Weekly Update and Nationals Wrap

Not a lot to report in 4.5 this week but the calendar is getting closer to some interesting matchups.  There’s just not a lot to report in 4.5 at all this fall because thus far the flights have pretty much gone to form.

Flight A has Rossouw and Way in the driver’s seat.  Both are undefeated, everyone else has at least two losses, and except for playing each other at season end the both have easy finishing schedules.

Flight B also has Rossouw on top and Harlee in second as soon as he finishes his match with Stonebridge.  The Rossouw/Harlee match was a 3-2 final with Rossouw’s bunch winning two of two third set tie breakers, so a tight finish between these two.

Flight C is a bit more interesting with every team having already taken at least one loss.  Reiman leads the pack with one loss but has two loss Bogle to finish.  Warren’s crew has clawed their way back into a likely second place finish.  They have two losses but they are done.  Bogle owns the head-to-head tie breaker over Warren so it will all come down to the Reiman match for a playoff birth.

In 4.0, things are starting to shake out a bit. 

Flight A is a three horse race between Parrish, McHugh and Browning.  Parrish has three matches left with two solid teams down the stretch.  Eldorado has the most favorable finishing schedule of the three.  I still think McHugh has the best team and if the fall played out third sets instead of having tie breakers they’d be in the lead.  As it is, they finish with two good teams and could be on the outside looking in if they aren’t careful.

Flight B has Sisk with a resurgence of sorts.  Powered by some of his 4.5 bump downs they are undefeated.  Bartlett and Noel are both tied at one loss and they square off next weekend.  The winner should be in the playoffs.

Flight C should be done.  Ratcliffe has no losses with only one match left.  Peterson has one loss with two left but everyone else already has three losses.  These two are in unless Peterson forgets to show up the next two weeks.

Flight D, well, what to say.  Jayaram and McIntosh are in the lead with one loss each but they play each other next week so one of them will be log jammed in the two loss category soon.  Meyers, Reifsnyder and Jenison are still in the hunt with two losses.  I’m not sure any of these teams make the playoffs in another flight.

18s Nationals Wrap Up – and the winners were? 

5.5/Open had the team from Austin winning it all over Northern California.  I’ve never seen so many 7s on a roster as some of these Open teams had.  Austin went 12-3 for the weekend against some pretty stiff competition.

In my favorite result, 5.0 had Southern beating Southern in the final with Northern and Intermountain both making the semis.  I’ve heard the ALTA league in Atlanta has some unbelievable high end talent but, needless to say, the boys in the Southern section seems to know how to play high end tennis.

In 4.5, Pacific Northwest took a tight win over Southern, with the boys from Amarillo and Caribbean both in the semis.  For those of you who wondered how Logan Powell would fair at nationals, he did quite well.  He went 6-0 in singles and all four sets on Sunday were 6-1.

At 4.0, Mr. Freeman was oh so close to that elusive national title, dropping a close final to Southern California.  It’s an impressive effort for any team to make it that far and they did it short handed in singles.  Florida and Middle States were both in the semis.

At the recently completed 3.5 event, it was Northern California over Caribbean, with Pacific Northwest and Southern California in the semis.  At 3.0 it was Texas over Northern California, with Pacific Northwest and Eastern in the semis.  And at 2.5, yes they have this, it was Pacific Northwest over Northern California, with Florida and Eastern in the semis.

From 5.0 to 2.5, with 4 points for a win, 3 for a second and 2 for a semi, the BIGGEST CHEATER AWARD goes to - PACIFIC NORTHWEST with a total of 12 points.

Southern and Northern California tied for second with 10 points.  Texas just missed the medal stand with 9 points.  Southern California had 6 points and Caribbean had 5 points.  Tied at 4 points each were Florida and Eastern.  Honorable mention with 2 points each were Northern, Intermountain and Middle States.