FT Worth Fall 4.0 Play-Offs

The 3.5 Div is top heavy with 5-1 teams,
The 4.5 needs to make up their rain out matches.
However, the 4.0 Div is all done and the 14 team single elimination tournament begins this week end.

Draw can be found HERE

Quick Preview.
Southlake at 6-0 gets a bye and well as the TCU Cowtowners

First round matches
Ridglea Roughnecks(3-3)

vs
Hurst Stars 4.0(2-3)
I have to give the nod to the roughnecks here

ATC Hammers(4-2)

vs
Denton Country Club (Argyle)(0-6)
Denton CC can barely get out of their own way,ATC all the way

Flower Mound(3-3)

vs
Walnut Creek(2-4)
Both these teams have been soft in singles this year, Team FM gets the win, Home court may figure in here.

RTC Coyotes 4.0(3-3)

vs
The Old Gang (ATC)(2-4)
The old gang had a tuff team in the spring, not sure what happened in the fall, they dad several 2-2 losses, I pick them for the upset.

RTC Wylie 4-2

vs
River Crest 1-4
Wylie has a good team and should roll here

TCU Armadillos 4-1

vs
RTC Tims 2-3
TCU could have finished first in their Div if they would have made up the rain out, Tims has a good team if he can get the right players to show up, Tims pulls the upset.

4.0 Week 7 Via Marc Russouw

All complaints can be sent to

Marc Russouw
c/o Greenhill Tennis Center
Good Part of Town, TX 12345

Flight A - not much going on. HP/Bazan are creeping back up the standings to where they belong (ahh thanks Marc but we have packed it in) and will probably take down TBar who still need to get in their make-up match with the tough Stonebriar team. Assuming that Lakes and GHill manage to hold off Eldorado and LBH, Lakes & GHill will probably clinch play-off berths this weekend.

Flight B - nothing interesting happening here until the last week when JCC take on Fretz for the 2nd place. Highly unlikely that JCC lose their other 2 matches before then so it comes down to these 2 (Eldorado already has 2 losses and still needs to play Garland who will give them their 3rd loss)

Flight C - same song different tune.... The final week match-up between Canyon Creek & Village will decide who makes the play-offs with BHavenBP - who have a soft schedule remaining.

Flight D - Now this is where the action is! BhavenBB really needs to win against Garland because after their 0-5 drubbing last week to Somabut tie-breakers are not their friend. This match will be tough if both teams are able to field their top 8 players. Since that is unlikely I'm going to give the edge to BHaven as I think they have better depth at dubs but this is a toss-up. Don't be fooled by the Garland loss to Village, that was the week Newman and Kingsley were with Bob at Nationals, but does indicate their lack of depth.

MOW however has to be Somabut vs Oak Creek. I'm going to stop betting against Bob's "rebuilding" team and pick them to win this one. Somehow he has assembled a quality roster around Weymer, Kemp & Fenn. It will be interesting to see how they fare though when those 3 get bumped up at year-end.

2nd Annual Noel/Sisk Holiday Tournament

When: Nov. 20-22, 2009

Where: Sites: Garland Tennis Center. Another nearby location will be chosen if necessary.

EVENTS: Singles, Doubles, Mixed Doubles

FORMAT: This is an old-school format. There are no divisions by level. Everybody signs up for singles, doubles, and/or mixed doubles in a maximum of two events. Seeding will be determined by Corey Noel, John Sisk, and an objective third party and will be based primarily on NTRP ratings, USTA results, and previous Noel/Sisk tournament results. Maximum draw size will be 32 players/teams for all draws. If there are more than 32 players/teams, the players will be divided into multiple draws (max size=16). Example: 45 players sign up= a draw of 22 and a draw of 23. Seeds will be placed using the wave method if multiple draws occur. There will be a consolation draw for each event.

NOTE: Many of you are already thinking, how can there be no levels? What makes our tournaments special and different is the handicapping system. We have used a handicap scoring system in our last tournaments, making virtually every match competitive, when it may or may not have been under normal scoring rules. The way it works is, players receive one handicap game at the start of each set per 0.5 difference in level, based on the players’ NTRP ratings, including the option to start serving or receiving. For example, if a 4.0 plays a 4.5, the 4.0 would begin each set with the option to serve or receive, and a 1-0 lead. Same applies in doubles. If two 4.0s play two 4.5s, the 4.0 team would begin each set with the option to serve or receive, and a 2-0 lead (8.0 v. 9.0). We had a lot of positive feedback for this format and we look forward to using it again. We will only accept players in the 3.0-5.0 range, and a maximum of 4 games will be given in any set. If players do not have a USTA rating, the tournament committee will assign one based on available information. We will use the current mid-season USTA ratings (sorry John :(.

