyde over Senthil Kumar/Leo Victor, 6-2!  No Aces.

Santosh Reddy/Dawn Peterson over Senthil Kumar/Brenda Jordan, 6-4!  No Aces.

Senthil Kumar/Brenda Jordan over Santosh Reddy/Dawn Peterson, 6-1!  No Aces.

Samara's Notes: I thank Fernanda, Doinks, Ryan and Senthil for their contributions above.  We will not turn this report over to Gen.  And then the last result of the night will be the one submitted by John as I know he was a late arrival who also had to sit for a while.  Take it away, Gen!

When I arrived at Cedar Grove around 8:10, a Mixed Doubles Match between the teams of Kris and Doinks Srinivasan and Tommy Reszkowski/Fernanda Toker was already in progress on Court One.  And also Brenda Jordan and Kevin Doyle just finished playing a Mixed Doubles Match with Dawn Peterson and Mike Sindler on Court Three.  It was good timing as Nick Inciong, Sachiko Tokuda and I took over Court Three and began hitting.  Then, Ryan Pienciak joined our group and this enabled us to start a Mixed Doubles One-Setter.  Also, it was nice to see Leo Victor (who I have not seen in over a year) as he was already playing in a Doubles One-Setter against the team of Janice Wang and Arlene Hyde on Court Four.

Ryan Pienciak/Genalin Capan over Nick Inciong/Sachiko Tokuda, 6-2!  No Aces.  We played from 8:30 to 8:57 on Court Three.

Nick was nice enough to sit out and let Pranav Sinha play the next one.  Nick would not wait too long as he eventually teamed up with John Rizzo for the next Doubles One-Setter to be played on Court Four.

Ryan Pienciak/Sachiko Tokuda over Pranav Sinha/Genalin Capan, 6-2!  No Aces.  We played from 9pm to 9:22 on Court Three.

Sachiko continued to hit with Pranav for another 10 minutes, then afterwards she was done for the night. This allowed for Doinks to step in and play our last One-Setter.

Ryan Pienciak/Doinks Srinivasan over Pranav Sinha/Genalin Capan, 6-2!  No Aces.  We played from 9:36 to 9:59 on Court Three.  We got this last set done just in time.

Kyle Eng/Janice Wang over John Rizzo/Nick Inciong, 6-4!  No Aces.

Samara's Notes: I thank Gen, John and everyone else (again) for their very timely contributions to this report.

Best wishes,
Frank Samara
gtasamara5@gmail.com
 

5/24 Results.

5/24/18:

"Mole-Celis in MP, Boughton-Bujara at NTC, 2 Sets in Teaneck, 28 (1 New) at C.G.!":

There were four sessions of GTA Thursday Tennis: an early morning one at The Mountainside Park Courts in Montclair as "Del Brotro" Mike Mole and "The Scorpion Dragon" Dino Celis got together at 9am for their second Challenge Match in as many days (as reported by Mike); another morning one, concurrent with the Montclair session...this time at Nutley Tennis Club as new member "L-Boogie" Laurie Boughton played guest "The Suze" Suzanne Bujara in a full Challenge Match there (as reported by both); an then another morning into the early afternoon one at the Teaneck Courts as "The Argentine Machine" Fernanda Toker and "Automatic" Anna Mazur got together for what was intended to be a full Challenge Match (but ended up becoming two One-Setters instead, and it was reported by both) and the usual evening one at The Cedar Grove Courts with "Hollywood" Frank Samara presiding over the festivities (playing, hosting and reporting) that featured 28 competitors (one of them making their official GTA Debut).

Let's first go to Montclair, then Nutley, then Teaneck and then finally to Cedar Grove for the full recap.

The Mountainside Park Courts Results:

3 out of 5 Sets Challenge Match:
Mike Mole over Dino Celis, 6-1, 6-4, 6-2, to successfully defend his # 12 Rank in the Advanced Division!  No Aces.

Dino Celis over Mike Mole, 6-3!  No Aces.

Samara's Notes: I thank Mike for his prompt reporting and congratulate him on another impressive victory (in the full match).

The NTC Result:

2 out of 3 Sets Challenge Match:
Laurie Boughton over Suzanne Bujara, 6-1, 6-3, to successfully defend her # 12 Rank in the Women's Division!  In the process, Bujara entered the Women's Division as its New # 15 Ranked Player.  Laurie: 1 Ace in the 1st Set! 

The News from The Suze: Laurie was so gracious to offer an invitation not only to play with her, but also to invite me to the Nutley Tennis Club.  What a great experience at a beautiful club!  NTC is so magical…it was my first time on clay!  We played this match from 8:50 to 9:46 on Court 3.

Samara's Notes: Laurie reported the same in terms of the result (along with the Ace).  And now we head northeast to Teaneck.

The Teaneck Results:

Anna Mazur over Fernanda Toker, 6-3!  No Aces.

Fernanda Toker over Anna Mazur, 6-0!  No Aces.

Anna's Annotation: We played from 9:10 to 12:10.  We tried to do a Super Tiebreak, but got confused with the score.  Along the way, we reached out to you for clarification.

Samara's Notes: Once I informed them that a Super Tiebreak cannot be used in a match intended to be a rank defense, it was scrapped entirely and the first two sets became separate One-Setters.  To be clear, a 10-Point Super Tiebreak can be used in a match to get someone into the Women's Division and out of the Non-Competing Women's Division…but rank or Titles cannot be decided via STB. 

And now we shift southwest to Cedar Grove.

When Samara rolled into the lot unexpectedly early at 6:10 (as "Instant" Moka Pathan had just done the same), Frank noticed that Mike Mole was already out hitting serves on Court Four.  A young couple had just moved out onto Court Three as there was an unexpected appearance by The Pickle Ballers who had taken over Courts One and Two (this was a rainout date approved by Cedar Grove Parks and Recreation as The Picklers had their last two Tuesday nights get washed out by rain).

The Picklers were nice as they actually would have had the rights to all four courts from 6pm to 7:30 but, thankfully, they never expanded from the two courts they had.

Moka and Frank started hitting against Mike just as "The Bulgarian Bull" Jordan Bachvaroff arrived at 6:15.  He soon aligned himself with Mole in the hitting session and that seemed like the Doubles One-Setter we would have been heading for when "J-Rod" Joe Rodrigues arrived at 6:30.  Samara willingly pulled himself from the court (and then benched himself…LOL!) in favor of Rodrigues getting involved in the official action.  Joe did warn Frank, however, that he was expecting an urgent call.

