Week 6 update

New 4.5 Rankings:

1.      Lifetime 6&0 – Take down Royal Oaks last week! Only Brookhaven/ Harlee remaining with their tricky doubles lineups…. With Lifetime’s solid singles look for the 3-2 win and to lock-up a great regular season and Cities berth.

2.      HP/ Somabut 6&0 – Cement themselves as a force with a clutch win over a tough Lakes Lineup definitely the surprise team of the season so far!  Only the last place LB Houston team remain ahead this week

3.      GlenEagles 5&1 – another 5-0 win last week!  Technically an elimination match this week against Greenhill but I expect a 4-1 or 5-0 win for GlenEagles

4.      Lakes / Way 5&1 – Lost to Somabut this past weekend and have an elimination match this week against TBar

5.      Royal Oaks 4&2 – The comfort of that Fall victory and automatic berth into QT makes their regular season somewhat irrelevant but were considered contenders to win this flight and now have 2 losses…… it’s “tough sledding” getting through QT AND Cities! Still a huge threat in the play-offs with great depth of talent & experience

6.      Village 6&0 – Another week and another Village win.  Must beat 3^rd place DFW Hilton this week to clinch spot in Cities.  That shouldn’t be too tough. 

7.      Oak Creek 6&0 – Finally a convincing win (albeit against a team of 4.0s)  Last match vs SpringPark should be a formality 

8.      Garland 4&1 – Thanks to Lifetime beating Royal Oaks now have QT spot locked up assuming they can take 3 wins off each of Hackberry & Lakes/ Peterson – outside shot at Cities if Brookhaven/ Harlee beat Lifetime and Garland win all 10 remaining lines…..

9.      TBar 5&1 – Another close win and now an elimination match this week against Lakes will determine who goes to the QT

10.  JCC 5&1 – Looking to pounce on the Cities spot if Village slip up against DFW

11.  Brookhaven/ Harlee 4&2 – Final match vs Lifetime may impact play-offs if they can pull out the upset.  Technically still in with a remote shot at making the play-offs but need a lot of help

Dropped from rankings (ie irrelevant) Brookhaven/ Bartlett – sorry lads….. will the Brookhaven teams now start talking about combining their best players to create A & B teams next season?

Likely QT teams:

·         Royal Oaks (Fall winner)

·         Garland (Flight A)

·         GlenEagles (Flight B)

·         JCC (Flight C)

·         TBar or Lakes (Flight D)

Cities:

·         QT winner (GlenEagles/ Royal Oaks?)

·         Lifetime (Flight A)

·         Oak Creek (Flight B)

·         Village (Flight C)

·         Somabut (Flight D)

5.0 update:

Not much to report with some scores still to be posted.  The Fair Oaks vs Village (postponed due to Mothers Day) & Fair Oaks vs Greenhill marquee matches will take place in the next few weeks and these will determine the play-off teams with GlenEagles on 2 losses now on the outside loooking in and needing help.  They may sneak into the picture if Fair Oaks are able to beat both Village and Greenhill but that will be tough as Village in particular are heavily motivated to win out in order to make the play-offs.

Hit 'em hard; hit 'em in and call them fair!

Week 5 update - 4.5 rankings

1.      Lakes / Way 5&0 – Still to play TBar & Somabut…..

2.      Lifetime 5&0 – Easy win over the Hack; Still have Brookhaven & Royal Oaks to play

3.      Royal Oaks 4&1 – Lifetime this week which will go a long way to determining if a third team from this flight goes to the playoffs

4.      HP/ Somabut 5&0 – Thumped Brookhaven’s interesting lineup and only have the Lakes ahead – definitely the surprise team of the season so far!

5.      GlenEagles 4&1 – since their week 1 slip-up they are starting to look like play-off contenders again

6.      Village 5&0 – Well we have to take these guys seriously now.  Solid 4-1 win over a good JCC lineup.  They now have the inside lane to Cities and should finish first in their flight – biggest mover of the week  up from #12 last week

7.      Oak Creek 5&0 – Very close win over an average Greenhill team.  Scratching out 3-2 wins pales in comparison to GlenEagles blowing out everyone 5-0  

8.      Garland 3&1 – Essentially eliminated Brookhaven from playoff contention with a 4-1 win although 2 of those were in 3^rd sets.  Now need some convincing wins to get the edge in tie-breakers in case Lifetime lose to Royal Oaks and all 3 end with 1 loss

9.      TBar 4&1 – Another win, albeit a close one.  Still to play Brookhaven & Lakes

10.  JCC 4&1 – surprising loss to the Village and really it wasn’t very close.  Should still be a lock for QT but I guess the other teams are taking these guys more seriously after their great fall and start to this season

11.  Brookhaven/ Bartlett 3&2 – Without some of their key players and a with another interesting lineup these guys are now all but eliminated from play-off contention despite a deep and talented roster and still have a motivated TBar team to play - biggest drop of the week down from #4 last week

12.  Brookhaven/ Harlee 3&2 – Once again lost both singles lines despite signing up Hall who may be one of their better singles players of recent seasons.  A little late unfortunately and they are now unlikely to see play-off action

Week 4 update 4.5 & 5.0

New 4.5 rankings

1.      Lakes / Way 4&0 – nice win over Brookhaven; Blake Wittaker was the hero with a big comeback to clinch it; Still to play TBar & Somabut though

2.      Lifetime 4&0 – Featherstone & Hill continue to dominate at singles; Still have Brookhaven & Royal Oaks to play

3.      Royal Oaks 3&1 – field 8 different guys to last week but still not their best lineup; as expected they roll through singles; Lifetime looms large as the remaining obstacle but getting everyone qualified will be the focus in the other 2 remaining weeks

