3/9 Results

3/9/18:

"17 play (3 New) at the Bubble Party!":

There was just one session of GTA Friday Tennis and it was the usual GTA Friday Night Tennis Party at The Wayne Bubble with both "Hollywood" Frank Samara (in terms of reporting the results for the GTA) and "The Riz" John Rizzo (coordinating the registration efforts, booking the courts, supplying the food and beverages, etc.) hosting it. 

We had the usual late-Friday surge of registrants go all the way up to 16 participants...and that was to be with both Rizzo and Samara sitting out of the action.  But when was a no-show due to traffic issues (trying to get out of NYC), it allowed for John and Frank to each take his place and split court time...which led to the odd total of 17 competitors overall.

Three of them were new and making their official GTA Debut as each was the recruit of someone already in the league...always a good thing!

Two hours of non-stop play allows for a lot of action...and it all unfolded as follows. 

The Wayne Bubble Results:

Tom Heidt/Charlie Vreeland over Levy Lorenzo/Stan Carroll, 6-2!  Stan: 1 Ace on Charlie!  It was the official GTA Debut of Charlie Vreeland.  This was the first official action of the night as it got going on Court Three (aka The Show Court) at 8:20 and ended at 8:45.

Charlie is friends with Tom and they made for a solid team.  Mr. Vreeland is both friendly and jovial as he seemed very happy to be with us.  Hopefully, we will see more of both of them as the season converts from indoor action to the outdoor scene.

It was also good to have Levy back with us (as he had returned to the States and then action at The Cedar Grove Courts a couple of weeks ago), but his return to The Bubble proved to be bittersweet as he told us his time back with us will be brief.  While he was in his native Philippines over the winter, he bought a house and that is where he plans to spend his retirement.  He will be moving there permanently on March 20th.

Levy has only been playing with us for a couple of full seasons now, but he made an impact on the league with his kindness, generosity and thoughtfulness.  We will definitely miss having him in our mix of players.  It seems we always lose the good guys to moves and life changes like this.  He has requested to remain on the mailing list as he wants to stay "in the know" with all the comings and goings in the GTA.

He also plans on playing at The Bubble one more time on Friday, March 16th.  It would be a good opportunity for those who grew close to him to give him a proper sendoff.

Ray Spadaro/Sam Wong over Tim Nguyen/Laurie Boughton, 6-2!  Ray: 1 Ace on Laurie on his very first serve of the match!  Court Two hosted this one from 8:24 to 8:49. 

It was Laurie's birthday (I won't give away her age...all I will say is she is now one year away from one of those "milestone birthdays"...LOL!) and Ray was so kind to give her an Ace right off the bat!  Anyway, whenever Suge Boogie Boughton is on the court, you know there is going to be a lot of banter and frivolity.  It seemed she was enjoying herself quite a bit hanging with the boys on her b-day.

Kevin Proctor/Arlene Hyde over Jeremy Katzeff/Natalia Sout, 6-0!  Jeremy: 1 Ace on Arlene!  It was the official GTA Debut of both Kevin Proctor and Jeremy Katzeff.  This Mixed Doubles action took place on Court One from 8:35 to 8:59.

Arlene has been trying to bring Kevin in on a couple of occasions and each time it all fell apart at the last second.  Going in, she did warn us that he is a 4.5 rated player.  In return, we suggested that Mr. Proctor may be bored playing with us.  But she said they were just looking for some "nice" Mixed Doubles.

We really did not know what team we should put up against them.  Natalia was just coming back from having spent most of the winter months in Florida.  Jeremy, having never played with us before, was somewhat of an unknown entity.  He is a recruit via "Ice Berg" Scott Bergenfeld as they play together at the indoor facility in West Orange that is managed by Scott's father, Harris.  Jeremy also said he plays tennis three to four times a week.

Well, I really do not think it would have mattered who we tried to put up against Kevin...even if it would have been the best Men's Doubles Team that we had in attendance.  To Kev's credit, he took it all in good stride.  And on the flip side, Jeremy was very understanding of the circumstances.  And to take it a step further, Natalia absolutely loved it.  She said it was like "playing against Federer!"  The former Olympic Gold Medalist (in Gymnastics), ever the competitor, welcomes the challenge and the opportunity and also hopes to have more of the same in the future.

Going forward, "Mr. 4.5" is obviously overqualified for any ranked competition in the league (unless we revive the on-again/off-again Pro Division).  But he is welcome to come play with us whenever he wants as he is quite the gentleman and it helps us all to try to raise the level of our game.  And Arlene is always a pleasure to play with as well.

Jose Gonzales/John Rizzo over Rich Liu/Dino Celis, 6-2!  No Aces.  These four faced off on Court Four from 8:40 to 9:05.

This one took a while to come together for a couple of different reasons.  Heading into the session, we already knew that Dino would not be able to arrive until 8:30.  Elias Eid was the no-show due to the traffic situation he was dealing with trying to get out of NYC (he had e-mailed Samara around 7pm to warn him of this, but of course Frank did not see it as he does not have a smart phone to always access e-mails...Elias now knows to just contact John in the future).

So it was a hitting session just between Jose and Rich for a while.  Then, John got involved with it...and then Frank did just for a bit as well.  Soon after Samara stepped onto the court, Celis arrived.  And then it was decided the four of them might as well play as there was no Mr. Eid in sight.

Also, while there were no Aces in this contest, The Riz wanted it noted that he held serve at Love twice!

Tom Heidt/Charlie Vreeland over Levy Lorenzo/Stan Carroll, 6-3!  Charlie: 1 Ace on Stan; and Levy: 1 Ace on Charlie!  Court Three hosted this one from 8:47 to 9:16.  As they did in their earlier One-Setter, there were no changeovers every two games here either.

