Wednesday, August 28, 2013

40 & Over - Sectional Preview



Before the blog becomes too stale, I figured the next thing on the horizon worth commenting on is the upcoming Sectionals for 40 and over.  This should be a great weekend down in San Antonio, with both Men’s and Women’s teams at levels 3.5, 4.0, and 4.5+ traveling.  My guess is the Riverwalk Marriot will be one hopping place on Saturday night.

What I like about the 40 and over league is that it really does sift out a lot of the riff raff you see in 18+ and over.  There are no self-rates, and no young ringers.  Pretty much the playing field is level with everyone playing where they are supposed to be.  And whoever the psyco is with the obsession of Kelly, 4.5 is a 4.5+ league, allowing 5.0 players, so don’t pollute the blog with your Kelly rantings.

So here is the low down for the weekend:

3.5 Men
Keith Clark’s team is representing Dallas, and should represent well.  His team is comprised of many of the players he had on his 18+ team that reached the semi-finals at Sectionals, only falling to Freeman’s Houston team.  Clark’s team will need to be juiced and ready to go out of the gates, as they face Houston first thing at 7:00 A.M Friday morning, followed by playing Wild San Antonio  at 11:30 A.M. 

The good news is that this is a different Houston team, and only one player on their roster played on Freeman’s 18 and over Sectional team.  The fact that Clark took 2 out of the 3 doubles lines, and the dubs they did drop were  to self-rates, I like their odds.  Wild San Antonio is a  bit of a different story.  Their team is mainly comprised of players that also played 18 and over.  While their team was undefeated in flight play, they went 0-3 in City Playoffs and did not make the trip to Sectionals.   If Dallas wins both matches on Friday, they should be playing in the finals on Sunday morning.

4.0 Men
Greg Wiley’s team is representing Dallas, with Tom Peterson’s team representing Dallas Wild. Wiley has an impressive roster with top players from Le’s and Sisk’s teams with a few other of his Garland and Lifetime buddies..  Wiley’s team was not that fortunate with the draw, getting Wild Houston in their flight.  Unfortunately, Wild Houston is rostered with several players that played on Freeman’s 18 and over team that thumped everyone in Sectionals just weeks ago.  The good news is, the other 2 teams in his flight are not that strong, and should be good warm up matches before their showdown which is on Saturday at 11:30 A.M.  If Wiley gets past Houston, I like their chances to go all the way.

Peterson was a little bit luckier and has Midland, Amarillo, and San Antonio in their flight.  This is a solid team, but a bit of an eclectic collection of players that looks primarily like a merger of  Lakes players (some who defected to Garland and others who didn’t) with Klamecki’s Wagon Wheel team, graced with  the presence of Ohl & Beers  from Greenhill.  Outside of Klamecki being on the team, I see no reason they don’t win their flight easily, with perhaps a little bit of a fight with S.A.  While I haven’t had time (nor the energy or patience with Tennislink)  to analyze all of the teams, my guess is they face Houston in the Semis.  Since Wild Houston appears to be the stronger of the Houston teams, I tip favor to Wild Dallas to get out of the Semis and make the finals.  If Wiley beats Wild Houston, they should face NOHO in the Semis, and we could have an all Dallas final.  Now that would be a nice payback to Houston!!

4.5 + Men
As stated before, the plus sign is there for a reason, because this is 4.5 + 5.0's.  Dallas is represented by Greenhill Sweeney and has none other than Mr. Kelly on his roster along with Bent Tree’s Craig Bell, Spring Park’s Abbruzzese, and 3 other 5.0s.  Looks like a solid team.  But in the same flight they have Fort Worth which is Marc Rossouw’s Wagon Wheel team.  Marc did it again building an impressive roster of notable 4.5s from across the city to form a super team.  This time, I think he has the man power to go all the way.  While my knowledge of 4.5 players is limited, I like Sweeney’s team, but I think I like Roussouw’s team better (or at least know more of his players).  He has Myers, Feldman, Miles, Durten, Schwartz, and Mudsam, just to name a few, along with a couple of 5.0 rated players. 

In the opposing flight is Houston, San Antonio, and Austin.  While your inclinations would default to choosing Houston, you have to refrain as this is not a Freeman team, and none of these players were playing at the 18 and over Sectionals just weeks ago.  While I didn’t have the inclination to look up San Antonio’s team and Austin’s team, to see if they had any players playing in 18 and over Sectionals, I still think that whoever  wins the showdown at 4:00 PM on Saturday between Dallas and Fort Worth, ends up bringing home the title, regardless of who they face.   

So there is my quick and dirty preview to the upcoming weekend in San Antonio.  As much as I would like to be a part of the action at the downtown Marriot Riverwalk, I will be camping up north since all of our matches are at Blossom.  Good luck to all teams, and lets bring some titles back home for Dallas !!!

46 comments:

  1. Wild Houston all the way. There is a Hurricane coming to town. Be afraid, very afraid.

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    1. Category 5 will blow through San Antonio just like it did in Dallas a few weeks ago.

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    2. Choosing between Wiley and a Freeman heavy Houston team? Ugggh... Rooting for Wiley. Oh well, lets go Peterson. Should have beat Wiley at cities. Peterson and company have a good chance to get to nationals. Nobody beats Huynh.

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  2. Huynh may be the best singles player @ Sectionals.
    Hope he makes it to San Antonio.

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    1. Huynh is very solid. Gives Peterson a 1-0 lead in almost every match.

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    2. Huynh may be the best player in 4.0 San Antonio. He ain't no Mike Kelly.

