10/3/18:
"EWC Dbls + 4 at PAC, 14 play at C.G.!":
There were two sessions of GTA Wednesday Night Tennis on an action-packed night where the weather felt more like early September rather than early October. Both sessions ran at the same time. The first was at The Park Ave. Courts in Nutley and was hosted by "Hollywood" Frank Samara as he was also acting as the Team Captain of Team West in the East-West Challenge series there to support his team of "The Accelerator" Abhilash Gadi and "The Legendary" Chazz Weldon as they took on the representatives for Team East, "Ravishing" Randy Doran and "SWAT" Rich Liu in the EWC Doubles Match featuring each contingent's "A-Teams" (as the battle between the "B-Teams" had already taken place a few weeks ago). Samara never got involved in any official action (the same holds true for three others there), but there were four more players who did get involved in some official action at the session.
And then there was the usual evening session at The Cedar Grove Courts as we have three contributors to this report from that session – "Killer Kat" Kathy Sheldon, "Nate the Great" Nathan Fernandes and "The Marathon Woman" Doinks Srinivasan.
We will first detail what took place at Nutley and then gather all the results from Cedar Grove later in this report.
Even though the EWC Doubles Match was set for an 8pm start, Samara arrived at the Park Ave. Courts at 7pm. As he pulled into the lot, he saw that three of the four courts were full and he did not recognize any of the players. So he hurried to make sure to try to grab the one court that remained vacant, Court Two.
On his way to the courts, he saw "Vin Diesel" Vinnie Puglisi waiting on the bench and Big Vin asked Frank if he wanted to hit. Soon after they took Court Two, the two people on Court Three left…and this trend continued as the other two courts would also soon clear…leaving all four courts for GTA action the rest of the evening!
That was a good thing as GTA players started filing in quite quickly. Randy and Rich were the next two to arrive as Doran took Samara's place in the hitting session against Puglisi (as it turns out, Vinnie has been hitting with both of them quite a bit lately…hence, their recent improvement) while Samara talked to Liu over on Court One as Rich was about to practice his serve. But the idea of serve practice was soon replaced by the reality of Rich having a hitting session with "The Great Wall" Muhammad Haque instead.
"The Scorpion Dragon" Dino Celis arrived at 7:30 and soon got into a hitting session with Samara on Court Three. Fifteen minutes later, "Eddie Money" Edgar Valencia and a mystery player (well, only a mystery to Frank and Dino at the time as the rest of the Nutley regulars knew who he was) went onto Court One to hit with Rich and Muhammad (and then somewhere along the way, Liu took the place of Doran in the hitting session with Puglisi).
Valencia would then grab Court Four (the last of the four to become available to us) in order to hold it for the GTA and practice his serve. It was also around this time that "The S Bomber" Genalin Capan made a cameo appearance as she came up to the fence to talk to Samara as she was on her way home from work. She said she wanted to see the coming Doubles Match and would perhaps make the effort to come back around 8:30 to watch it, but if she did not show it would be both due to exhaustion and the fact that she would be facing the same hellish work schedule the following day. Alas, she did not return.
Chazz arrived at 7:50 and soon made his way over to Court Four to hit with Edgar (the two of them had faced on another in a previous EWC Singles Match…Eddie joked that "this is the guy who kicked my ass!"). Abhi also arrived soon after and ended up in a hitting session with Dino for just a bit.
The match got underway on Court Two exactly at 8pm as originally agreed upon while Samara stood by to take notes of it in its entirety. At the same time, Celis and Puglisi entered into a lengthy and hard-hitting practice session on Court Three. On Court One, the hitting session that had been going on between Muhammad and "the mystery player)" had now developed into a Singles One-Setter. And Edgar went back to "flying solo" on Court Four, once again practicing his serve.
As the EWC Doubles Match was drawing close to the conclusion of its 1st Set, "TNT" Tim Nguyen stepped onto the courts at 8:25 and soon informed Samara that Haque was playing David Soto on Court One. And when that Singles One-Setter ended on Court One, those three guys (Tim, Muhammad and David) went down to Court Four for some Doubles with Edgar.
When the EWC Doubles Match was in the early stages of its 2nd Set, Dino and Vinnie soon joined Frank at the sidelines (along the fence, actually) to watch the rest of the match all the way to its finish. And it was a finish that almost did not get finished in time (more on that later)!
And the final arrival of the night was Joe Renga who strolled on to Court One at 9:10 and ended up practicing his serve for the balance of the session.
Enough chit chat…time for some action!
The Park Ave. Courts Results:
Muhammad Haque over David Soto, 6-1! No Aces. This took place on Court One from 8pm to 8:30.
EWC Doubles Match (2 out of 3 Sets):
Abhilash Gadi/Chazz Weldon over Randy Doran/Rich Liu, 3-6, 6-2, 6-2, to become the New # 7 Ranked Team in the Doubles Division while also earning a point for Team West in the East-West Challenge Series, tying the series at 6-6! Abhi: 1 Ace on Randy in the 1st Set!
