Sunday, April 27, 2008

4.0 Week 2

So not much interesting going on in Flight A, T Bar and HP racked up a couple of more wins along with LB Houston. TBar and LB Houston don't play until the final match of the season, zzzzzzzzzzz this flight makes me want to take a nap.

Flight B
Lakes and BH/Helterbrann moved to 2-0 to hang out at the top of this flight, they don't meet until June so we will have to see if they both stay unscathed until then. High Point and Garland got wins to even up their record and stay in contention with the top two. No interesting matchups next week except for maybe High Pt. v. Springpark which could decide who will make a push to catch the top two teams.

Flight C
Wow. LB Houston/Jones is at the top of this flight, does anyone know anything about this team other than the fact they knocked Bartlett's fall playoff team to the cellar with their 4-1 win. JCC wins to go to 2-0 and Canyon Creek is also 2-0 in this flight. This flight is getting very interesting and will get even better as this new LB team takes on Greenhill on Sunday. They knocked BH to the bottom and if they hand a 2nd loss to Arnette's supposed top 5 team we are going to have a playoff makeup that nobody expected.

Flight D
Not sure the backstory of the supposed "upset" in the Springpark v. Stonebriar match. Any info would be appreciated. I find it odd it was entered by Springpark and they didn't notice they posted a loss for themselves, but mistakes happen. We will wait and see. Either way they opted to rest their big guns and had some really close results yet again. My team had a very close match and dropped after going up 2-1 we lost a 3rd set tibreaker and then preceded to lose another and Stonebridge got the win. Pearlman's team rolled as did LB Houston to stay towards the top.

3.5 Week in review

Not much to report here, the winners won and losers lost even more matches.

The one shocker was Westlake losing to CC/Carman. Have they given up hope, I am not saying they were big favs in this flight but I thought 3rd place was their's for the taking in this flight.

Someone noted the HP/Jameson singles looked weak and I would have to agree, no knock against the Lifetime team but those two players didn't have great stats but I know they have some past winning experience at 3.0.

So what are the big matchups next week? Flight B should get interesting this weekend as there are a lot of undefeated teams but that has to change soon.

Flight C
Lifetime v. Oakridge, hmm. Things are about to get intersting. I will do some polls tomorrow or Tuesday but I got an early morning so I am headed to bed.

4.5 Week in Review

Flight B
Village/Noel was able to win a tough match over Brookhaven although Hiram got blasted at line 1. Every other match went to the Village in straight sets

T Bar remained undefeated as well with a 3-2 over first week winner Collin County.

High Pt joined the winning ranks with a win. Next week they are playing the Village, should be a good one.

Flight A
Not all scores in quite yet but GH/Stoner, Branch and OC/Feldman remain 2-0 so far this season.

Stoner's team puts their 2-0 record on the line next Saturday against Branch, should be a good one.

Monday, April 21, 2008

3.5 Week Two Recap

Flight A
Garland took out Fretz to stay undefeated but the supposed good match between High Point and Westlake turned out to be a route at High Point swept a solid Westlake team. Canyon Creek/Carman also remained undefeated but will step up in the competition level this week against Westlake so there may just be two undefeated teams by this time next week.

Flight B
So a few good matches this weekend as Canyon Creek/Jolly took out Gleneagles in a close match to remain undefeated along with Stonebridge and Greenhill/Kayser who took out a solid LB Houston team. These three don’t play each for a little while so they will have to try and stay perfect in the meantime.

Flight C
The smack talk seemed to culminate in a rather good match between Oak Creek and Oakridge with Marc Klamecki taking out Molina at line 1 singles in what looked like a good match. Lifetime Fitness and Brookhaven also stayed undefeated in this very tough flight where there should be good matches just about every week.

4.0 Opening weekend

Flight A
The only highlight was the HP v. Lifetime match which did not go as the polls predicted with Lifetime actually grabbing two lines. Great win by Eddie Hill. I have seen Blumberg play and he is good but maybe too young to play in tough matches quite yet but he has time before the playoffs to get ready. T Bar dominated and I would like to see them play Lifetime or HP to see how they stack up.

