Tuesday, September 25, 2007

3.5 Week Three recap

Flight A:The top teams here continued to roll as Gleneagles scored another good victory this time over a new and improved Westlake team and Oak Creek took care of biz over Chandler’s Landing. Canyon Creek had the week off but resumes play against High Point who scored a 5-0 win over Eldorado. Gleneagles will take on Oak Creek so in this flight there could be one unbeaten left depending on how the weekend goes. Should be some good matches. Westlake is the wildcard, the early loss hurt them but I think their roster is too good just to pack it in, I expect them to bounce back and try to get back into this race for the playoffs.

Flight B:Lifetime Kaiser is showing they are not the only Lifetime team that can win at 3.5 as they moved to 2-0 and are locked in with Garland and Brookhaven who knocked off previously unbeaten Hackberry (sorry if I cursed you all talking about how improved you were). I still think Hackberry will decide some outcomes, that loss to Brookhaven was very close and this Brookhaven team is a consistent winner at 3.5. No score post from the Garland/Stonebridge match which would definitely answer some questions to how good these two teams are.
Flight C:The two big unbeaten teams here continued to do well as Lifetime won two matches over the weekend taking out Springpark and Greenhill Lyon and take on my little team this coming Sunday. Please be nice to them Mark. Greenhill/Kayser’s team took out my team 4-1 in very convincing fashion, I wasn’t there but I heard they are looking very strong. I have only played against a few guys on that team but I know they can be tough and they have added some good players to build on their success from the Spring. Oakridge and Springpark are still creeping right below these two at 2-1 and have roster that can cause some trouble but the top two have depth unlike anything the rest of this flight can handle.

4.5 Update

Nothing too interesting there are two unbeaten teams in each flight so obviously it is up to them to hold their positions an they are in the playoffs.

Flight A:
Oak Creek/Branch and Canyon Creek/Wildberger look strong at 2-0 as Oak Creek Boverman lost a close won to Collin County. Looking at the other teams I don’t know if there is anyone who can challenge the top two here, any thoughts???

Flight B:
Fair Oaks continued rolling to 3-0 and stayed unbeaten along with Brookaven, these two won’t meet until November so it will be awhile to see who grabs first if these two stay on track. Waiting in the wings are LB Houston and Royal Oaks but both have losses to these teams so they will need some help.

Does anyone think this Fair Oaks team can contend with the Flight A teams? I have seen some of their guys and they were good at 4.0 but not dominant so I am wondering if they can hang with the Branch team in December.

4.0 Week Three Recap

Flight A:
So in the A flight the High Point teams continue to roll along although Somabut’s team gave a default and had a doubles match come down to a 3rd set tiebreaker. Looks like they enjoy living on the edge this season. The Giuhat team is hard to figure, they have a different lineup each week and just keep finding good combinations to win. LB Houston had yet to report their matchup with Hackberry which should have been interesting. Stonebridge and Canyon Creek moved to 2-1 with good wins this week and remain one loss behind with hopes of joining the top group soon. The remaining four teams (Brookhaven, Eldorado, Village and Greenhill 2) were probably eliminated from the playoffs this weekend. With only two getting in with 1 loss is just about guaranteed but with 2 or 3 you are in need of a some type of miracle. This weekend will decide a lot as the two High Point match up in a battle for 1st place supremacy and also LB Houston battles Stonebridge. So it is possible there will just be one unbeaten team after the weekend concludes. Best of luck to all of you sounds like some good matches, I will try and swing by after my match and catch the High Point battle, anyone know a time???

Flight B:
So the big three continued to roll along with the Lakes racking up individual wins left and right. Springpark and Greenhill also kept pace with good wins. Unlike flight A these undefeated teams don’t meet each other until 10/20 when the Lakes and Greenhill will tackle one another. So these flight will continue to be a wait and see as 6 teams already have two losses and the new Stonebriar takes on Greenhill this weekend so barring a big upset there this flight will really be lopsided. I think Stonebriar could pose some problems if they bring their best lineup. Ryan Caras is a strong player (former 3.5, yeah right) who can give some troubles to Greenhill in singles but he is also a strong doubles player along with Gaines. I can’t wait to see the result, I have to root for the former 3.5 guys to give this flight some intrigue and score the upset over Greenhill. GO SB!!

