And for that one guy who keeps wanting a 5.0 update

 

At the mid-point of the 5.0 season, Flight A has more teams in the running than it does teams who are eliminated.  Fair Oaks/Perkison sits alone with one loss but three teams are tied with two losses: JCC/Rieman, Brookhaven/Harllee and Greenhill Green/Rossouw.  Only Fair Oaks has looked dominant with four sweeps but they did lose to Brookhaven and they do have a very large roster so anything could happen down the stretch.  Not that I’m an expert at 5.0 or could ever play it, but playing only three lines makes it much easier to ride one player a lot further. 

 

Flight B is a much different story.  For all of you who are a little OCD, SpringPark/Vahdat is 4-0, TBar/Bartzen is 3-1, Lakes/Jannasch is 2-2, Seay/Saqueton is 1-3 and Greenhill White/Rossouw is 0-4.  I think they should just stop now.  Having only lost one line thus far, SpringPark is looking pretty strong.  If they get past their rematch with T Bar they should be able to cost to the playoffs.  The first SpringPark v T Bar match was a 2-1 decided by a third set tie breaker so this flight isn’t done yet.

 

Fall MId-year Review

 Or, Wake Me For The Playoffs

 

4.5 Review

Flight A – it’s a three horse race with Fair Oaks/Valentin and Greenhill Blue/Rossouw sitting at 5-0 and LB Houston/Moore one back at 4-1.  Greenhill put the one loss on LB Houston but the others haven’t played each other yet so much to be determined.  With only four matches left, it’s crunch time.  This weekend Fair Oaks and Greenhill play each other so that will bring a lot of clarity to this flight.  I’d look for Greenhill and Fair Oaks to advance.

Flight B – The toughest flight and by season end it will show.  We already have three contenders with one loss.  JCC/Reiman sits alone at 4-0.  They haven’t reported scores from their match this weekend with Greenhill/Alzuro but I’m willing to pencil in a win for JCC.  At one loss each you still have three teams: Brookhaven/Harllee, TBar/McColpin and Lakes/Way.  None of them play each other next week so it looks like a frenetic finish.  I’d go with JCC and Brookhaven.

Flight C – there are four contenders left here as well: Gleneagles/Juhn and Greenhill Red/Rossouw are both undefeated and Oak Creek/Probadi and SpringPark/Sweeney each have one loss.  The big matchup is Gleneagles and Greenhill this weekend.  Oak Creek and SpringPark also play this weekend in an elimination match.  We’ll know a lot more about this flight on Monday.  Have to go with Greenhill and Gleneagles here.

 4.0 Review

Flight A – McKinney/Kanchi looks to be in the driver’s seat here at 4-0.  Eagles Landing/Berman and Oak Creek/Rich are both tied in the one loss column.  McKinney has already beaten Oak Creek and they play Eagles Landing this weekend so this flight could be wrapped up soon.  I’ll go with McKinney and Oak Creek.

Flight B – what to say, four teams are tied with one loss and none look very strong.  Hackberry/Myers, Lakes/Reifsnyder, Brookhaven/Bartlett and McKinney/Oh are all muddling their way through flight play.  A lack of roster depth makes this anyone’s race.  I think Brookhaven and Lakes in this flight.

Flight C – Garland1/Sisk and Las Colinas/Otey are tied atop this flight with one loss each.  Four more teams sit tied in the two loss column.  Garland should advance to the playoffs but you can flip a coin for the second spot.

Flight D – Greenhill/Eckenrode and Huffines/Robins are tied at one loss with three teams sitting in the two loss column.  Greenhill should advance and if Huffines gets past Oak Creek/Iyer this weekend they should head to the playoffs as well.

 

And Nationals Continue - The Houston Version

The #1 singles guy for Caribbean warming up for his 3.5 match.

Well, it’s a Freeman weekend.  Having 3.5 and 4.5 at nationals the same weekend puts him in a quandary.  Not only does he captain both teams but he also plays on the 3.5 team.  Here’s betting he spends his weekend at Indian Wells with the 3.5 team but since Rancho Mirage is right next door, he may just be shuttling back and forth.

At the sectionals post I picked the 3.5 team to win it all and nothing about that has changed.  In flight 5 they will have to navigate through Northern, Caribbean and New England.  If years past is any indicator, the Texas/Caribbean flight play match will likely be for the national title.  The good news is if Texas wins its flight they draw probably the weakest flight for the semi-final match versus one of Intermountain, Midwest, Mid-Atlantic and Florida. 