Ray Spadaro/Sam Wong over Tim Nguyen/Laurie Boughton, 6-1!  No Aces.  This was contested on Court Two from 8:53 to 9:17.

Kevin Proctor/Arlene Hyde over Jeremy Katzeff/Natalia Sout, 6-2!  No Aces.  Court One was the site of this one as well as it lasted from 9:03 to 9:33.  Like their previous One-Setter, they also decided to forego the changeovers...though they did switch sides of the court between the sets (unlike the four guys on Court Three).

Jose Gonzales/Rich Liu over Frank Samara/Dino Celis, 7-5!  Dino: 1 Ace on Rich!  It went like this: Dino held serve (started with a Double Fault, but then went straight to Double Game Point and the hold), Jose held (Triple Game Point cut down to Game Point, but then the hold), Frank held (Love-15 went straight to Double Game Point, the hold came on Game Point) and Rich also held (15-Love, 15-All, then right to Double Game Point and the hold) as we were all on serve at 2-2.  Celis held again (started with a big corner Ace on Rich, then went to 30-Love, 30-15, Double Game Point and the hold), Gonzales also held again (same as his previous service, Triple Game Point was reduced to Game Point, but then came the hold), Samara was the next to hold again (like Gonzales, Triple Game Point was brought down to Game Point, but then came the hold), but Liu was the first of the four to be broken (Love-15 shifted to 30-15 and then another shift to Break Point where he broke himself with an ill-timed Double Fault) to fall to 3-5!  But from there, The Scorpion Dragon was broken for the first time and it was at Love, Hurricane Jose held a third straight time (Love-15 shifted straight to Double Game Point, the hold came on Game Point), Hollywood was then broken for the first time (30-Love, 30-15, Double Game Point was reduced to Deuce and then it was all Break Points to 3rd Deuce, then another Break Point and finally the break) and then SWAT fought to hold (Triple Game/Match Point, Double Game/Match Point, Game/Match Point, Deuce, and finally the hold on the 4th Game/Match Point) to cap an impressive mini-comeback by taking four straight games for the hard-fought victory!  Court Four featured this foursome from 9:09 to 9:56.

The Skinny: While this was highly competitive, all four players enjoyed it as the action was often both hard-hitting and strategic.  The only difference was the fact that Gonzales was never broken on serve as the other three players were each broken once.  With a little under twenty minutes left in the session, we all agreed to play another one...which we will get to later in this report.

As the two previous One-Setters on both Courts Two and Three both ended within a minute of the other, those two foursomes decided to switch up the pairings with the winners from Court Three shifting over to Court Two to face the winners on that court.  And then the two remaining teams on Court Three shifted up their pairings as well.

Levy Lorenzo/Laurie Boughton over Tim Nguyen/Stan Carroll, 6-1!  No Aces.  This was contested on Court Three from 9:20 to 9:50.  And Laurie finally got her birthday wish...a victory!

Ray Spadaro/Sam Wong over Tom Heidt/Charlie Vreeland, 7-6 (7-3)!  No Aces.  This was conducted on Court Two from 9:20 to 10pm and ended up being quite the contest, indeed!  Afterward, Tom and Charlie decided to call it a night while Ray and Sam continued to hit against one another for the time that was still remaining in the session.

Kevin Proctor/Natalia Sout over Jeremy Katzeff/Arlene Hyde, 6-3!  Kevin: too many Aces to count!  The two teams switched things up (at the suggestion of Samara) for this one on Court One (played from 9:38 to 10:10).  Frank was never able to accommodate Kevin and Arlene with stiffer competition on another court just due to the timing of the action on those courts (we do not like to interrupt sets as we prefer to have fully contested and conclusive results whenever possible).  It seems Mr. 4.5 decided to amp things up a bit with his serve going up against his pal, Arlene.

Levy Lorenzo/Laurie Boughton leading Tim Nguyen/Stan Carroll, 6-5 (Incomplete as the session ran out of time at 10:15)!  Laurie: 1 Ace on Stan (yet another prize on her birthday)!  They had begun this one on Court Three at 9:51.  The games must have been short for them to get in so many within the span of just 24 minutes!  Levy actually thought he was reporting a fully official result when Frank and the others around reminded him that a 6-5 score does not make for a complete set.

Jose Gonzales/Rich Liu tied with Frank Samara/Dino Celis, 3-3 (Incomplete as the session ran out of time at 10:15)!  No Aces.  We got this one underway on Court Four at exactly 9:58.  Here's how it was going: Dino held (30-Love shifted to 30-All, but then came Game Point and the hold), Jose held at Love, but Frank was the first to be broken in this one (Love-30, 15-30, Double Break Point and the break) for 1-2.  Rich was also broken (15-Love went right to Double Break Point, but then a bounce back to Deuce only to have a Double Fault lead to another Break Point and then came the break) for 2-2, but then Celis was shockingly broken at Love for 2-3.  And then, for the first time in two sets (perhaps the night as I do not know how all the games played out in Gonzales/Rizzo versus Liu/Celis), Gonzales was broken (Love-15, 15-All and then a Double Fault for 15-30, Double Break Point and the break) and then we were out of time at 3-3!

The Skinny: The only partial victory that Samara/Celis could take away from this one was finally being able to break Gonzales in the final game.  Much like the previous full One-Setter, the action was fast and furious (but also a lot of fun).  It was a nice way to close out the session.

After the session ended, Samara, Rizzo, Celis and Liu went to the Titled Kilt for the usual post-Party festivities.  We should have just went straight to the Tick Tock Diner (as usual) as the Kilt's offerings (in terms of food...not the scenery...LOL!) are going downhill fast!