So, at exactly 6:36, they started a Doubles One-Setter with it being Bachvaroff/Mole vs. Pathan/Rodrigues.  The young couple had left Court Three by this time, so Samara then got up off the bench and out onto that court in order to hold it for GTA action. 

At 6:40, Elizabeth Cho arrived and soon started hitting with Frank on Court Three  Five minutes later, Frank "Hydro" Hohorst (the "other Frank in the league"…LOL!) made his way onto the court…but before he could start hitting, Joe got the call he was expecting.  Hohorst jumped right into action by taking the place of Rodrigues and starting a new Doubles One-Setter on Court Four.

At 6:50, Jay "The Rising" Phoenix made his arrival and ended up on Cho's side in the hitting session against Samara on Court Three.  But when her friend "J-Wow" Janice Wang arrived at 7pm, "Echo" left with her for the two courts down the road in the hopes of playing a full Singles Match in order to get ranked in the Women's Division and qualify for entry into the upcoming GAH8 Women's Singles Tournament (Wang is still undecided as to whether or not she will enter the event).

At 7:05, both GTA Champion: "King Crush" Chris Chiaro and "Salsa Picante" Edwin Ortega arrived at the same time.  This happened just as the Doubles One-Setter on Court Four finished.  And then on top of all this occurring, Samara's recruit Rose Gabriele arrived at 7:10. 

It ended up being Gabriele teaming with Mole against Bachvaroff and Hohorst on Court Four while Court Three had Chiaro and Rodrigues pairing up to take on Ortega and Phoenix.  Samara continued to opt out of official action in order to maintain some type of order for the festivities (redundancy intended).

At 7:20, Janice and Elizabeth returned as the two courts down the road were also taken!  Turns out one of them had an early hitting session between the two teams slated to face each other in a GTA Mixed Doubles Championship Match as the GTA Mixed Doubles Champions: "Super Mario" Marijus Kuzavas and "The Smackdown" Sally Pillay would later defend their Titles against "Nate the Great" Nathan Fernandes and Natalia "Nitro" Sout.  These four players all arrived at 7:35 just as The Pickers were vacating the premises.

But I have jumped ahead a bit.  First, "The K Man" Kris Srinivasan made his way across the street at 7:25.  And then when the two Mixed Doubles Teams came to the main area, Janice and Elizabeth made another venture down the road.  It turned out to be all for naught as they never got a match going.  Janice had some stiff neck issues which kept her from competing.  Hopefully, they won't keep her out of the GAH8.

When Nate got to the main court area, he made sure to present Chris with the GTA Championship Medal.  He said he even polished it for him…LOL!

Speaking of Champs, GTA Women's Champion: Laura "The Aura" Gawley arrived at 7:40 looking to play.  The rest of the arrivals went as follows: "The Marathon Woman" Doinks Srinivasan at 7:55, "The Webmaster" Senthil Kumar at 8:10, "Spin Doctor" Dan Martinelli at 8:15 (solely an extended cameo appearance), "The Riz" John Rizzo and "The Practitioner" Pranav Sinha both arriving at 8:25, "Teej" T.J. Shah, "Ragin" Rajan Shah and "Kerosene" Kyle Eng all arriving at 8:30, Fadia "Finesse" Nicolas and "Queen B" Louise Bysiek both arriving at 8:50, "The Rogue" Rob Gawley rolling in on his Ducati for a quick cameo at 9:10 and then Dino Celis was the final arrival of the evening at 9:15.

It was a beautiful night for tennis as the temps remained in the 70 degree range with no wind and little humidity.  Thus, the turnout was an impressive total of 28 competitors!

Let's get to the action!

The Cedar Grove Results:

Moka Pathan/Frank Hohorst over Jordan Bachvaroff/Mike Mole, 6-2!  No Aces.  Court Four hosted this foursome from 6:46 to 7:06.

Jordan Bachvaroff/Frank Hohorst over Mike Mole/Rose Gabriele, 6-2!  Frank: 1 Ace on Mike!  It was the official GTA Debut of Rose Gabriele.  Court Four also hosted this action which lasted from 7:17 to 7:42.

Chris Chiaro/Joe Rodrigues over Edwin Ortega/Jay Phoenix, 6-1!  No Aces.  They played this one on Court Three from 7:20 to 7:40.

Jordan Bachvaroff/Mike Mole over Frank Hohorst/Rose Gabriele, 6-3!  No Aces.  This was contested on Court Four from 7:44 to 8:26.

Chris Chiaro/Joe Rodrigues over Edwin Ortega/Jay Phoenix, 6-1!  No Aces.  This Rematch One-Setter was moved to Court One (at the direction of Kris to allow the GTA Mixed Doubles Championship Match to take place on Court Three for better lighting) and it lasted from 7:45 to 8:10.

Moka Pathan/Laura Gawley over Kris Srinivasan/Frank Samara, 6-2!  No Aces.  It went like this: Frank held serve (30-Love, 30-15, Double Game Point reduced to Deuce, Game Point again, 2nd Deuce, Game Point and finally the hold), Moka held (30-Love, 30-15, Double Game Point and the hold), Kris held as he went from Love-30 to 30-All, Break Point, Deuce, Game Point and the hold and then Laura had a Love hold as we were all on serve at 2-2.  Samara's second service started out just like his first (30-Love, 30-15, Double Game Point reduced to Deuce, Game Point again, 2nd Deuce, but then it shifted to Break Point and the break), but did not end that way as he was the first one to be broken for 2-3.  Pathan held again as he went 15-Love, 15-All then onto Double Game Point and the hold, but Srinivasan (like his partner before him) was also broken as he went from 15-Love to 15-30, then 30-All, Break Point and the break as his team fell to 2-5.  And then Gawley held again, but it wasn't so easy this time around (Love-15 then point for point to 30-All and then a mini-shift to Game/Match Point, Deuce, 2nd Game/Match Point, 2nd Deuce, 3rd Game/Match Point and finally the hold) to earn the victory that was somewhat tougher than the final score would indicate.  We played this one on Court Two from 7:47 to 8:15.

GTA Mixed Doubles Championship Match:
Marijus Kuzavas/Sally Pillay over Nathan Fernandes/Natalia Sout, 6-2, 6-3, to complete their fourth successful GTA Mixed Doubles Championship defense of their first reign!  Marijus: 1 Ace on Natalia in the 2nd Set!  These two teams faced off on Court Three from 7:50 to 9:04.  In the 1st Set, the Champs jumped out to a 3-0 lead before the challengers took two games to make it closer.  Not sure how the 2nd Set went.

Chris Chiaro/Edwin Ortega over Senthil Kumar/Joe Rodrigues, 7-6 (7-4)!  No Aces.  They got this one done on Court One as it lasted from 8:25 to 9:10.