Flight C:
Hmmm. Somebody hasn’t posted their scores, no names but I think you can guess. I am really curious to know since I am playing them this Saturday. Ok no secrets it is Brad Bartlett’s team. Curious to know how the Garland rescheduled match is coming and also the JCC match. But for the scores we do know Lifetime Fitness has jumped to 3-0 with a close win over a previously undefeated T Bar team. A good win that further shows they one of the top teams in this flight but I do think they lack depth but they make up for it in quality of players at the top. Garland improved to 2-0 with one match pending, it was a close win over LB Houston which brought them back down to earth after their week 1 destruction of the Village. Brookhaven Pearlman got on the right track as they took out a Canyon Creek team that is falling on hard times. My team won 4-1 over the Village and improved to 2-1 to stay in the mix. I took on Michael Bebb at line #1 doubles (he beat me at 3.5 two years ago) and this time he beat me at 4.0, so in 2010 I hope to beat him at line #3 doubles at 4.5. Some interesting matches will be played this weekend including my team taking on Brad Bartlett’s group, I think the matchups will be interesting and more importantly should provide some direction for both of our teams. Garland and Lifetime have winnable matches but must continue to stay focused with bigger matches looming including my team v. Garland on 10/6. Lifetime won’t see another undefeated until November so they must stay consistent knowing they will have two tough matches to end the season.

Monday, September 24, 2007

Congrats to another Bob

Bob Somabut's 7.0 mixed doubles team won the Sectional tourney this weekend in Corpus Christi beating Austin 2-1 in the FINALS. Great job guys and way to represent Dallas and High Point Tennis Center (I am not biased or anything).

They will now advance to the National Mixed Tournament in November which I believe is in LAS VEGAS!!! Best of luck.

I am officially going to change my name to Bob or Bobby that seems to be a prerequisite for a Nationals trip.

Thursday, September 20, 2007

Seniors last weekend (Bender to Nats...again)

So Dallas had one representative finish strong last weekend. Bob Bender followed up his 3.0 Sectional win in August with another trip to Nationals with his 3.0 Senior Team. Congrats on a good year. I may have to create a 3.0 team just so you have some good competition.

Mixed Doubles Sectionals are this weekend so best of luck to the Dallas teams and hopefully we can have a few teams end up as winners.

Wednesday, September 19, 2007

4.0 Week Two Recap

Flight A:
So LB Houston looks to be cruising right along with another strong victory while Bob’s High Point team inched pass Canyon Creek. Brookhaven got back on track with a solid win over Eldorado. Stonebridge got their first win by beating the Village team . One match has not been reported and that is the other High Point team who played the other undefeated team (Hackberry) so it will be interesting to see the result of that match which should show who the 3rd contender in this flight is.

Flight B:
I got to see some of the Springpark match at High Point and they were rather dominant save although some of the matches were close especially singles. Springpark lost a few solid pieces from their sectional team of last Spring and although they are 2-0 I am not sure if they feel they are as strong as last season. The Lakes is showing that last season was no fluke even though they lost their captain and best player Mike Richardson they still are putting up good scores and are sitting at 2-0 with Springpark. Greenhill is also back on track to their old ways and make up the 2-0 trio in this flight. Greenhill doesn’t meet either team for awhile so they will have a chance to find their way so this race could get intriguing. There are four 1-1 teams and looking at their rosters compared to these top three teams I am not sure if they are experienced enough to make any noise and in this top 2 finisher league they 0-2 teams are in a win or go home format as of this weekend.