All the best,
Frank Samara
gtasamara5@gmail.com

3/8 Results.

3/8/18:

"Just 6 play at The Bubble!":

There was just one session of GTA Thursday Night Tennis which was the usual Night Owls session at The Wayne Bubble with "The Webmaster" Senthil Kumar and "The Lumberjack" Ryan Pienciak both reporting the results.  Usual hosts "The Riz" John Rizzo and "Hollywood" Frank Samara both chose not to attend the session.

It seems that potentially sticky driving conditions (a by-product of the blizzard the night before) may have discouraged many from attending.  Those fears seemingly won out over "cabin fever."

We will get the results from Senthil first and then the rest from Ryan.

The Wayne Bubble Results:

Senthil Kumar/Frank Hohorst over Tony Shiao/Tom La, 6-2!  Tony: 1 Ace on Senthil; and Tom: 1 Ace on Senthil!

Tony Shiao/Tom La over Senthil Kumar/Frank Hohorst, 7-6 (9-7)!  Tom: 2 Aces (one on each)!

The Untangled Web by Senthil: We were down 1-4 and then lead 6-5, but we were broken on serve that game and that led to the Tiebreak.

Samara's Notes: It seems they were trying to make it a full 2 out of 3 Sets Doubles Match, but they may have ended up with something better…a potential Nominee for One-Set Doubles Match of The Year at season's end!

Ryan Pienciak over Anish Mehta, 6-1!  No Aces (apparently).

Anish Mehta over Ryan Pienciak, 6-1!  No Aces (apparently).

Ryan Pienciak over Anish Mehta, 6-0!  No Aces (apparently).

Ryan Pienciak tied with Anish Mehta, 3-3 (Incomplete when the session ended at 11pm)!  No Aces (apparently). 

The Ryan Report: We never planned on it being a full Challenge Match, so please count them as One-Setters.  Thanks.

Samara's Notes: I thank both Senthil and Ryan reporting those results in a very timely fashion. 

Sincerely,

Frank Samara

Gtasamara5@gmail.com

 

 

 

 

3/6 Results.

3/6/18:

"12 play at The Bubble!":

There was just one session of GTA Tuesday Night Tennis which was the usual Night Owls session at The Wayne Bubble with "The Lumberjack" Ryan Pienciak and "The Riz" John Rizzo both reporting the results (Rizzo simply acted as a host of the session, he did not play).

We will get the results from Ryan first and then the rest from The Riz.

The Wayne Bubble Results:

Chris Chiaro/Lou La Forgia over Ryan Pienciak/Frank Hohorst, 6-3!  No Aces (apparently).

Ryan Pienciak/Frank Hohorst over Chris Chiaro/Lou La Forgia, 7-6 (7-4)!  No Aces (apparently).

3 out of 5 Sets Doubles Match:

Paul Daddio/Tom La over Tony Shiao/Ryan Sherry, 6-3, 6-2, 6-1, to successfully defend the # 148 Rank in the Doubles Division!  In the process, Shiao/Sherry enters the division as the New # 156 Ranked Team.  No Aces (apparently).

Syed Rashid/Don Moya over Dan Hwang/Rich Liu, 6-0!  No Aces (apparently).

Syed Rashid/Don Moya tied with Dan Hwang/Rich Liu, 6-6 (Incomplete when the session ran out of time)!  No Aces (apparently).

Samara's Notes: I thank both Ryan and John for reporting those results in a timely fashion. 

Sincerely,

Frank Samara

Gtasamara5@gmail.com

 

 

 

 

3/4 Results.

3/4/18:

"12 compete at The Bubble!":

There were two sessions of GTA Sunday Tennis at The Wayne Bubble as it was the two separate Night Owls groups in their late afternoon and early evening sessions.

Fadia "Finesse" Nicolas (via a text to "The Riz" John Rizzo, since he did not attend) and "Kevlar" Kevin Doyle sent in the results from the first session (the 3 to 5pm group) while "The Lumberjack" Ryan Pienciak reported the scores from the second session (the 6 to 8pm group). 

We thank all three for their reporting and go to Fadia and Kevin's shared report first.

The Wayne Bubble Results:

Vlad Smolyanskiy/Dawn Peterson over Brenda Jordan/Fadia Nicolas, 6-4!  No Aces (apparently).

Vlad Smolyanskiy/Brenda Jordan over Fadia Nicolas/Dawn Peterson, 6-4!  No Aces (apparently).

Vlad Smolyanskiy/Fadia Nicolas over Brenda Jordan/Dawn Peterson, 6-3!  No Aces (apparently).

Sean McHugh/Marie Easton over Kevin Doyle/Robin Wilson, 6-4!  No Aces.

Kevin Doyle/Robin Wilson over Sean McHugh/Marie Easton, 6-4!  No Aces.

Samara's Notes: I thank both Fadia and Kevin for sending in those results in such a timely manner.  And now we go to Ryan's report.

2 out of 3 Sets Doubles Match:

Ryan Pienciak/Dan Hwang over Lou La Forgia/Frank Hohorst, 5-7, 6-3, 6-3, as both teams entered the Doubles Division as the New # 154 and # 155 Ranked Teams respectively!  No Aces (apparently).

Samara's Notes: I thank Ryan for his very timely reporting of this result.

Sincerely,

Frank Samara

Gtasamara5@gmail.com

 

 

 

 

3/2 Results.

3/2/18:

"Mole-Barbieri part of 14 (1 New) at Bubble Party!":

There was just one session of GTA Friday Tennis and it was the usual GTA Friday Night Tennis Party at The Wayne Bubble with both "Hollywood" Frank Samara (in terms of reporting the results for the GTA) and "The Riz" John Rizzo (coordinating the registration efforts, booking the courts, supplying the food and beverages, etc.) hosting it. 

