11/10 Results.

11/10/17:

"1st Friday Night Bubble Party features 16 players!":

There was just one session of GTA Friday Night Tennis as it was way too cold for outdoor tennis.  Instead, it was the first-ever 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.). 

We needed at least twelve competitors to make it worthwhile and we ended up with the ideal amount of 16 players (four players for each of the four courts) instead.  Had the attendance sheet reached 18, both Rizzo and Samara said they would have willingly sat out to let the others play for the entire amount of booked time which was from 8 to 10pm.

Actually, the group before us (which is lessons for children) had the courts booked until 8pm.  Around 7:45, they condensed their session from all four courts to just using Courts Three and Four.  But we held off on taking Courts One and Two (a crowd had already started gathering by 7:45 or so...and I did not note the time of the arrivals as I usually do) out of respect to the fact that those courts were technically still theirs until 8pm.

Somewhat disrespectfully, members of that group hung out on Court Three until 8:10...until we made it painfully obvious that we would now be taking over that court as well (as we had already sent our players out onto the other three). 

It was not a major problem as we were then able to have all four courts until 10:10 as a result (manager in charge that night...and also a player in our session, "The Adonis" Don Moya was able to authorize Rizzo's request as it was only fair).

Going forward, we will likely book the courts for these parties (which will continue as it was a total success with many stating they plan on becoming regulars for these sessions) from 8:15 to 10:15 as it is simply more realistic to acknowledge the fact that a group as large as this children's lesson group is will need some time to get off the courts.  And since they want to get every minute's worth by playing right up until 8pm, we will not then be able to immediately take over those courts.

Other than that minor hiccup, everything went swimmingly and much fun was had by all.  

So now let's get to the action!

The Wayne Bubble Results:

2 out of 3 Sets Doubles Match:
Ryan Pienciak/Levy Lorenzo over Jorge Solano/Ryan Sherry, 6-1, 4-6, 6-1, to successfully defend the # 42 Rank in the Doubles Division!  In the process, Solano/Sherry entered the division as the New # 99 Ranked Team.  Ryan: 5 Aces on Jorge (2 in the 1st Set, 3 in the 2nd Set)! 

The Skinny: This was the first action of the night to officially get underway as the match started at exactly 8:19 on Court Two.  The 1st Set ended at 8:44.  The 2nd Set (which was at first just intended to be a Rematch One-Setter) began two minutes later and ended at 9:20.  Once Samara heard that the first two sets were split and they were no heading into a third, he suggested making it a full match...which ended at 9:47.

Jose Gonzales/Rich Liu over Nick Caputo/Laurie Boughton, 6-4!  No Aces.  Court Three hosted this one from 8:22 to 8:57.

2 out of 3 Sets Women's Doubles Match:
Janice Wang/Natalia Sout over Fadia Nicolas/Dawn Peterson, 6-1, 6-0, as both teams entered the Women's Doubles Division as the New # 20 and # 21 Ranked Teams respectively!  No Aces.

The Skinny:  They got this one underway on Court Four at exactly 8:23.  The initial set ended at 8:51.  The 2nd Set (originally just intended as a Rematch One-Setter) got going at 8:53 and ended precisely at 9:27.

While all this other action had gotten underway, Samara, Rizzo and Moya found themselves waiting in the lounge area for the late arrival of "Fantastic" Fausto Murg.  Once they knew for sure that he was on his way, the three of them took Court One for a hitting session where it was Don flying solo hitting against both Frank and John.

When Fausto finally arrived at 8:50, it looked like it would be Rizzo/Moya versus Samara/Murg.  But just as that was about to get started, the One-Setter on Court Three (Gonzales/Liu vs. Caputo/Boughton) ended.

In an attempt to balance things out as best as possible, John and Don headed over to Court Three to take on Jose and Nick while Rich and Laurie headed over to Court One to play with Frank and Fausto (with Liu teaming with his buddy Murg to take on Samara and Boughton).

Jose Gonzales/Nick Caputo over John Rizzo/Don Moya, 6-1!  No Aces.  Court Three hosted this one from 9:04 to 9:28.

Rich Liu/Fausto Murg over Frank Samara/Laurie Boughton, 7-5!  Rich: 1 Ace on Laurie.  It went like this: Frank was broken (15-Love shifted to 15-30 where Laurie hit a killer volley winner for 30-All, it then went to Break Point where Rich hit a volley winner of his own for the break), Fausto held serve (an un-returned serve followed by a winning Overhead Smash by Rich made it 30-Love, it went to 30-15, then Double Game Point where another un-returned serve secured the hold) and Laurie was broken (Love-15 and then back-to-back Double Faults set up Triple Break Point where Fausto hit the winning volley for the Love break) to be down somewhat quickly at 0-3!  Rich was also broken (an un-returned serve for 30-Love and then a winning volley from Frank for 30-15 followed by a Double Fault to make it 30-All, it then went to Game Point, Deuce, Break Point and the break) and then Samara held (Rich hit an awesome Overhead Smash winner for Love-15 and then it was point for point until 30-All with an un-returned serve along the way and then Frank made a great get/volley winner combo for the mini-shift to Game Point where he followed that with a similar get/volley winner to secure his own hold) to pull to 2-3.  Murg held again (an un-returned serve for 30-Love, 30-15, Double Game Point and then another un-returned serve to lock down the hold) and Boughton was broken again (Rich hit a winning volley for Love-15, an un-returned serve made it 15-All, but then Rich and Fausto both had winning volleys on the way to Double Break Point where Rich had yet another winning volley for the break) to fall to 2-5.  But Liu was also broken again (Fausto hit a Backhand Volley winner for 15-Love, but then Frank answered with a big-time Overhead Smash winner for 15-All, then there was a Double Fault for 15-30, it then went to Double Break Point, Break Point and the break) and then Hollywood held again (an un-returned serve for 15-Love, then 15-All where Laurie hit a winning volley which was followed by another un-returned serve to set up Double Game Point, but that would soon get reduced to Deuce as Fausto hit a vicious volley winner along the way, but then a bounce back to Game Point which ended with Frank's laser-like passing shot winner past Fausto at the net and down the Doubles Alley for the hold) to pull to 4-5!  Fantastic Fausto was broken for the first time (Double Fault for Love-30, an un-returned serve for 15-30, Double Break Point and another un-returned serve to make it Break Point, but then came the break) to level things at 5-5, but then Strutting Suge was broken a third straight time (Love-30 shifted to 30-All right after Laurie made an amazing get/winner combo, but then came Break Point and the break) to fall to 5-6.  The pressure was riding on "Richie Running Things" as he had yet to hold serve up until that point, but hold he did as he started off with a sideline Ace on Laurie, then it was 15-All where he hit a Double Fault to make it 15-30 and then it went to Double Break Point only to then reverse momentum to Deuce as Fausto hit another venomous volley winner along the way and then it was Game/Match Point where Rich had a missile-like passing shot winner of his own for the hold and the victory!  We played this one on Court One from 9:04 to 9:49.

The Skinny: This one started off looking like we may be headed to Bagelsville, but we bounced back and made it interesting.  For a time there, Laurie was a virtual wall at the net.  Rich and Fausto had their moments both good and bad, but mostly impressive throughout the contest.  As for myself, I was pretty much on the entire time and Laurie liked the way I was owning the Doubles Alley with my backhand slices...not all of which were outright winners, but often drew the error from Fausto who had positioned himself at the net.  This one was a lot of fun, but Boughton had to bounce and Samara had some other matters to tend to...which left Liu and Murg both behind to face each other in Singles.  But first...

John Rizzo/Fadia Nicolas over Don Moya/Janice Wang, 6-4!  Don: 1 Ace on Fadia.  This Mixed Doubles One-Setter took place on Court Three from 9:29 to 10:09.  It was a bit of an upset.  Moya said afterwards that he was just finally starting to find his rhythm that late in the session, but it came a bit too late to salvage this set.

Nick Caputo/Natalia Sout over Jose Gonzales/Dawn Peterson, 6-3!  Jose: 2 Aces on Natalia.  More Mixed Doubles action, this time on Court Four as it lasted from 9:31 to 9:53.

Ryan Pienciak leading Ryan Sherry, 5-4 (Incomplete when they decided to end it after the ninth game had ended at 10:17 as they had been told to wrap it up around 10:15)!  No Aces.  This one got underway on Court Three at exactly 9:49.  Sherry gave a strong showing here, but it should also be noted that Pienciak was feeling exhausted having played so much indoor tennis in a relatively short span.