Flight C:I guess I underestimated T Bar as they shot up to 2-0 with two wins over former playoff teams. They are looking to be one of the most impressive teams in any flight so far. I could give you the rundown on our match with Lifetime Fitness but I would just get depressed. It all came down to line #2 doubles, my team was down a set and 2-5 and forced a 3rd set tiebreaker only to fall 10-5. They fought off a total of 10 match points in the 2nd and 3rd set but could not overcome a good serving Brandon Myers. Yosh a bump up for 3.5 looks very comfortable at 4.0 as well. No report on the Garland v. Brookhaven showdown, anyone know anything on this one?????? This match would show who would be joining the two undefeated teams. LB Houston got to 1-1 this week with a pretty good win over Canyon Creek. This flight is also looking stronger than expected as you look at two former playoff teams in the cellar.

3.5 Week Two Recap

Most all of the scores have been reported and here is what happened flight by flight.

Flight A:
So Canyon Creek and Gleneagles continued their winning ways. They may not have played any strong teams yet but have taken care of biz against the opponents in front of them. After Oak Creek’s big win last week they had a little letdown against JCC and just squeaked out a 3-2 win but they are still undefeated along with Westlake who I am guessing had a bye this week. High Point/Bowman got back on track with a 5-0 drubbing of the Lakes. I have to say looking at those top 5 teams that there will be a few good teams not heading to the playoffs this fall.

Flight B:
So Hackberry came up huge and knocked off Stonebridge 4-1 and all four wins were in straight sets so I guess Hackberry is for real. Garland slipped by LB Houston who may have taken a step back but did score a win over Jacques Delira at line#1 singles. Brookhaven started their season with a good win over LB Houston/Daly after having week 1 off. High Point/Forte got into the win column taking care of Stonebriar who joined the LB Houston teams at 0-2 at the bottom of the standings. I am curious with some of these close matches how much longer there will be an undefeated team in this flight. I have to say Hackberry is looking the most impressive so far, that win over Stonebridge was very strong and Garland’s wins were not nearly as impressive.

Flight C:
Greenhill is the only team at the top with 2 wins since Lifetime and Springpark have a make up match from last week. My team started off with a close win even with a default but we run into Greenhill this week and that will be a tough match. Springpark’s win over Oak Ridge was very strong and shows they are a force to be reckon with. I was impressed with Oak Creek 2nd team, they have a few very good players. I played our default singles line for fun and played Shaopeng Sun, I won 7-5, 6-3, he is a very tough player, he hits with pace on the forehand and has a good serve. I predict he will not lose this year. Too bad that doesn’t count towards my record then maybe I could play 3.5 in the Spring. Still interested to see how Lifetime does in this flight, a win over Canyon Creek doesn’t show that much but I will be interested to see how the makeup v. Springpark goes since they look to be strong as well.

Tuesday, September 11, 2007

3.5 Week one recap

So all but one 3.5 match has been recorded and there was definitely some interesting action out there this past weekend. My team had a bye so I gorged on Sunday brunch and then made friends with my couch and watched football but thanks to those of you who got out there and played 3.5 tennis and the wind and impending rain storm. Welcome back to Fall tennis in Dallas.

In Flight A there were two major thumpings done by Canyon Creek and Gleneagles who must have had plans in the early afternoon as they disposed of their opponents quickly or didn’t care for my comment about being “middle of the pack” teams. Westlake scored a close victory over Chandler’s Landing in a closer than expected match. Oak Creek scored a good upset over High Point and I have already taking some ribbing over my lock prediction on High Point. I can handle the ragging so bring it on. Any of you who have played me in the past know I can be obnoxious on the court so feel free to lash back. I love it!!

In Flight B Garland got off to a strong start with only a strong upset from Andrew Sutherland stopping the sweep. Lifetime Fitness and Stonebridge also scored big with opening weekend sweeps. Hackberry had the biggest win in the flight by taking out LB Houston that was not expected but Hackberry has shown promise in the past so who knows what they could do here.