With the wild winter weather throughout the day (and varying upon location), it was a bit of a rollercoaster ride in terms of registrations as we had some late cancellations (either out of fear of the forecasts or genuine last-minute conflicts caused by the conditions) while others (upon receiving the late update via e-mail via Rizzo that the Party was, in fact, still on) decided to jump on board late in the process.

We need at least twelve competitors to make these Party sessions worthwhile and we ended up, instead, with a solid turnout (given the circumstances) of 14 players (and that was with Rizzo opting to sit out of the action as he allows his ongoing foot issues/injuries to heal). 

In a situation where there are 14 attendees, you have three courts of Doubles action and then one court for Singles.  We asked the two youngest guys in attendance, "Del Brotro" Mike Mole and "CB" Chris Barbieri, if they would be willing to play Singles and each said they were fine with that.

Two hours of non-stop play allows a lot of full matches to happen.  So it all unfolded as follows. 

The Wayne Bubble Results:

2 out of 3 Sets Doubles Match:
Jose Gonzales/Ryan Sherry over Tito Castolo/John Palaca, 6-3, 6-4, as both teams entered the Doubles Division as the New # 150 and # 151 Ranked Teams respectively!  Ryan: 1 Ace on Tito in the 2nd Set!  It was the official GTA Debut of John Palaca.

Everyone took the courts right around the same time, but this was the first match to officially get underway (at 8:22 on Court Two).  Not sure when it finished as they were then able to continue on and play an entire other full match...which we will get to later in this report.

2 out of 3 Sets Doubles Match:
Rich Liu/Sam Wong over Ray Spadaro/Tim Nguyen, 7-5, 3-6, 6-2, as both teams entered the Doubles Division as the New # 152 and # 153 Ranked Teams respectively!  Sam: 1 Ace on Ray in the 1st Set!

This friendly but competitive war waged on for quite some time.  It officially got underway on Court Four at 8:23, but I'm not sure when it finished.  Afterward, Rich and Sam had a Singles hitting session against one another for the balance of time remaining in the session.

2 out of 3 Sets Mixed Gender Doubles Match:
Fadia Nicolas/Denise Savino over Frank Samara/Suzanne Bujara, 6-3, 4-6, 6-3, as Nicolas/Savino entered the Women's Doubles Division as the New # 31 Ranked Team per the New TMT Rules that went into effect late in the 2017 Season!  Fadia: 2 Aces on Suzanne (1 in the 1st Set and 1 in the 3rd Set)!  This match got started on Court Three (aka The Show Court) at exactly 8:24.  Here's the breakdown of the games/sets:

1st Set: Fadia was broken (Love-15, 15-All, a corner Ace on Suzanne for 30-15, but then a shift to Break Point and the break) and Frank held serve (Love-30 went straight to Game Point and the hold) to go up 2-0.  But then Denise held at Love and Suzanne was broken at Love to level the set at 2-2!  When Nicolas went up Triple Game Point on her next service, it meant that her team had just won eleven straight points!  But then that lead was reduced to Game Point before she could finally hold serve for a 3-2 lead.  Samara held again (15-Love shifted to 15-30, 30-All, Break Point, Deuce, Game Point and the hold) to tie things up again, this time at 3-3.  But from there, Savino also held again (15-Love then point for point to Game Point, Deuce, Game Point again and then the hold), Bujara was broken again (Love-15, 15-All, but then right to Double Break Point, a bounce back to Deuce, another Break Point and then the break) and Fadia Finesse held again (Love-15 went straight to Double Game/Set Point, the hold came on Game/Set Point) as this set finished at 8:55.  Two minutes later, we were onto the next one.

2nd Set: Frank held (30-Love, 30-15, Double Game Point, Game Point and the hold), Fadia held (Triple Game Point, the hold came on Double Game Point), but Suzanne was broken at Love for 1-2.  Denise was broken for the first time (30-Love shifted to 30-All, Game Point, Deuce, Break Point and the break) while Samara held yet again (30-Love, 30-15, Double Game Point, Game Point and the hold) to get a 3-2 lead for his team.  Nicolas held at Love to level the set at 3-3 and then Bujara was broken again (15-Love went right to Double Break Point and the break) to fall to 3-4.  But Savino was also broken again (15-Love, Double Fault for 15-All and then straight to Double Break Point and the break) to knot the score once more, this time at 4-4!  Hollywood held once more (Love-15 then point for point to Break Point, Deuce, Break Point again, 2nd Deuce, Game Point and the hold) while Fadia Finesse was broken (15-Love then point for point until 30-All as it then shifted to Break/Set Point and then the break) to drop the set and level the match at 9:30.  Two minutes later, the deciding set would get underway.  With the last set ending even in games and the two teams not having a changeover between sets, Samara/Bujara decided to switch up their service sides in order to enable to have Frank start in the serving rotation.  That may have been a mistake as...

3rd Set: Frank was broken for the first time in the match (Triple Break Point, the break came on Double Break Point), Denise was broken (15-Love went straight to Double Break Point, the break came on Break Point) and Suzanne was broken (15-Love, 15-All and then right to Double Game Point, reduced to Deuce, Break Point and the break), but Fadia was the first to hold in this set (Love-15 shifted to 30-15, 30-All, Game Point and the hold) to go up 3-1.  Samara held (30-Love, 30-15, Double Game Point and the hold) and Savino was broken again (15-Love went straight to Double Break Point and the break) to level the set at 3-3.  But from there, Bujara was broken again (Triple Game Point was reduced all the way to Deuce, Break Point and the break) and Nicolas held again (30-Love, a sideline Ace against Suzanne to set up Triple Game Point, the hold came on Double Game Point) to go up 5-3.  The Wood was then on service and would fight to save the match in quite the struggle and best game of the entire contest as a Love-15 start shifted straight to Double Game Point which was then reduced to Deuce, Break/Match Point, 2nd Deuce, 2nd Break/Match Point, 3rd Deuce, 3rd Break/Match Point, 4th Deuce, 4th Break/Match Point, 5th Deuce, 5th Break/Match Point and finally the break to break the hearts of Frank and Suzanne as this battle of attrition ended exactly at 10:04!