SCORING: Regular Season—Two out of three sets, regular scoring, with a 3rd-set super-tiebreaker in lieu of a third set. Finals can be played under full two out of three set format if time allows.

ENTRY FEE: $28 per event or $48 for two events. Maximum two events. Preferred method of payment is electronic via PayPal. All players will be invoiced by PayPal on Monday, November 9 and payment is due by Saturday, November 14.

PRIZE MONEY : This is a prize money event. No trophies, no t-shirts; we’re playing for cash, and for fun of course.

PAYOUT: 1st place: 25% of all entry fees for that draw (12.5% per doubles team member).
2nd place: 15% of all entry fees for that draw (7.5% per doubles team member).
Consolation winner: 10% of all entry fees for that draw (5% per doubles team member).
Example: if 20 people sign up for singles only for a total prize pool of $500, winner would receive $125, 2nd place would receive $75, consolation winner would receive $50. Split those prizes in half to determine doubles prize money.

SCHEDULE of Play: Singles will begin at 6 p.m. Friday, 11 a.m. Saturday, and 9 a.m. Sunday. Doubles will be at 7:30 p.m. Friday, 3 p.m. Saturday, and noon Sunday. Mixed will begin Saturday at 6 p.m., and Sunday at 3 p.m. All times are dependent upon draw sizes.

SIGN-UP: Sign up by e-mailing noelcarter91199@yahoo.com. List the events you would like to sign up for and you will be invoiced accordingly through PayPal.

DEADLINE: Players must be paid by Saturday November 14.

Feel free to use this forum for feedback or questions.

4.5 Headlines

Flight A

TBAR CONTINUES TO CRUISE, LUDWIG'S TEAM FALLS AGAIN--TBar gets its fourth 3-2 win of the season by beating Brookhaven Ludwig. The second straight loss by Ludwig's team leaves them on the outside looking in unless they can get a 5-0 win next week over Feldman. Not going to happen. Four of the five matches came down to tiebreaks but T Bar was able to win four out of five of them. Nice win!! They officially clinch a playoff spot with the win.

FELDMAN ELIMINATES GREENHILL--Greenhill once again comes up just short of making the playoffs, barring a miracle. Would be very interesting if their makeup match with Somabut ends up meaning something. Regardless, Greenhill would have to win each of its last two matches 4-1, and have Oak Creek lose to Ludwig to have any shot.

Flight B

NORTHWOOD CONTINUES TO DOMINATE--Northwood continues to roll, extending its undefeated record. A little closer than the score indicates but a win nevertheless over an improved DFW team today.

LIFETIME WINS AGAIN, SETS UP SHOWDOWN WITH ROYAL OAKS NEXT WEEK FOR PLAYOFF SPOT--Lifetime ekes out another win against another Oak Creek team to set up the most meaningful match left in the flight this season. Eddie, let us know the time and place so the fans can come out.

Flight C

LAKES' CINDERELLA STORY CONTINUES, CLINCH PLAYOFF BERTH--The Lakes will be in the 4.5 playoffs for the first time (that I know of). They clinched by beating a depleted Brookhaven lineup. Some of the Brookhaven lineups have been suspect and this one was no different. Although, they were a third-set tiebreak away from winning. The Lakes have beaten all contenders in its flight, and will have all the momentum going into the postseason.

BATTLE FOR SECOND PLACE STILL WIDE OPEN--Really hard to say with so many unplayed matches who the second playoff team will be, but I would give the edge to High Point. They only have one loss but still have 3 matches left to play, two of them against playoff teams from last season. Assuming they beat Oak Creek today, they will be in a commanding position.

Power Rankings

1. The Lakes (5-0, 16-9). Hard to argue with based on who they've beaten.
2. T Bar (6-0, 21-9). A lot of close wins builds character right?
3. Northwood (4-0, 17-3). Most consistent team but weakest opposition.
4. Feldman (5-1, 22-8). Defending fall champs know what it takes to win.
5. High Point (2-1, 9-6). Not much to go on but they have the personnel to win.