Kris Srinivasan/Laura Gawley over Moka Pathan/Doinks Srinivasan, 7-6 (7-2)!  No Aces.  Down 3-5, Laura was on serve at Triple Break/Match Point when her team saved 3 Match Points to take that game and eventually go all the way to the comeback victory!  Court Two hosted these two teams from 8:25 to 9:12.

T.J. Shah/Rajan Shah over Kyle Eng/Pranav Sinha, 6-2!  No Aces.  Court Four featured these four players from 8:36 to 9pm.

Jordan Bachvaroff/Frank Hohorst over John Rizzo/Janice Wang, 6-2!  No Aces.  Also played on Court Four, this one lasted from 9:05 to 9:36.

Pranav Sinha/Sachiko Tokuda over Fadia Nicolas/Louise Bysiek, 6-4!  No Aces.  I believe this was the first of all the rest of the One-Setters that decided to forego the changeovers in order to save time and hopefully ensure a complete finish.  This was played on Court Three from 9:12 to 9:42.

Chris Chiaro/Edwin Ortega over Senthil Kumar/Kyle Eng, 7-6 (7-3)!  No Aces.  This one got underway on Court One at 9:13 (again, no changeovers).  Not sure when it officially ended because they then went into an unofficial Super Tiebreak (for the fun of it) where Senthil and Kyle were leading 9-7 when the lights went out at 10pm!

Nathan Fernandes/Natalia Sout over Dino Celis/Doinks Srinivasan, 6-1!  No Aces.  This Mixed Doubles action took place on Court Two from 9:19 to 9:37 (again, no changeovers).

Jordan Bachvaroff/Kris Srinivasan tied with Marijus Kuzavas/Sally Pillay, 3-3 (Incomplete when it was lights out at 10pm with Kris serving up 15-Love)!  Jordan: 1 Ace on Sally; and Marijus: 1 Ace on Jordan!  They got this one underway on Court Four at 9:38 and they had done away with the changeovers.

Mike Mole/Dino Celis tied with Nathan Fernandes/Natalia Sout, 3-3 (Incomplete when it was lights out at 10pm)!  No Aces.  These four got it going on Court Two at 9:40 (again, no changeovers).

John Rizzo/Doinks Srinivasan leading Fadia Nicolas/Louise Bysiek, 4-1 (Incomplete when it was lights out at 10pm)!  John: 1 Ace on Fadia!  They started this one on Court Three at 9:46 (again, no changeovers).

After all the action, it seemed there was a bit of a bull session (Spin had left the scene around 9:30).  Samara made a quick exit as he hurried home to type the report…only to fall asleep sitting up at his laptop!  DOH!  Oh well…

Best wishes,
Frank Samara
gtasamara5@gmail.com
 

5/23 Results.

5/23/18:

"Mole-Celis at AP, 3 Matches at BP, Jordan-Scott part of 18 at C.G.!":

There were three sessions of GTA Wednesday Tennis: the first was an early session at Albion Park in Clifton featuring a full Challenge Match between "Del Brotro" Mike Mole and "The Scorpion Dragon" Dino Celis (as reported by Mike); then there was a major session at Brookdale Park in Bloomfield featuring three Challenge Matches – "The Apex Predator" Adam Pienciak versus "The Headhunter" Ralph Bernard (with Adam reporting), "The Lumberjack" Ryan Pienciak versus Tony "Sure Shot" Shiao (with both reporting) and "SWAT" Rich Liu vs. "Effortless" Edgar Valencia (with Rich reporting); and then the usual one at the Cedar Grove Courts featuring a Challenge Match between "The Bulgarian Bull" Jordan Bachvaroff and "Ice Berg" Scott Bergenfeld (with Scott reporting) plus a ton of other action as reported by the following players:  "Dominant" Dawn Peterson, "Killer Kat" Kathy Sheldon, "The Webmaster" Senthil Kumar, "NC-17" Nick Caputo, "The Riz" John Rizzo and "The Marathon Woman" Doinks Srinivasan.

Let's get to the action, starting with Albion Park and then going to Brookdale Park.  All of the scores reported from Cedar Grove will likely be somewhat out of order…but I will do my best!

 

The Albion Park Result:

 

2 out of 3 Sets Challenge Match:

Mike Mole over Dino Celis, 6-0, 7-5, to successfully defend his # 11 Rank in the Advanced Division!  In the process, Celis returned to the Advanced Division as the New # 40 Ranked Player.  No Aces.

 

The Mole Memo: We played from 10:15 to 11:30.  The 2nd Set was pretty good, lots of breaks of serve.  Fun match!

 

Dino Celis over Mike Mole, 7-5!  No Aces. 

 

The Mole Memo: We decided to play an extra One-Setter.  He played better in this one.  Fun set!

The Brookdale Park Results:

2 out of 3 Sets Challenge Match:

Adam Pienciak over Ralph Bernard, 6-3, 6-3, to successfully defend his # 5 Rank in the Advanced Division!  Adam: 1 Ace!

According to "The AP": The match took place at Brookdale Park on a lovely evening.  Despite the National Weather Service reporting a relative humidify of 43%, the sweat glands indicated otherwise.  Bernard took a commanding 3-0 lead in the 1st Set, only to lose the final six games. The 2nd Set was on serve through 3-3 until Pienciak took charge and finished off the match.

Despite having to play most of the match next to a group of extraordinarily irritating high school kids, both players managed to have a great time playing mediocre tennis against one another.

Samara's Notes: I thank Adam for his timely reporting and congratulate him on an impressive victory.  We now turn this report over to his brother Ryan and Ryan's buddy Tony. 

2 out of 3 Sets Challenge Match:

Ryan Pienciak over Tony Shiao, 7-5, 6-2, to successfully defend his # 2 Rank in the Advanced Division!  No Aces. 

 

The Ryan Report: Brookdale Park was jammed tonight.  We barely got a court!  There was some kind of high school county tournament, plus a group of adult women holding a tournament that consisted of three Doubles matches and two Singles matches.  Between everyone, all eleven courts were in use and people were still waiting!

 

The Sure Shot from Shiao: We started at 7:45.  The courts were packed with high school matches wrapping up and a bunch of ladies playing Doubles and four other GTA players.  It was a great 1st Set that lasted almost an hour and we completed the match by 9:40!  Ryan was very consistent and quick on his feet and I couldn't put it together and quickly fizzled after leading the 2nd Set, 2-0.  Looking forward to more matches against him in the future!