The Skinny: With the TMT Rules now in effect for this entire season (and going forward), I'm sure we will see many matches such as this where Mixed Doubles Teams face either Women's Doubles Teams or Mixed Doubles Teams (or even Men's Teams vs. Women's Teams) in order to get ranked in their respective divisions.  As such, this match will likely get trumped as the season grows older in terms of being a potential Nominee for Specialty Doubles Match of The Year.  But this early on in the year, it is the match to beat for that Award at season's end. 

This was a lot of fun, but was also very competitive throughout the entire contest.  Fadia was a very steady presence for her team while Denise was often the difference-maker.  She haunted me with her favorite shot - a two-handed backhand volley that sends the ball to the Doubles Alley at a short and sharp angle and then it would bounce into the side nets (that separate the courts) not allowing me a chance to make a play on it.  I did get to one of them and returned it for a winner with a slice backhand of my own and it was my proudest moment of the match...but that was the only one out of a dozen opportunities or so! 

Suzanne continues to show improvement as her get-making and shot-making continue to become more aggressive and impressive.  I told her that I can no longer call her "Sue B. Newbie" as she is now in her second season with us.  During the match, I started calling her "Sneaky Suzanne" as she often hits a sharp, but short forehand return that is almost a drop shot (even though it is not intended to be) as it also lands in the space between the server and the partner playing net.  She won many points that way.  I'm not sure she likes the new moniker, but it is intended as a compliment.  That will be her nickname for now until I can come up with something better for her.  Her only liability at this point is her service game as she needs to get more pace on her serves so that the returning team can no longer "eat them up" and put them away for winners.  The pivotal game in the 3rd Set was when she had a Triple Game Point lead and it looked like Suzanne would not only have her first hold of the match, but at Love no less!  Instead, we then lost a bunch of points and she wound up getting broken once again.  Had we managed to earn the hold, I do believe the end result of the entire match would have turned out differently.  Oh well...it was still fun as hell!

2 out of 3 Sets Challenge Match:
Mike Mole over Chris Barbieri, 6-3, 6-4, to successfully defend his # 4 Rank in the Intermediate Division!  In the process, Barbieri moved out of the Non-Competing Men's Division and into the Intermediate Division as its New # 38 Ranked Player.  Mike: 1 Ace in the 1st Set!  They began this battle on Court One at 8:25.  Not sure when they finished as they then entered into a long hitting session to finish out the night.

2 out of 3 Sets Doubles Match:
Tito Castolo/John Palaca over Jose Gonzales/Ryan Sherry, 6-2, 6-1, to become the New # 150 Ranked Team in the Doubles Division!  No Aces.  Not sure when this one started or when it finished (again, played on Court Two), but these two teams managed to play two full matches (a total of four sets) within the two hour party session...pretty amazing!  They did finish this one just in time at 10:15.

Frank Samara/Suzanne Bujara leading Fadia Nicolas/Denise Savino, 3-0 (Incomplete when we had to stop as the session was now at 10:15...we also decided to forego the changeovers in this one...having started this at 10:06 on Court Three...so we knew we had little to no change of getting in a full set)!  Fadia: 1 Ace on Suzanne!  Here's how it was going: Denise was broken (Love-30, 15-30, Double Break Point and the break) and then Frank held at Love for a 2-0 lead.  Fadia was broken (Love-30, a service-line Ace against Suzanne for 15-30, then Double Break Point, Break Point and the break) for 0-3.  Suzanne was about to serve as we were then told to "shut it down."

It was a small measure of revenge for us.  Suzanne and I joked how we started making some shots that we failed to come up with when it counted officially in the earlier match.  Ah well, that's how it often goes once the pressure is off and you're just playing for fun.

After the session ended, Samara, Rizzo, Mole and Liu went to the Tick Tock Diner where they met up with "The Scorpion Dragon" Dino Celis for the usual post-Party festivities. 

All the best,
Frank Samara
gtasamara5@gmail.com

3/1 Results.

3/1/18:

"10 play at The Bubble!":

There was just one session of GTA Thursday Night Tennis as rain did not allow the typical weeknight session at The Cedar Grove Courts.  So it was just the usual Night Owls session up at The Wayne Bubble run by "The Riz" John Rizzo along with "Hollywood" Frank Samara acting as host to collect scores along the way.

As the usual Night Owls players made their arrivals around 9pm, Rizzo (as always) tried to figure out what the best match-ups would be.  He had told Samara he was willing to play or sit out depending upon the turnout as he is still dealing with the pain in his heel and possible bone spurs.

We had two of the four courts open for us by 9pm with the other two on each end (Court One and Court Four) occupied by non-GTA groups until 9:30.

Rizzo sent "The Lumberjack" Ryan Pienciak, "The Lethal Lefty" Lou La Forgia, Frank "Hydro" Hohorst and "NC-17" Nick Caputo out onto Court Three.  Meanwhile, "The Webmaster" Senthil Kumar remained in the lounge area with Rizzo and Samara.