Thoughts?

3.5 Coming into Focus

Anon 2 gets majority of predictions, but misses on some big upsets.

Flight A - Westlake stumbles losing to Stonebridge 3-2, leaving the door open for Stonebridge and High Point, each with 2 losses. Westlake has to take on undefeated Garland this weekend which will not be an easy task. Should they lose, they too will have 2 losses. Stonebridge and HP meet up as well and the winner will be in the running and the loser will be done. This flight has the most excitement coming up this weekend.

Flight B - Anon 2 gets this flight right (still waiting on results from Lakes/Stonbriar match..... C'mon captains, get your scores recorded in a timely manner!) Huffhines is now in the #1 slot and should stay there after this weekend going up against a winless Stonebridge. Fretz is right there as well and it looks like it will be these two teams finishing on top of this flight.

Flight C - Brookhaven gets bent over by Oak Creek in a 5-0 dessimation, with not even one line being close. Brookhaven will now have to win the rest of their matches to stay in there and fend off the Village. Does Lifetime have what it takes to give an upset this week against Brookhaven? The current top 2 teams in this flight (Oak Creek and Village) don't match up until the final week.

Match ups of the week: Westlake at Garland, Stonebridge at High Point, Lifetime at Brookhaven.

4.5 Week Headlines

Not too many surprises this week in the 4.5 division. Here are the top stories from Sunday.

Flight A

LUDWIG BACK DOWN TO EARTH--Brookhaven finally plays a worthy opponent and prove the critics right. BH actually had a chance to win the match with a couple of meaningful tiebreaks going Greenhill's way, so maybe they are better than we thought.

BAZAN BEATS SOMABUT--Probably the first and only time I will say that. Not too many actual 4.5s in this match but Bazan came out with the win (first of the season).

TBAR and OAK CREEK CONTINUE TO CRUISE--These two teams have solidified themselves as the top of the flight and, since they have already played each other, I find it unlikely that either will falter. Greenhill will have to go undefeated to make it, but calculating matches and sets is not their friend at this point.

Flight B

BOVERMANN AND ROTHWELL--Anybody know the results? Winner should be in good position for playoffs.

LIFETIME IN SECOND PLACE??--Lifetime gets their third win of the season. Except for the lapse against Northwood, they are undefeated. Hard to picture a team that is 9-11 in individual matches making the playoffs though.

Flight C

MIGHTY OAK CREEK LOSES....AGAIN--The Lakes have a commanding 4-0 lead in the division. It seems unfathomable that they will miss the playoffs now. Oak Creek is on life support. Even though this team is a shell of its former self, I expected better with James, Pollard, Slezak, and Braswell still on the roster. But, as I'm sure they will say, it's only the fall.

HIGH POINT V. BAIRD HAS HUGE PLAYOFF IMPLICATIONS--Loser of this match is all but eliminated with two losses whereas the winner will move into second place. This really looks like it will be the most competitive battle for second place of all the flights.

NEXT WEEK: BROOKHAVEN V. LAKES--I look for the Lakes to come back to reality a little bit with a loss here. Brookhaven's top lineup can beat anybody in the flight but we have rarely seen that all season.

Thoughts??

4.0 Week 6

So pretty good weekend of matches last weekend as two of the 4 flights are looking like they will be interesting up until the final weekend.

Flight A:
Not that much going on as the top two teams have played and now they just need to hold on and not slip up for the final few weeks. Lakes plays LB Houston. LBH doesn't look great on paper but they have enough strength to take out some good teams, just ask both of my crews who lost in 3rd set TBs to them. They are a scrappy bunch.

Flight B:
Garland has pretty much punched their ticket but 2nd place is still up for grabs but might start to take better shape this weekend as Eldorado and Fretz face off this weekend. This one is a tough call but I think Eldorado might just pull it off in a close one. JCC takes on Greenhill as well and has a chance to become relevant but if they lose both them and Greenhill will have a tough time climbing to the top. Greenhill has a tough road either way but one more loss and they can kiss the playoffs goodbye.

Flight C:
Brookhaven is cruising but they face High Point who has been up and down so far but they need this win to stay in the race so I think they might field a strong lineup. The most interesting match should be Gleneagles v. Village which should show which of those two teams will be in the running for a playoff spot in this flight. I don't have a good vibe on this match but I am leaning towards Gleneagles for some reason.

