Wednesday, August 3, 2016

Sectionals Preview - 4.0 & 4.5


 I’ve been on the road traveling this week and really pressed for time.  Not an excuse, just a fact.  As such, this is going to be a little on the short but sweet side.  Let’s start with 4.0 for a change.  This could be the most interesting (or least interesting) year in 4.0 in years because anyone who’s anyone knew going in that Freeman was taking the year off.  Listen up to the rest, this was your shot to make Nationals in a watered down year.

In Flight 1 we have Wild Houston, Valley, Dallas, Amarillo and NOHO.  This is an interesting flight, with the possibility of a one loss team advancing.  I don’t have the skinny on Valley or Amarillo.  Both could be cream puffs but Valley usually represents pretty well.  Although Sisk did a nice job with a team short on top end talent this year, I think his season ends on Saturday.  Spearman knows what he’s doing in NOHO but he seems to do better with players of an older vintage.   I’m going with Wild Houston to advance in this flight.

In Flight 2 we have Wild Austin, San Antonio, Fort Worth, Waco and SETX.  We could do a lot of analysis, rant about SETX, but this is Waco’s to lose.  Sanders knew Freeman was out and decided to make another move.  Until last year, Sanders was the last guy to captain Texas to a 4.0 national title so he knows something about how this is done.

In Flight 3 we have Houston (lite), Wild San Antonio, Wild Dallas, Lubbock and Corpus Christi.  Am I the only person who remembers a few years ago when Lubbock rolled in for 4.0 sectionals and crushed people?  They went 8-0-2 (retires) on Sunday.  OK, fine, not the same guys, but it can happen.  Anyway, I’ll take Kanchi & Co out of this flight.

In Flight 4 we have Austin, Wild Fort Worth, NETX, San Angelo and Wichita Falls.  I’ll confess, I’ve done no research on these guys.  Other than WFW it’s too hard to find good comparisons.  Wichita Falls did jump up and take 8.5 combo sectionals recently but it only take two good 4.0s to do that, not six or eight.  I’ll take Austin by default.

Let’s cut to the chase.  It’s a matchup of Wild Dallas and Waco, with Wild Houston as the dark horse.  After everything that's happened this season, I'll take Kanchi (led by Rivera and his 3.5s) to win 4.0.

I know this will irritate a lot of people but if they all show up I'll take SETX in 4.5...period.  I do think there is chance that JCC could make Sunday but that's no lock either.  After looking closer at JCC's lineup against Greenhill at cities I have to think that Reiman could have taken a doubles line if he had wanted it.


147 comments:

  1. Setx in 4.5, I'm sure you agonized over that one. D1 team versus the rest of the 4.5 field. I like Sisk to do better than expected

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    1. Breaking news: Russouw asked USTA if he could make the sectionals draw just as his cohorts do in the Dallas league but was shot down. They said "we have already gone to one singles line for you" . At least you know you won't lose both now.

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  2. Kanchi in 4.0 and 4.5

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  3. San Antonio has a bunch of hidden talent in 4.5. Austin is loaded, too.

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  4. SA vs Austin first day should be a good match

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  5. SA vs Austin...brutal group play match

