3.5 Fall Season Preview

3.5 Breakdown

There are 27 3.5 teams this fall vying for 6 spots in the City Playoffs at the end of November with a valuable prize on the line (automatic entry to next years City Championships).

After looking at the flight assignments I think these are strongest to weakest Flights: 1)B Flight 2)A Flight 3)C Flight

Flight B:
The favorites in the flight have to be Garland and Stonebridge. Both of these teams finished strong in the Spring and didn’t lose that many players at all. Garland was a sectional rep from Dallas and I believe only lost 1 maybe 2 players so they will be tough. Stonebridge made it to the QT last Spring and gave Garland a close match and is always strong at doubles. Very close behind is Brookhaven and LB Houston who gave my 3.5 Spring team last year some good matches and have both lost a few players but will still be strong contenders. The dark horse would be High Point who made it to the Fall playoffs last season but missed out on the Spring playoffs and will be looking to bounce back. Hackberry is an improving team as it LB Houston/Daly. The Lifetime team is a move up from 3.0 so I don’t know much about them but have had success at 3.0 so they are used to winning and Stonebriar although minus some good players were a few points away from being in the Fall finals a year ago so I would call this the Flight of DEATH. There are only 2 spots available in this flight for the playoffs and I think there will be a fight for both of them and I would be surprised if someone goes undefeated in this flight.

Flight A:
Not to be partial but my old High Point guys headed up by Trae Bowman and Leonard Hutchison are huge favorites in this flight. We did lose 5 players including myself to bump ups but we moved up our best players from the JV team from the Spring and should be very strong. The other contenders will be Oak Creek although they will be hard pressed to duplicate past success with so many players gone to 4.0. Westlake although a new team looks to have swallowed up some players from neighboring teams and looks to be strong. Gleneagles and Canyon Creek would be in the next tier of favorites but are always a player or two from being a top team to a middle of the pack team.

Flight C:
Lifetime Fitness is a clear cut favorite in this flight but after that I don’t see a team that stands out. Either Greenhill team has a shot and the new Oak Ridge team made up of tournament dwellers could have success. My team in this flight is very new to league tennis so be kind to them and feel free to send out your weakest lineups to give us a chance. (he, he :)) I wish I could give you a rundown on my team but I have a lot of new people as I mentioned so I expect every match to be close. If I had to put money down for that 2nd spot I guess I would go with Kayser’s team but who knows???

As far as my prediction for the playoffs I see Lifetime doing well as well as Garland and Trae’s High Point guys but I am sure there will be a up and coming team that will make some noise. I cannot wait for this Sunday to see how week 1 goes.