Monday, July 25, 2016

City Playoff Wrap Up - 4.5 and 4.0








It would be easy to say that things went as expected at 4.5 if you only looked at the final standings, with the traditional powers of Greenhill/Rossouw and JCC/Reiman holding off the new comers from SpringPark/Aguilar and the always playoff present Brookhaven/Harllee.  It was a little more interesting than that though.  Greenhill did take down SpringPark 4-1 in the first match on Friday, but SpringPark lost two third set tie breakers making this one a little closer than it may have looked.  SpringPark also lost a first set tie breaker in singles so I think we know what they need to work on.  And while JCC had what looked to be a close 3-2 win over Brookhaven, JCC did sweep singles easily.  Very difficult to sweep doubles in the playoffs.
Round two saw another game effort from Brookhaven, taking Greenhill to the edge at 3-2 but still another loss.  JCC nearly slipped up in this round against SpringPark but relied on a singles sweep to carry them through (there will be a theme here if you're paying attention).
In the final round of play SpingPark took down Brookhaven 4-1.  Brookhaven had already been eliminated and spread some playing time around.  This left only the two undefeated teams squaring off in the final match, as it should be.  Just when I’d have guessed it wouldn’t happen, we had two sweeps in one match.  JCC swept singles and Greenhill swept doubles.  Of the five lines played, four weren’t close.  Both singles were blowouts as were lines two and three doubles.  It all came down to line one doubles which was Shreiner and Faris over Sumrow and Cambron 6-4, 0-6, 1-0.  That’s two big momentum swings and I’m sorry I wasn’t able to see that one.  Looks like both teams will go to sectionals so good for them. 


Word on the street all season had been that Greenhill was strong in doubles and JCC had the singles and I guess it turned out to be true.  With the doubles versus singles issues that both teams seem to have I have to wonder how far they will go at sectionals, but I also hear Freeman is relaxing on his couch this year so anything is possible.  While it's usually easier to find a way to win one doubles line than one singles line (if you have issues at both), it's also true that you're singles guys will wear out if you're having to sweep singles in every big match.  Could be tough for both squads moving forward. 
At 4.0 there were a lot of expected results and a couple of very interesting surprises.  Let’s start with the biggest shocker.  Garland/Sisk won 4.0 cities.  That they won is surprising, I had them finishing second or third behind High Point, but how they won is more surprising.  More on that later.
Friday had High Point/Somabut taking out Huffhines/Jayaram 4-1.  I saw High Point and Garland competing for the wild card spot at 4.0 but maybe as a sign of things to come this 4-1 wasn’t as strong as it looked.  There were three third setters and High Point won them all.  Garland then swept Huffhines/Ratcliffe with only one close match. 
Saturday morning saw McKinney/Kanchi’s first match and it was a sweep of Huffhines/Ratcliffe with only one close match.  But the real match of interest was High Point versus Garland for the presumptive wild card.  The two teams split singles and split lines two and three doubles.  It’s hard to know whether the singles or doubles third setter finished last (usually the singles) but the key match looked to be line one doubles which went for Garland. 
Saturday afternoon Garland beat Huffhines/Jayaram 4-1, winning two out of three third setters, with all lines being close except three doubles.  In a rematch of flight play, McKinney got their revenge on High Point with a sweep and the singles were complete blowouts with both coming in at 6-0, 6-1.  This is what I expected in their flight play match before we saw a light lineup from McKinney early in the season.  Garland is now sitting at 3-0 and seemingly having a wild card sewn up. 
Sunday morning saw another McKinney sweep, this time of Huffhines/Jayaram, but with two third setters in doubles.  High Point then swept Huffhines/Ratcliffe, who defaulted two lines. WTF?
In the last matches on Sunday, Huffhines/Jayaram beat Huffhines/Ratcliffe 4-1 with Ratcliffe defaulting two lines again.  He has 17 guys on that roster and can’t get more than four to come play in the playoffs on Sunday afternoon?  That then only left the battle of the undefeated, again, as it should be.  But it was an odd one.  Singles were split with huge blowouts.  Yaremenko blows out a McKinney self rate.  Flora plays seven games and retires (without winning a game).  Teterud and Horsley are up 6-2, 0-1 and they retire.  Then lines one and two doubles split third setters for a 3-2 Garland win.  I bet they were wondering what the heck was going on with guys falling like flies on the other courts.
I wasn’t there so I can’t say what happened, other than both Garland and McKinney are headed to sectionals.  Straight up, McKinney wins this match 4-1 but I was told the ambulance came every day and twice on Saturday so anything is possible. 
Congrats to all the players this weekend and good luck to those advancing.  I’ll take a look at sectionals in a week or so.




62 comments:

  1. Congrats to Sisk getting it done again at 4.0. Legend.

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    1. In his own mind.

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    2. Only the one who took the loss!

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    3. Stop your jealousy. A 5.0/5.5 wouldn't lose to a 4.0.

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  2. Not true. Seen Kelley do it many times.

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  3. Any intel on the other 4.0 sectional teams? Who is favored/has most favorable draw? Dark horse teams?

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    Replies
    1. NOHO is loaded this year. Raj put one over on Sisk by taking the Wildcard. hahaha!

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    2. What Sisk gets for agreeing to cheat.

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  4. Kanchi's team went 29-1 in the first 6 matches of QT and City (31-4 overall)! Against some of the best teams in Dallas no less. How do they not win a National Title with a team like that? Gives a whole new meaning to the term "ringer".

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    1. The best teams in Dallas? You have no idea if you think winning Dallas gives you even a remote chance at winning nationals. Based on that roster it is not happening.

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  5. How do you determine that just because you dominate in Dallas that you are National Title Contender? Not saying they won't win, but they do have sectionals for a reason.