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  6. 4.5 SETX from Beaumont has several current and recent past Lamar University (Beaumont-based D1 college team ranked 54th in the nation) guys on the team. On some occasions, they properly self-rate the Lamar U guys at 5.5 in a bogus 2-team 5.0+ fall league. Co-conspirators, CRAIG FOX and DEVIN HARLEY, arrange two 5.0+ teams that double default every line 2 doubles (only two lines of doubles instead of three in this league), and they manage scores/opponents in each line. In some cases, they have been known to not even play the matches, they just write in scores. Based on these “results,” the ringers get a computer rating of 4.5 at the end of the year. They win the 4.5 league the following spring and their cheaters can’t be DQ’d because they’re 4.5 computer rated. A couple of them are 4.5 appeal rated because they were within the USTA’s appealable range at the end of the year– way to go cheaters and way to go USTA! The worst cheating SETX offenders are:
    JOHN SCOTT SHANKLES – Head Coach at Lamar University and conspirator with FOX, 4.5 appeal USTA rating, played D1 tennis for Arkansas, went 10-2 at line 3 doubles in 1991
    TREY CRYSEL - 22 years old, 4.5 appeal rating, went 1-1 line 5 singles and 1-0 line 2 doubles for Lamar U spring of 2016
    DUSAN SAVKOVIC – from Serbia and 27 years old, played line 3 singles and line 1 doubles for Lamar from 2008 – 2011, played an ATP event in 2008
    BRETT STICKER - committed to Lamar in 2004… in 2007, lost 8-6 at line 3 doubles against Alver and Solares from SMU (SMU was ranked 39th in the country at the time)
    DEVIN HARLEY - played for Lamar from 2007 – 2010, line 5 singles
    LARAMIE BO LINN – as a Junior at East Texas Baptist University (D3), went 4-5 singles and 4-6 doubles in spring of 2015
    Prior to the beginning of the fall semester, SHANKLES will be under investigation by the NCAA for violating its Code of Ethics. If SHANKLES wasn’t the captain of a sinking ship, we should all ask him for a full ride to Lamar (or, at least a staff position such as Recreational Facilitator a la BRADLEY DEREK WORTHY) since so much of his team has consisted of so-called “4.5” players.

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    1. This makes Kanchi look like childs play. The whole setx team should be banned for at least a year.

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    2. Agreed. When will USTA do something about known cheaters.

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    3. Someone might get a scholarship out of the deal. Looks like 4.5 players are recruiting hot bed for Shankles. He must be one hell of a coach to take them from 4.5 to 54 ranked D1 team in the country. 4.5 to 5.5 is one hell of a jump. Maybe Federer needs to hire Shankles

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    4. This post above must be Rossouw. Is Rossouw really talking about manipulation when he has DTA players on his team who create the flights each year for 4.5 Dallas? We got to see how well balanced the flights were this past Spring. The Rossouw clan threw all their top competitors in a single flight.

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    5. 10:45 I don't think that happened. How do you know that?

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    6. Spring city playoff last year.

      Lakes Way
      Fretz Noel
      BH Harlee
      OC Herget
      JCC Reiman
      Rossouw

      All 4 of those top teams were placed in a single flight this past Spring. Who didn't? The final team on that list.

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    7. Hmmmm. That does seem a bit peculiar...

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    8. What's the point of paying fees to join league tennis when you have the Lamar Elite Squad waiting for you at the end of the day? What a time to be alive. Good job USTA. Keep it up.

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    9. Guys, I haven't posted on here for years and was reminded about it yesterday after our practice. I don't have nearly the info that someone else on here apparently has re SETX but it is interesting to know..... As for Mr 1045, when I post I sign in and you will know it is me. I have nothing to hide. The DTA has been extremely transparent on how the seedlings work for flighting so you can bury your conspiracy theories, we play by the same rules as everyone else. Good luck to all the teams this weekend.....

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    10. Is Lamar 2 better than Lamar 1 from last year? How did they lose to Hurricanes?

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    11. Houston won 3-2. The LU players went 0-3. The non-LU players went 2-0. Maybe they are 4.5s.

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    12. Looks like Shankles went to Secrtionals in 2013 in 5.0 and didn't fare very well.

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    13. Still doesn't excuse his over the top cheating. Crazy how he risks his career and the reputations of his players and Lamar U just to win at 4.5.

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    14. There depth killed them and their singles guys had tough matches against Dallas in semis. They would have won easily if it had been the semis for them

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    15. Also one of the Lamar players who sandbagged so bad he got bumped to 4.0 didn't play in semis or finals. How do you get bumped from 5.0 to 4.0?

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    16. You haven't posted on here and forgot about it ??? Lol, yeah right! Almost as funny as putting 40-50 teams together with 30 plus people on roster and STILL failing to get out of sectionals. Please. Take your bs somewhere else.

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    17. No doubt. It's too early to listen to that crap. Go get back in bed w the DTA

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  7. Waco 4.0 is loaded with a bunch of ringers. Look out got Amarillo as well. They have worked the system well. This year's 4.0 group is outstanding.