Senthil soon wanted to hit, however, so he asked Frank to come join him on Court Two.  Shortly after, John recruited "The Adonis" Don Moya to come make it a foursome.  That was the first action to actually get underway right around 9:15 as the four guys started their match on Court Three around 9:20.

Right around that same time, both "Daddy O" Paul Daddio and "The Hit Man" Tom La arrived and waited in the lounge area for either of Courts One or Four to become available.  At 9:30, they took over Court Four and had a lengthy hitting session with one another.

Late in what would have been the 1st Set of a full 2 out of 3 Sets Doubles Match, it became painfully obvious that Rizzo was still dealing with much pain in his feet.  Samara/Kumar had a healthy lead, but did not want to make it a full match and then win it with one of their two opponents injured.

So it was decided it would just be a One-Setter and then Paul and Tom would be invited over to Court Two for some Doubles with Senthil and Don as Frank was also willing to sit out for the rest of the night.

Meanwhile, the foursome on Court Three were able to play a full 2 out of 3 Sets Doubles Match (which ended in straight sets) followed by an additional One-Setter.

The good news of the night was that all action was able to be played to full fruition (i.e. no incomplete sets)!

The Wayne Bubble Results:

Senthil Kumar/Frank Samara over John Rizzo/Don Moya, 6-2!  Don: 1 Ace on Senthil; and Senthil: 1 Ace on John!  It went like this: Frank held at Love and Don was broken (started with a corner Ace against Senthil, but then it shifted to 15-30 and then it shifted again to Game Point, then it went to Deuce, Break Point, 2nd Deuce, Double Fault for Break Point and then the break) for 0-2.  Senthil was also broken as a 30-Love lead then went straight to Break Point, Deuce, Break Point again and then the break, but then John was also broken (Love-30, 15-30, Double Break Point and then the break) and Samara had another Love hold to put his team up 4-1!  Moya held (30-Love, Double Fault for 30-15, Double Game Point and the hold) to pull to 2-4, but from there it was Kumar also holding (started with a Double Fault, then it was at 15-All where he took advantage of a fairly prone John by shooting an Ace up the T for 30-15, it then went to Double Game Point and the hold) while Rizzo was broken again...this time in a struggle as he soon was down Triple Break/Match Point and on the verge of a Love break when that was saved to make it Double Break/Match Point only to have that one also be saved for Break/Match Point which would be saved as well as it then went to Deuce and it was all Game Points until 3rd Deuce, the 4th Break/Match Point, 4th Deuce, the break finally came on the 5th Break/Match Point!  We played this on Court Two from 9:15 to 9:53.

The Skinny: Rizzo's limited movement issues were too much for him to overcome despite hitting some really nice shots (a couple of them were once again left-handed) along the way.  Moya was hot and cold.  Kumar was a fairly steady presence at the net.  Samara came on strong early on, but had a couple of shanks later in the set.  Running on fumes (mentally more than physically) after just three hours sleep the night before, Frank thought it best to call it a night after this one (much like John who has also been lacking sleep lately...and Don also said he has been dealing with the same issue).

2 out of 3 Sets Doubles Match:
Ryan Pienciak/Lou La Forgia over Frank Hohorst/Nick Caputo, 7-5, 6-1, to successfully defend their # 105 Rank in the Doubles Division!  In the process, Hohorst/Caputo entered the division as the New # 147 Ranked Team.  Lou: 1 Ace on Nick in the 1st Set; and Nick: 1 Ace on Ryan in the 1st Set!  They got the match started on Court Three at 9:20.  The 1st Set ended at 10pm and the entire match was finished at 10:36.  After this, they still had time for a One-Setter which we will get to later in this report.

2 out of 3 Sets Doubles Match:
Paul Daddio/Tom La over Senthil Kumar/Don Moya, 6-2, 7-6 (7-4), as both teams entered the Doubles Division as the New # 148 and # 149 Ranked Teams respectively!  Paul: 2 Aces (one on each) in the 2nd Set...and the on-court observers (Rizzo and Samara) thought that Tom had an Ace on Don to close out the 1st Set, but Moya said he just nicked it and Senthil said he heard it.  John's retort was: "Yeah, Don hit the fuzz of the ball!"  This one got underway on Court Two at 10pm.

When the 1st Set finished at 10:25, Paul expressed a desire to make it a full match so that he could get ranked with Tom as a team.  Senthil and Don gave the OK.  Frank said from the sidelines that if the sets were split, they could always play a 10-Point Super Tiebreak to still qualify for entry into the Doubles Division.  The way it played out...it seemed as if even that scenario may not be possible (in terms of time left in the session).

The 2nd Set went to a Tiebreak and Daddio/La jumped out to a 6-0 lead to set up Match Point with Tom now on his second serve (we should also note that they were doing the changeovers throughout the match, but skipped them in the Tiebreak to save time).  La hit a Double Fault!  Service was now going to Don and he held both of his serves to save two more Match Points (for a total of three thus far) as service now went to Paul.  He was broken on his first serve which was now the 4th M.P. saved.  Finally, on the 5th Match Point overall, Daddio held his second serve with a well-timed Ace against Senthil for the win...which came at 11:04!

Ryan Pienciak/Lou La Forgia over Frank Hohorst/Nick Caputo, 6-2!  No Aces.  Court Three hosted this one (just like their prior match) as it got underway at 10:38 and, like the match above, it ended at 11:04.

Overall, it ended up being a well-balanced session that featured some solid Doubles action.

Sincerely,
Frank Samara
gtasamara5@gmail.com

 

 

2/28 Results.