1st Set: Abhi was broken (Triple Break Point, Double Break Point and the break) and then Randy held at Love for a quick 2-0 lead. Chazz held serve (started with a Double Fault, but then went straight to Double Game Point and the hold) to get his team on the scoreboard, but Rich also held (also started with a Double Fault and then it shifted to 30-15, 30-All, Game Point and the hold) for 3-1. Gadi held (the third straight game with the server starting with a Double Fault, then Love-30 only to then go right to Game Point and the hold) and this time around Doran was broken at Love to level the set at 3-3! But then Weldon was also broken (30-Love lead descends to Break Point and the break) while Liu held again (15-Love, a Double Fault for 15-All and then onto Double Game Point, Game Point and the hold) for 5-3. The Accelerator was then broken in a truly pivotal game as at 30-Love, he hit a big Ace up the T against Randy to set up Triple Game Point only to then hit a Double Fault to make it Double Game Point and then came Game Point, Deuce, Break/Set Point and the break to suddenly have the game and the set get away from him as it ended exactly at 8:30 (as stated earlier, they began promptly at 8pm on Court Two). Two minutes later, the next set was underway.
2nd Set: Randy was broken (15-Love, 15-All, 30-15 and then a Double Fault for 30-All, Game Point, Deuce, Game Point, 2nd Deuce, Game Point, 3rd Deuce, Break Point and the break), Chazz was broken in a battle (Love-15 shifted to 30-15, then 30-All, Game Point, Deuce, Game Point, 2nd Deuce, Game Point, 3rd Deuce, Break Point, 4th Deuce, Break Point and the break) and then Rich was also broken (Love-30, 15-30, Double Break Point, Break Point and then a Double Fault to break himself), but Abhi was the first to hold serve in this set (started with a Double Fault, 15-All, 15-30, Double Break Point but then a rebound to Deuce, Game Point, 2nd Deuce, Game Point and the hold) to put his team up 3-1. Doran was broken again (15-Love and then point for point until 30-All, then Break Point and the break) while Weldon held again (started with a Double Fault and then a shift to 30-15, then 30-All, Game Point, Deuce, Game Point and the hold) to take a fairly commanding lead at 5-1 Liu battled back with a hold of his own (30-Love, 30-15, Double Game Point and the hold) for 2-5, but Gadi held again (15-Love, a Double Fault for 15-All, 30-15, Double Game/Set Point, the hold came on Game/Set Point) to take the set and level the match at precisely 9:13. Two minutes later, the deciding set got started.
3rd Set: Randy was broken (Double Fault for Love-30, 15-30, 30-All, Break Point and the break) and then Chazz held (15-Love shifted to 15-30 shifted again to Game Point and then came the hold) for 2-0. Rich had a Love hold for 1-2, but Abhi also held (15-Love then point for point to Game Point and the hold) to go up 3-1. Doran then held in a struggle (Love-15 shifted to 30-15, then 30-All, Game Point, Deuce, Break Point, 2nd Deuce, Break Point, 3rd Deuce, Game Point, 4th Deuce, Game Point and finally the hold) to pull to 2-3, but then Weldon had a Love hold for 4-2! Liu was then broken in the biggest battle of all the games (15-Love, 15-All, Double Fault to make it 15-30, then Double Break Point and bounce back to Deuce, Break Point, 2nd Deuce, Game Point, 3rd Deuce, Game Point, 4th Deuce, Game Point, 5th Deuce, Break Point and then the break) to fall to 2-5! And then Gadi held in yet another struggle (Triple Game/Match Point, Double Game/Match Point, Game/Match Point, Deuce, the 4th Game/Match Point, 2nd Deuce, Break Point, 3rd Deuce, the 5th Game/Match Point and finally the hold) as he got it done for his team just in time at 9:58 (and it was halfway thru that minute as the lights were out just ninety seconds later)!
The Skinny: First things first, the score line of this match truly does not do it justice. You see the scores of the sets and it does not readily impress…until you actually read how the games went. But on top of the simple recap of how the points unfolded, you need to understand the intensity of this match and the steely determination of all the competitors involved in it. This EWC series has, indeed, created a Davis Cup-like feeling as nobody wanted to let their "greater" team down. There were cries of ecstasy after winners were hit, moments of team-bonding to congratulate such efforts, groans of agony after painful errors were made and even a few contested calls…but nothing of the shady variety. All line calls seemed to be made in good faith and any protests from the other team soon subsided as all parties agreed to play on…and they did just that in a fierce and fiery manner.
By the time this match was seemingly heading for its finish line, it truly became a race against the clock to get it concluded before it would be lights out at 10pm…and all the players in attendance were now riveted as they were watching a true tug of war as the leading team (Gadi/Weldon) simply wanted to get it done on time while the trailing team (Doran/Liu) was looking to extend it just to fight for survival.