4.      Brookhaven/ Bartlett 3&1 – Still to play Somabut & TBar their playoff chances just took a huge hit.  duToit not being available for the Lakes was a big blow; expect a 3-2 bounce-back win this week against Somabut – should sweep singles

5.      Oak Creek 4 & 0 – top of the table clash this week vs Greenhill/ Allen; expect a comfortable win for Oak Creek to show just how week this flight is

6.      JCC 4 & 0 – showdown vs Village this week; expect another convincing win for JCC in probably the weakest flight

7.      HP/ Somabut 4 & 0 – continue to cruise but still have big matches against Brookhaven (this week) & Lakes ahead

8.      GlenEagles 3 &1 – expect them to continue crushing the remaining teams on their schedule until QT

9.      Garland 2&1 – convincing win over McKinney; need Andy Xu to find his form if this team is to be a factor in the playoffs (if they make it of course!) – big match this weekend against Brookhaven/ Harlee

10.  TBar 3&1 – Beat Greenhill 3-2 and continue their fight-back after underestimating Somabut in week 1.  Still to play Brookhaven & Lakes

11.  Brookhaven/ Harlee 3&1 – loss to Royal Oaks highlights this teams deficiencies at singles and that 3^rd  line is just not strong enough to sweep dubs every week against the stronger, deeper teams.  Big match this week vs Garland

12.  Village 4&0 – QT pretty much locked up but will have a few weeks to lick their wounds after JCC beat them this week

5.0 update

On the 5.0 front there were no surprises last week but there are 2 clashes of significance this week.  Fair Oaks vs Village & Greenhill vs GlenEagles.  Expect GlenEagles & the Village to bring out their guns as a second loss for either severly threatens their playoff chances.  With these matches being on Mother's Day, however, we may see some postponements as teams jockey to get their best players available.....

Hit 'em hard; hit 'em in and call them fair!

4.5/ 5.0 update Week 3

Some interesting developments so let’s do this in 3 parts:

PART 1: Week 3 key matches at 4.5

Brookhaven/ Bartlett vs Lakes/ Way

I doubt Lakes can win a singles line so they will need to sweep dubs which will be tough.  Likely matchups:

Singles 1: Paul du Toit vs Blake Whitaker – Brookhaven wins straight sets

Singles 2: Billy Roberts vs Matt Fanhauser/ Mike Richardson/ Ed Vercelli – Brookhaven wins straight sets

Dubs 1: Ellis & Myers vs Oberg & Pollock – Lakes in very close 3^rd set breaker

Dubs 2: Roger Anderson & Andy Ludwig vs Welwood & Jannesh – Lakes in close 3^rd set breaker

Dubs 3: Jeff Williams & Todd Feldman vs Fess & Sinclair – Brookhaven wins in straight sets

Brookhaven takes it 3-2

Royal Oaks vs Brookhaven/ Harlee

Likely matchups (this one is more tricky):

Singles 1: Molina vs Dave Wittington – Royal Oaks wins

Singles 2: Shawn Wooley vs Tom Adcock – Royal Oaks wins

Dubs 1: Adam Webb & Nathan Lawrence vs LaSelle & Ramos – Brookhaven wins

Dubs 2: Craig Bell & Jason Moore vs Yermakov & Boissevain – Royal Oaks wins in 3^rd set breaker

Dubs 3: Vogl & Durten vs Chris Ryan & Malcolm Renwick – Royal Oaks wins

Royal Oaks wins 4-1

(A little birdy told me Bailin may be out of town…..)

PART 2: 5.0 update

There are now 4 power teams!  There is a war this season for the sectionals berth.  Some great tennis is out there for those that are interested in the real thing – FOR FREE!  Fair Oaks have some strong players and on Sunday Stitt and Schuldberg put on a doubles clinic!  Culley of GlenEagles shows week in and week out why their 4.5 team will be a factor every week.  That guy is a strong 5.0 forget 4.5…..

Greenhill have the playoff spot locked up thanks to a win in the fall but are hard-pressed to keep pace and the Village team are always tough.  One of these 4 teams won’t be in the playoffs (if I understand the format correctly – top 2 plus fall winner?) at this stage that looks to be either Village or GlenEagles. 

PART 3: new 4.5 rankings

1. Brookhaven/ Bartlett 3 & 0 - dominant so far – Lakes this week is first real test
2. Lakes/ Way 3 & 0 – cruising but likely to see their lack of depth (depth doesn’t mean having a big roster it means fielding 5 strong lines!) come up short vs BHaven this week
3. Lifetime 3 & 0 – Featherstone & Hill are dominant at singles but they need to see the big Swede start winning if they are to be a real factor against Brookhaven’s strong dubs later this season
4. Royal Oaks 2 & 1 – big loss to Garland keeps Garland alive but these guys have a QT spot locked up and didn’t have their best 8 available
5. Oak Creek 3 & 0 - Their toughest match is behind them - cruisin towards Cities
6. JCC 3 & 0 - cruising through a weak flight; 5/12 vs Village will be their only test
7. GlenEagles 2 & 1 – After further reflection I don’t know where they get their 3^rd win from at QT or Cities?  Culley & Fair are almost guaranteed as are Brownlee and Brown but then what?
8. Somabat 3 & 0 – 1 more easy week and then the fun starts: still have Bartlett & Lakes ahead
9. Brookhaven/ Harlee 3 & 0 - haven't played anyone yet but short at singles
10. TBar 2 & 1 – getting back on track but still have Bartlett & Lakes ahead
11. Garland 1 & 1 – bounceback win vs Royal Oaks keeps them alive and ranked but now must get back in race with some dominant wins over weaker teams

Dropped from rankings: Village after losing to Fair Oaks

Honorable mentions: Greenhill/ Allen & Fair Oaks both at 3 & 0 but the real opponents still lie ahead