Yes it’s finally here.
I just like researching and writing about this event (as you saw last year). You can always count on Tri-level for a little humor, a little intrigue, and some
good tennis. But mainly it's about known quantities. There are no self rates so there should be no surprises. Yes, you can get to sectionals Sunday and some guy can pop out of the woodwork to crush your dreams, but if he did you should already know him by now. This is a bit of an all star event and for the most part everyone knows everyone. So let's begin.
And as has now become a combo/tri-level tradition of sorts, Vince Kingsley has merged teams with someone – in this case Corey Noel. As is often the case on merged teams, it’s an eclectic bunch. The 4.5s are Vince and Corey, along with Robert Barrie, Ryan Kirkpatrick and Hector Valentin. For 4.0s they have Mike Sullivan, Craig Waters, Shawn Arcaria and John Sellars. At 3.5 it’s Jeffrey Yarbrough Michael Campbell, Pushkar Chhajed and Jonathan Wraith. Do these guys even know each other? Sounds like a good over 40 tri-level team to me. Do they have that? Still some good players and maybe a wild card winner if one is given.
Moving on down tennislink we find the Tony Le team. Here are some names that have spent a lot of time together recently. Jean Nguyen, Alfredo Perez, Marcos Chavez and Sam Huynh anchor the 4.5 line with Tony, Hai Nguyen, Victor Tran, Ryan DelaPaz and Jared Kemp back from their 4.0 national title in time to lace them back up for this weekend. The 3.5s are Mo Mahmoud We-Ben Lai, Nick Strohla and Ryan McClanahan. If you don't know these guys by now you are on the wrong blog. This looks like the team to beat in Dallas.
Ranganath Kanchi comes to the table with Christopher Fess, Forest Berg and Michael Glasgow at 4.5; Greg Maxey, Mark Sweeney and Osiel Salinas at 4.0; and Ronald Jones, Gary Paparella, Rich Faris and Michael Devitt at 3.5. Respectable but I’m feeling like this is a team vying for third.
Blake Bearden’s team looks like a whole bunch of 4.0s mixed in at different levels. Chad Carlquist, Keith Robinson and Blake are the 4.5 line; Bob Somabut, Wah Jeung and David Kingery at 4.0; with Kris Whiteley, Phil Hord, Michael Nelson and Alan Fishman at 3.5. I like these guys and I’m sure they’ll have a good time.
Mike Myers comes in with Daniel Barta, Roger Myers and Sean O’Neil at 4.5; Tony LaMoy, Dusty Dendy and Mike Myers at 4.0; and Kapil Lahoti, Timothy Boyce and David Bitterman at 3.5. Don’t see a Hackberry team that often in tri-level so good luck guys.
And as has now become a combo/tri-level tradition of sorts, Vince Kingsley has merged teams with someone – in this case Corey Noel. As is often the case on merged teams, it’s an eclectic bunch. The 4.5s are Vince and Corey, along with Robert Barrie, Ryan Kirkpatrick and Hector Valentin. For 4.0s they have Mike Sullivan, Craig Waters, Shawn Arcaria and John Sellars. At 3.5 it’s Jeffrey Yarbrough Michael Campbell, Pushkar Chhajed and Jonathan Wraith. Do these guys even know each other? Sounds like a good over 40 tri-level team to me. Do they have that? Still some good players and maybe a wild card winner if one is given.
Moving on down tennislink we find the Tony Le team. Here are some names that have spent a lot of time together recently. Jean Nguyen, Alfredo Perez, Marcos Chavez and Sam Huynh anchor the 4.5 line with Tony, Hai Nguyen, Victor Tran, Ryan DelaPaz and Jared Kemp back from their 4.0 national title in time to lace them back up for this weekend. The 3.5s are Mo Mahmoud We-Ben Lai, Nick Strohla and Ryan McClanahan. If you don't know these guys by now you are on the wrong blog. This looks like the team to beat in Dallas.