In Flight C the new Oak Ridge announced their arrival with a 4-1 win followed up by Greenhill Kayser with an expected win and the Oak Creek B team taking advantage of some defaults to get a good win over Rick Lyon’s team. Lifetime Fitness had not posted when I went to press but I am thinking they won their match but as noted before I could be wrong. My team had a bye so don’t blame me for not posting a score.

I looked forward to starting with my team this coming week, hopefully we can make some noise in the C Flight.

Monday, September 10, 2007

Week 1 in 4.0 and 4.5

I would include the 3.5 teams in this recap as well but they are notoriously slow score posters so I will hold of until tomorrow.

4.5 :
As noted the Oak Creek teams got out to a quick start and looks like the top two teams from that Club are in the same flight and will get to battle it out for 1st place. In the other flight Brookhaven came out with a large win and the 3rd Oak Creek team was letdown by that player called DEFAULT, I hate that guy, he never wins any of his matches. Fair Oaks and LB Houston also scored strong wins (4-1). The upset was the aforementioned Oak Creek team that lost out to Royal Oaks who oddly enough was on the "not enough players signed up" email from Jane the day before roster deadline. Good win!!

4.0:
Flight A went according to plan with the favorites winning although Bob's team squeaked by 3-2 and threw in a default. Hmmm. Bob I would have scrapped my team and joined you (just kidding team, or am I?)

Flight B was headed up with the remainder of the Sectional wild card from Springpark starting off the season with a big 5-0 win. Steve Harrigan's team scored a strong victory as well as the Lakes who showed they are still a force to be reckoned with. The surprise may have been the brand new team out of Stonebriar, not to be confused with the Stonebridge teams, as they beat out an LB Houston team. They have some good 3.5 moveups and it will be interesting to see if they can make noise in this wide open flight.

Flight C (my flight)
It was nice to start off the season with a win. We clinched the match and then my match got pushed to a 3rd set tiebreaker, I would love to say we let up and could have won 4-1 but our opponents played well down the stretch and thanks for the ice cold beer. Pearlman's team still looked good I know he had some roster issues and we matched up well at singles so it turned out well for us. Lifetime Fitness took care of biz over the JCC team somewhat easily except for line 1 singles. Garland overpowered a Village team and had some very convincing singles wins.
Brookhaven/Bartlett represented the lone BH victory this weekend and it was a good one over a good LB Houston team.

Hard to get to excited or depressed over week one results but with only two slots in each flight a 2nd loss puts teams in a spot where it is no longer their destiny whether or not they advance.

4.5 Preview

As noted before I am not up on my 4.5 knowledge but another poster left this so feel free to comment:

Here is the 4.5 preview. It always comes down to Team Branch and Team Conway (I think this team is now Feldman)- unless their players decide to start tanking matches to keep some rating. I noticed this morning that they may have aleady started since Team Feldman already lost a match.

Tuesday, September 4, 2007

4.0 Fall Season Preview

4.0 Fall Preview

So I am happy to be back playing at 4.0. I appealed last time but decided not to this time even though it was a hard decision. I enjoyed playing 4.0 and even though my first two teams at 4.0 got off to rough starts I hope we have some bigger firepower this time around.

As I got the flight assignments they seem fairly even dispersed even though I ended up with two teams that made the DCC (BH/Bartlett and CC/Madison) as well as Burt Pearlman’s team who was in the QT but I think a tough regular season is invaluable, my 3.5 team last year was in an easier flight and it was hard to be ready for tough matches when you have been crushing teams in the regular season.

With that said I would have to say the toughest flight would be Flight C followed closely by Flight A and the wide open flight would be Flight B.

Flight C: As I mentioned there are 3 teams in this flight that advanced to the postseason last plus a good T Bar team and an LB Houston team that just missed out on the postseason in the Spring. Lifetime and Garland have some experienced players on their roster that should be tough and the same can be said for the Village. I am not familiar with the JCC team and luckily I don’t play them till towards the end of the season so I can scout a little better. Then there is my team, we will be awful so feel free to default two lines to give us a fighting chance. But seriously I feel good about my roster but after writing this paragraph I know every match will be contested but I am excited about that.

