9/19/18:
"Mole-Resz at VP-T, Tony-Ralph at VP-V, 2 at BP, 4 at PAC, 13 at C.G.!":
We had five separate sessions of GTA Wednesday Night Tennis. The first of the five was at Votee Park in Teaneck as "Del Brotro" Mike Mole and "Tireless" Tommy Reszkowski got together for a full Challenge Match (with Mike reporting).
The second was yet another Challenge Match, but this one was played in Verona Park as Tony "Sure Shot" Shiao and "The Headhunter" Ralph Bernard faced off there (with both reporting).
The third was in Brookdale Park in Bloomfield as The Pienciak Brothers, GTA Champion: Adam "The Apex Predator" and Ryan "The Lumberjack" faced off against one another in a lengthy Singles One-Setter.
The fourth was the frequent weeknight session at The Park Ave. Courts in Nutley with "TNT" Tim Nguyen and "The Great Wall" Muhammad Haque both reporting all that took place there.
And the fifth was the usual one at The Cedar Grove Courts with the contributors to this report from that session being "Bravo" Brenda Jordan and Thomas "Not Tommy" Lee.
Let's start things off in Teaneck and get the word from Mike.
The Votee Park Result:
2 out of 3 Sets Challenge Match:
Mike Mole over Tommy Reszkowski, 7-6 (11-9), 6-4, to successfully defend his # 12 Rank in the Advanced Division! No Aces.
The Mole Memo: It was a very hard-fought match that could have gone either way. Tommy is very fit, gets everything back and is pretty consistent. It was a fun match.
Samara's Notes: I thank Mike for his very timely reporting and congratulate him on a very hard-fought victory. I also offer up kudos to Tommy for such a spirited effort as his consistent improvement continues to show. Even though it was a straight-set affair, it may have a chance at being a Nominee for Singles Match of The Year at season's end…especially given that score in the 1st Set!
We now head southwest to Verona to get the dual report from Tony and Ralph.
The Verona Park Result:
2 out of 3 Sets Challenge Match:
Tony Shiao over Ralph Bernard, 7-6 (7-5), 6-4, to successfully defend his # 9 Rank in the Advanced Division! Tony: 3 Aces (2 in the 1st Set and 1 in the 2nd Set); and Ralph: 1 Ace in the 2nd Set!
The Sure Shot from Shiao: Ralph reached out to me in the morning and we decided to play a match at Verona Park at 8pm. We didn't waste any time practicing and pretty much went straight into the match. Ralph took an early lead. I believe he was up 5-2 in the 1st Set before I was able to make a comeback and take the lead at 6-5. His shots had tremendous pace and if I hit a short ball or a floater, he would easily put it away. I then focused on moving the ball and went for deep baseline shots, but I couldn't break Ralph and we went into a Tiebreak where I was able to squeeze out the win. It was a bit after 9pm now and the air was damp and our rackets were slipping and sliding from the high humidity. In the 2nd Set, we were neck and neck but I was able to hold out for a 6-4 win. The match was extremely close and filled with hard-hitting shots. The games could have gone either way. I'm looking forward to playing Ralph more in the future.
The Ralph Report: DITTO! Nothing to add as Tony explained the match very well. Very good match!
Samara's Notes: I thank both Tony and Ralph for their very timely reporting and I congratulate Tony on a highly impressive victory! Also, kudos to Ralph for a fine effort as well!
We now head north a bit to get the score from Ryan in Bloomfield.
The Brookdale Park Result:
Adam Pienciak over Ryan Pienciak, 9-7! No Aces.
The Ryan Report: Adam and I decided to play a set or two at Brookdale as we got off to a late start. It was tied at 6-6 at 9:30. As we didn't have time for another set, we decided to finish it Wimbledon-style. That's also when I stupidly said, "wow…we've both held serve for 12 games. That's impressive!" Of course, I broke Adam the next game and he immediately broke me back. Then he held serve and I was broken again.
Samara's Notes: I thank Ryan for his timely reporting. That looks like it could be a likely Nominee for One-Set Singles Match of The Year at season's end.