2/28/18:

"12 play (1 New) at C.G., 12 play (1 New) at Bubble!":

There were two sessions of GTA Wednesday Night Tennis: the typical weeknight session at The Cedar Grove Courts with GTA Champion: "Nate the Great" Nathan Fernandes, "Ice Berg" Scott Bergenfeld and "The Marathon Woman" all sending in result from it; and the usual Night Owls session up at The Wayne Bubble run by "The Riz" John Rizzo along with "Hollywood" Frank Samara acting as host to collect scores along the way.

First, we will get the scores from the Cedar Grove session starting with Scott's report as he seemed to be involved in the earliest action.  We will then weave in additional results submitted by Doinks and Nate along the way as there was some overlapping..

The Cedar Grove Results:

Scott Bergenfeld/Doinks Srinivasan over Mike Mole/Umang Jain, 7-6 (7-2)!  No Aces.  It was the official GTA Debut of Umang Jain. 

Samara's Notes: Umang "Ash" Jain has been trying to make his official GTA Debut since the summer of last season.  It is nice to now have him officially with us.

Marijus Kuzavas/Sally Pillay over Nathan Fernandes/Ray Spadaro, 6-1!  No Aces (apparently).

Marijus Kuzavas/Sally Pillay over Nathan Fernandes/Ray Spadaro, 6-0!  No Aces (apparently).

2 out of 3 Sets Doubles Match:
Scott Bergenfeld/Ray Spadaro over Mike Mole/Umang Jain, 6-4, 6-3, as both teams entered the Doubles Division as the New # 144 and # 145 Ranked Teams respectively!  Mike: 1 Ace on Ray in the 1st Set; and Scott: 2 Aces (one on each) in the 2nd Set.

The Skinny from Scott: The one light on the far side near the corner was out.  It was causing the sever on that side havoc.  No one held their serve on that side.

2 out of 3 Sets Mixed Doubles Match:
Tito Castolo/Sally Pillay over Marijus Kuzavas/Doinks Srinivasan, 6-3, 6-2, as both teams entered the Mixed Doubles Division as the New # 60 and # 61 Ranked Teams respectively!  No Aces (apparently).

Tito Castolo/Sally Pillay over Marijus Kuzavas/Doinks Srinivasan, 6-0!  No Aces (apparently).

Nathan Fernandes/Roger Karapin over Erik Jensen/Laurie Boughton, 6-3!  No Aces (apparently).

Scott Bergenfeld over Umang Jain, 6-0!  No Aces.

Nathan Fernandes/Scott Bergenfeld over Erik Jensen/Laurie Boughton, 6-1!  No Aces.

The Skinny from Scott: We just got this one in on time because then the lights went out.  It was a good night for me…went 5-0!

Tito Castolo/Sally Pillay leading Marijus Kuzavas/Doinks Srinivasan, 4-1 (Incomplete when the lights went out at 10pm)!  No Aces (apparently).

Samara's Notes: I thank Scott, Doinks and Nate for reporting these results in such a timely manner.  Nate had said there was also a One-Setter involving "The Levitator" Levy Lorenzo, but he could not remember the score and other details…so he refrains from reporting any "Fake News!"

We now head up to Wayne to see how everything unfolded up there.  On a side note, for the first time this season...the courts across the street (Nellis Drive) from The Bubble were lit and there were players out on the courts.

As the usual Night Owls players made their arrivals around 9pm, Rizzo tried to figure out what the best match-ups would be.  He had told Samara earlier in the day that he would not be playing due to pain in his heel and possible bone spurs.

Without Rizzo and Samara, there were eight players ready for action...so that was a good thing.  Of those eight, five were men and three were women.  We were going to put "Kevlar" Kevin Doyle with the ladies as he is very familiar with that situation, but "TC" Ted Cedroski surprised us all by saying he would like to take that spot instead.  And Kevin was fine with it.

So, on Court Two, it was Doyle teaming with Sam "Slam" Senowitz going up against Vlad "The Impaler" Smolyanskiy and  Sean "The Shillelagh" McHugh.  And then on Court Three it was Ted teaming with "Rockin" Robin Wilson to face Fadia "Finesse" Nicolas and "J-Pegg" Jeannette Pegg.

John and Frank were both willing to sit out the entire night and just hang out in the lounge, but "The Adonis" Don Moya seemed eager to play.  So the deal was that both Rizzo and Samara would hit to Moya with John moving as little as possible.

As the three of us started to head toward Court One, there was a man sitting on a chair in the lounge area who asked which court we were taking.  It appeared he had still been hanging out there (as others were...and often do...as well) from having participated in an earlier group.  As we needed a fourth for Doubles, we invited him to join us.

Once Rizzo got out on the court and started hitting shots, he said he could likely play some Doubles provided Moya was willing to do most of the running.  And what started out as a potential One-Setter situation developed into a full 2 out of 3 Sets Doubles Match.  We also had time to play an additional One-Setter after that.

The new player is "The E-Double" Elias Eid and he is a very sound player...plus he is a very nice guy.  He is a welcome addition to the league.

As the One-Setters on Courts Two and Three both got underway around 9:15 (five minutes before we started our full match on Court One), we will go to those scores first.  Then we will detail the full match on Court One before bouncing back to those other courts for some other results.

The Wayne Bubble Results:

Fadia Nicolas/Jeannette Pegg over Ted Cedroski/Robin Wilson, 6-4!  No Aces (apparently).  This one got underway on Court Three at 9:15.  Not sure when it finished, but after it was over...Jeannette left early as she was not feeling well.  She had warned John from the outset that this could be a possibility.

Vlad Smolyanskiy/Sean McHugh over Kevin Doyle/Sam Senowitz, 7-6 (7-5)!  Sam: 4 Aces (2 on each)!  They got this one started on Court Two at 9:15.  Don't know exactly when it ended, but it did last longer than the action on Court Three.