 

Samara's Notes: I thank both for their timely reporting and detailed commentary.  It is good to know that sometimes Brookdale gets crowded as well…even with all of its eleven courts!  We now go to the result reported by Rich.

 

2 out of 3 Sets Challenge Match:

Edgar Valencia leading Rich Liu, 6-3, 2-6, 3-1 (to be continued)!  No Aces (apparently).

The Rich Report: Ed and I met at Brookdale around 8:30 or so and almost finished a full match.  We had a very competitive two and a half sets.  Ed was up 3-1 in the 3^rd Set before it went dark (lights out).  Edgar is so full of energy that I'm quite sure he would've finished me off had time allowed.  If I can't give him the match, I hope we can finish the match another time and have it count as official.

Samara's Notes: First, I thank Rich for his timely reporting.  Second, there is a definite precedent for continuing matches at another time…so that is how we will handle this one.  I do respect the competitive spirit here as Rich could have taken the approach of having the first two sets just become One-Setters with an incomplete set just hanging in the balance.  Kudos!

We now head west to Cedar Grove for the multi-player report from there.  We will start with the report from Scott as he first played a One-Setter and then the full Challenge Match…and I do believe all that to be some of the earliest action of the evening.                                                                      

The Cedar Grove Results:

Scott Bergenfeld over Jay Phoenix, 6-1!  No Aces.

The Report from "Great Scott!":  Stopped by the courts around 6pm and soon got into the One-Setter against Jay.  Then, Jordan challenged me to play a full match…and that one went as follows.

3 out of 5 Sets Challenge Match:

Scott Bergenfeld over Jordan Bachvaroff, 6-4, 6-1, 7-5, to become the New # 8 Ranked Player in the Advanced Division (in the process, Bergenfeld became overqualified for competition in the Intermediate Division and will be removed from it in the coming GTA Rankings)!  No Aces.

The Report from "Great Scott!:: The 3rd Set was very competitive.  I was gassed from not playing for about three weeks and gaining some weight on my vacation.  If he won that 3rd Set, I would have struggled to continue.  All in all, it was an excellent match!

Samara's Notes: I thank Scott for his prompt reporting and congratulate him on an impressive victory!  We now turn this report over to Gen for just a bit.

Senthil Kumar/Elizabeth Cho over Kathy Sheldon/Dawn Peterson, 6-3!  No Aces.

Edwin Ortega/Dawn Peterson over Senthil Kumar/Elizabeth Cho, 7-6 (7-5)!  No Aces.

The Details from Dawn: We had been down 1-5 in this set!

Nick Caputo/Syed Rashid over John Rizzo/Jay Phoenix, 6-1!  No Aces.

 

Nick Caputo/Syed Rashid over John Rizzo/Janice Wang, 6-3!  No Aces.

 

Paul Daddio/Doinks Srinivasan over John Rizzo/Dino Celis, 6-3!  No Aces.

Paul Daddio/John Rizzo over Jordan Bachvaroff/Dino Celis, 6-2!  No Aces.

Edwin Ortega/Nick Caputo over Senthil Kumar/Kris Srinivasan, 6-1!  No Aces.

Doinks Srinivasan/Fadia Nicolas leading Janice Wang/Elizabeth Cho, 6-5 (Incomplete as Fadia was serving at 30-Love when the light went out at 10pm)!  No Aces.  Doinks and Fadia were down 2-5 before they came back to make the score more respectable.

Senthil Kumar/Kris Srinivasan leading Edwin Ortega/Nick Caputo, 5-2 (Incomplete as Nick was serving at 15-30 when the lights went out at 10pm)!  No Aces.

Samara's Notes: I thank everyone else for their very timely reporting as well.  It is all greatly appreciated!

Sincerely,

Frank Samara

Gtasamara5@gmail.com

 

 

 

 

5/21 Results.

5/21/18:

"Ortega-Santos part of 19 at C.G.!":

There was just one session of GTA Monday Night Tennis and it was at the Cedar Grove Courts featuring an impromptu Challenge Match between "Salsa Picante" Edwin Ortega and "Stealth" Omar Santos (as reported by Edwin).  There are also contributions to this report made by "The Marathon Woman" Doinks Srinivasan, "The S Bomber" Genalin Capan, "King Crush" Chris Chiaro, "NC-17" Nick Caputo, "J-Rod" Joe Rodrigues and "The Webmaster" Senthil Kumar.

Let's get to the action…which will quite likely not be written in the order in which it was played.  We will start with the full Challenge Match.                       

The Cedar Grove Results:

2 out of 3 Sets Challenge Match:

Edwin Ortega over Omar Santos, 6-3, 6-4, to successfully defend both his # 16 Rank in the Advanced Division and his # 3 Rank in the Intermediate Division!  No Aces.

Samara's Notes: I thank Edwin for his prompt reporting of that result and congratulate him on an impressive victory!  We now turn this report over to Gen for just a bit.

Mike Mole and I started hitting at 5pm after the Cedar Grove High School Tennis team finished their practice.  Moka Pathan joined us around 5:45.  Omar Santos and Edwin Ortega wanted to play Singles against each other, so they took Court One.  We were waiting for a fourth person so we could play Doubles.  Until then, the three of us played Canadian Doubles.  Then Dawn Peterson showed up at 6:30 and we invited her over to play a set.  It was a lot of fun.

Mike Mole/Genalin Capan over Moka Pathan/Dawn Peterson, 6-3!  No Aces.  We played this one from 6:30 to 7pm on Court Two.

Moka was done for the night.  I then joined Kathy Sheldon, Doinks Srinivasan and Brenda Jordan on Court Three for our scheduled Women's Doubles match.  Meanwhile, Mike Mole joined Jay Phoenix, Kris Srinivasan and Joe Rodrigues on Court Four.

2 out of 3 Sets Women's Doubles Match:
Doinks Srinivasan/Genalin Capan over Kathy Sheldon/Brenda Jordan, 6-3, 6-2, to become the New # 5 Ranked Team in the Women's Doubles Division!  No Aces.  We played from 7:25 to 8:50 on Court Three.

Gen's Notes: Doinks arranged for Kathy and Brenda to play us so that we could stay active in the ranks.  We had a lot of fun.  Despite the score, it was a long tough match.  We had quite a few multi Deuce games and extended rallies.  There were some nice baseline exchanges between Doinks and Kathy.  Doinks was impressive with some of her topspin looping deep shots that look like they will go out, but always manage to catch the line.  Brenda played well at the net.