Fausto Murg over Rich Liu, 6-1!  Fausto: 1 Ace on a second serve!  Court Four hosted this one from 9:51 to 10:18.  This was a very impressive outing for Murg who is looking to make the move out of the Non-Competing Men's Division and into the ranked divisions (Advanced, Intermediate or both) in the near future.  Both competitors figure to be regulars at these Friday Night Party sessions and Rich hopes to recruit more of the gang from the Nutley Meet- Up Group along the way.

After the session, four of us (Samara, Rizzo, Liu and "DC-10" David Caicedo who lives fairly nearby and came to meet us...he had a prior commitment that kept him from playing at the session) went to the nearby Taphouse Grille for food and drinks...it is a nice place.

There was only one last-minute cancellation and that was "The Headhunter" Ralph Bernard.  I do not mention it to make him look bad in any way as we all sometimes have last minute curveballs thrown our way.  I bring it up, though, to mention that if and when this happens...the policy will be no more non-paid reservations from any individual who had to cancel that late in the day...because it potentially opens up a bad can of worms with planning and outlaying the costs of booking the courts for one Mr. Rizzo.

Going forward, Ralph (and any others like him in the future) will have to make prepaid reservations.  And if they need to cancel again, they will just have a credit until the next time they actually can play.

All the best,
Frank Samara
gtasamara5@gmail.com

11/9 Results.

11/9/17:

"Berg-Roli part of 10 at C.G., 12 play at The Bubble!":

There were three sessions of GTA Thursday Tennis: the first one being at The Cedar Grove Courts in the late afternoon and featuring a full 2 out of 3 Sets Challenge Match between "Ice Berg" Scott Bergenfeld and "Roli" Rolando Cabrera.  Earlier in the day, Bergenfeld issued an Open Challenge to the league and Cabrera was the one who responded.  The match result was reported by Scott. 

The second one was the usual evening session at The Cedar Grove Courts and it was hosted by "Hollywood" Frank Samara as well as the third one which was at The Wayne Bubble with "The Riz" John Rizzo organizing and running that Night Owls Group (with Samara swooping in to collect the results). 

With much improved weather from the night before (it had to be a climb of about 10 degrees...plus, like the night before, virtually no wind), we expected a much stronger turnout than we had at the GTA Wednesday Night Tennis session at Cedar Grove.  Well, we assumed wrong!  Be careful when you assume...because it always makes an "ASS" out of "U" and "ME"...an oldie, but still a goodie.

When Samara pulled into the parking lot very early at 6:15, he saw that the entire place was vacant - all the courts and the parking lot as well!  This gave him a good opportunity to fall into a light sleep very quickly.

Around 6:20, a bunch of high school kids took over both Courts Three and Four...but it was not for tennis.  They plopped all of their book bags on Court Four, but then all sat down on Court Three in a circle just to B.S.  Already, Samara started fuming!

Around 6:25, Natalia "Nitro" Sout pulled into the parking lot.  Having seen the situation on Courts Three and Four (also, that one puddle off the corner of where the baseline and the sideline meet nearest to the entrance gate still remained from the night before), Samara and Sout soon headed out to Court One.

Just as they were about to start hitting with one another, GTA Champion: "Nate the Great" Nathan Fernandes arrived at 6:30.  He got out on the court and then there was a three-way hitting session as first Natalia stood alone against both of the guys in an all close to the net session of volley practice.  Then, we fell back toward the baseline and would soon switch it up to Samara and Sout both hitting to Fernandes. 

"The Bulgarian Bull" Jordan Bachvaroff arrived at 7:10, but instead of opting to become the fourth player on Court One for some Doubles action...he instead called "The Art Font" Arthur Fontanilla and told him it would be a great opportunity for a Singles hitting session.  By this time, the kids had already left the courts (likely around 7pm).  So Jordan took Court Three for himself while waiting for Art to arrive.

The usual Cedar Grove host, "The K Man" Kris Srinivasan made his way across the street at 7:15 and soon made it a foursome on Court One.  After a brief hitting session, we all agreed that the best sides would be Nate and Natalia versus Kris and Frank.  Turns out we would be proven to be very correct in that assessment of balance and fairness.

Fontanilla arrived at the courts at 7:35 and they had a hitting session that lasted all the way until 9:20 as they never sought to play anything official...neither against one another nor upon invite for some Doubles.  After Art's departure, Jordan did join us for some Doubles action...but I am getting ahead of myself.

At 8:05, "The Marathon Woman" Doinks Srinivasan made her way across the street and hung outside the fence in the Court One area just waiting to get involved.  Ten minutes later, both "The Rogue" Rob Gawley and "The Levitator" Levy Lorenzo arrived and soon joined Doinks out on Court Two for a hitting session.

And that was it for arrivals for the night, so we had a somewhat disappointing total of just eight players for the session (it would have been nine had Fontanilla played in an official set, at least).  Many missed out on a night that ended up being quite nice for tennis action.  Oh well...

...let's get to the scores...starting with Bergenfeld-Cabrera!

The Cedar Grove Results:

2 out of 3 Sets Challenge Match:
Scott Bergenfeld over Rolando Cabrera, 6-0, 6-0, as Bergenfeld moved out of the Non-Competing Men's Division to become both the New # 37 Ranked Player in the Advanced Division and the New # 37 Ranked Player in the Intermediate Division (as he has already established himself as one of the "bridge players" simultaneously ranked in both divisions) while it was the official GTA Return of Cabrera coming back to the Intermediate Division as the New # 38 Ranked Player!  Scott: 2 Aces in the 1st Set; and Rolando: 1 Ace in the 1st Set!

The Great Scott Shout-Out: The match lasted about an hour.

Samara's Notes: I thank Scott for his very timely reporting of that match.  We now detail all the results from the night session at Cedar Grove.

Kris Srinivasan/Frank Samara over Nathan Fernandes/Natalia Sout, 7-6 (8-6)!  No Aces.  It went like this: Frank held serve (Kris blew an easy overhead for Love-15, but then it shifted straight to Double Game Point as Nate also blew a surefire volley and then Kris hit an awesome passing shot winner to secure his partner's hold), Nathan was broken (Love-15 then point for point until 30-All as Nate hit two victorious volleys along the way and then hit an un-returned serve for the mini-shift to Game Point, then came Deuce which was an extended and exciting rally that led to Break Point where Kris scored with an amazing Backhand Volley winner for the break), Kris held (a truly un-returnable serve for 15-Love, Double Fault for 15-All and then that was where Frank hit a Backhand Volley winner on the way to Double Game Point, then came Game Point and the hold) and Natalia was broken (Kris hit a precise drop shot volley winner for Love-15 and it was off and running to Triple Break Point where Kris blew a volley for Double Break Point and then Nate made a superb get/passing shot winner combo for Break Point, then came Deuce where Frank hit a winner to set up Break Point and then came the break) as the opposition went up 4-0!  Samara was then broken (Kris hit his newest shot, a swinging volley winner for 15-Love, but then the game went down the tubes as it went right thru Double Break Point to the break) to allow the opponents onto the scoreboard and then Fernandes held (15-Love then point for point to Game Point as Kris hit an emphatic Backhand Volley winner early on only to then blow a volley and have his partner Frank do the same and then Nathan hit a winning volley to secure his own hold) and Srinivasan was broken (15-Love where Kris blew a volley for 15-All and then hit a Double Fault for 15-30 where Frank hit a winning volley for 30-All and then it went to Break Point where Nate made a great get only to have Kris swoop in with the victorious volley to bring it to Deuce, but then came Break Point again and The Champ making one of his usual but brilliant gets that led to hitting a net-cord-aided winner for the break) to have his team's lead reduced to 4-3!  Sout was broken again (Frank hit a Backhand Volley winner for Love-15 only to have Nate, in the next point, make one of his best gets and it forced Kris to blow a volley and then Natalia hit a winning lob in the subsequent point to go up 30-15 and then a Double Fault made it 30-All, then came Break Point and the break) to fall to 3-5.  Hollywood was broken again and this time it was at Love as Natalia hit a winning return, Nate hit a winning return and Natalia hit yet another winning return that doubled as a passing shot as it whizzed past Kris to set up Triple Break Point where Kris would then blow an overhead to allow the break and then Nate the Great held again (perhaps the best rally of the match led to Love-15, it shifted to 30-15, then shifted again as yet another rally in contention for best of the contest ended with Kris hitting a drop shot winner and that set up Break/Match Point only to have that get saved to make it Deuce, then it went to Game Point and the hold) to level things at 5-5!  The K Man was broken again and, like his partner, it was also at Love except for the fact that he started off with a Double Fault and then Kris blew a drop shot attempt to make it Love-30 and then Frank blew what should have been a sure overhead to set up Triple Break Point which was ended by a winner from Natalia for the break as his the Srinivasan/Samara tandem had now lost their lead for the first time at 5-6!  But Nitro was broken a third straight time (Frank first blew a drop shot attempt and then blew a volley in the next point to make it 30-Love, but then came the shift as Natalia also blew a volley on the way to Break Point and the break) and we were headed for the Tiebreak!  In the Breaker: Frank held his lone serve after Kris hit a vicious volley winner and then Nathan was broken on both of his serves as he first blew what should have been a guaranteed volley winner and then Frank had a venomous volley winner of his own to hand his partner a 3-0 lead as Kris was about to go on serve.  And Srinivasan held both of those serves as Frank hit a winner for the first point and then a winning volley for the second to take what seemed to be a commanding lead at 5-0!  Natalia held her first serve for 1-5 at the changeover and then held her second after Kris blew a volley to make it 2-5.  Samara was then broken on both of his serves as Kris blew another volley in the first point and now their team's lead was cut to 5-4!  Fernandes held his first service point after Kris blew yet another volley and now the TB was leveled at 5-5!  The Champ held his second as well as it was now 6-5 and Match Point in his team's favor.  Srinivasan was now on serve and he held his first one after hitting a drop shot winner for 6-6 at the second changeover.  He then held his second as well as Frank hit a winning drop shot volley to have it now be 7-6 and the second Match Point in his team's favor (which was the 3rd M.P. overall) with service returning to Sout.  She was then broken on that first serve as Kris hit what was both his most effective and emphatic drop shot volley winner for the break and the match!  We played this one on Court One from 7:20 to 8:23...one hour and three minutes long!