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    1. Can the Waco team handle Kanchis level of manipulation and cheating!?

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    2. Shhhh, We're trying to fly under everyone's radar.

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  8. Pot: you're black!
    Kettle: you're black!

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  9. No love for the ladies? My 4.0 team is gonna win it all! We all have matching outfits.

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    1. Pics or it didnt happen

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    2. Did Wichita Falls really win Combo? Are they gonna be a factor in 4.0 and 4.5. Their league looks bogus to me.

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  10. Does anyone know anything about the Wichita teams at all? I didnt know they had courts to play on there...

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  11. How hot is it supposed to be on Saturday. I'm gonna come out to watch the 4.0 pros that Kanchi has.

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    1. Really hot but don't worry, Kanchi and company won't break a sweat.

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  12. I heard Kanchi's mom is on his team. I heard she's a ringer.

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    1. This blog can be informative and often the comments humorous, but someone always has to cross the line. I hope you know that even behind your anonymous shield you are still an ass.

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  13. Craig Fox went 0-2 at tri-level sectionals last year. You're worried about that guy?

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  14. Who poses the biggest threat to Dallas-Kanchi?

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    1. Bill Sanders heading up Waco, Chris Wideman heading up Wild Houston, and Todd Reed heading up NTRP at USTA/Texas

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    2. Kanchi himself. First time captain at sectionals. Rookie mistakes are known to happen. Underestimating teams, playing players just to get them a match, not being prepared for the heat over three days and possibly six matches.

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    3. Interesting and an angle I had not thought of...

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  15. I wouldn't sleep on Austin in 4.0 either.

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  16. What time does Tony Le team play?

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  17. We play the 26th in 7.0 mixed. We steamrolled everyone. We are headed to nationals baby!!!

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  18. Tony had the best 3.5 ladies in Texas playing 7.0. I would assume they win cities easily over Alzuro and Springpark

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  19. Sounds like Dallas 4.0 lost to NOHO

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  20. Lost 4-1 and Javier lost in singles. All you guys who claimed he was out of level have never been to sectionals.

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    1. He lost to a 3.5 who looked like a solid 4.5+ player
      This is getting more ridiculous every day

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  21. Sectional tough, nationals tougher. Not many teams get out if sectionals or even sniff nationals. To get there is damn near impossible.

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    1. Unless u r Valdemort or on Alan's mixed team. Then nationals is a given

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  22. Sisk goes down hard, and both 4.0 FTW teams beaten

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    1. Sisk was a DINO. Dallas in Name Only. Had Raja wanted to play he would be Wild Dallas.

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  23. cheaters win the first match over Houston

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    1. Raja trotting out Kelley for the second match. Who says cheaters never win!!! Go team Kanchi!!!

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    2. Kelley not good enugh.

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    3. Thank you for your thoughts, Zachary

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    4. Kelly will be 4.0 next year..
      Zackary n Kelly will kick everyone butt next year

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    5. If Mike Kelly is a 4.0 next year I will shave my head and change genders


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    6. You better get out the clippers and the snippers!!!! OUCH!!!!!

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  24. Easy win. Big scores. Their captain was right bragging they will break no sweat

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    1. We even let Hans tank.

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    2. You are even admitting to it.

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  25. Austin and SETX beat San Antonio and Wild Houston 5-0.

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    1. Rossouw won. SETX is the next victim on the march to nationals!

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    2. all the better to have his hopes dashed once again

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    3. SETX is waaaaay overrated. The guys that win for them are not their so-called ringers. It's the guys that have played for them for years that consistently win.

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    4. In fact, I will wager right now that SETX does not win it all! Their singles are trash.

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  26. 4.0 Update - what do we know after day one:
    Flight 1 - NOHO stands alone at 2-0 but Wild Houston is about to be 2-0 after their second match posts. Dallas lost to NOHO and has yet to play WH so they are out. NOHO is game but I'll take WH.
    Flight 2 - San Antonio is alone at 2-0. Waco lost to Wild Austin who lost to SETX. After Waco's first match results it looked like they didn't have the goods and it seems they don't.
    Flight 3 - Wild Dallas sits alone at 2-0. With Lubbock and Wild SA left this flight should be over.
    Flight 4 - some intrigue left here. Austin and Wichita Falls both 2-0.
    I'll still take Wild Dallas to win it all.

