10/19/18:
"Liu-Valencia part of 7 at PAC, 14 play at The Bubble!":
GTA Friday Night Tennis took place at two locations: The Park Ave. Courts in Nutley (as reported by "TNT" Tim Nguyen) that ended up featuring an impromptu GTA Intermediate Title Match between the still New GTA Intermediate Champ: "SWAT" Rich Liu and "Eddie Money" Edgar Valencia; and The Wayne Bubble (as reported by "Hollywood" Frank Samara and organized by "The Riz" John Rizzo). We will first get the report from Tim in Nutley and then we'll get the full recap from Frank at Cedar Grove.
The Park Ave. Courts Results:
2 out of 3 Sets Doubles Match:
William Bobila/Tim Nguyen over Rich Liu/Sam Wong, 6-2, 6-2, as both teams entered the Doubles Division as the New # 60 and # 61 Ranked Teams respectively! No Aces.
William Bobila/Tim Nguyen over Muhammad Hague/Sam Wong, 6-1! No Aces.
Tim Nguyen/David Wong over Muhammad Hague/Sam Wong, 6-2! No Aces.
Muhammad Hague/Sam Wong over Tim Nguyen/David Wong, 6-4! No Aces.
2 out of 3 Sets Challenge Match:
Edgar Valencia over Rich Liu, 6-0, 6-4, to become the New GTA Intermediate Champ and also the New # 16 Ranked Player in the Advanced Division! No Aces.
Samara's Notes: As always, I thank Tim for his very timely reporting…it is much appreciated! As for that last result, it pretty much came out of the blue as it had seemed Rich had turned the tide against Edgar in their ongoing friendly rivalry. As the Former Champ, Liu is entitled to the immediate rematch before anyone else can take a shot at Valencia.
We now head west to The Wayne Bubble.
The Wayne Bubble Results:
Adam Pienciak/Ryan Pienciak over Tony Shiao/Senthil Kumar, 6-0! Tony: 1 Ace on Ryan! This one took place on Court Two and lasted all of eleven minutes (8:19 to 8:30…and the guys were the only ones of all the players on the three courts abiding by the traditional changeovers every two games)! As such, they then had time for this next one.
Tony Shiao/Senthil Kumar over Adam Pienciak/Ryan Pienciak, 6-4! Tony: 1 Ace on Ryan (Senthil admitted to likely robbing Adam of an Ace…LOL!)! This one got underway soon after 8:30, but not sure when it ended. It was a measure of revenge for Tony and Senthil after the drubbing they had taken in the earlier set.
Tom Heidt/Charlie Vreeland over Frank Samara/Laurie Boughton, 7-6 (7-4)! Frank: 1 Ace on Tom! It was the official GTA Return of Charlie Vreeland. As we did not do the changeovers every two games, I was pretty much only able to remember how each game had ended (unless I deemed it necessary to try to remember a little bit more of it than that). So here now is the basic breakdown: Frank held serve on Double Game Point and Tom was broken on Break Point after hitting a Double Fault to essentially break himself and make it 0-2. Laurie was broken (had been down Triple Break Point, it was cut down to Break Point and then came the break) and then Charlie held (Double Fault for Break Point, Deuce, Game Point and the hold) to level the set at 2-2. Samara again held on Double Game Point, but this time around Heidt held as well (a Double Fault to set up Double Break Point, a rebound to Deuce, Game Point and then another Double Fault to make it 2nd Deuce, Game Point and the hold) to keep things tied at 3-3. Boughton was broken again (a Double Fault for Double Break Point and then the break) while Vreeland held again (on Game Point) to go up 5-3. Hollywood then held a third straight time (it was 30-Love when he hit a sideline Ace on Tom to set up Triple Game Point, but he then followed that with a rare Double Fault to make it Double Game Point, then came Game Point, Deuce, Game Point again and then the hold) while Gotta Lotta Heidt was broken on Double Break Point to balance the set again, this time at 5-5! L-Boogie was broken a third straight time (again a Triple Break Point start was cut down to Break Point, but then came the break), but then The Big Blast was finally broken (Game/Match Point, Deuce, Break Point, 2nd Deuce, Break Point and the break) to bring us to the Tiebreak! In the Breaker: Frank held his lone serve, Tom then held both of his serves while Laurie held her first but was broken on her second for 2-3. Charlie also held his first (to go up 4-2) but was broken on his second for 4-3. Samara was then broken on both of his serves to set up the 2nd Match Point opportunity for the opposition as the Heidt/Vreeland combo now had a 6-3 lead! Tom was broken on his first serve for 6-4 and now the 3rd Match Point, but then he held on his second to seal the deal! We played this one on Court Four from 8:19 to 9:09.
The Skinny: The quality was high throughout this contest as Heidt has improved much in the past season while his buddy Vreeland always brings the high-impact goods. Boughton did her best to hang with the guys and was doing quite well until late in the set when she started getting dizzy spells. It seems she needed to hydrate and we had her take a water break somewhere along the way and then again before heading into the Tiebreak. It may have been better for her had we taken the traditional changeovers every two games. As for me, I was somehow playing some very solid tennis despite not playing much lately (I even managed to whip out a fiery Windmill Overhead Smash along the way). After this one, Laurie said she was done and called for Rizzo to replace her for the rest of the night.