The Skinny: I can go on and on about the great moments the four of us had.  I can also discuss the lengthy and exciting rallies we engaged in and how we also all had our moments of shame.  The bottom line is that this was, for the most part, excellent action coupled with high drama and it should be a worthy contender and likely Nominee for One-Set Specialty Doubles Match of The Year at season's end.

Levy Lorenzo/Doinks Srinivasan over Rob Gawley/Natalia Sout, 7-5!  No Aces.  Here's the basic breakdown: both teams were at 2-2 and then Levy and Doinks went up 4-2 only to have it leveled at 4-4.  They went up again at 5-4 only to have it tied up again, this time at 5-5.  They went up 6-5 and then Doinks was on serve and got a Love hold after Levy hit quite the impressive volley winner to set up Triple Game/Match Point!  This one also took place on Court One and lasted from 8:27 to 9:19.

The Skinny: Nate, Kris and I all stayed at the sidelines (The Champ actually took the bench outside the fence alongside Court One) to watch this one as the three of us did not feel like hitting and Jordan and Art were still doing their thing over on Court Three.  We were rewarded with an exciting One-Setter to watch.  Just after this one ended, Art was heading home and Jordan was now game to play some Doubles.

Jordan Bachvaroff/Kris Srinivasan over Frank Samara/Doinks Srinivasan, 6-2!  No Aces.  The dirty lowdown: Jordan held serve (an un-returned serve for 15-Love, a shift to 15-30 and then a Double Fault for Double Break Point, a bounce back to Deuce, Game Point, 2nd Deuce, Game Point and another un-returned serve to secure the hold), Frank held (Triple Game Point where Jordan scored with a whipping return winner to reduce it to Double Game Point only to have Frank hit an equally impressive and well-angled winner for the hold), Kris held (Jordan made a great get/drop shot winner combo for 30-Love, then it went to 30-15, Double Game Point and the hold) and Doinks also held (Love-15 shifted to 30-15 as Frank hit his patented Windmill Overhead Smash for a winner along the way and then it shifted again to Break Point as Kris hit a winning volley along the way but then Doinks hit a winner of her own to make it Deuce, it then was Game Point where Kris hit another winning volley for 2nd Deuce, then Game Point again and the hold) as we were all on serve at 2-2.  But from there, Bachvaroff held again (Jordan hit a walloping winner to set up Triple Game Point only to then hit a Double Fault to reduce it to Double Game Point where Kris came in with a villainous volley winner to lock down his partner's hold), but Samara was the first to be broken (Love-15 shifted to 30-15 as Frank hit an excellent winner along the way, but then Jordan hit another one of those thunderous return winners to reverse the momentum and soon it was Break Point where Kris hit one of his precise drop shot volley winners for the break) to make it 2-4.  Mr. Srinivasan held again (15-Love, 15-All where back-to-back un-returned serves set up Double Game Point where a third sealed the deal for the game), but Mrs. Srinivasan was broken (it became "The Kris Show" as he first hit a winner followed by a winning Backhand Volley in the next point and then a winning return in the next to set up Triple Break/Match Point, it then went to Double Break/Match Point where Doinks hit a roller over the net which was also a winner and that now made it Break/Match Point but that was as far as it would go as the break and the loss came next) to end this one just in time as we got it underway on Court Three at precisely 9:24 and it ended exactly at 9:57.

The Skinny: It was one of those contests that felt so close up to 2-2 with all having held serve only to then suddenly have the doors blown off as the opposition went on a roll and continued to hold serve while we both got broken and were then left wondering what the hell just happened?!?!

Nathan Fernandes/Natalia Sout leading Levy Lorenzo/Rob Gawley, 5-3 (Incomplete when the lights went out at 10pm)!  No Aces.  This one had begun on Court One at 9:23.

This session may not have been blessed with a big turnout, but Mother Nature surely smiled upon it with nice, reasonable temps and she held back the rain until just ten minutes after it ended.  Samara pulled out of the lot at 10:05.  On his way to The Wayne Bubble, the raindrops started hitting his windshield at 10:10. 

Like the night before, he arrived in impressive time at 10:20.  This time around, his services were not needed as there were twelve players occupying three of the four courts (Court One remained vacant throughout the session).  The results that follow are not exactly in chronological order, but rather the order in which they were reported by the players to Samara (with some minor edits along the way to attempt some semblance of a time continuum).

The Wayne Bubble Results:

Ryan Pienciak/Mike Sindler over Dennis Cabanatan/Tom La, 6-1!  No Aces.  This one got underway on Court Three sometime after the hitting session which would have begun at 9pm and ended around 9:40.

John Rizzo/Nick Caputo over Senthil Kumar/Rich Liu, 6-2!  No Aces.  Like the one above, it got started sometime after the initial hitting session on Court Four and also finished around 9:40.

At this time, Pienciak thought a changing of the teams would be appropriate.  Since the official action on both courts did end at the same time, it was convenient and so Rizzo obliged the request.

This led to the following results and then we will close this report with what took place on Court Two.

2 out of 3 Sets Doubles Match:
Dennis Cabanatan/Tom La over Senthil Kumar/Rich Liu, 6-3, 6-4, to successfully defend their # 20 Rank in the Doubles Division!  Tom: 1 Ace on Rich in the 1st Set; and Dennis: 1 Ace on Rich in the 2nd Set.  Court Three hosted this match from 9:45 to 10:35.

The Skinny: Coming into this contest, Kumar/Liu were also a ranked team in the Doubles Division (# 53).  It would have been a nice opportunity to jump up in the ranks.

John Rizzo/Nick Caputo over Ryan Pienciak/Mike Sindler, 6-4!  Nick: 2 Aces on Mike.  This one got underway on Court Four somewhere around 9:45.  Not sure when it ended as it went right into this next one.

Ryan Pienciak/Mike Sindler over John Rizzo/Nick Caputo, 7-5!  Ryan: 4 Aces (two on each)!  John and Nick were up 5-4 and had two Match Points, but both were blown and one of them was an overhead attempt by Caputo which should have been a sure put-away!  This one got done at 10:55.

Lou La Forgia/Ray Spadaro over Paul Daddio/Ryan Sherry, 7-6 (8-6)!  Ryan: 1 Ace on Ray.  La Forgia and Spadaro had been down 2-5 before making their comeback.  Not sure when it started or ended on Court Two as it went right into this next one.

Lou La Forgia/Ryan Sherry over Paul Daddio/Ray Spadaro, 6-2!  Ray: 1 Ace on Lou!  Also on Court Two and again not sure of the start or stop times.  They started one more which we will get to in just a bit.

Tom La/Rich Liu leading Senthil Kumar/Dennis Cabanatan, 5-4 (Incomplete when the session ended at 11pm)!  Tom: 1 Ace on Senthil.  This one got underway on Court Three at 10:40.

Paul Daddio/Ray Spadaro leading Lou La Forgia/Ryan Sherry, 2-1 (Incomplete when the session ended at 11pm)!  No Aces.  Not sure when this one got started on Court Two.

