Thursday, November 17, 2016

Tri-level Preview - Mission Impossible 3 - And Then There Was One


Well, not just one.  I have to find something to do with my weekend.


 Lineups, let’s talk lineups.  It’s always the easiest thing for us Monday morning captains to criticize.  Why didn’t that guy play?  He was out of town; he was injured; he was cramping; he throws up on himself in matches that matter.  Even easier, why DID that guy play?  He is the captain’s buddy; he pays for the team parties; I promised him he’d play when I didn’t realize I’d find better players. 


I don’t see Team Mayer or Team Myers having trouble deciding on a lineup.  Hell, they may have trouble fielding a full lineup for all four matches.  I also don’t see Team Jeung having trouble deciding on a lineup.  They’ll have a lot more guys offering to sit than they will guys bucking for more match time. 


So let’s start with Team Kingsley.  I’m afraid if I start with Team Sisk/Kanchi I may run out of gas.  Personally I’d like to see Foster/Foster on the 4.5 line.  Since one of them is a self rate, let’s rule that out.  Well then, let's go with Foster/Hill.  Oops, Hill is also a self rate.  This is getting awkward.  Faris and Shreiner will want to play together but Foster is the cream of the crop here.  Another opportunity for a goofy lineup decision, great. 


As for the 4.0s, I’m envious of this Waters guy.  The last two years he’s only played tri-level and I can’t even get on a team.  Sawires only went 1-3 in 4.0.  That’s not the kind of record I’d look for if I was importing someone from Austin.  But he has accounted himself well against 4.5s.  I’d guess big, inconsistent hitter.  Vince loves those.  Another Kingsley on the team.  He held up pretty well at 8.5 combo so that will be interesting.   I don’t know exactly what to make of these guys.  They are all over map and none of them seem to have ever played together before.  They clearly have some talent here so it will be interesting to see what they come up with.


Team Sisk/Kanchi, I’m tired already.  I’m not the expert here, and these guys are better than me, but on the 4.5 line I’d start with Davidson, Kelly and Davis.  Do I need to go any further?  Yes, yes, the other six 4.5s would be line one on several teams but that’s other teams.  The only real question here is who doesn’t play.  I’m sure someone will be injured when the time comes.


As for the 4.0s, I’d start with Kommineni (a 3.5C).  Did you see this guy and Jay Benjamin go three sets against Davidson and Abbruzzese?  He had the biggest serve on the court and played fantastic.  As we saw at 4.0 sectionals, he needs a partner, but they have several to choose from.  If Abbruzzese can replicate his play from that same 8.5 combo match I’d start with him.  They look like they’d be a natural fit on a doubles court.  They also have Josh Rivera who was a terror in 4.0 singles this year (12-0 in the playoffs).  While he only played singles in the playoffs his game did look like it would translate to doubles more than most singles guys.  Again, I would start with those three.  Of course Kanchi is a 4.0 so I’d expect his to push for playing time in the big match with Kommineni.  Let’s see who really has the pencil in this captaining duad. 


As I’ve often said, I don’t know the 3.5s so I pass on them but this time I’ve done the research and made some inquiries.  Here’s what I found.  For Team Sisk/Kanchi we can easily see that Hans Valaparla was Kanchi’s #2 singles guys on his spring 4.0 team and he plays nothing but Open level tournaments.  Let’s start there.  Sean Luh went 3-1 at 4.0 and I have it on good authority that he was working out regularly this year with a certain SpringPark 4.5 team.   Good enough for me.


As for Team Kingsley, good but not great.  All seem to be known commodities though.  Plenty of USTA results to look at.  Based on what I saw, think we’ll go with Hutchison and Chhajed. 

So, if I had the pencil it would be:

Davidson/Kelly versus Foster/Faris
Kommineni/Abbruzzese versus Hanna/Kingsley
Valaparla/Luh versus Hutchison/Chhajed

I see that as a win for Sisk/Kanchi with the results getting progressively more lopsided as you go down the ladder.

22 comments:

  1. Even if those were the best lines it's easy money to bet that those won't be the people playing that match tomorrow. Too many potential availability issues, especially with a Friday match.

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  2. Looking at Kelly's results last year at Tri level sectionals, he wasn't that dominant.

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  3. Post 2:19 is right on. You won't see Kelley playing Friday nite unless they move the match to Lubbock Texas.... Lol. I spoke w him today and he is helping out a friend do a pro-am Friday for a fundraiser and won't fly home until late Friday nite. Not sure Kelley is too interested in THREE Tri level titles anyway. that starts getting expensive. At some point the USTA needs to limit the amount of nationals one person can attend. or if you captain teams with over 30 on a roster 4 times a year and still can't make it there should be a complimentary invite so they can go at least once.

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    1. Kyle better than Kelly so don't matter.

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    2. Kelly overrated. Look how he loose in mixed

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    3. Zacry please learn how to spell before posting, it's "lose", not "loose"

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  4. I'll be giving a prize out to any one who can successfully predict the lineups of the Sisk/Kingsley match today.

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  5. Who cares about the prize. As long as Sisk wins that is all that matters. They will sweep today with any line up they put out.

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  6. 3-0 Sweep for Team Sisk/Kanchi

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    Replies
    1. Golden Coral employees are are preparing the victory buffet now

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  7. Sisk/Kanchi win tri-level. Kingsley loses to Myers but squeezes them out for second.

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  8. Is this Sisk/Kanchi team stronger than last years team?

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  9. Sisk and raja always get the best players to play for them damn it
    Kingsley

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  10. Teterud is the man!

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  11. When are ratings out?????????

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    Replies
    1. End of November. Sign up starts December 1

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    2. Next week is what I am hearing from my District, probably one week from today.

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  12. Dont ratings come out in December?

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    Replies
    1. Breaking News: No Ratings Updates for this year according to DTA. Continue to use your current rating through 2017. They just too busy to update.

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    2. DTA does not manage ratings.

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

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