Janice Wang/Arlene Hyde over Sally Pillay/Fadia Nicolas, 7-6 (8-6)! No Aces. The ladies played this one on Court Three from 8:25 to 9:05. Based on that score alone, I would say this one has a chance at being a Nominee for One-Set Women's Doubles Match of the Year at season's end.
Frank Samara/John Rizzo over Tom Heidt/Charlie Vreeland, 6-3! Charlie: 1 Ace on Frank! Same as before, I memorize the basic gist of the games as we did not do the changeovers. The simple rundown: John held (Triple Game Point, Double Fault for Double Game Point, Game Point and the hold), Tom held at Love, but Frank was broken for the first time of the night (Break Point, Deuce, Break Point, 2nd Deuce, Break Point and then a horrible Double Fault to break himself!) for 1-2. Charlie was also broken (15-30 and then a big corner Ace against Frank for 30-All, then Game Point, Deuce, Break Point and the break), but then so was Rizzo (on Break Point) for 2-3. Heidt was also broken (Triple Break Point, Double Break Point and the break) and then Samara finally reverse the trend of service breaks as he held on Game Point to put his team up 4-3. And then Vreeland was broken again (on Break Point) and then The Riz held on Game/Match Point to get the win! We played this one on Court Four from 9:15 to 9:45.
Senthil Kumar/Fadia Nicolas over Tony Shiao/Arlene Hyde, 6-4! No Aces. This one got underway on Court Three at 9:15. Not sure when it ended as they went right into a rematch…which we will get to at the end of this report.
Ryan Pienciak/Janice Wang over Adam Pienciak/Sally Pillay, 9-7! No Aces. Rather than going to a Tiebreak, they decided to do this one Wimbledon style and play it out until one team won by two games.
Samara's Notes: I hope I got this next part right as I believe I was told that Ryan and Janice were up by a score of 5-4 and had three Match Points that all were saved by Adam and Sally. I say I hope I have it right…meaning that perhaps it was the other way around with Adam and Sally having that lead and the three MP's. I do know that one of the two teams had that 5-4 lead and three Match Points. A lot of details were being given to me all at the same time and I just hope I wrote it down right at the end of the night.
Tom Heidt/Don Moya over Frank Samara/John Rizzo, 7-6 (7-5)! No Aces. Again, no changeovers, so it is just the basic breakdown as follows: Don held (Double Fault for 30-All, Game Point and the hold), John held on Double Game Point, Tom held on Double Game Point and Frank held as a Double Break Point deficit soon bounced to Deuce, Game Point, 2nd Deuce, Game Point again and then the hold for 2-2. Moya was the first to be broken (Double Break Point, Break Point and the break) while Rizzo again held on Double Game Point for a 4-2 lead! Heidt followed with a nice service, going from down Love-30 to Game Point and the hold and then Samara was broken (Double Break Point again rebounded to Deuce, but then came another Break Point and the break) to knot the score once more, this time at 4-4. The Adonis then had a Love hold, but The Riz responded with his third straight hold at Double Game Point to keep things alive at 5-5! Gotta Lotta Heidt was then broken in a battle (Love-15 shifted gears to Double Game Point which was then reduced to Deuce and then it was all Game Points until the last one of them was erased by a Double Fault to set up the 4th Deuce and then came Break Point and the break) to make it 5-6, but then The Wood was shockingly broken at Love to force the Tiebreak! In the Breaker: Don was broken on his lone serve and then John held his first but was broken on his second for 2-1. Tom was broken on his first but held his second to pull to 2-3. Frank held his first but was broken on his second for 4-3. Moya then held both of his serves to shift the lead to his team at 5-4. Rizzo held his first to level the TB at 5-5, but was then broken on his second setting up Heidt with the first Match Point of the entire set. Mr. Heidt then rose to the challenge by holding that serve for the win at 7-5 in the TB! We played this one from 9:49 to 10:35 as we took the session into "Overtime!"
The Skinny: The quality was high throughout this entire set as Moya brought his usual arsenal of shots to this shootout. He was impressed by Samara's fast hands that often blocked back would-be put-away overheads and/or volleys. Heidt continued to show his vast improvement throughout this contest. Rizzo made several impressive gets despite wearing new tennis shoes that still felt tight on his feet. Perhaps the ultimate agony of defeat was caused by the agony of the feet…LOL! Seriously though…there were no excuses as it was a lot of fun playing this one. As it will easily be eclipsed by other One-Setters throughout the season with more impressive TB scores, I doubt it will be a Nominee for One-Set Doubles Match of the Year…but it is definitely deserving of an Honorable Mention at the very least.
Tony Shiao/Arlene Hyde leading Senthil Kumar/Fadia Nicolas, 5-4 (Incomplete when the session ended at 10:35)! No Aces. Not sure when this Rematch One-Setter got underway on Court Three, but I do know when it ended.
All in all, it was a great first "GTA Friday Night Bubble Party" session to kick off the indoor season at The Wayne Bubble…and the two Night Owl groups will soon have their sessions going on up there in the near future. I certainly hope that some scores will be reported from those sessions right thru December 15th when the 2018 GTA Season will officially end.
Sincerely,
Frank Samara
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