It was a solid session with much hard-fought action throughout the course of it.

Sincerely,
Frank Samara
gtasamara5@gmail.com

 

 

11/7 Results.

11/7/17:

"Riz hosts 16 (1 return) at The Bubble!":

There was just one session of GTA Tuesday Night Tennis…and since it was a rainy night, the lone session was the first Tuesday night meet-up of the Night Owls Group at The Wayne Bubble hosted by "The Riz" John Rizzo.  As John had to gather many results, what follows is a simple reporting of the scores.

The Wayne Bubble Results:

2 out of 3 Sets Doubles Match:

Pranav Sinha/Arthur Fontanilla over Anish Mehta/Alex Hohorst, 6-2, 6-3, as both teams entered the Doubles Division as the New # 91 and # 92 Ranked Teams respectively!  No Aces (apparently).

Lou La Forgia/Ray Spadaro over Joe Rodrigues/Frank Hohorst, 6-2!  No Aces (apparently).

Lou La Forgia/Frank Hohorst over Joe Rodrigues/Ray Spadaro, 6-4!  No Aces (apparently).

2 out of 3 Sets Doubles Match:

Tom La/Nick Caputo over Senthil Kumar/Ryan Sherry, 6-3, 6-2, as both teams entered the Doubles Division as the New # 93 and # 94 Ranked Teams respectively!  It was the official GTA Return of Ryan Sherry.  No Aces (apparently). 

Tom La/Nick Caputo tied with Senthil Kumar/Ryan Sherry, 7-7 (Incomplete when the session ended)!  No Aces (apparently).

The Skinny: That is not a Tiebreak score.  They were playing out the games, trying to win by two.  But it looks like they would have been better off going to the TB to get this one officially done.

2 out of 3 Sets Doubles Match:

Chris Chiaro/Dan Praport over Ryan Pienciak/Rich Liu, 6-4, 3-6, 7-5, as both teams entered the Doubles Division as the New # 95 and # 96 Ranked Teams respectively!  No Aces (apparently).

Chris Chiaro/Rich Liu over Ryan Pienciak/Dan Praport, 6-2!  No Aces (apparently).

Samara's Notes: I thank John for reporting all these results in a very timely manner.  It would have been 17 official competitors had Rizzo played, but chose to sit out and simply host the session as he was still recovering from his triple-duty playing performance this past Sunday. 

Sincerely,

Frank Samara

Gtasamara5@gmail.com

 

 

 

11/5 Results.

11/5/17:

"16 at C.G. as TMT is TBC, 22 play (5 new, 2 return) at The Bubble!":

This year was the first time we held the Tinseltown Memorial Tournament (aka the TMT, which has finally been established to pay respect to the memory of "Hollywood" Frank Samara's late father, "Tinseltown" Frank Samara Jr., as "Hollywood" is actually The Third of the Frank Samara lineage).

To properly pay respect to the elder Samara, the son wanted to come up with a format where the thinking was "out of the box" as that was the way the man that the earlier group of guys in the league affectionately called "Tinseltown" had lived his life.

In the year that Frank's father had passed (2015), Samara came up with a Tinseltown Triples Tournament that was pretty much a failure as it only ended up being one match and was never properly followed up on in the following 2016 Season.

With the ongoing Monk Memorial Men's Doubles Tournament which pays respect to Samara's late step-father, "The Monk" Tom Mueller, continuing as a thriving tradition, Frank felt guilty for not also properly acknowledging his father's passing.  After all, if it wasn't for his dad buying that house on Grove Street with the tennis court on the property back in 1989, the GTA would most likely never have formed three years later.

Inspired by the recent "Battle of The Sexes" movie (documenting the classic early-1970's on-court contest between Billie Jean King and Bobby Riggs), Samara decided to have something similar...except that it would be four Women's Doubles Teams going up against four Men's Doubles Teams.

To sweeten the pot beyond the expected sense of pride and gender rivalry that would be on the line, it was determined that the winning team would get the next shot at the reigning Champions in their respective Doubles Division. 

The match-ups were determined by the individual rank of the players involved rather than any team rank as two of the men's teams had yet to be ranked in the Doubles Division (while all the women's teams were already ranked in the Women's Doubles Division).  From there, we had the strongest men's team go up against the weakest women's team while we also had the strongest women's team going up against the weakest men's team (with the other two match-ups working their way toward the middle).

While many did not think that was fair, it was the best way to at least give the best women's team (in this case, the reigning GTA Women's Doubles Champions: Laura "The Aura" Gawley and "The Smackdown" Sally Pillay) a fighting chance of meeting the strongest men's team in the Finals.

To aid in this, instead of the usual split of the draw sides being Top Seed and Fourth Seed on one side with the Second Seed and Third Seed on the other...it was instead scheduled to be Top Seed and Third Seed in one half of the draw with Second and Fourth in the other half.

Also of significant note (and breaking with long-standing tradition), this event would be setting a precedent for new rules from here and beyond where any type of Doubles Team could now qualify for rank in their own division against any other type of Doubles Team regardless of the match-up (i.e. Men's Doubles Team versus Women's Doubles Team, Mixed Doubles Team vs. Women's Doubles Team or Men's Doubles Team vs. Mixed Doubles Team).

Given consistently bigger turnouts and further on-court time constraints, this new ruling will surely help teams get ranked and/or remain active in their respective divisions.

The weather forecasts throughout the week left the scheduling of this event in some doubt as many were calling for a rainy start to the day.

As we woke this morning with an extra hour's sleep thanks to the end of Daylight Savings Time, we soon found out that those forecasts were right.  The ground outside was wet...but the good news was that the precipitation had pretty much stopped save for an occasional misty drizzle.

Still, as players started arriving at The Cedar Grove Courts, they soon found the court conditions to still be somewhat wet.  "The Marathon Woman" Doinks Srinivasan was the first to reach out to Samara via text to tell him she thought play would still be possible provided they broke out the big squeegee and other brooms.

As more and more players arrived, Samara's poor little flip phone seemed like it would soon overheat with all the text messages coming in as he replied to as many as he can while taking breaks from driving along the way (safety first...LOL!).

It was established that the as-planned 10am start would be bounced to at least 10:30 as "The S Bomber" Genalin Capan had informed Samara as well as her partner Doinks and one of her opponents, "The Riz" John Rizzo, that she was running late.  Knowing this, Frank ended up arriving late as well.

By the time Samara pulled into the lot at 10:30, the only ones left to arrive were Rizzo (who had actually been there already and left to get drinks), Capan and the team of "Killer Kat" Kathy Sheldon/"Strutting" Laurie Boughton.

Meanwhile, many of the players were already out on the courts with brooms, towels and one squeegee trying to mop up the moisture out of the courts as best as possible.

All in attendance agreed that they felt it was safe enough to play, though many said the conditions would likely affect their style of play (i.e. less aggressive and mobile).

Gen rolled in at 11am as the sixteenth registered participant.  From there, we split into hitting sessions on all four courts.

Already there to be just be an observer was Natalia "Nitro" Sout.  At 11:30, "The K Man" Kris Srinivasan and Dino "The Dragon" Celis both arrived to do the same.

The as-scheduled format was for us to get thru the Quarterfinals and Semifinals with each round being a full match, but if the sets were split there would be a 10-Point Super Tiebreak in lieu of a full 3rd Set.

As Mother Nature and other circumstances had already delayed the start of this tourney by an hour, those plans were already looking shaky at best.  And that Mother (insert expletive here) otherwise called Nature would come back to rear her ugly head once again!

I am now going to dive right into the action as there really is no way for me to detail the arrivals and outset of the session any further.

The Cedar Grove Results:

TMT Quarterfinal:
Nathan Fernandes/Ryan Pienciak over Fadia Nicolas/Louise Bysiek, 6-0, 6-0, to advance to the TMT Semifinals!  In the process, Fernandes/Pienciak entered the Doubles Division as the New # 87 Ranked Team.  Ryan: 1 Ace on Fadia in the 2nd Set (he described it as a mishit Ace)!  They played this on Court Three from 11:08 to 11:50.

TMT Quarterfinal:
Frank Samara/Dan Martinelli over Kathy Sheldon/Laurie Boughton, 6-1, 6-1, to advance to the TMT Semifinals!  In the process, Samara/Martinelli entered the Doubles Division as the New # 88 Ranked Team.  Spin: 1 Ace on Kathy in the 1st Set (an angry one as she had just insulted his manhood...LOL!)!