We now go one town east to Nutley for the dual report from Tim and Muhammad.
The Park Ave. Courts Results:
2 out of 3 Sets Doubles Match:
Muhammad Haque/Arunraj Nair over Tim Nguyen/Santosh Reddy, 7-5, 6-2, as both teams entered the Doubles Division as the New # 58 and # 59 Ranked Teams in the Doubles Division respectively! Muhammad: 1 Ace!
Tim Nguyen/Arunraj Nair leading Muhammad Hague/Santosh Reddy, 3-0 (Incomplete as Santosh had to leave a little early)! Santosh: 1 Ace!
Samara's Notes: I thank both Tim and Muhammad for sending in those scores in such a timely manner…greatly appreciated!
We now go west to Cedar Grove for the balance of this report.
The Cedar Grove Results:
2 out of 3 Set Women's Doubles Match:
Kathy Sheldon/Michele Panzitta over Brenda Jordan/Dawn Peterson, 6-4, 6-4, to become the New # 4 Ranked Team in the Women's Doubles Division! No Aces.
Samara's Notes: I thank Brenda for reporting that result in such a timely manner…always appreciated! And now we turn over the rest of this report to Thomas…and the man definitely has some serious reporting skills!
It was good to get back to Cedar Grove after what seemed like weeks of rain!
Joe Rodrigues/Vivian Lee over Thomas Lee/Marie Salamon, 7-5! No Aces.
There's no doubting Thomas: It was a One-Setter of Streaks! We were up 1-0, then down 1-3, up 4-3, down 4-5, even at 5-All and then lost it at 5-7! Early on, Vivian/Joe tried to play the short game with me at the net, but they were having no success as I seemed to find all the angles and right touch. After a couple of games like that, Vivian and Joe went to work on Marie. Joe was serving from the Deuce side and was consistently taking Marie out wide. Marie was great to get her racquet on the ball and get a return, but rather than play short to me, Vivian and Joe kept feeding deep balls and high lobs to Marie. That's where they wore us out and eventually prevailed. It was lots of long games going back and forth between Ad-in and Ad-out.
Dennis Cabanatan/Vivian Lee over Thomas Lee/Marie Salamon, 6-1! No Aces.
There's no doubting Thomas: Dennis is a southpaw with good strokes and a big forehand. He tends to hit deeper to the baseline with topspin. It was 1-1 and I was serving the third game when some flying creature decided to nest inside my eye socket! After a brief interlude with me flushing out my eye with water, we finished the match. We lost all focus though as the set went quickly.
Rob Gawley/Thomas Lee over Omar Santos/Christian Danku, 6-2! Rob: 1 Ace on Christian!
There's no doubting Thomas: Omar has an odd serving form. Christian has a harder first serve, but a much softer second serve. Rob was remarking the lines on the court with his signature slices and cuts, particularly with his backhand on the Deuce side back down the line. I think he was giving Omar fits as it was Omar's backhand side on the Ad-side of the court. I continued my strong net play which counteracted strong ground-strokes coming from Christian.
Rob Gawley/Thomas Lee over Dino Celis/Omar Santos, 6-3! No Aces.
Dino Celis/Omar Santos leading Rob Gawley/Thomas Lee, 2-0 (Incomplete when the lights went out at 10pm)! No Aces.
There's no doubting Thomas: Dino has excellent strokes and form. He likes to take you out wide on the backhand side with the first serve and then goes into the body on the second. Dino was hitting some ropes that were just clearing the net in the first couple of games which Rob and I needed to adjust to during the match since neither one of us is a heavy-hitter. But Rob's slices and spinners, all over the court frankly, may have kept Omar and Dino a little bit off balance. Rob and I started to force net play where we won more points. There were a couple of longer cross-court rallies between me and Dino on the Deuce side and then me and Omar on the Ad-side where I was fortunate to just outlast them as they eventually hit long or wide.
Samara's Notes: As stated earlier, I am highly impressed with the reporting skills of Thomas. His report was both timely and thoroughly descriptive…kudos!
Sincerely,
Frank Samara
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