The 1st Set was a clear display of the steady improvement of both Randy and Rich (obviously, the hitting sessions with Vinnie are working) as they hit a few winners that caught both Abhi and Chazz flatfooted and seemingly powerless to play the middle area between them. After that set, it seemed that Team East may be cruising to an overall victory in this series…until a seismic shift took place as a measure of overconfidence for Doran/Liu and a step-up in intensity (with a subtle shift in strategy) from Gadi/Weldon then turned this match on a dime. For the rest of its entirety, Randy and Rich found themselves playing catch-up…but they just couldn't cut the mustard (that Chazz often has in his tennis bag to relieve cramping…OK, I had to lighten the mood just a bit with that bad pun…please don't PUN-ish me for it!).
Afterward, Randy put the blame on himself as he said he was growing tired and not getting enough on his overheads as he was starting to push them back rather than snap them back. He also felt he did not hold his serve enough. Getting back to overheads…save for one miss of a true gift of an overhead set-up for Abhi, Mr. Gadi was a beast at the net as he often sent his overheads bouncing over the fence (though Rich did the same on a couple of occasions). Liu has definitely improved his overall consistency, but most in attendance agreed that the steadiest presence on the court was Chazz as he often resorted to strategic lobs that not only kept his team in the rallies, but often shifted the momentum of the points.
Randy and Rich had nothing but praise for their opponents after the match as they felt that they had been beaten by the better team. But they also said they would like a chance for revenge somewhere down the line (post-EWC series).
While the final score likely keeps this match out of the running as a potential Nominee for Doubles Match of The Year, it definitely ranks high as one of the most entertaining matches I have seen this season. I congratulate "my guys" Abhi and Chazz for getting a win for the team (Team West), but I truly offer hearty kudos to Randy and Rich for a most spirited effort. It was definitely good stuff all the way around.
And as I've been typing this report, an exchange of comments came in from three of the four competitors that I share here now.
Rich Remarks: Great match, Chazz and Abhi! Congrats on your win! It was an intense competitive match and really was a lot of fun. Thanks again for coming to Park Ave to play.
Abhi's Answer: Randy and Rich, thank you both for an amazing match last night! It was definitely the most intense match that I've played since I joined the GTA and that was because you both were really good. You had us rattled in the 1st Set and we had to come up with something to keep the match alive! It was great fun and I definitely look forward to playing you both again!
Randy's Reply: Fantastic match! I'm looking forward to the rematch.
There were some more results that occurred as the above match was taking place.
Tim Nguyen/Muhammad Haque over Edgar Valencia/David Soto, 6-2! Edgar: 1 Ace on Muhammad! These four played on Court Four from 8:40 to 9:05.
Edgar Valencia/Muhammad Haque over Tim Nguyen/David Soto, 6-1! Edgar: 1 Ace on David! Court Four hosted this same foursome (they just switched up the teams) from 9:09 to 9:31.
Let's now head west to Cedar Grove to get the word from Kat, Nate and Doinks as we go to their triple report now.
The Cedar Grove Results:
2 out of 3 Sets Women's Doubles Match:
Brenda Jordan/Kathy Marabondo over Kathy Sheldon/Dawn Peterson, 7-6 (7-4), 3-6, 10-8 (STB)! Dawn: 1 Ace on Brenda! Once they went to the Super Tiebreak, the # 19 Rank in the Doubles Division of Sheldon/Peterson was no longer on the line.
The Chat from Kat: We started at 6:30 and ended at 8:30pm. It was an excellent match! Kathy M. was her usual steady self at net and Brenda held down the baseline. It was a competitive match and could have gone either way. We had a blast!
Samara's Notes: I thank Kat for her timely and detailed reporting…always appreciated! And now we get a combo of results from Nate and Doinks as I leave the last action to take place (the incomplete One-Setter) for the end to try to achieve some semblance of chronological order.
2 out of 3 Sets Mixed Doubles Match:
Nathan Fernandes/Natalia Sout over Paul Daddio/Diane Raum, 6-3, 6-2, to successfully defend their # 5 Rank in the Mixed Doubles Division! In the process, Daddio/Raum entered the Mixed Doubles Division as the New # 26 Ranked Team. No Aces.
Dan Hwang/Janice Wang over Kyle Eng/Doinks Srinivasan, 6-3! No Aces.
Kyle Eng/Doinks Srinivasan over Dan Hwang/Janice Wang, 6-4! No Aces.
Paul Daddio/Nathan Fernandes leading Don Moya/Guy Dupoux, 5-3 (Incomplete when the lights went out at 10pm)! No Aces.
Samara's Notes: I thank both Nate and Doinks for their timely reporting as well. It is much appreciated.
Sincerely,
Frank Samara
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