The 1st Set took about 50 minutes.  I was serving while we were up 5-2, but was unable to close it.  We battled back and forth.  I was getting exhausted.  It went to at least 8 Deuces before I eventually got broken for Kat and Brenda to get one more game for 3-5.  Doinks and I kept our composure and got the break back to close out the set at 6-3.  The 2nd Set took about 32 minutes.  We were tied at 2-2.  Then Doinks and I took the next four games for the win.  Thanks to all the ladies for a well played match!  It was a good time.

The Details from Doinks: We arranged to play this Doubles match as Kathy and Brenda were kind enough to play with us so that Gen and I could remain active as a team.  In the match, Kathy almost hurt her ankle.  Then Brenda fell on the ground as she was trying to change direction while trying to defend a point.

Later, Spin (aka Dan Martinelli) and Dino Celis came.  Dino hit with me while Spin and Gen chatted.

Samara's Notes: I thank both Gen and Doinks for their timely and detailed reporting.  And now we go to that Doubles Match that Gen referred to earlier (involving Mike, Jay, Kris and Joe) and then the rest comes from Chris/Nick and Senthil.  

2 out of 3 Sets Doubles Match:

Mike Mole/Jay Phoenix over Kris Srinivasan/Joe Rodrigues, 6-3, 7-5, as both teams entered the Doubles Division as the New # 170 and # 171 Ranked Teams respectively!  No Aces.

Edwin Ortega/Nick Caputo over Chris Chiaro/Omar Santos, 6-4!  Edwin: 3 Aces on Omar; and Nick: 1 Ace on Chris!

Mike Kazlauskas/T.J. Shah over Chris Chiaro/Rajan Shah, 6-2!  No Aces.

Chris Chiaro/Rajan Shah over Mike Kazlauskas/T.J. Shah, 6-1!  No Aces.

2 out of 3 Sets Mixed Doubles Match:

Senthil Kumar/Arlene Hyde over Ralph Bernard/Dawn Peterson, 6-3, 6-2, to become the New #54 and #55 Ranked Teams in the Mixed Doubles Division respectively!  Ralph: 4 Aces (two on each)!  We played this from 8 to 9pm.

Senthil Kumar over Ralph Bernard, 6-2!  Senthil: 1 Ace.

Ralph Bernard over Senthil Kumar, 6-2!  No Aces.  The total time for both of these One-Setters was from 9pm to 10pm.

Samara's Notes: I thank everyone for their very timely reporting.  It is truly appreciated.   

Sincerely,

Frank Samara

Gtasamara5@gmail.com

 

 

 

 

5/20 Results.

5/20/18:

"Rizzo hosts 7 at NTC, Mole-Swierczek part of 11 at C.G.!":

There were two sessions of GTA Sunday Tennis, though neither was the usual Sunday morning session that "Hollywood" Frank Samara would normally host (previously at Albion Park in Clifton, more recently at Brookdale Park in Bloomfield) as the overnight rain that carried into the morning hours killed those chances.  Instead, there was one that started in the early afternoon and lasted until the end of daylight (it was actually back-to-back sessions) at The Nutley Tennis Club which was hosted by "The Riz" John Rizzo. 

And the other started in the late afternoon and went all the way to lights out at the Cedar Grove Courts featuring an impromptu Challenge Match between "Del Brotro" Mike Mole and "The Pilot" Greg Swierczek (as reported by Mike).  There are also contributions to this report made by "The Marathon Woman" Doinks Srinivasan, "The Sin Man" Mike Sindler and "The Icon" Nick Inciong.

Let's first get The Riz Report from NTC and then the rest of the scores (starting with the full Challenge Match) from Cedar Grove.

The NTC Results:                                                                            

The 2 to 4pm portion of the session:

John Rizzo/Bo Folchi over Dino Celis/Denise Savino, 6-2!  No Aces.

Bo Folchi/Denise Savino over John Rizzo/Dino Celis, 7-5!  No Aces.

John Rizzo/Dino Celis over Bo Folchi/Denise Savino, 7-5!  No Aces.

The 5 to 8pm portion of the session:

3 out of 5 Sets Non-Title Doubles Match:

Ryan Pienciak/Nick Caputo over John Rizzo/Mark Cipollini, 6-4, 6-1, 6-2!  This was not a defense of the GTA Doubles Titles as Rizzo/Cipollini had not yet been ranked in the Doubles Division.  In the process, Rizzo/Cipollini entered the Doubles Division as the New # 168 Ranked Team.  No Aces.

2 out of 3 Sets Non-Title Doubles Match:

Ryan Pienciak/Nick Caputo over John Rizzo/Dino Celis, 6-2, 6-0!  This was not a defense of the GTA Doubles Titles as Rizzo/Celis had not yet been ranked in the Doubles Division.  In the process, Rizzo/Celis entered the Doubles Division as the New # 169 Ranked Team.  No Aces.

The Cedar Grove Results:

2 out of 3 Sets Challenge Match:

Mike Mole over Greg Swierczek, 7-5, 3-6, 6-4, to successfully defend his # 11 Rank in the Advanced Division!  No Aces.

The Mole Memo: We were at one set a piece when we decided to make it a full match.  It was a great match!  He played really good and was great at serving.  We played from 6pm to 7:30.

Nick's Notes: Omar Santos was practicing his serve when I arrived around 3pm.  Janice Wang was getting ready to play.  Mike Sindler showed up as we were getting ready to hit.

Nick Inciong/Janice Wang over Omar Santos/Mike Sindler, 6-4!  No Aces.

Omar Santos/Mike Sindler over Nick Inciong/Janice Wang, 6-4!  No Aces.

Nick Inciong/Janice Wang over Mike Sindler/Doinks Srinivasan, 6-2!  No Aces.

Nick's Notes: Prior to the above One-Setter, Omar had to leave.  Doinks arrived just in time to take his place.  After this set, Mike had to leave and I was feeling my age…so I left, too.  But Jose Gonzales and Joe Rodrigues were looking to play but I don't know what happened next.

Jose Gonzales/Janice Wang over Joe Rodrigues/Doinks Srinivasan, 7-6 (7-1)!  No Aces.

Nathan Fernandes/Doinks Srinivasan over Kris Srinivasan/Greg Swierczek, 6-2!  No Aces.

Nathan Fernandes/Doinks Srinivasan over Kris Srinivasan/Jose Gonzales, 6-2!  No Aces.

The Details from Doinks: We are so exhausted!  It was a great and pleasant evening.  Kyle Eng, Ralph Bernard, Janice Wang and Joe Rodrigues played, but don't know their scores.

Samara's Notes: I thank everyone for their very timely reporting.  It is truly appreciated.  As for those who did not report their results, I cannot continue to chase down scores as I simply do not have the time.  So whatever else occurred will have to remain unofficial. 