1st Set: Kathy was broken (Spin made a great get/drop shot winner combo for Love-15, it then shifted to 30-15 as Laurie hit a net-cord-aided winner which was followed by a blown volley from Frank, then it went to 30-All and Game Point where Frank hit a drop shot winner to bring it to Deuce and then it went to Break Point where Frank hit another winner for the break), Frank held at Love as he first hit an un-returned serve and then Spin made a great get in the next point and then Laurie was broken (Kathy first blew an overhead and then blew a volley in the next point to make it Love-30, it then went to 15-30 and Double Break Point where Spin hit a winning lob for the break) to fall to 0-3 as it became a steady misty drizzle during this game (and that was likely around 11:20 when it started and never relented as it would only become worse less than an hour later).  Spin then held serve (a truly un-returnable serve for 15-Love, a Double Fault to make it 15-All which was where he then hit the sideline Ace against Kathy for 30-15, it then went to Double Game Point, Game Point and the hold) and Sheldon was broken again (an un-returned serve for 15-Love which was where Spin made several great gets along with solid defense at the net to make it 15-All and then Spin hit a net-cord-aided winner on the way to Double Break Point which was where Frank whipped out his patented Windmill Overhead Smash to get the break) as her team was seemingly on its way to the bagel shop with the score being 0-5!  But with Kris at the sidelines now egging the ladies on (and Rich on the nearby court had been their fan on Facebook since earlier in the week...LOL!), perhaps Samara was a little rattled as he was broken on serve (Love-15, an un-returned serve for 15-All only to then go straight to Double Break Point where Frank hit a passing shot winner to bring it to Break Point, but then came the break) to allow the opposition onto the scoreboard!  But from there, Boughton was broken again (an un-returned serve for 15-Love but then straight to Double Break/Set Point where Spin blew a passing shot attempt as he sailed it wide to now make it Break/Set Point and then it went to Deuce where another un-returned serve ser up Game Point only to have Frank hit a winning Overhead Smash to make it 2nd Deuce and then Frank hit another winning Overhead Smash to bring it back to the 3rd Break/Set Point and then came the break) to drop the initial set at precisely 11:39 (we had begun this one on Court One at 11:10).  Two minutes later, the next set was underway as the ladies inadvertently switched their service sides.

2nd Set: Spin held (an un-returned serve followed by a blown overhead by Laurie blazed the path to Triple Game Point where a Double Fault made it Double Game Point which was where Laurie blew a volley to allow the hold), Kathy was broken (Laurie blew an overhead to make it Love-30 where an un-returned serve then made it 15-30, but it then went to Double Break Point and the break), Frank held (an un-returned serve made it 30-Love, then it was 30-15 where Frank hit a winner to set up Double Game Point and then came the hold) and Laurie was broken (Spin started off with a winner in the first point and followed that in the next point with an awesome get/drop shot winner combo and then it would soon go to Triple Break Point only to then get reduced to Break Point which was where Frank hit a winning Overhead Smash for the break) to find her team once again down 0-4!  But they struck a little sooner this time around as Martinelli was then broken (an un-returned serve followed by a winning Backhand Volley from Frank made it 30-Love only to have a winning return from Laurie make it 30-All before going to Game Point, Deuce and Break Point where Laurie scored with another winning return much more lethal than the previous one as this one earned the break) to have his team's lead cut to 4-1, but then Sheldon was broken again (Spin made several great gets in his finest point of the match and that made it Love-30, it then went to 15-30 and Double Break Point where Spin hit a winner for the break) to fall to 1-5.  Samara then held again (30-Love where Kathy hit a winning return for 30-15 and then it went to Double Game/Match Point where Kathy hit an even more wicked return winner to cut that lead to Game/Match Point which was where Spin made a great get/mishit winner combo to somewhat comically end the match) for the win at exactly 12:09 (and just in time as you will soon find out)!

The Skinny: As expected, there was much levity throughout this match...but that never diminished the overall spirit of competition in this contest.  The ladies came to play and that they did as they truly gave a fine showing here.  Spin played cleaner tennis than he often does as the nature of this event (perhaps coupled with the unfavorable court conditions) seemed to sharpen his focus while his partner Samara was usually a steady hand as well.  It was a lot of fun as it culminated a week of trash talk back and forth on Facebook (all of which was good-natured).

We now get to the two matches that are currently in "To Be Continued" limbo.

TMT Quarterfinal:
Laura Gawley/Sally Pillay leading Levy Lorenzo/Nick Inciong, 6-3, 2-4 (To Be Continued)!  No Aces yet (as far as I know).  They got this one underway on Court Four at 11:12 and the 1st Set ended at 11:47.  Somewhere around 12:10 was when they decided to pull the plug as the steady misty drizzle had now increased to a full-on rain as the court conditions were now getting quite slick and dangerous.

TMT Quarterfinal:
Doinks Srinivasan/Genalin Capan leading John Rizzo/Rich Liu, 6-5 (To Be Continued)!  No Aces yet (as far as I know).  With Gen being the last to arrive and then entering into a lengthy hitting session where they were actually split up Mixed Doubles style with Rizzo and Capan hitting against Liu and Srinivasan, the match did not get going until 11:25.  John and Rich were up 5-3 and at 30-All (just two points from taking the set) before dropping three straight games to go down 5-6!  At 5-5, both sides agreed that the next game would be the last as this one came to a halt at 12:11.

The Skinny: From here, both the above matches will now have to be played at a mutually convenient time for all the parties involved.  Since the situations are somewhat precarious, we will let the participants in each match decide if they want to continue to abide by the original 10-Point Super Tiebreak format or instead opt for a full 3rd Set if the first two sets are split.  If all four players in each match cannot reach an agreement, then they will have to stick with the original STB stipulation. 

As always, the tournament Final will have to be a full 2 out of 3 Sets if those first two are split.

Meanwhile, the two teams that have already advanced to the Semifinals (Fernandes/Pienciak and Samara/Martinelli) must now wait for winners to emerge from the still in progress Quarterfinal matches.  Hopefully, this tourney will be able to be completed within the 2017 Season.  

Well, the wet weather certainly curtailed any further outdoor tennis activity.  Thankfully, this was the first Sunday of the indoor season at The Wayne Bubble.  Rizzo hosted the two separate sessions for each Night Owls group and he collected the results for both.  And they are as follows…

The Wayne Bubble Results:

The first session was from 3 to 5pm and featured 10 players.

John Rizzo/Kevin Doyle over Mike Lepak/Marie Easton, 6-1!  No Aces.  It was the official GTA Debut of Mike Lepak and the official GTA Return of Marie Easton.

Kevin Doyle/Mike Lepak over John Rizzo/Marie Easton, 7-6 (7-1)!  No Aces.

Vlad Smolyanskiy over Henry Mendoza, 6-1!  No Aces.  It was the official GTA Return of Vlad Smolyanskiy and the official GTA Debut of Henry Mendoza.

Pat Kinsler over Rafaelo Kazakov, 6-0!  No Aces.  It was the official GTA Debut of Pat Kinsler.

2 out of 3 Sets Mixed Doubles Match:
Vlad Smolyanskiy/Susan Senowitz over Henry Mendoza/Susan Koshy, 6-0, 6-0, as both teams entered the Mixed Doubles Division as the New # 46 and # 47 Ranked Teams respectively!  No Aces.  It was the official GTA Debut of Susan Senowitz.

Henry Mendoza/Susan Senowitz over Vlad Smolyanskiy/Susan Koshy, 6-1!  No Aces.

Rafealo Kazakov/Susan Senowitz leading Pat Kinsler/Susan Koshy, 5-1 (Incomplete when the session ended at 5pm)!  No Aces.

The second session was from 6 to 8pm and featured 13 players (one of them, Rizzo, doing double-duty from the 3pm session).

Joe Rodrigues/Dennis Cabanatan over Tony Shiao/John Rizzo, 7-6 (7-0)!  No Aces.

Ryan Pienciak/Ray Spadaro over Senthil Kumar/Alex Hohorst, 6-0!  No Aces.  It was the official GTA Debut of Alex Hohorst.

Samara's Notes: Alex Hohorst is the son of Frank Hohorst.  We now go back to John.

Senthil Kumar/Ray Spadaro over Ryan Pienciak/Alex Hohorst, 6-2!  No Aces.

Ryan Pienciak/Tony Shiao over Dan Hwang/Dennis Cabanatan, 6-3!  No Aces. 

2 out of 3 Sets Doubles Match:
Mike Sindler/Frank Hohorst over Rich Liu/Arthur Fontanilla, 6-3, 4-6, 6-3, as both teams entered the Doubles Division as the New # 89 and # 90 Ranked Teams respectively!  No Aces.

Senthil Kumar/Ray Spadaro over Joe Rodrigues/Alex Hohorst, 6-3!  No Aces.