Flight A: Bob’s team is the clear cut favorite since he is bringing back just about everyone from his Texas runner-up team from Sectionals and if it wasn’t for an amazing team for Houston they would probably be preparing for Nationals. I think the other High Point team headed up by Adrian Giuhat will be a strong contender as well. I see a few other strong teams that should cause problems (Brookhaven, Greenhill and LB Houston). The remaining teams have some questions marks but have had some past success and could pose some problems for these top teams.

Flight B: Not to put pressure on the captains in this flight but if you would like to win this flight it is there for the taking. I do see Springpark as a clear favorite for the top spot but has lost a few players including one by a mind-blowing DQ at Sectionals, if anyone can explain that to me I would love to know what happened. After that I see Greenhill being a favorite but not overwhelmingly so which means these other teams that all carry at least one if not more 3.5 player have a chance to do well in this flight. Maybe I am just pulling for some of my High Point former teammates but I think Steve Harrigan’s team could be the one to break out of this flight.

Best of luck to all of you as we start our season this weekend.

See you on the courts…

Sunday, September 2, 2007

3.5 Fall Season Preview

3.5 Breakdown

There are 27 3.5 teams this fall vying for 6 spots in the City Playoffs at the end of November with a valuable prize on the line (automatic entry to next years City Championships).

After looking at the flight assignments I think these are strongest to weakest Flights: 1)B Flight 2)A Flight 3)C Flight

Flight B:
The favorites in the flight have to be Garland and Stonebridge. Both of these teams finished strong in the Spring and didn’t lose that many players at all. Garland was a sectional rep from Dallas and I believe only lost 1 maybe 2 players so they will be tough. Stonebridge made it to the QT last Spring and gave Garland a close match and is always strong at doubles. Very close behind is Brookhaven and LB Houston who gave my 3.5 Spring team last year some good matches and have both lost a few players but will still be strong contenders. The dark horse would be High Point who made it to the Fall playoffs last season but missed out on the Spring playoffs and will be looking to bounce back. Hackberry is an improving team as it LB Houston/Daly. The Lifetime team is a move up from 3.0 so I don’t know much about them but have had success at 3.0 so they are used to winning and Stonebriar although minus some good players were a few points away from being in the Fall finals a year ago so I would call this the Flight of DEATH. There are only 2 spots available in this flight for the playoffs and I think there will be a fight for both of them and I would be surprised if someone goes undefeated in this flight.

Flight A:
Not to be partial but my old High Point guys headed up by Trae Bowman and Leonard Hutchison are huge favorites in this flight. We did lose 5 players including myself to bump ups but we moved up our best players from the JV team from the Spring and should be very strong. The other contenders will be Oak Creek although they will be hard pressed to duplicate past success with so many players gone to 4.0. Westlake although a new team looks to have swallowed up some players from neighboring teams and looks to be strong. Gleneagles and Canyon Creek would be in the next tier of favorites but are always a player or two from being a top team to a middle of the pack team.

Flight C:
Lifetime Fitness is a clear cut favorite in this flight but after that I don’t see a team that stands out. Either Greenhill team has a shot and the new Oak Ridge team made up of tournament dwellers could have success. My team in this flight is very new to league tennis so be kind to them and feel free to send out your weakest lineups to give us a chance. (he, he :)) I wish I could give you a rundown on my team but I have a lot of new people as I mentioned so I expect every match to be close. If I had to put money down for that 2nd spot I guess I would go with Kayser’s team but who knows???

As far as my prediction for the playoffs I see Lifetime doing well as well as Garland and Trae’s High Point guys but I am sure there will be a up and coming team that will make some noise. I cannot wait for this Sunday to see how week 1 goes.