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  3. Nice wrap up. Here's the short version. Freeman wins. Again.

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  4. Thanks for your input Wild Houston. We will see how you do now that you don't have your 20 year old ringers and college players.

    Only 2 of you were good enough to even be in the lineup for your match vs Dallas at 18+ sectionals, and you were the only line to lose.

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    1. And how many of those players that beat us, are on your roster?

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  5. I didn't know anything about 40s. I didn't think it was a real league. Thought it was a 3 line tournament. GH looks stacked at 4.5. Both Dallas teams look alright at 4.0.

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    1. Doesn't matter. 4.5 Dallas will rock. 4.0 Houston will.

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  6. Interesting observation. Who is more jacked, Dallas Sweeny or Fort Worth Russouw ? OK Kelly wins his line - who take the others?

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    1. Could go either way but as of late Houston is king. 4.5 has a better chance to dethrone Houston than 4.0.

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    2. Why do up say 4.0 has no chance? Both teams are pretty stacked.

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    3. Both teams are average but Wild Dallas does have the friendlier flight. Maybe they can do something.

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    4. Kelly will not win his line vs ft worth!. I guarantee that, there would be no reason to do that and he has no enemies on that team. they may not like him but he has no issues. He would rather see ft worth advance than anyone else. Besides, Dallas in third place in flight, even behind wacko..

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  7. Seriously? Dallas 4.0 looks ok but they are far from stacked. Dont see anyone on either team roster that is a sure win, most look to be 50/50 at best.

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    1. This is the truth. I don't see either team getting out of flight play. Wiley has less chance. That Houston team is pretty tough. Peterson has a decent chance but he will have to play back to back Houston teams to advance.

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    2. As long as all the captains play their best 8 players, they should be competitive.

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  8. Everyone knows Rockwall had the best 4.0 team but I am so glad we are not going to that hot and humid hell hole place called San Antonio.

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    1. Yeah, who'd want to put together the best team and then not even make the playoffs. You're too smart for the rest of us.

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  9. what an arrogant statement

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  10. This is a wonderful blog with interesting information.

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  11. Both 4.5 Dallas and ft worth are undefeated. Ft Worth looks like the better team.

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  12. How are 4.0s doing?

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    Replies
    1. Wiley 2-0
      Peterson 1-1

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    2. Wiley won it and Peterson ended up 2-1 in flight play. Dallas represents.

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  13. Kelly won both his matches today..... As usual , and beat a very tough Waco team. The team lost though, Dallas now out. Ft worth good but could be close on Sunday final. Will be interesting to see if Kelly wins another match. He beats anyone on Russo team but doesn't matter now. Good luck to all

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  14. You would be wrong in the opening, there are plenty self rates

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  15. Hmmmmm, Kelly loses to a guy who is a below avg 4.5... Funny after they lose to Waco yesterday he soon forgets how to play. LOL

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  16. Look, leave this guy alone. If you don't like him fine but post relevant info on facts. He has won everything he wants to win, maybe just get better and beat him and all this nonsense will stop!. post something original, not something that has been beaten to death!!!!

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  17. STFU! The only thing that has been beaten to death is the losing matches when they dont matter (on purpose) and winning all the rest that M. Kelly does. If he would just play straight up and at the correct level no one would say a word. Its defenders like you that make him think what he is doing is ok!

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  18. True, ask Russo about today. Kelly quit after winning first set!!!

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    1. Not true, Russo retired after losing first set bec they clinched. Kelly was behaved all weekend so stop the comments just to add fuel to meaningless story

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  19. Micheal Kelley losses to Neal Sutton. This shit has to be addressed by the DTA and TTA. Its not just people complaining here. It was the talk of San Antonio today. I bet Rossouw would not play the 2nd set and allow him to tank to him. More people should take a stand like this.

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    1. Way to go Sutton, you won me a $100 bet.... Lol!!!

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  20. Lol........I doubt people in SA care what a guy who lives in Dallas does in a meaningless match. They were not even on same side of draw. I have never understood why a person would be angry at getting a win. The DTA needs people like Kelly bec Texas tennis sucks without multiple national title holders like him. Besides, it makes for great blogger history.

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  21. San Antonio wins 40 and over vs FW.. Problem w playing out of FT worth and advancing is you have no competition against any Dallas teams and you are not prepared to play solid teams. tougher players will always be in Dallas. You may win your local FW playoff but that is as far as you go. These so called super teams have now lost twice in three weeks...oh well, try again next year.

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    1. Fort Worth made the finals. How far did Dallas get.., with Mike Kelly. With Kelly, Dallas starts 1-0.

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    2. Well, they may start 1-0 but still have to win two more. Russouw should have swallowed his so called pride and put Kelly on the team. You don't have to like him but you would be headed to nationals w him... Just ask Pickett and Abrusseze

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  22. Dallas Wiley are 4.0 state champs. Nice job.

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  23. Way to represent Dallas! Dallas heading to Nationals at 3.0 girls, 3.5 guys and girls, and 4.0 guys! Some of them against home court San Antonio teams!!! FTW represented in 4.5 finals against a tough self rate team....can't we all choose to support the Dallas people once they are out of Dallas?

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  24. Girlfriend - if you want to tout the 3.0 and 3.5 CC gals, go do it on the most current post.

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  25. Hey, I have an idea. Let's talk about Mike Kelly in every blog post. Oh, wait...

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  26. Their quarterback, Tom Brady, is the main stay of the offense and a big reason for their live stream free success. It should be said that Brady was drafted from Michigan in the 6th round.

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