Flight D:
4.0 MOW is here as undefeated new powerhouse Brookhaven takes on HP/Bob who needs a win to keep their string of 200 straight playoff appearances. I can never bet against Bob especially because BH might struggle in singles and that is usually where Bob donates a win to the other team anyway. Also interested to see how LTF does against struggling Stonebridge who even though winless are still dangerous.

4.5 Feature Matchups this Week

Instead of going through every match, I will highlight the important matchups of the flight. With all of the rain, very little has been established in any flight since all the teams have played a different amount of matches. The forecast this week should be a little better and we should learn more about the teams.

Flight A

Nothing exciting this week. Weak v. strong unless a team can pull an upset. Really will be amazed if Ludwig's team is 4-0 but I will still predict them to miss the playoffs. Their last 3 weeks are against Greenhill, T Bar, and Feldman. They will most likely have to win two of those three to advance and I don't see how that happens.

Flight B

Feature match is between Royal Oaks and Juhn this week. Both teams are coming off losses but Royal Oaks is still expected to make the playoffs. A win by Juhn would make this flight much more interesting though. DFW and Lifetime could also be an interesting match. I would say loser drops out of contention officially.

Flight C

LB Houston v. Lakes has to be the most intriguing matchup. Both teams are certainly a surprise thus far and I think we will see who the true contender is this week between the two. The Lakes team has gotten progressively stronger each year and I look for them to move to 3-0. For now, I'm counting LB Houston's opening week win as a fluke. Hackberry and Oak Creek is also intriguing. This flight really seems to be very evenly balanced, much more than I thought originally.

Any thoughts?

4.0 Week 5

At least I think it is week 5, not for sure but that is what we are going for.

So as mentioned I haven't had a chance to follow too much due to work and family but glad to be back for a few minutes here to see what is going on.

Flight A:
Greenhill and Lakes are playing this weekend and "should" decide who will finish in the top spot in this flight. I do think both these teams will finish 1-2 and place really doesn't matter in the fall. If I had to pick I would go with the Lakes but this one is a toss up, it will come down to a singles match if I had to guess and that is why I have to go with the Lakes. I think another interesting match will be SWAT v. DCC. The DCC has a chance to jump up into the discussion with a win of possibly overtaken the loser of the 4.0 MOW if they can get on a winning streak.

Flight B:
Garland has already posed for their playoff picture as of last week and really this flight is all about who will get 2nd place. Eldorado is off this week and is actually still undefeated which is impressive. Fretz and Greenhill are in the mix as well but Greenhill is one more loss away from a quick end to their season. JCC also has a shot here but tough to know with only 2 matches played so far.

Flight C:
This flight is much like B where Brookhaven can start planning for December right now as a slew of other teams are tied at 1-1 and I honestly have no idea which one could jump up and get 2nd place. Although my two favorites to grab that spot are playing each other on Saturday (HP v. Village) I think the winner will keep going and take 2nd place.

Flight D:
HP/Bob v. Garland/Brueckner is a battle of unbeatens and most likely will decide who joins Brookhaven in the playoffs. It is hard to think OC will not make the playoffs but they have a tough road to climb and that begins with a match v. Stonebridge who although they are 0-3 they are not a weak team at all but I wonder if they are packing it in for next season already.

Rain, Rain, Go Away

This is the time of year it pays to be a member at Brookhaven or other clubs with indoor courts. Question is, are those teams taking advantage of practice time in the indoor courts while the rest of us twiddle our thumbs waiting for a break of sunshine.

3.5 Flight A - Battle of the Barn Boys; 3-1 Brookhaven Alzuro takes on 4-0 Westlake at Brookhaven. Both clubs have barns to practice in. Does Alzuro have the barn booked for the weekend and can their home barn advantage give them the edge to get a win ??

3.5 Flight B - HP Entrekin hosts Huffhines. HP's first true test ??

3.5 Flight C - May as well keep raining. Sleeper flight with the top 3 teams (3-0 Oak Creek, 3-0 Brookhaven & 2-1 Sam Grand) taking on the bottom 3 winless teams (Eldorado, Lifetime, LB Houston).

Sunshine is in the forcast for Saturday and Sunday. Hopefully some matches will be played. With time off of the courts, it should be interesting to see if any impact is made to the results of this weekend.

Hey Cary, is this where you went fishing ???