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  27. 4.5 Update - what do we know:
    Flight 1 - Valley and Austin are both undefeated but Austin is bringing it and Valley is squeaking by. Austin to advance.
    Flight 2 - SETX swept Rossouw's boys in doubles but was swept in singles. Not yet sure what this says about SETX long term but that wasn't a good sign. SETX the only undefeated team though.
    Flight 3 - Reiman's boys are the only undefeated team here and look ready to advance. His singles guys still look good.
    Flight 4 - Wild Austin and Houston square off tomorrow for the right to advance. This will be the tight one.
    We'll see what else SETX has in the tank for singles but Reiman has got to be very happy to see what's happened so far. Of course Rossouw got swept in doubles and at cities Rossouw swept Reiman in doubles so something has to improve there as well.

    Flight 3 -

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  28. That Dallas/SETX match was really good. I think it was 14-12 in the 3rd set TB and some clutch play by the guy that was cramping. I think Dallas had 3 or 4 match points.

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    1. Our guys just choked and Rossouw played himself again.

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  29. Russouw not even a good 4.0

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    1. Good 4.0 but nothing else.

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    2. Exactly. Raja has better players at 4.0 than Loseouw

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    3. Raja has players at 3.5 better than Rossouw

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  30. Make it 0 and 49 trying to get to nationals. That has to be a record. He should have BEGGED Kelley to play and then the other Dsllas ringers would have jumped on board as well. Oh well, alwYs next year

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  31. Why would Russo play himself in a big match?

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  32. Why not, he's a 4.5

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  33. A low 4.5 at best. So you think he was in the top 6 of doubles players?

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  34. Well, their team was decent but no real doubles talent. Lafailvre too inconsistent, same with Hannah Fontana, pollard ok at times, Stidham low 4.5 and dale Christian needs a very solid player to be successful so they really had no choice

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  35. For those who think teterudes opponents wernt tankin in cities think again. He played today and lost against two guys that were 3.5 in 2014

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    1. Teterud won 6-0, 5-0!

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    2. Then why is he not playing this morning?

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    3. Prob bec he lost a winnable doubles match yesterday? Or maybe Raja will play all 6 matches?

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    4. Shouldn't save him for finals

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  36. Austin will sweep singles and beat SETX. Mark my words. Bunch of hype.

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    1. Two 10-7 in the third sets. SETX stepped up but it wasn't quite enough

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    2. Someone needs to tell Fox that you need to win a singles line.

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  37. Team Raja winning a bunch of tiebreakers..... That is dangerous.....

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    1. Your comment turned out to be very true as they lost 3 tiebreakers

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  38. Great fellowship all weekend!! Congrats to Mike and the NOHO squad for winning our flight with a skeleton crew!! Looking forward to great matches tomorrow!! Go wild D

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  39. Great fellowship all weekend!! Congrats to Mike and the NOHO squad for winning our flight with a skeleton crew!! Looking forward to great matches tomorrow!! Go wild D

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  41. Congrats to all the winners out there, is it true Austin is using a 16 year old ranked nationally for singles? I hope i heard wrong cause thats kinda messed up. Crazy how teams will do anything now days to win

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  42. who is the 16 year old on Austin's roster?

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  43. I heard he trained with roddick/Harrison in Austin.

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  44. Live update: Team Raja leading two matches by a set, down a break in another and on serve in other two

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    1. I'm having trouble finding these matches on my cable TV

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    2. Go to the comedy channel

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  45. Guaranteed Teeteerude won't lose this morning!

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    1. He must not be playing...

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    2. That is why you don't save one of your stars for the finals.

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  46. Team raja up a set in two matches now and about to lose a set in another. Other two VERY CLOSE

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  47. Team Raja thru to the finals. Other bracket still playing

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    1. Not true. Singles still on court. Going to a super 2-2

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  48. Who does TR play in finals?

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  49. Austin a giant speed bump, takes out rajas low rider. Into the finals

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  50. Just goes to show ya how hard making it to ANY national event is! Damned difficult!