Ranganath Kanchi comes to the table with Christopher Fess, Forest Berg and Michael Glasgow at 4.5; Greg Maxey, Mark Sweeney and Osiel Salinas at 4.0; and Ronald Jones, Gary Paparella, Rich Faris and Michael Devitt at 3.5. Respectable but I’m feeling like this is a team vying for third.
Blake Bearden’s team looks like a whole bunch of 4.0s mixed in at different levels. Chad Carlquist, Keith Robinson and Blake are the 4.5 line; Bob Somabut, Wah Jeung and David Kingery at 4.0; with Kris Whiteley, Phil Hord, Michael Nelson and Alan Fishman at 3.5. I like these guys and I’m sure they’ll have a good time.
Mike Myers comes in with Daniel Barta, Roger Myers and Sean O’Neil at 4.5; Tony LaMoy, Dusty Dendy and Mike Myers at 4.0; and Kapil Lahoti, Timothy Boyce and David Bitterman at 3.5. Don’t see a Hackberry team that often in tri-level so good luck guys.
And now for a quick look at the Dallas West roster. None other than Garland’s own John Sisk has a team out of Fort Worth. He has Brent Shreiner, Donnie Pollard and some guy named Kelly on the 4.5 line; Alan Abbruzzese, Mike Zackary, Wayne Rigney, Mark Nguyen, Hai Nguyen (the FW version) and Scott Faris at 4.0; and Dong Long and Tam Huynh at 3.5. Before you say ‘who are these guys’, let me give you a little recent history. At 4.5, Kelly you may know but I’m guessing they’ll be adding another 4.5 here. At 4.0, Mark Nguyen and his 18s partner took out one of Freeman’s doubles lines in sectionals semis and only dropped one game. They also beat the Tony Le team of Hai Nguyen and Jared Kemp in three sets, so this guy can evidently play. Hai Nguyen (FW) went 6-3 in 18s and 40s sectionals. And if they break up the FW guys, Scott Faris just came back from 4.0 over 40 nationals where he played the #1 singles line five times and only gave up 10 total games.
But my real reason for bringing up FW is their two 3.5s. If you think Dallas or Houston has the market cornered on shady, take a look at these two guys. Dong Long (yeah, that is his listed name, maybe he hasn't changed it from 16 Candles), as a computer rated 3.5, went 15-0 at 4.0 with wins over one of Freeman’s lines in sectionals semis (1-0), Tony Le’s lines in sectionals finals (3 sets), and another 6-1, 6-0 over Klamecki and Hicks at city finals. His 3.5 running mate is Tam Huynh. He was a combined 39-1 this year as a 4.0, losing only in sectionals finals at #1 singles. There are two other FW teams listed but neither has a single player listed yet. Do you blame them?
Freeman’s roster is still taking shape so the bigger picture
for tri-level will get covered before sectionals but I wanted to touch on the
Dallas West team so you’ll know what everyone else knows.
So what is the story on McClanahan? Did the DTA clear him?
ReplyDeleteIt says he is 3.5, he is 3.5. Just because you can't beat him, you try to get him disqualified.
ReplyDelete3.5 line is owned by Fort Worth. No idea how McClanahan is slipping under the radar, but if anyone can do it leave it up to Tiny Le to get it done.
ReplyDeleteYep, FW's 3.5s embarrassed Freeman's out of level 4.0s.
DeleteMcClanahan will embarrass the FW 3.5s. I'm just not sure McClanahan can play great mixed.
DeleteThat didn't take long. McClanahan has a 5 by his name on Tony's roster. Anybody who gets DQ'd twice in one year deserves some kind of an award.
ReplyDeleteBest guess is that when they bumped McClanahan to 5.0 they did it manually on the teams he was registered for at the time. Probably didn't expect that Tony would find the loophole and try to register him for another event. Guessing one of the other teams checked with Todd Reed and it got adjusted.
ReplyDeleteCan anybody beat Tony? That team is better than Sisk or Freeman.