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  6. The Austin team won 5-0 at their playoff, I don't think match scores are necessarily indicative of a national caliber team.

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    Replies
    1. Austin won't even be a speed bump.

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    2. You're right, they're probably more like the security at Fort Knox

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  7. Raja has maybe three guys tops who could crack Tony's lineup from last year. This is just a down year for Dallas 4.0 and it looks to be a down year for 4.0 in Texas in general. Not surprising after last year which had easily the strongest four teams to make sectionals Sunday in the last 10 years.

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  8. Is it true that leagues are changing format, going to 4 dubs and 1 singles lines?

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  9. That's the fall format. Who knows what the spring will be. Once again, ladies and seniors ruining the league for the rest of us.

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    1. That is exactly it. These ladies can't get 2 singles players so they think we should have an extra doubles line.

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  10. Typical great DTA decision. No input from players. So now if you aren't the best singles player on your team you get to play exclusively doubles. Next year no-ad prosets.

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    1. You people are surprised by ANTHING the DTA does? Really?

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  11. And 50.00 league fee!

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  12. Is this just for Texas or nationwide?

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    Replies
    1. Fort Worth does it and now Dallas decided to be followers.

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  13. 4.0 sectionals has been flighted with wild cards added
    1 - GTC gets Wild Houston, Valley, Amarillo and NOHO
    2 - Waco gets Wild Austin, San Antonio, Fort Worth and SETX
    3 - McKinney gets Houston, Wild San Antonio, Lubbock and Corpus Christi
    4 - Austin gets Wild Fort Worth, NETX, San Angelo and Wichita Falls
    Flight two looks the toughest and flight four the easiest

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  14. The 4.5 guys are going to need every bit of their easy draw.

    One of the weakest Dallas teams we've seen in a few years.

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    1. Yes we will see how Rossouw does since he cannot have his DTA buddies give him an easy flight like they did for league play.

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    2. He will be zero and 44 in attempting to get to nationals

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  15. Easy draw? Setx (sandbagging capital of tx) is the favorite to win it all. It should only take a minutes of research to see the cheating happening in Beaumont

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  16. I'm surprised that in the midst of sucking off Mike Kelley that there's any research done on a non dallas team

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  17. Who's winning combo?

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  18. Yes, 4.5 Dallas team may not have beaten Tonys 4.0 team last year. Good luck though!

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  19. Rene Alzuro wins combo!

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  20. It is good to see Timothy Mickey found his game this weekend in dominating fashion winning the Brookhaven tournament after getting clobbered at cities last weekend. Just in time for Sectionals this coming weekend.

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    1. Yes, agreed. Nice to see this young man overcoming his obstacles. A truly inspiring story. We wish him well at sectionals!

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  21. Looks like Kanchi has confused 8.5 combo with tri-level. He has two 4.5s, two 4.0s and two 3.5s. Really nice of him to let those two 3.5s play on his 8.5 team. Also interested to see Vatum play. He should have rated 5.5 and Todd only moved him to 4.5 so he's playing on the 8.5 team.

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    1. When your two 3.5s are really a high 4.5 and a 5.0 why not play them? Don't forget Rivera is more 5.0 than 4.0.

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    2. Rivera is not 5.0. Saw the guy play a tournament at 4.5, typical ex-jr player, not unbeatable at 4.0 by any means.

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    3. I hear Kelley beat vutam in a practice singles match. Vutan not a 5.5, quit trying to bash Raja and we know which captain is trying to do so

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    4. who is the cheater defender? Admit that Raja is your cheater. Tell us your name if you are so proud of cheatint.

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    5. Vutam tank to Kelly.

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  22. My name is Doug, Doug Funny.

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  23. 5.0/5.5 Houston
    4.5 SETX
    4.0 Dallas Kanchi

    Book it.

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  24. This comment represents a like for the above comment.

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  25. Where is the Sectionals preview?

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  26. Somebody's been busy researching the opposition's players/team and is ready to unleash a tremendous bombshell regarding a certain 4.5 sectionals team in rossouw's flight. Bring on the sectionals preview!

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    1. No one cares about it Rossouw.

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    2. People in beaumont will care when they are exposed

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    3. SETX should have been exposed last year and TTA did nothing, so this year nothing will change. TTA, DTA, USTA all suck right now allowing anyone and everyone to self rate where ever the hell they want, unless their initials are MK.

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    4. watch out for Cambon and his cast of tankers in San Antonio, they do the same as everywhere else tank of a storm in Fall league, score manage in regular season, and then storm thru the playoffs.

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    5. rumor has it the exposing of setx this year supersedes tta, dta and usta limitations. i'm told it involves the college team in beaumont and the ncaa.

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    6. Based upon what rules?

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    7. I believe SETX was protested by every team in their flight last year. Captains were told the TTA would not DQ players at sectionals. If you have legitimate ammo, best shoot your load before sectionals starts.

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    8. I feel like we're having a steroids in baseball conversation....have you seen the 4.0 team guys play? Maybe one day I'll tank down like all you other pansies and make their team

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    9. 9:58 is not deleted, but mine was because I made a comment about republicans and mine is removed. Wtf.

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  27. Looking forward to this. Maybe Dallas will have a chance to win out of group play!

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  28. Everythink MK got he deserved! When you control matches you get controlled by the. DTA!!! PERIOD!!! Rumor is DTA trying to get him out of Dallas tennis and what a freakin glorious day that will be for that moron!!!!!!!!!!

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    1. Yeah right. I'm not holding my breath

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  29. The DTA will never touch MK or any of those tankers. Why would they? They want a title on Dallas just as bad as the tankers

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  30. Is the DTA that desperate to see who the tallest midget is going to be?

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