Flight B
Springpark/Doyle had a good win this week along with Oak Creek. The marquee matchups turned out to be OK. The Brookhaven win over the Village had some lopsided individual results and I was surprised to see Rammo go down so easy but Sestak is a good singles player. The Lakes saved me from listening to Big John this week as they used a lineup of mostly downgraded 4.5 players to take out Garland somewhat easily. As I noted in a comment they did well and they did not put out their best lineup. I know Garland didn’t either which is unfortunate since this could have been a great first week match.

Flight C
The only real big upset of the weekend happened here as Canyon Creek beat Arnette’s Greenhill team but losing both singles and taking all the doubles matches. WOW! I knew Canyon Creek would contend but that was a shocking result to me.

Flight D
Only two matches reported my match and Springpark’s score. We did alright yesterday against Eldorado, a few jittery moments but we pulled it out. I guess Ratana was healthy enough to play or was that just a rumor. LB sacrificed at line 1 singles maybe fearing McGowan or Davis would be there but Walker did score a straight set victory over Pearson which was impressive. The doubles all went to 3rd set tiebreakers and Springpark won each and every one of them. Sounds like they had a tough match.

4.5 2nd week

Flight A
Branch scored a good win over Springpark and Feldman’s OC team won the big matchup of the week and took out Royal Oaks.

Flight B
The first week of matches in this flight as the Village, T Bar, Brookhaven and Collin County all got convincing first week victories. The Collin County win very impressive over an improved roster at High Point.

Tuesday, April 15, 2008

Good 3.5 early season matches

I figured I would put you talkative 3.5's at the top of the page this week.

Gleneagles v. Canyon Creek
Two mid level teams trying to jump up the top. I like CC but it will be a good match as it usually is when these two get together.

LB/Wisdom v. GH/Kayser
Wisdom's group started out well but now plays a really good team. Singles will be interesting to watch because if LB can take both I think they might be able to grab one doubles match and head to the top of this flight.

HP/Jameson v. Westlake
Two of the first week winners face off and they are both favs in this flight so the winner will be the one to chase. High Point will have to work for this one but they should come out OK.

Oak Creek v. Oakridge
Crusty v. Crustier. Someone send me the time of this one, it might be worth coming out to see. Last time they met was in the playoffs and Oak Creek won the match. I have a feeling we will see a similar result but I think it might comedown to the Marc v. Enrique match up. Should be fun.

Good 4.0 early season matches

Lifetime v. High Point
Not that Somabut's team needs to win but Lifetime will be one of the only teams in this flight that could even hold their tennis bag so I expect some good matches. Lifetime obviously would like to start out with a win.

BH/Helterbrann v. Village/Johnson
I think both of these teams are a little bit of a mystery so I am curious to see how they perform against one another. With few playoffs spots to go around the winner puts themselves in a good spot to get on a roll.

Canyon Creek v. Greenhill
Arnette's group as talked about before should be in the playoffs but this Canyon Creek team has talent and has been to the post season before as well. I like Greenhill but it should be close.

Springpark v. LB/Spagnola
Obviously since this is my flight I will be very curious about this result but I am interested to see how the likes of Ratana, Griffin, Allen and Walker stack up against the Springpark super team. I don't think LB has the depth but they could win 3 lines if it falls out right.

Garland v. Lakes
This should show who will lead the way in this flight. I know Garland hangs out in the blog and talk a lot but I just don't see how they can hang with this Lakes roster. They were the runner up to Somabut's team in the Fall and didn't lose any players but added players to an already good roster.

Good 4.5 early season matches

OC/ Feldman v. Royal Oaks
Two solid teams match up to see who will start at the top.

Springpark v. Branch
Obviously Branch would be a fav but an early upset might make Springpark a player in this flight.

Village v. DFW
DFW had some good additions but not sure if they are good enough to hang with Corey's group.

T Bar v. OC/Bovermann
I think this might be the best match. Bovermann has a good group of players to choose from against a good T Bar team.