Sincerely,

Frank Samara

Gtasamara5@gmail.com

 

 

 

 

5/18 Results.

5/18/18:

"Doran-Sherry in Nutley, Gottlieb-Knitzer, Chiaro-Daddio in BP, 15 at C.G.!":

There were three sessions of GTA Friday Night Tennis: an early evening one at The Park Ave. Courts in Nutley as "Ravishing" Randy Doran and "The Running Man" Ryan Sherry got together at 6:30 for their GTA Intermediate Invitational Quarterfinal Match with "Hollywood" Frank Samara presiding over the festivities (and reporting), then there was a session at Brookdale Park in Bloomfield featuring two big matches...the first of them being the GTA Intermediate Invitational Semifinal Match between  Jeremy "Got Game" Gottlieb and "The Dark Knight" Dan Knitzer (with both reporting) and the second one was the GTA Championship Tournament Final as "King Crush" Chris Chiaro faced "Daddy O" Paul Daddio to determine the New GTA Champions (with both reporting).

And then there was a concurrent session at The Cedar Grove Courts featuring 15 competitors with results being reported by "The Riz" John Rizzo, Frank "Hydro" Hohorst, "Teej" T.J. Shah, "Ragin" Rajan Shah and "The Icon" Nick Inciong.

Let's first go to Nutley, then to Brookdale Park and then finally to Cedar Grove to gather all the scores for this report.

The Park Ave. Courts Result:

GTA Intermediate Invitational Quarterfinal Match:
Ryan Sherry over Randy Doran, 6-4, 6-1, to become both the New # 14 Ranked Player in the Advanced Division and the New # 1 Ranked Player in the Intermediate Division while advancing to the Semifinals of the GTA Intermediate Invitational Tournament!  Ryan: 2 Aces (one in each set)!

1st Set: Randy held serve at Game Point, Ryan held (started with an Ace up the T on his way to Triple Game Point, the hold came on Double Game Point), then Doran was the first to be broken as he started with a Double Fault on his way to Triple Break Point, the break came on Double Break Point for 1-2.  Sherry held again (Triple Game Point, Double Game Point, Double Fault for Game Point, but then the hold) to extend his lead to 3-1, but then The Ravishing One held (Love-15 went straight to Double Game Point and the hold) while The Running Man was finally broken (Triple Break Point, the break came on Double Break Point) to level things at 3-3.  Randy was broken once more (this time at Break Point) while Ryan held (Break Point, Deuce, Game Point and the hold) to go up 5-3.  Doran had an impressive Love hold to pull to 4-5, but then Sherry held again on Double Game/Set Point to take the initial set at exactly 7:17 (they had started hitting on Court Four at 6:30, shifted  over to Court Three at 6:35 just as Samara arrived and then officially got the match underway at precisely 6:46).  Three minutes later, the next set was underway.

2nd Set: Randy was broken at Double Break Point, Ryan held at Love, Doran was again broken at Double Break Point and Sherry had another Love hold except this one started off with yet another Ace up the T and this gave The Running Man a quick 4-0 lead!  Ravishing Randy was broken yet again (once more at Double Break Point and this time around he started off with a Double Fault) as he now fell to 0-5!  There was a brief glimmer of hope for Randy as Ryan was finally broken in this set as a 15-Love lead plummeted right down to Double Break Point and the break to make the score 5-1.  But, finally, the door closed on Doran as he was broken one final time (started off with another Double Fault, but quickly reversed course to a Double Game Point lead, then it went to Game Point, Deuce, Break/Match Point and the break) to end this contest at 7:38!

The Skinny: It was a tale of two sets as the initial one was closely contested while the second one was an eighteen minute long blowout!  Even though Ryan likes to be called The Running Man, it was Randy who truly earned that moniker in this match as it was primarily his get-making ability that kept it close in the 1st Set.  By the time the 2nd Set rolled around, it seemed he was more exhausted mentally rather than physically from countering the big first serves and solid forehands that Sherry had offered up for most of the entire match.  That was where the difference came in...and it should also be set that the long and lanky Ryan made many nice gets along the way as well.

The Consequences: Sherry advances to the Semifinals where he will face "NC-17" Nick Caputo.

Samara's Notes: I wanted to make sure to be there mostly to make sure the match got off the ground as there was some confusion the night before about the scheduling and terms of agreement to it.  In the end, all went smoothly and both competitors enjoyed the match.  The three of us had a bull session that ran until almost 8pm.  Randy went home to Weehawken as I went home to Passaic.  Meanwhile, Ryan still had a fix for some more tennis and headed up to Cedar Grove before going home.  We will get to that session later.

First, we must get two big scores from Brookdale Park.

The Brookdale Park Results:

GTA Intermediate Invitational Semifinal Match:
Jeremy Gottlieb over Dan Knitzer, 6-2, 7-6 (7-4), to successfully defend both his # 18 Rank in the Advanced Division and his # 4 Rank in the Intermediate Division while advancing to the Finals of the GTA Intermediate Invitational Tournament!  No Aces.

The TDK Replay: While there were no Aces, there were lots of ferocious inside-out forehand battles.  The match went like this - "Got Game" thumped Knitzer to the tune of 4-0, holding at Love and then breaking TDK at Love before enough was enough.  TDK broke back and then held, but then was broken again.  In the 2nd Set, TDK jumped out to a 3-0 lead behind some excellent drop shots and lob one-two combos before Got Game neutralized this play with deeper shots, especially to TDK's weak backhand, to set up forehand missiles!  Got Game was on a tear by winning five straight games, but TDK finally held and broke back.  The Tiebreak featured two insanely long rallies where both players ran to the net and then back to the baseline.  Got Game won at least one of those points (maybe both?) and scooped up TDK's best drop shots.

The "quintessential" Got Game point went like this: hitting deep to TDK's backhand; TDK hitting a weak shot that landed just inside or outside the service box and then Got Game rushing up to smash a fastball.
The "quintessential" Dark Knight point went like this: hitting deep and aggressive to Got Game; Got Game hitting a weak shot that TDK could chip just over the net; Got Game scooping it up and TDK hitting a lob. Interestingly, TDK's best lobs were in the 1st Set, not the 2nd.  Both players had some spectacular defensive stances.

The Gist from Jeremy: Dan was a good opponent.  It was a good match.  I look forward to the Finals.

Samara's Notes: I thank both for their very timely reporting and congratulate Jeremy on a hard-fought victory!  I also offer major kudos to Dan for a spirited effort (and, once again, I appreciate the colorful and comprehensive commentary).  Gottlieb now advances to the Finals where he will face the winner of Sherry-Caputo.