The 4.5 team is playing right next door and drew the five team flight with Missouri Valley, Mid-Atlantic, Florida and Eastern.  It’s always a tough road to travel when you have to win that extra match and stretch your guys before the semis.  There just isn’t any down time.  If they can make it through they would see the winner of Flight 7 in the semis consisting of Midwest, Intermountain, Middle States and Northern California.

I called Freeman's office for a quote but evidently he left for the desert several weeks ago to start acclimating to the climate.  I wonder how far ahead he had to let USTA New York know that he was winning both 3.5 and 4.5 this year so he could get them scheduled for nationals at the same location?

Good luck to our friends from the swamp lands.

High Point's Plan to Dominate USTA Accompished... Dallas wins 4.0 Natonal Championship!

Since the beginning 0 A.T.L. (After Tennis Link), Dallas has not won a 4.0 National Championship.  We have been close but never closed the deal.  Bill Sanders from Waco is the only Texas captain to accomplish this feat.

Championship Picture of Tony and his Team

 

Here is a picture of his team.  It is an eclectic group.  I'm not sold on that team uniform but who can argue with that kind of success.  This group of masterminds surely has no equal after running roughshod over the country.








 Before we get to the story, here is a clip of Jorge Aguilar after dominating another match at nationals and Tony Le expressing his approval.

Picture of Tony Le as Captain
 

 

Then, a man named Tony Le from Planet X (pictured here), came to Dallas.  He previously put monsters together but they were no match for his arch-enemy from Houston... He devised a plan so diabolical that he had to get the monster that could take down one of Houston's 3 headed monster's heads.  He chose the 4.0 Monster over Houston's 3.5 and 4.5 Heads.  In the end, he only had to beat Fort Worth instead of Houston.


The Vanquished

Houston has usually been our nemesis.     No Godzilla enemy personifies Houston and Freeman better than King Ghidorah.  He has three heads and Freeman had three teams at sectionals.  He even advanced two to nationals.  Yet, in the usually coveted 4.0 slot, he was taken out by an imposter Godzilla controlled by Wayne Rigney from planet Wannabe also known as Fort Worth.





Here is a video of Tony Le's monster against Rigney.  I am a little surpised the fight lasted this long.  The real surprise that the monster mastermind took out King Ghidorah in the sectionals semi-finals.

After vanquishing the wannabe Godzilla from Planet Wannabe, Tony took his monster to the Desert.  They started with a Florida swamp creature.  In true Godzilla fashion, the monster showed strength but Godzilla prevails 3-2 over a tough monster.  Next, came up winless Midwest.  This is probably not a monster but just a light snack for the Monster from High Point.  I heard they didn't even have team uniforms.

In a battle of undefeated Flight Play Giants, Tony takes on this fellow.  He is sent from the Planet Middle States.



It is a tough fight but eventually Godzilla does what he has to do.  He vanquishes another Middle States monster.  While he looks scary and a tough monster, in the end he can only gets two good shots in against Godzilla.  Tony's monster from Planet High Point advances to what was his biggest challenge; he is facing the monster from Planet SoCal.




SoCal created an enemy to specifically rule over the monsters.  They bring MechaGodzilla... In the toughest test for Tony and his monster, they win 2 third set tiebreakers to advance.  My hat goes off to him to beat the monster designed to beat him.















In the finals he had to beat King Caesar from Planet Southwest.

This must be the post pathetic monster.  They beat them 5-0 and no match was very tight.  This was the easiest match he had since city payoffs.

In the end, congratulations at bringing a title to Texas!

Busy Weekend

Mixed 18s sectionals were this weekend and it was a bit of a rough showing for Dallas.

The 10.0 Dallas team did win sectionals.  Congratulations to Oak Creek/Pearson on a job well done.  A very solid roster and a very impressive showing beating each of Houston and Austin twice at sectionals.  Well done and good luck at nationals.

The Dallas 9.0 squad went a respectable 2-1 as did the Dallas 7.0 team but neither advanced out of their flight.

The Dallas 8.0 and 6.0 squads went a combined 0-8 for the weekend.

At 3.0 18s Nationals the Dallas team went 2-1, losing only to eventual champion Caribbean.  Also a very respectable showing.

4.0 18s were also this weekend but there will be more coming on those results soon.

And for those two people who have asked about the fall, we are at the half way mark so I'll get an early fall playoff preview out soon as well.