After Jeannette headed home and the above One-Setter had finished, Ted recruited Sean to come over to Court Three for Mixed Doubles action.  This led to the other three guys (Kevin, Vlad and Sam) to play Canadian Doubles for the rest of the evening.

Court Three ended up having a full 2 out of 3 Sets Mixed Doubles Match.  But before we get to that, we will first detail the 2 out of 3 Sets Men's Doubles Match that took place on Court One.

2 out of 3 Sets Doubles Match:
John Rizzo/Don Moya over Frank Samara/Elias Eid, 6-4, 6-3, to successfully defend their # 57 Rank in the Doubles Division!  In the process, Samara/Eid entered the division as the New # 146 Ranked Team.  No Aces.  It was the official GTA Debut of Elias Eid.  After a hitting session that lasted a little over ten minutes, the match got underway at 9:20.

1st Set: Don was broken (15-Love then point for point until 30-All, Break Point and the break), Elias was broken at Love after hitting a Double Fault to set up Triple Break Point, but John was the first to hold serve (30-Love shifted to 30-All, Game Point, Deuce, Game Point, 2nd Deuce, Game Point and the hold) to go up 2-1.  Frank was broken (15-Love then point for point to Game Point, Deuce, Break Point and the break) while Moya held at Love to increase his team's lead to 4-1!  Eid then held (30-Love, then a Double Fault for 30-15, 30-All, Game Point, Deuce, Game Point, 2nd Deuce, Game Point and the hold) and Rizzo was broken at Love after hitting a Double Fault on Triple Break Point to have his team's lead cut to 4-3.  Samara then held (Love-15 shifted to 30-15, 30-All, Game Point and the hold) to knot the score at 4-4.  But from there, The Adonis held again (30-Love, 30-15, Double Game Point and the hold) and The E-Double was broken (30-Love went straight to Break/Set Point and the break) as this set concluded at 9:58.  Two minutes later, the next set was underway.

2nd Set: John held (15-Love then point for point until 30-All, Break Point, Deuce, Game Point, 2nd Deuce, Game Point and the hold), Frank held (Triple Game Point, the hold came on Double Game Point), Don held (Love-30, 15-30, Double Break Point and then a bounce to Deuce, Game Point and the hold), but Elias was the first to be broken (Triple Break Point, the break came on Double Break Point) for 1-3.  Rizzo held again (got off to a Triple Break Point start only to take it straight through Deuce, Game Point and the hold) to go up 4-1, but then Samara also held again (15-Love shifted to 15-30 shifted again to Game Point, Deuce, Game Point and the hold) for 2-4.  Moya also held again (Love-15 then point for point until 30-All, Game Point, Deuce, Break Point, 2nd Deuce, Game Point and the hold) to increase his team's lead to 5-2.  Eid held (15-Love went straight to Double Break/Match Point, but that was saved to make it Break/Match Point which was also then saved to get to Deuce, then came Game Point and the hold) to pull to 3-5, but then The Riz had his third straight hold (15-Love, 15-All then onto Double Game/Match Point, it then went to Game/Match Point which is where the hold came on the 4th M.P. overall) for a hard-fought victory as this match came to a close at 10:35.

We decided we had time to play a One-Setter and we thought it best to switch up the teams with Don and Elias teaming to take on Frank and John.  But before we get to that action (as it was the One-Setter to close out the session), we will now go that full 2 out of 3 Sets Mixed Doubles Match (which likely ended right around 11pm).

2 out of 3 Sets Mixed Doubles Match:
Sean McHugh/Fadia Nicolas over Ted Cedroski/Robin Wilson, 6-4, 6-1, as both teams entered the Mixed Doubles Division as the New # 62 and # 63 Ranked Teams respectively!  No Aces.  This match was played on Court Three.

Don Moya/Elias Eid over Frank Samara/John Rizzo, 6-2!  Don: 1 Ace on Frank.  It went like this: Don held at Love and then Frank also held in a game that went from Love-15 straight to Double Game Point and the hold as John hit at least one (maybe two) left-handed volleys (he is a natural right-handed player) that were powerful blocks that became winners.  Elias was the first one to be broken (started with a Double Fault, then Love-30 shifted straight to Game Point, Deuce, Break Point and the break) for 1-2.  John was also broken (15-Love went right to Double Break Point and then came a Double Fault) while Moya held again (30-Love, Double Fault for 30-15, Double Game Point, Game Point and then a hard second-serve sideline Ace against Frank for the hold) to go up 3-2.  Samara was broken (Love-30 shifted to 30-All, Break Point, Deuce, Break Point and the break) while Eid held at Love to take a fairly commanding 5-2 lead.  And then Rizzo was broken again (started with a Double Fault and then it went point for point to Break/Match Point, Deuce, it ended on the 2nd Break/Match Point) to take the loss...as this one ended just in time at 11:03 (we had begun this one on Court One at 10:37).

The Skinny: Despite the ongoing foot ailment issues, John was surprisingly effective.  He decided to do more with aggressive shot-making as he knew he could not move too well (though he still made a couple of really nice gets) and Don was impressed with this new version of John.  Moya, as usual, was very dominant on serve...but hit and miss with his volleys.  Frank, also per the usual, had some really nice gets and a bag of confounding slice shots...only to be offset by some really poorly timed shank shots.  And Elias, who was concerned about his skill level as he took the court with us, is more than up to the task of competing in the GTA as he has a very solid forehand, makes nice volleys and gets as he manages to play both aggressively and consistently.  He is a definite fit for the league.

Overall, it turned out to be quite the productive night with each session producing a new player.

Sincerely,
Frank Samara
gtasamara5@gmail.com