Joe Rodrigues/Ray Spadaro leading Senthil Kumar/Alex Hohorst, 4-3 (Incomplete when the session ended at 8pm)!  No Aces.

Ryan Pienciak/Tony Shiao leading Dan Hwang/Dennis Cabanatan, 6-5 (Incomplete when the session ended at 8pm)!  No Aces.

Samara's Notes: I thank John for collecting all these results over the course of the two sessions while he also was active as a competitor in both of them.  He actually ended up doing triple-duty when you include his participation in the TMT event earlier in the day at Cedar Grove.  Kudos!

All the best,
Frank Samara
gtasamara5@gmail.com

11/4 Results.

11/4/17:

"W-Dub Final at C.G., 4 play at NTC!":

There were two sessions of GTA Saturday Tennis: the first was an early afternoon one at The Cedar Grove Courts as the teams of "Killer Kat" Kathy Sheldon/"Dominant" Dawn Peterson and "The Argentine Machine" Fernanda Toker/"Lady B" Louise Bysiek got together to play their 2017 W-Dub Women's Doubles Tournament Final (with Fernanda reporting); and the second was a mid-afternoon one at Nutley Tennis Club (quite likely to be the last of the season) as "The Riz" John Rizzo played host while teaming with Dolores "AKA Dee" Krazanowski to take on "Bionic" Bo Folchi and "Dynamic" Denise Savino (who also has the nickname, Dee!).

We will first get the result from Fernanda and then the one from John.

The Cedar Grove Result:

2017 W-Dub Final:
Fernanda Toker/Louise Bysiek over Kathy Sheldon/Dawn Peterson, 7-5, 6-3, to become the 2017 W-Dub Champs as well as the New # 2 Ranked Team in the Women's Doubles Division and next Top Contenders!  No Aces.

Toker's Take: The first game lasted eight minutes and then the second, third and fourth were also quite long with multiple Deuce and several lengthy rallies.  They took a lead of 4-0, then 4-2 and 5-2 and that was where the momentum changed as the pace of the game picked up and we were able to run off five straight games to surprisingly take the 1st Set!  In the 2nd Set, Louise was magnificent in returning all the balls that were sent her way...as all the balls kept coming her way!  Kathy and Dawn played great as Dawn made some great gets and wonderful shots while Kathy defended the baseline with powerful forehand shots!

Samara's Notes: I thank Fernanda for her timely reporting (both via text and e-mail).  Her initial text came thru around 3:45.  I do know they had planned on starting this match at 1pm.  I'm not sure how long a hitting session they had first or if she sent me the text right after the match had concluded.  Rizzo went there to be a spectator (until he got the invite from Savino to play Mixed Doubles at NTC).  He left (and sent a text to Samara) right when Sheldon/Peterson were up 5-2 in the 1st Set.  He must have been the good luck charm for the team that became known as The Lucky Losers in this tournament as they were the team that lost one of the three initial First Round One-Set Eliminators (ironically, the loss was to Toker/Bysiek), but since it was by the tightest margin (time-wise as score-wise it was a tie with one other One-Setter that day) they were able to advance to the Semifinals where they then had the most lopsided win of the tourney.

Toker/Bysiek are next in line for a shot at the reigning GTA Women's Doubles Champions: Laura "The Aura" Gawley and "The Smackdown" Sally Pillay.  Negotiations for a mutually convenient playing time are not going well.  As a result, we may not see this match happen until early in the 2018 Season.

We now go to NTC to get The Riz Report.

The NTC Result:

2 out of 3 Sets Mixed Doubles Match:
Bo Folchi/Denise Savino over John Rizzo/Dolores Krazanowski, 7-5, 6-2, to successfully defend their # 15 Rank in the Mixed Doubles Division!  In the process, Rizzo/Krazanowski enter the Mixed Doubles Division as the New # 53 Ranked Team.  No Aces. 

Samara's Notes: I thank John for reporting this result in a very timely manner (as always).

All the best,
Frank Samara

11/3 Results.

11/3/17:

"7 play at PAC, 9 play at C.G.!":

There were two sessions of GTA Friday Night Tennis: one at The Park Ave. Courts in Nutley hosted by "Hollywood" Frank Samara (in terms of reporting the results for the GTA), but the session came together due to the efforts of "Richie" Rich Liu and his Meet-Up Group and "The Riz" John Rizzo coordinating things behind the scenes.  The other was the usual one at The Cedar Grove Courts with "The K Man" Kris Srinivasan acting as host, but with scores also reported by "The S Bomber" Genalin Capan and the GTA Champion: "Nate the Great" Nathan Fernandes.

First, it is off to Nutley we go!

When Samara pulled into the parking lot off of Park Ave. at 7:25, he first saw that Liu was arriving at the same time.  The next thing he noticed was only half of the four courts were full.

Earlier in the evening at 7pm, Rizzo had sent a text message to Samara to tell him that the lights had come on thanks to Rich having called his contact at the Nutley Parks and Recreation Dept.

Well, since that time, John was able to gain control of Court One and he ended up in hitting sessions with both Arunraj "Air" Nair and "Muha" Muhammad Haque.  Courts Two and Three were both vacant while two other guys had Court Four (and they left at 8pm).

Samara was willing to sit out the first one, but Haque said he would like to wait for others first.  So Frank took the side of Arunraj to start hitting against John and Rich and that led to the first One-Setter of the night.  Rich said he knew that "Fantastic" Fausto Murg should also soon be on his way.

Murg did not arrive until 8:10.  By that time, the second One-Setter of the evening had already started eight minutes prior with Muhammad taking Frank's place.  Samara had been holding Court Two and he soon would enter into a hitting session with Murg on that court.

Fausto then took the place of John in the third One-Setter leaving Rizzo and Samara to have a bull session on Court Two.  At 9pm, Dino "The Dragon" Celis was something of a surprise arrival.  That led to Dino hitting against both Frank and John on Court Two.

At exactly 9:33, Celis had the chance to get involved in the fifth Doubles One-Setter of the night and that gave us a total of seven official competitors.  After the session ended, four of us (Frank, John, Rich and Dino) went to grab a bite to eat at Nutley Diner (instead of the usual Franklin Steakhouse).

The diminished turnout was likely due to the surprise change of weather that took place as the afternoon morphed into the evening as high winds and chilly temperatures took over what had been an unseasonably warm day.  With the fall feeling finally arriving, there may soon be a change of venue for future Friday night sessions.

And now let's get to the action!

The Park Ave. Courts Results:

John Rizzo/Rich Liu over Frank Samara/Arunraj Nair, 6-2!  No Aces.  It went like this: Rich held at Love after starting off with two consecutive un-returned serves, Frank held serve (an un-returned serve followed by a victorious volley from Arunraj made it 30-Love which was where John hit an awesome passing shot winner for 30-15, but then another un-returned serve set up Double Game Point, the hold came on Game Point), John held (an un-returned serve for 15-Love, then 15-All where an un-returned serve succeeded by a winning Overhead Smash from Rich in the next point soon set up Double Game Point where another un-returned serve secured the hold), but Arunraj was the first to be broken (John hit a drop shot winner to make it Love-15 and it was off and running to Triple Break Point which then got cut down to Game Point where Frank hit a winning Backhand Volley to bring it to Deuce, then it was Break Point again where an un-returned serve made it 2nd Deuce, Break Point again where Frank blew a drop shot attempt to end up breaking his partner) for 1-3.  Liu held again (Love-15 where Arunraj blew a volley for 15-All, then a Double Fault for 15-30 which was where Rich hit a sizzling passing shot winner for 30-All and then it was Game Point where Arunraj blew another volley to allow the hold) to increase his team's lead to 4-1, but then Samara also held again (Arunraj hit a vicious volley winner which was then followed by two consecutive un-returned serves to set up Triple Game Point and then Rich made a great get/passing shot winner combo followed by a winning passing shot return from John and then another passing shot winner from Rich made it Deuce where Rich then blew a volley to set up another Game Point where another un-returned serve secured the hold) to pull to 2-4.  But from there, Rizzo also held again and this time it was at Love as he started off with two consecutive un-returned serves and then Rich hit a winning Backhand Volley on Triple Game Point to secure his partner's hold and then Nair was broken again and this time it was at Love when this battle ended on Triple Break/Match Point with Rizzo/Liu taking the last eight straight points of the contest!  We played this one on Court One from 7:34 to 8:01.

