So 4.5 Nats is underway as of this morning. Noho has a strong team that has two big guns at the top, how good are their chances?
I would have to think pretty good. They have Midwest, Pac. NW and the Caribbean in their flight so I see them playing some Sunday tennis but predicting two wins on Sunday is a toss up. Do they have a doubles team that can get an automatic point?
I wish them the best.
I would think that the team that beat Walt and Chris would be a fairly easy point for them, but I know how the competition at Nationals can be. 5.5s vs. 5.0s.
ReplyDeleteNOHO lost first match to Caribbean 3-2
ReplyDeleteWon both singles easily then lost all 3 doubles in straights.
also appears the Southern team, with their singles ringer somehow back after a Dynamic DQ after Southern Sectionals will be the team to beat alongside what appears to be a super strong Caribbean team.
ReplyDeleteThe MO Valley team is unusually strong this year. They will be competitive. They have plenty of guys that are.... way out of 4.5.
ReplyDeleteI noticed on the Mo. Valley team Josiah Daniel, is this the same Josiah Daniel from Highland Park, circa 1997?
ReplyDeleteThat would be the same Josiah Daniel. I do not know him but yes, he is the same. I suspect he is pretty good.
ReplyDeleteSome of those players I do not know but of the ones I know they have some guys that should fit right in at 4.5 Nationals. They may not win it all but they have some horses.
Kevin Hill was a top level Division II player. I think he made the semi-finals or finals of DII nationals. He played for Central Oklahoma when it was Central State University. He is about 40ish now but he is a really strong player. He is a 6'4"ish S&V player which will make him quite a formidable doubles player. He was the best player in Oklahoma from about 1988 until 1995 (when I moved so I don't know after that but he doesn't suck).
David Box is older as well but he played for Oklahoma. This guy has uncanny touch.
Tien Nguyen played some for Oklahoma. He was a spare Division I player but he did play Division I. In the early 90s, he and his partner were usually ranked number 1 in the state in Open Doubles. That was at a time when results mattered more than number of tournaments played. Also, at that time, tournaments had better participation than league.
Tim Ritchie was an all out stud. He is older now as well but he should be a very strong doubles player.
I think Trey Welker is related to Wes Welker of the New England Patriots. Wes is from OKC and attended a private school that is a traditional tennis powerhouse but I do not know him.
Elton Jenkins played Division II at Central State and was very successful as well. He is probably about 35 and very capable of competing in either singles or doubles.
Paz and Daniel are young guys that should not be able to self rate at 4.5 due to college experience. Paz is really strong. They are young and with their experience, they are strong in doubles. As I said, I don't knwo Daniel but maybe you can expand on him.
The computer self-rate system will definitely allow more. In OKC, all tennis players know all tennis players and the visual verifiers could easily say no to these players. The computer actually works better in really large cities but the visual verifiers are usually already familiar with everyone in the small cities.
MO Valley usually sends cannon fodder to Nats but when I saw this roster I knew they would be very competitive (not necessarily a winner but obviously not embarassing themselves). Last years roster was actually stronger but they were unable to get their best 8 (or 12 for that matter) to Sectionals. They lost but now added a few pieces and look capable of getting to Sunday.
Josiah played at Sewanee (DIII) so he would fit as a 4.5, but he is a very good player, had some good battles with him back in Juniors.
ReplyDeletesounds like a pretty solid team overall.
Mo valley team had some other guys that fowler tried to get on the team but couldn't, so I guess they had to let some of the "weaker" ones still play. At least if they win it they will be more legit than roger's 4.0 team that won in 2004!!
ReplyDeleteMO Valley made it to the semi- finals.
ReplyDeleteI see the mid atlantic team was renamed apifunds.com is that some type of sponsor, how does that work for a team? I hear others do that did any TX teams get sponsors, condomstogo.com maybe?
ReplyDeleteI am sure the Southern, who is in the Finals now would easily get sponsored by "Cheaters" TV Show.
ReplyDeleteThey play the MO Valley team that was broken down up above. Whoever that anon is knows tennis/nationals and that roster. I have heard numerous times how such and such team will do well and then they get beaten or go 1-2 in their flight. I take the ...hey this team is good with a grain of salt.
ReplyDeleteSouthern cruised 5-0 led by their dominating Singles Duo.
ReplyDeletei have to credit okc, they really did do it with a local roster and some guys that had played for quite a while at that level, as well as with some of the proverbial ringers, ;)
ReplyDeletemlk
Hacker,
ReplyDeleteMaybe this will give you a hint and a chuckle, The Baton Rouge team was my 5.0 team in 99, and 4 of us got DQ'd at sectionals that year!
old school
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