Thursday, April 10, 2008

Word of Caution as we begin season

Austin started their league about a month ago and they already have two DQ's at 4.0. The first one was your run of the mill DQ with Dennis McWilliams a self rated player dropping one too many bagels on his various opponents although some were 3.5 players yet those seemed to still affect his eventual DQ.

The interesting DQ was of Adrian Montanez who had a rating from playing Mixed Doubles and played tournaments at the open level and did well (sound familiar?). He seems to have been DQ'ed with only two strikes.

http://austintennis.blogspot.com/2008/04/ut-men-travel-to-baylor.html


Has the USTA changed their equation a little bit to catch more people? They have talked about changes and it looks like they might have made some changes but just left us out of the loop probably with good reason. I think the overall change may be that EVERYONE is being looked at not just players with a brand new self rate.

It will be interesting to see what happens here in Dallas as well as other areas. FW seems unscathed so far but have been pretty good in the past so that isn't a surprise.

Wednesday, April 2, 2008

4.5 Spring Preview

Flight A

Favorite since 2002:
OC/Branch and no reason to bet against them now. Their hurdle will be at sectionals to see if they can compete with the likes of Austin and Houston but they shouldn’t look ahead too far since there are a couple of Dallas teams that will give them problems.

Contenders:
Greenhill-I like this group with Berg, Romerhous, Griggs but they finished middle of the road in the fall will have to wait and see if some of these new names will push them up towards the top.
OC/Feldman-very close to getting to the fall playoffs and they should get there this time if things fall right for them.

Need some help
Springpark-not a bad collection of players but not sure if they are top flight material at this level.
Royal Oaks-had a good run in the fall but most thought it was a fluke, so far only have 8 players listed, so maybe they have some surprises or they are just shorthanded. I am free some Saturdays if you need someone to take a dive at line 1 singles.

Flight B

Favorites:
Noel’s Village team had a good showing and didn’t lose any weapons so they should be expected to do well.
T Bar: Also had a good fall season and returns some good players to make a solid run at winning this flight and possibly the whole league.

Contenders
Brookhaven: good collection of talent with Yuri and Malcom always tough to beat.
High Point: Martin has a good collection of players and will be tough but don’t see any top line players to guarantee wins but they will be a lot more competitive this season.

Need some help
Both Oak Creek teams
are borderline I believe although I like Bovermann’s team better than Juhn. It is tough when the top OC players are with Branch but usually one of these teams finishes towards to the top just not sure which one.

4.0 Spring Preview

Flight A
Fall Wild Card Winner-HP/Somabut: They should win this flight even if they aren’t giving 100%. I really like their team but for them it will be hard to stay awake during the regular season and be ready for some tough teams that hope the push them for sectional spots.

Favorite
Lifetime-
I like them as a solid top finisher but right now they have 10 players signed up and that will be tough. But I think they will add a few more and grab the top spot behind High Point.

Contenders
T Bar: A consistent team that should be able to do well in this flight, I like them to finish right behind HP if Lifetime falters at all

Need some help:
LB Houston: I like this team to be a surprise and possibly push Lifetime and T Bar for a playoff spot.

Flight B
From top to bottom this is a very tough flight on paper OC or Springpark would be the weakest but those are very good rosters.

Favorites
Lakes: They have to be the favorite since they didn’t lose anyone from the fall and gained Mike Richardson they will be very tough.
Garland: strong up top with Russell, Sierp and Mckinney and solid dubs players Singh and Gervelis should serve them well. Don’t sleep on this team they will be tough.

Contenders
Brookhaven: With Mattes and Helterbrann at the top they will be tough, it all depends on the rest of the roster to how far they can go.
Village: They have stacked this team 18 players deep and although none are standouts I don’t see any weak links so expect a tough match each time out.

Need some help
HP/Harrison-Combines with Giuhat’s team to form a combo of new 4.0 players and tough veteran players like Taketomi, Schijo and Stevens. They will not go down easy.

Flight C

Favorites:
BH/Bartlett
-hard to go against this team which has become a playoff regular. They did not fair well in the Senior playoffs which they won last year but I think that only gets them more fired up.
Greenhill-John has amassed his best talent back to one big monster team. Pretty deep with talent at the top like Durand, Windham, Ryan, Lynes, Contreras and steady players like Sline and Hagen.