The Skinny: Rich said he wanted to read how John's serve was virtually un-returnable.  Rizzo readily acknowledged how the windy conditions were helping his cause as his usual low-slant flat delivery was providing even less bounce than normal.  In all fairness, Liu and Samara also served quite well.  In fact, the primary difference in this contest was the fact that three players each held twice while Nair was twice broken.  Arunraj had not played for a couple of weeks and still had some rust to shake off...as he would proceed to do as the session unfolded.

John Rizzo/Rich Liu over Arunraj Nair/Muhammad Haque, 6-3!  Arunraj: 1 Ace on Rich!  Here's the basic breakdown: Muhammad held, John held, Arunraj held, but Rich was the first to be broken (30-All and then a Double Fault to set up Break Point and then came the break) for 1-3!  From there, it was all Rizzo/Liu as Haque was broken, Rizzo held again, Nair was broken, Liu held and Muha was broken again to end it as The Riz and Richie Running Things took five straight games for a nice comeback!  This one was also played on Court One and it lasted from 8:02 to 8:32.

Rich Liu/Arunraj Nair over Fausto Murg/Muhammad Haque, 6-1!  Arunraj: 1 Ace on Muhammad (on a second serve)!  Court One was once again the scene of the crime as this one started at 8:35 and ended at 8:57.

Fausto Murg/Arunraj Nair over Rich Liu/Muhammad Haque, 6-4!  No Aces.  Rich and Muhammad were up 3-0 where Liu admittedly "got cocky" as he thought his team was on their way to serving up a bagel.  As Newman of "Seinfeld" once said, "not so fast, pretty boy!"  Even Haque knew that was foolhardy sentiment as the match was still young.  Soon enough, it was tied 3-3.  Liu/Haque went up 4-3, but then Murg/Nair took three straight games to cap their comeback win!  This was contested on Court One from 8:59 to 9:28.  Everyone had their moments, but Muhammad managed to shine on many an occasion as he continues to make great strides in his overall improvement week after week.

Fausto Murg/Dino Celis leading Rich Liu/Arunraj Nair, 5-3 (Incomplete when the lights went out at 10pm)!  Fausto: 1 Ace on Rich; and Dino: 1 Ace on Rich!  They got this one underway on Court One at exactly 9:33.  Soon, it became a race against the clock!  At 9:52, Murg/Celis were up 4-2.  At 9:54, they then went up 5-2.  But at 9:57, they dropped a game to make it 5-3!  That was the pivotal moment as completion was now highly in doubt.  Even worse, Dino was now on serve but at Break Point when we went to darkness...so it could have then gone to 5-4!

All in all (despite the diminished turnout), it was another fun session at The Park Ave. Courts.

We now will detail all that took place up at Cedar Grove with Kris providing the main report and there will be contributions from Gen and Nate along the way.  Let The K take it away!

Friday night was quite windy and that surely deterred some of the players who had indicated earlier they would come to play.  Gen will first report our "Battle of the Sexes" Match featuring Levy Lorenzo and I against Gen and my wife Doinks.  It was a confident boosting match for them to prepare them for the coming Sunday Tinseltown Memorial Tournament (with a "Battle of the Sexes" format for the entire Quarterfinals).

The Cedar Grove Results:

2 out of 3 Sets:
Kris Srinivasan/Levy Lorenzo over Doinks Srinivasan/Genalin Capan, 7-5, 6-3!  Kris: 1 Ace on Doinks in the 2nd Set.

Gen's Notes: We played this one from 8pm to 9:15.  It was a fun and competitive match.  It was also very windy that evening.

Samara's Notes: I thank Gen for contributing to this report.  We now turn it back over to Kris.

I played one more set with Rafaelo Kazakov as we went up against Levy and Doinks.

Kris Srinivasan/Rafaelo Kazakov over Levy Lorenzo/Doinks Srinivasan, 6-3!  No Aces.

It was a good match for us as Rafaelo did very well with good gets, slices and deep shots.

Nate and Natalia Sout had a good run on the other court going up against Ryan Pienciak and Edgar Valencia. 

Samara's Notes: We go to Nate for that score now.

Nathan Fernandes/Natalia Sout tied with Ryan Pienciak/Edgar Valencia, 6-6 (Incomplete when the lights went out at 10pm)!  No Aces.

Samara's Notes: Nate initially did not report it since it was incomplete.  I thank him for his contribution to this report as well.  We now go back to Kris for the last word.

It was a bit cold and quite a windy night, but nevertheless the show must go on!  Cheers!

Samara's Notes: As always, I thank Kris for all he does for the league up at Cedar Grove.

All the best,
Frank Samara
gtasamara5@gmail.com

11/2 Results.

11/2/17:

"Samara hosts 27 at C.G.!":

There was just one session of GTA Thursday Night Tennis at The Cedar Grove Courts hosted by "Hollywood" Frank Samara.  With near-perfect weather (peak temperature earlier in the day was 75 degrees...quite insane for early November!), it ended up becoming an epic session in terms of turnout...but some flies in the ointment made it less than a perfect night.

When Samara pulled into the parking lot at 6:55, he saw that three of the four courts were already occupied (with just Court Two, aka Leafy Court, still being vacant).

On Court One, "The Bulgarian Bull" Jordan Bachvaroff and "The Art Font" Arthur Fontanilla were having a hitting session with one another.  On Court Three, Jordan's buddy "EA Sports" Erdem Alpay was playing Singles with his usual non-GTA sparring partner.

And on Court Four, there was a Doubles hitting session that would soon end up becoming a full 2 out of 3 Sets Match featuring "J-Rod" Joe Rodrigues and "The Levitator" Levy Lorenzo taking on GTA Champion: "Nate the Great" Nathan Fernandes and his usual Mixed Doubles partner, Natalia "Nitro" Sout. 

Speaking of Levy, let me now state how thankful I am for his generosity and thoughtfulness.  By the time I arrived at 6:55, Mr. Lorenzo had already set up a makeshift shop on the bench alongside Court Four where he was selling his imported sportswear samples for just five dollars apiece in order to raise funds for the ongoing fundraiser for my children's school, the Passaic Gifted and Talented Academy (aka PGTA School 20).  I also want to thank all those that purchased gear to go toward the good cause as $65 was raised in just that one evening there.

And to now detail the timing of the arrivals, it should first be said that "The Titan" Tito Castolo and "Stingray" Ray Spadaro were already there when Samara got to the courts.  Tito had just finished a ten minute hitting session and then had to leave at 7:15 to go pick up his wife (but would return later in the evening).  Meanwhile, Ray was trying to figure out where he should go.

Pulling into the lot at the same time as Samara was the "other Frank," Mr. Hohorst.  Much thanks to that Frank as he brought a lawn blower to get the leaves off of Court Two and also off of the baseline areas of Court One.

"King Crush" Chris Chiaro and "The S Bomber" Genalin Capan also both pulled into the lot at the same time (at 7pm).  Ten minutes later, "The Dark Knight" Dan Knitzer did the same.  And another five minutes after that, another Dan made his presence felt at the courts as it was none other than the "Spin Doctor" Dan Martinelli who soon joined his pal, Samara, out on Court Two.

But once Frank realized there were five potential players for that court, he willingly stepped off like George Costanza to allow Dos Dans (Martinelli/Knitzer) to face Spadaro/Capan. 

Meanwhile, Chiaro and Hohorst joined Bachvaroff and Fontanilla on Court one for some Doubles action there.  And the players just kept coming as both "Swinging" Syed Rashid and "Fabulous" Fadia Nicolas arrived at 7:20 just as a familiar white-haired man also made himself obvious near the fence alongside Court Four.  He soon sat on the bench.

While this was happening, Samara invited Rashid and Nicolas to come join him on Court Three and that led to a hitting session while they waited for a fourth player to join them.

At 7:25 when the 1st Set of Rodrigues/Lorenzo versus Fernandes/Sout had finished, they asked the man on the bench if he wanted to join them and one of them would have been willing to sit out a set.  He declined as he said he had three other guys on the way and he told them they should play on further...and so they did.

The usual Cedar Grove host, "The K Man" Kris Srinivasan made his way across the street at 7:30, and having recognized the man on the bench as John Paul Landi (who has made a couple of limited appearances in GTA action in the past), greeted him with a hello as he made his way to Court Three to become the fourth player there.  That hitting session would soon lead to a One-Setter featuring Srinivasan/Rashid versus Samara/Nicolas.

Within succession, his three other guys came at 7:30, 7:35 and 7:40.  The four of them were now hovering around that bench area while three more of our players arrived at 7:45 - GTA Women's Champion: Laura "The Aura" Gawley, her hubby "The Rogue" Rob Gawley and "GDP" Guy Dupoux.