GTA Championship Final Match:
Chris Chiaro over Paul Daddio, 6-1, 6-7 (7-3), 7-5, to become the New 3-Time GTA Champion!  No Aces.

The Dilly-O from Daddy O: Chris is a really good player.  I could do nothing in the 1st Set...every approach shot I hit was returned right past me and into the corner!  I was down 1-4 in the 2nd Set when I finally became more consistent and made it a match.  I was down 5-6 in the 3rd Set when I fought off two Match Points, but could not find a winner.  Congratulations to Chris as he fully earned this victory!  The match was over two hours long...we played it from 7:20 until 9:30!

Chat from the New Champ: I want to start off by congratulating Paul for a great match.  This was one of the toughest matches, if not the toughest, I have ever played in this league.  In the 1st Set, everything was going my way.  I was able to bring Paul into the net and then create passing shots.  When the 2nd Set started, things were still going my way as I was up 5-2, but Paul changed his game and was able to come back and win it in the Tiebreak.  In the 3rd Set, we were holding our service games, then I ended up breaking Paul to go 4-2, but then he came right back.  I had a chance to serve out the match at 5-4, but Paul broke back and I was able to serve for the match again at 6-5.  In the final game, I saved 3 Break Points and he saved 2 Match Points.  I was finally able to win it on the 3rd Match Point.  The match lasted a little over two hours. And, once again, I give a lot of credit to Paul for coming back in the 2nd Set and fighting hard.  He played really well and definitely did not make this win easy.

Samara's Notes: I thank both for their very timely reporting and also appreciate the additional commentary from each player.  I congratulate Chris on a very hard-fought victory and also for climbing the mountain to the top of the GTA a third time!  I also offer hearty kudos to Paul for such a fine effort.  It seems like an almost certain Nominee for Singles Match of The Year at season's end.

And now we shift west from Brookdale Park to Cedar Grove.

The Cedar Grove Results:

Senthil Kumar/John Rizzo over Kris Srinivasan/Kyle Eng, 6-4!  No Aces.  Kris and Kyle had been up 3-0.

2 out of 3 Sets Doubles Match:
Senthil Kumar/Ryan Sherry over Kyle Eng/Dino Celis, 6-1, 6-1, to successfully defend their # 87 Rank in the Doubles Division!  In the process, Eng/Celis entered the division as the New # 167 Ranked Team.  No Aces.

Kris Srinivasan/John Rizzo over Mike Mole/Janice Wang, 6-4!  No Aces.

Kris Srinivasan/John Rizzo over Frank Hohorst/Sachiko Tokuda, 6-2!  No Aces.

Mike Mole/Janice Wang over Frank Hohorst/Natalia Sout, 7-6 (7-5)!  No Aces.  Hohorst/Sout were up 5-2 when Mole/Wang came back strong.

Frank Hohorst/Natalia Sout over Mike Mole/Janice Wang, 6-3!  Frank: 1 Ace on Mike!

Frankly Speaking: We wanted to play a 3rd Set, but Mike was too tired at that time.

Nick Inciong/Tito Castolo over T.J. Shah/Rajan Shah, 6-2!  No Aces.

Nick Inciong/Tito Castolo tied with T.J. Shah/Rajan Shah, 5-5 (Incomplete when the lights went off at 10pm)!  No Aces. 

Samara's Notes: I thank everyone for their very timely contributions to this report.

Best wishes,
Frank Samara
gtasamara5@gmail.com
 

5/17 Results.

5/17/18:

"Doubles Title Rematch part of 23 at C.G.!":

There was just one session of GTA Thursday Night Tennis at the Cedar Grove Courts featuring the GTA Doubles Championship Rematch as the New GTA Doubles Champions: "The Lumberjack" Ryan Pienciak and "NC-17" Nick Caputo put their Titles on the line against the Former Champs: "Super Mario" Marijus Kuzavas and "Big Kaz" Mike Kazlauskas (with both Ryan and Nick reporting).  Other contributors to this report (in no particular order) are: "Bravo" Brenda Jordan, "The Headhunter" Ralph Bernard, "Nate the Great" Nathan Fernandes and "The S Bomber" Genalin Capan. 

We will first go to The Main Event (the GTA Doubles Championship Rematch) and then the rest of the scores….the multi-layered recap from Cedar Grove.

The Cedar Grove Results:

GTA Doubles Championship Rematch:

Ryan Pienciak/Nick Caputo over Marijus Kuzavas/Mike Kazlauskas, 4-6, 6-0, 6-1, to complete their first successful GTA Doubles Championship defense of their first reign!  Mike: 2 Aces on Nick; and Nick: 1 Ace on Marijus!

The Ryan Report: The 1st Set was very close.  We were serving at 4-5 and were broken.  Marijus and Mike were serving great and playing well at the net while Nick and I had a pretty slow start. Losing the 1st Set got us fired up a bit, so we woke up and fought back by winning the next ten games!  The last two sets were closer than the score would indicate as there were a lot of tough, close games in there (especially the first game of the 2nd Set where poor Mike had to serve through at least a dozen Deuces!).  Somehow, we just managed to keep the momentum going for us.

The NC-17 Screening: It was a great 3-Setter.  Marijus and Mike came out booming in the 1st Set with big serves and overheads and Ryan and I were a little off as they went up 4-3, 5-3 and 5-4 before closing it out at 6-4.  The 2nd Set started with Mike serving and ultimately losing a very long multiple Deuce game.  Ryan and I won 10 straight games to win the 2nd Set in a shutout and then go up 4-0 before they made it 4-1.  Then we took the next two games to end it…it was a great match!

Samara's Notes: I thank both Ryan and Nick for their timely reporting.  I also congratulate them on a hard-fought and impressive victory!  Next up for the still relatively New Champs is a match against Nate and a partner of his choosing as a result of the TMT victory that Fernandes shared with Pienciak (Nate gets to choose a partner to replace Ryan).  That should be another great one!

We now go to the rest of the scores from this session.

Jordan Bachvaroff/Brenda Jordan over Senthil Kumar/Kathy Sheldon, 6-2!  No Aces.

Senthil Kumar/Kathy Sheldon over Jordan Bachvaroff/Brenda Jordan, 6-3!  No Aces.

The Breakdown from Brenda: We did not play a 3rd Set or Super Tiebreak to make it a full match because Kathy had to leave.  So it ends up being two One-Setters.

Ralph Bernard/Mike Sindler over Anish Mehta/Louise Bysiek, 6-4!  Ralph: 1 Ace on Louise.