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  51. Results just posted. Why wasn't Rajiv playing with Shagit? Was he unavailable? That's a big drop off.

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    1. Classic case of captain overthinking.

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  52. Austin against NOHO in the final. Anyone see that coming?

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  53. Looks like Austin had everything fall right. First, they flipped their singles knowing Rivera was a lock. Then Kanchi made some questionable line-up decisions, Then, trailing 2-0, they win all three tiebreakers. It was the perfect storm. Kanchi should be on the way to nationals, but Austin was clutch.

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    1. Wasn't this Kanchi's first time to captain at sectionals? A more experienced captain would have expected the switch, and switched himself. Still a great run, and shows you need a little luck, and not just talent to pull out the tiebreakers.

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    2. Expect a switch? Seriously? This came down to 3 close matches, looks like Raj gave his team a chance to win. Austin looks like a very tough team.

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    3. If you were playing a team that always played straight up and had a ringer on line one winning easy every match of course you would flip your best player to line two. It is a winner take all match that you only need to get three lines. Hell, looks like Raja even expected it in the last flight match.

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  54. JCC/Reiman at 4.5 is in the final!! Great run Michael and company!!

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  55. JCC/Reiman at 4.5 is in the final!! Great run Michael and company!!

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  56. Do we know scores in 4.5 final?

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  57. Yes, Austin got up 3-1 in the final, and retired the last match, which had just split sets.

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  58. I heard Austin had someone DQed?

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  59. Reiman goes full Rossouw and plays himself when better options are available.

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  60. Welcome to Dallas tennis. Rossouw plays himself and team loses 3-2 when better options were available. Reiman does the same and loses 3-2. Raj played his co-captain and sat one of his best doubles players. Co-captain loses and team goes down 3-2. Austin probably had the best 4.5 team but Dallas had the best 4.0 team. It couldn't overcome its own lineups.

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    1. It is not an exact science and hindsight is always 20-20. Raj and team did their best...things just did not go their way...3 tie breaks and some close line calls

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    2. Play Teterud and you win one of those matches.

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    3. Tight matches, close calls and third set tie breakers are an every year event at sectionals. Getting your best players out is the best way to overcome them.

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    4. Raja played his best, right?
      How would you rank his players, best to worst...

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    5. Rajiv and Shagit never lost more than 4 games in a match together. He should have played instead of Mills.

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    6. Where was Shagit?

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    7. Happens in every sport - overthinking it. That pair hadn't lost more than 4 games all season. Thakkar ready to play but was subbed out.

      Gutsy move backfired, but big picture - you have to applaud Kanchi for building a powerhouse team on his first go round. Not easy to do.

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    8. His best player was Rivera
      Then maybe Raja, Hans (both 3.5)
      Not sure about the rest, but great team

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    9. Wow, Rossouw played himself? I heard his team has 30 people on it, I am not going to look it up, but if that is true, no way he should be playing a deciding match at 4.5. Well, I guess you could have 20 players worse than Rossoue on a 4.5 team, but why?

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    10. 8:22. Don't congratulate a cheater that gets beat. He was saying how his team was better than Toni's last year. Just shows that rookie captains make rookie mistakes.

      Word of advice for next year. NEVER PLAY THE BEAT PLAYERS AT THE SAME LINES EVERY MATCH. mix it up. Keep the competition guessing.

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  61. SETX and Wild Dallas go down as top flops in recent memory.

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  62. Austin 4.5 had most complete team. gotta have great singles and doubles players to make it through. Dallas doubles was pretty weak.

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  63. Looks like SETX didn't have one of their top dogs, Sticker, in doubles against Austin. Anybody know why? Heard it was a bum ankle. Austin got lucky. A little research and he was a stud doubles player for Dallas Baptist.

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    1. Sticker not in the lineup does seem strange

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    2. Austin was also playing without two of its top doubles players, Smith and Stout, who don't show any losses.

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    3. If Austin was missing two other good dubs players then they had some major depth. Not a weakness in their dubs

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  64. Did someone get dq from Austin's 4.5 team?

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  65. This comment has been removed by a blog administrator.

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