Five minutes later, the logjam situation got even worse as both "Lady B" Louise Bysiek and "Del Brotro" Mike Mole also arrived.  It was at that time that the Doubles One-Setter on Court One finished and those four guys were nice enough to quickly invite the four "Outsiders" to come over to take over that court.

The insanity of the circumstances increased further when four players all arrived at 8:05 - Dino "The Dragon" Celis, "The Marathon Woman" Doinks Srinivasan, "The Icon" Nick Inciong and "RK Fire" Rafaelo Kazakov.

The final official competitor to arrive was "Laidback" Laurie Boughton (who would later earn a new moniker, "Strutting" Laurie, due to her proud prancing on the court after some good shots) giving us an impressive total of 27 players for the session.

Rowdy Rob was growing antsy with the situation and asked Samara if he should go ask the "Outsiders" when they would be done with Court One.  Frank said that such an inquiry should either come from Rob or Kris as they are both Cedar Grove residents.  That was all The Rogue needed to hear as he soon approached them and pointed out the fact that everyone else at the courts was playing a set and then letting four new players onto the courts.

Well, his strategy was both sound and sophisticated as they ended up leaving at 8:55 (fair enough as most public courts have signage suggesting limiting play to one hour while others are waiting...these four got just over that amount).  Mr. Landi did make it clear, however, that they were not done with their planned session and were only departing as they felt bad about all the other competitors wanting to play (in the past, these guys would hold a court for the balance of the session...until 10pm...no matter what time they arrived and with no regard to how many others were waiting).

Fair is fair as it does not matter if the rest of us are affiliated with one another.  If we are all getting off the courts after a set (or an hour or less) to allow four new players to take our place, we are abiding by the rules.

Anyway, all's well that ends well as everyone got the chance to play and there was so much levity (especially inspired by the tandem of Spin and Laurie who took the courts as a team late in the session) that too many of us to mention hung around to B.S. with one another all the way until 10:45! 

Enough chit chat...let's now get to the action!

The Cedar Grove Results:

2 out of 3 Sets:
Nathan Fernandes/Natalia Sout over Joe Rodrigues/Levy Lorenzo, 6-1, 7-5!  No Aces.  As already stated, this impromptu full match occupied Court Four from 6:59 to 8:20.

Chris Chiaro/Frank Hohorst over Jordan Bachvaroff/Arthur Fontanilla, 6-1!  No Aces.  Court One hosted this one from 7:15 to 7:50.

Dan Martinelli/Dan Knitzer over Ray Spadaro/Genalin Capan, 6-3!  No Aces.  This was contested on Court Two from 7:22 to 7:57.

Kris Srinivasan/Syed Rashid over Frank Samara/Fadia Nicolas, 7-5!  No Aces.  It went like this: Frank was broken at Love after Syed set the tone with an awesome passing shot winner to start things off at Love-15, Syed was broken (Kris hit a winning volley for 15-Love, it went to 30-Love and then 30-15 where a Double Fault made it 30-All, then came Break Point and the break), Fadia also was broken (15-Love, 15-All where Kris blew a volley for 30-15, then Double Game Point where Kris hit a winning volley to cut the lead down to Game Point, then it was Deuce where Syed hit a winning return to se up Break Point where Kris scored with a vicious volley winner for the break) and then Kris was the first to hold serve and he did it at Love as he hit three consecutive un-returned serves to set up Triple Game Point where Syed stung the opposition with a sudden and succinct Backhand Volley winner to secure his partner's hold as they took a 3-1 lead!  Samara held (Syed hit a sizzling return winner for Love-15, but then an un-returned serve reversed the momentum and it was off and running right to Double Game Point where Fadia made a great get/winner combo to secure her partner's hold) and then Rashid was broken again (Syed hit a passing shot winner for 15-Love, then it was 15-All where a Double Fault made it 15-30 and then Kris blew a volley to set up Double Break Point and then came the break) to level things at 3-3.  Nicolas held (Syed hit an amazing passing shot return for Love-15, but then Kris blew a volley to make it 15-All and then an un-returned serve soon sent the game to Double Game Point which was cut down to Deuce, Game Point again, 2nd Deuce where an un-returned serve set up Game Point and yet another un-returned serve secured the hold) as she took the first lead for her team at 4-3!  Srinivasan held again (Syed hit a wicked winner for 15-Love, it went to 30-Love, 30-15, Double Game Point and then back-to-back Double Faults brought it to Deuce where Syed hit a winning volley for Game Point where Frank blew a drop shot attempt to allow the hold) to knot the score once more, this time at 4-4!  Hollywood held at Love as Syed blew a drop shot attempt and Kris blew two successive volley attempts to set up Triple Game Point to put his team up again at 5-4, but then Swinging Syed finally held (an un-returned serve set up 30-Love, then it went 30-15, Double Game Point, Game Point and the hold) to keep things alive at 5-5!  Fabulous Fadia was broken (Syed scored with a blast of a passing shot return for Love-15 and then Kris hit a winner for Love-30, it then went to 15-30, Double Break Point, Break Point and the break) and then The K Man held for a third straight time (Love-30 soon shifted to Game/Match Point with an un-returned serve along the way and then came the hold on that initial M.P.) to earn a hard-fought victory!  We played this on Court Three from 7:38 to 8:25.

The Skinny: All four players accounted themselves well as Syed continues to show marked improvement.  The MVP was Kris as he was on fire throughout this contest with a lot of successful aggressive play while also reducing his unforced errors just enough to finally shift the momentum once and for all in his team's favor.

Mike Mole/Guy Dupoux over Rob Gawley/Laura Gawley, 6-4!  Guy: 3 Aces (2 on Laura, 1 on Rob)!  Court Two hosted this contest from 8:10 to 8:42.

Nick Inciong/Rafaelo Kazakov over Tito Castolo/Louise Bysiek, 6-4!  Rafaelo: 2 Aces on Louise (the first of which was on the very first serve of the match)!  This foursome faced off on Court Four from 8:33 to 9:13.

Dan Knitzer/Doinks Srinivasan over Dino Celis/Laurie Boughton, 6-4!  No Aces.  This was conducted on Court Three from 8:34 to 9:07.

Chris Chiaro/Fadia Nicolas over Syed Rashid/Frank Hohorst, 7-5!  No Aces.  These two teams faced off on Court Two from 8:45 to 9:27.

Nathan Fernandes/Natalia Sout over Jordan Bachvaroff/Genalin Capan, 6-0!  No Aces.  They got this one done on Court One and the duration was from 9:04 to 9:22.

Kris Srinivasan/Guy Dupoux over Rob Gawley/Laura Gawley, 6-2!  Guy: 1 Ace on Laura; and Kris: 1 Ace on Rob!  Court Three hosted this one from 9:12 to 9:42.

Dan Martinelli/Laurie Boughton over Rafaelo Kazakov/Louise Bysiek, 6-2!  No Aces.  Going on serve with her team up 5-2, Laurie's service game was quite likely the game of the match as she started off at Love-30 only to have it go straight to Game/Match Point, then Deuce and then 2nd Game/Match Point where Spin made an awesome get/winner combo to seal the deal!  This foursome faced off on Court Four from 9:18 to 9:50.

The Skinny: This was the match that drew the largest crowd of the night as both Spin and Laurie were in full-on high-energy vocal mode and had all onlookers in hysterics with their bawdy antics.  It inspired Rafaelo to say, "whenever Spin is involved, it is always a circus!"  And an "F" bomb dropped from Louise's mouth along the way as well.  Of course, these type of complaints only inspire The Doc to become a bigger court jester than he already is.

After this one ended, there was a ten minute hitting session on this court as Spin and Syed hit against Nate and Natalia.

Mike Mole/Nick Inciong over Tito Castolo/Dino Celis, 6-0!  Dino: 1 Ace on Mike; and Mike: 1 Ace on Dino!  This one got underway on Court One at 9:25.  Not sure when it ended as it led right into this next one.

Mike Mole/Nick Inciong leading Tito Castolo/Dino Celis, 3-2 (Incomplete when the lights went out at 10pm)!  No Aces.  They were on serve right until the interruption.

Jordan Bachvaroff/Dan Knitzer leading Doinks Srinivasan/Genalin Capan, 4-2 (Incomplete when the lights went out at 10pm)!  No Aces.  Gen was on serve and down 30-40 (Break Point) when it went dark!  They had begun this one on Court Two at 9:30.

Chris Chiaro/Fadia Nicolas over Kris Srinivasan/Frank Hohorst, 5-2 (Incomplete when the lights went out at 10pm)!  No Aces.  This one got started on Court Three at 9:44.

All the best,
Frank Samara
gtasamara5@gmail.com