Contenders:
Canyon Creek-Madison and Talluri could lead this team to some good wins if the rest of the group can step up.
Hackberry-Utas and Ellis could do the same for this Hackberry group and they might just mess things up for the big two at the top.

Need some help:
JCC-I saw this team in person last Fall and they were pretty solid and one or two players away from being really strong. Steinberg and Liebermann are a strong team together and Elovitz is a tough player at singles.
Eldorado-Consistent group but not sure they have enough to rise to the top. Jim Jeffcoat on the roster, is that the defensive linemen from the Cowboys super bowl team??? That would be awesome if we had a mini celebrity in our league. Matthew Perry once played in our So. California 4.0 league but he didn’t play that much since he was trying to get into Jennifer Capriati’s pants at the time. (But I digress)


Flight D

Favorite
Ok so they have been talked about enough there is no way not to list Springpark here at the top and many have them picking up the nationals trophy in September. Davis, Rasor and McGowan along with Lazarine, Walters, Pearson. OK I just list their whole roster which really doesn’t have weaknesses but they do have to show up and actually win these matches.

Contenders
BH/Pearlman-Burt finds a way to get to the playoffs a lot lately so why bet against him especially since he has the entire Renwick family on the team including 19 yr old Jonathan. Mel Parekh should help them up top as well since they lacked some singles talent in the past. Still waiting to see if Kyle Rhodes pops up on this roster. His addition would make them a real threat to Springpark.

LB Houston: Hicks, Ratana, Allen, Griffin and Burton could push this team to be very good but the remaining players on this roster will have to step up and support that top half of the roster

Need some help
Stonebridge-Perennial playoff team will struggle in this flight I believe due to lack of singles. Rumor has it Ruiz will not return to the team so they are on the hunt for help at the top but still will be a threat every week.

Who knows?
High Point/Bazan-
This team is just awful, they shouldn’t even let them in the league. I will play line 1 singles most of the time and we plan on defaulting at least a match or two each week so please be nice to us.

3.5 Spring Preview

Flight A
Fall Winner Wild Card: Garland: lost Oberto and Cocoran which will hurt but Delira is still around. New addition Delarosa I am sure will help a little at singles. Fun fact: last time Garland was the wild card (2005) they finished 3rd out of 5 teams at the DCC.

Favorite:
HP/Jameson: stacked with talent should come out on top (Jameson, Wiley, Jauregi, Parekh, Chan, Harrison, Atlas, Zhao and new addition Garudadri) I like this team to finish on top

Contender:
Westlake reformed with some additions should be pretty solid for the regular season

Need some help:
Lakes and Springpark. Might do OK but top three teams are just too good.

Flight B
Favorites:
CC/Jolly w/ or w/o Reitzer. They have been so close of late and I think this season they will break through to the playoffs
Stonebridge: still looking good, no losses from the fall team but don’t see any new blood

Contenders
GH/Kayser: Like these guys, have Sims back but no Fraser, that will hurt unless they have a good replacement
LB Houston: borderline team couple of strong players like Zach and Roger should help them stay alive in a deep flight

Need some help:
Stonebriar could surprise if they play well and have some help from new players
Gleneagles-will be on the playoff edge yet again

Flight C
Favorites
Lifetime: I like this group a lot with a deep and steady roster, no Eddie Hill but Blackburn has stepped up his singles game and they will need it because their singles play will be their weakness much like the fall season but they will be tough to beat in doubles. New addition Jonathan Marcus might just change the top seed in this flight
Oakridge: Oops missed out on Jonathan Marcus but they will still be good but they could use a big gun at singles to help out Molina because they seem to be flexible as a team playing singles and doubles but when Prather or Radcliffe have to move up and win singles their doubles teams suffer

Contenders
CC/Bender: pretty solid team, not going to crush anyone but will not get crushed either
Oak Creek: I like this core group but they did lost their line 1 doubles from the Fall which was always good for a win even when separated.

Need some help
Brookhaven: always steady but not breaking new ground with this roster, maybe some late additions could boost them back up to the top where they used to be all the time.