Ralph Bernard/Mike Sindler over Anish Mehta/Louise Bysiek, 6-2!  Ralph: 1 Ace on Louise.

Samara's Notes: Ralph also reported an incomplete set which we will get to at the end of this report.

Nathan Fernandes/Natalia Sout over Kris Srinivasan/Edwin Ortega, 6-2!  No Aces.

2 out of 3 Sets Mixed Doubles Match:

Nathan Fernandes/Natalia Sout over Kris Srinivasan/Doinks Srinivasan, 6-4, 6-3, to successfully defend their # 2 Rank in the Mixed Doubles Division!  No Aces.  

Nate's Notes: I really appreciate Kris and Doinks obliging us after they played a match earlier in the week.  They fought back from being down 0-4 in the 1st Set to make it 4-4 and then they mounted a mini-comeback in the 2nd Set as well.  Happy to get it done in straight sets even though the match was anything but straightforward! 

Jose Gonzales/Syed Rashid over Chris Chiaro/Dawn Peterson, 6-4!  No Aces.

Jose Gonzales/Genalin Capan over Syed Rashid/Laurie Boughton, 6-2!  Syed: 1 Ace on Genalin; and Jose: 1 Ace on Syed!  We played this one from 8:45 to 9:15.

Jose Gonzales/Genalin Capan over Doinks Srinivasan/Laurie Boughton, 6-0!  No Aces.  We played this one from 9:18 to 9:45.

Jose Gonzales/Genalin Capan leading Doinks Srinivasan/Laurie Boughton, 3-0 (Incomplete when Jose was serving and it was at Deuce # 3 when the lights went out at 10pm)!  No Aces.

Marijus Kuzavas/Adam Pienciak leading Ralph Bernard/Anish Mehta, 4-2 (Incomplete when the lights went out at 10pm)!  Ralph: 1 Ace on Adam!

Samara's Notes: I thank everyone for their very timely reporting.  It is truly appreciated.

Sincerely,

Frank Samara

Gtasamara5@gmail.com

 

 

 

 

5/14 Results.

5/14/18:

"Rizzo hosts 4 at NTC, 20 play at C.G.!":

There were two sessions of GTA Monday Night Tennis: the first of the season at Nutley Tennis Club with member "The Riz" John Rizzo hosting a foursome there for some Doubles, and then a big one at the Cedar Grove Courts featuring contributions to this report from (in no particular order) are: "Bravo" Brenda Jordan, "Dominant" Dawn Peterson, "Daddy O" Paul Daddio, "The Marathon Woman" Doinks Srinivasan, "King Crush" Chris Chiaro, "Salsa Picante" Edwin Ortega and Rizzo again.

We will first go to The Riz Report from NTC and then the multi-layered recap from Cedar Grove.

The NTC Result:

3 out of 5 Sets Doubles Match:

Nick Caputo/Kyle Eng over John Rizzo/Frank Hohorst, 6-2, 6-4, 6-0 as both teams entered the Doubles Division as the New # 162 and # 163 Ranked Teams respectively!  Frank: 1 Ace on Nick in the 2nd Set; and Nick: 1 Ace on John in the 2nd Set.  This was played on Court One which is considered to be the "Show Court" at NTC as it is right in front of the Clubhouse and deck.

Samara's Notes: I thank John for his timely reporting…and it is also nice to see him hosting small, private sessions of GTA Tennis at the Nutley Tennis Club once again.  We will hear more from him near the end of the Cedar Grove report…which begins now!

The Cedar Grove Results:

2 out of 3 Sets Mixed Doubles Match:

Mike Mole/Dawn Peterson over Jordan Bachvaroff/Brenda Jordan, 6-4, 6-2, as both teams entered the Mixed Doubles Division as the New # 51 and # 52 Ranked Teams respectively!  No Aces.

Samara's Notes: Both Brenda and Dawn reported this result and agreed on the score (trust me…that does not always happen…LOL!)  Mike and Dawn scored an impressive victory over "Team Jordan."

2 out of 3 Sets Mixed Doubles Match:

Paul Daddio/Arlene Hyde over Kris Srinivasan/Doinks Srinivasan, 6-4, 6-4 to become the New # 3 Ranked Team in the Mixed Doubles Division!  No Aces. 

Samara's Notes: I am going with Paul's version of events (i.e. the score…as Doinks thought it was 6-4, 6-3…as his is more generous to The Srinivasans and it is the only thing he reported…so I am hoping he had it right).  We will hear more from Doinks later in this report.

2 out of 3 Sets Doubles Match:

Chris Chiaro/Nathan Fernandes over Mike Kazlauskas/Joe Rodrigues, 6-3, 6-2, as both teams entered the Doubles Division as the New # 164 and # 165 Ranked Teams respectively!  Mike: 1 Ace on Chris.

2 out of 3 Sets Mixed Gender Doubles:

Senthil Kumar/Edwin Ortega over Tito Castolo/Natalia Sout, 7-5, 6-3!  Per the TMT Rules, Kumar/Ortega entered the Doubles Division as the New # 166 Ranked Team.  The team of Castolo/Sout is already ranked in the Mixed Doubles Division.  No Aces.

Ryan Pienciak/Adam Pienciak over Jordan Bachvaroff/Mike Mole, 6-4!  No Aces.

Adam Pienciak/Nathan Fernandes over Chris Chiaro/Ryan Pienciak, 6-4!  No Aces.

John Rizzo/Frank Hohorst over Jordan Bachvaroff/Kris Srinivasan, 6-2!  No Aces.

Jordan Bachvaroff/Kris Srinivasan leading John Rizzo/Frank Hohorst, 5-2 (Incomplete when the lights went out at 10pm)!  No Aces.

Adam Pienciak/Nathan Fernandes leading Chris Chiaro/Ryan Pienciak, 5-3 (Incomplete when the lights went out at 10pm)!  No Aces.

Senthil Kumar/Edwin Ortega leading Tito Castolo/Natalia Sout, 4-3 (Incomplete with Tito serving at 30-All when the lights went out at 10pm)!  No Aces.

Samara's Notes: And now we go to Doinks for some additional commentary.

The Details from Doinks: Spin (aka Dan Martinelli) and Dino Celis came after 9:30.  I was hitting with Rafaelo Kazakov at the time.  After Rafaelo left, Dino gave me some serving tips while Spin threw the balls back from the other side of the net.

Samara's Notes: I thank Doinks and everyone else for their very timely reporting.  It is truly appreciated as it is the reporting of the results that makes the league what it is…we are nothing without it! 

Sincerely,

Frank Samara

Gtasamara5@gmail.com