ReplyDeleteDon't you mean Rigney?
DeleteIf they get put in opposite pools come sectionals, it will be Dalllas vs Ft Worth final. 4.5 line has a slight edge with Tony Le's guys. The 3.5 line will definitely go to Ft Worth team. The deciding factor is which players would be available and step on the court. Even though Le has won 4.0 at everything, he's still gonna have to beat out Faris and whoever he partners with. Faris is easily a top tier 4.5 playing at 4.0. This guy will be competing at 4.5 Sectionals in 2016 for sure!!
ReplyDeleteFreeman's Houston team has NO chance whatsoever. Not even going to be competitive.
Faris may be competing at sectionals at 4.5 but wont be winning there. Solid player but not at the top of the 4.5 elite.
Deleteseems like I remember a couple years back everyone saying nobody could beat Chavez and perez at 4.5 trilevel and they were unbeatable. If my memory serves Thicketts 4.5 handled them pretty easy. I think a guy named Kike Melly and More played for Thickett and went on to win a national title at trilevel, or maybe that was a dream.
DeleteJulio Caesar Chavez and Emelio estevez Perez were tanking to get Kelly moved up to 5.0 and it worked. They didnt care about going to nationals.
DeleteYou think le's people can beat Kelly and pollard. It will be a good match. I see Alan A playing 4.0 with Faris. Should be a solid team.
ReplyDeleteKelly and anybody can beat Le's guys. Rigney's 3.5s can beat anybody.
ReplyDeleteKelly was kicked out of Dallas, not out of the USTA. That's why he's on a FW team.
ReplyDeleteDoes anyone think Alan A will ever give us his side of the suspension story. I would still like to hear what he has to say.
ReplyDeleteHis silence speaks pretty loud. We know what he and his merry band of cheaters do.
DeleteI will do whatever i can to make sure Kelley never plays another DTA match. At least all local trilevel and mixed players have a chance to advance out of Dallas. And if enough of you people out there do the same we can make this happen. I talked to Dta. His next suspension would be 3-5 years then a third would be a lifetime ban. Of the 2-3 people that like him in Dallas the other 3,000 league players would be rejoicing!
ReplyDeleteAs much as follks may decide to dislike Kelly and his tanking ways, what Tony Le and his pals have done and continue to do easily eclipses Kelly.
DeleteLet's suspend them all..
I disagree, Tony is a 4.0. Kelly is not a 4.5.
DeleteLook how good the Dallas mixed team did after advancing. 0-3. I hope they at least had fun.
Deletenot true. He is unable to play mixed nationals next weekend at the USTA level for his Dallas team. Not sure how you get he wasn't kicked out of the USTA. Quit covering for this clown.
ReplyDeleteTony has done nothing wrong or the DTA or TTA or USTA would have done something by now. Tony is a master of a captain and a nice guy. Quit criticizing him because you werent asked to play on his elite 18 and over team. He pushes the envelope yes but he was not suspended or bumped up for anything he did. Dallas needs for Tony's!
ReplyDeletekeep shining that knob, keep it sparkling
DeleteThis kind of ass kissing is how you get and stay in Tiny's teams. Occasionally, we do him some frontal favors as well.
DeleteYou just confirmed the answer. He can't play for his DALLAS team at mixed nationals because he was suspended from DALLAS play. Not kicked out of USTA so he can play in FORT WORTH. See how the letters in Dallas and Fort Worth are different? They are different things. Did you flunk Sesame Street?
ReplyDeletecan anyone beat tony the cheat le's team in this tri weekend? Any thoughts?
ReplyDeleteCorey the Saint can beat Tony the Cheat.
Delete3.5s go to the Saint.
4.0s go to the Cheat.
4.5s probably go to the cheat but you never know.
Haha I like the nicknames. Hopefully it will be fun tennis which seems to be a rare occurrence these days.
DeleteThe cheat is probably slightly favored in all 3 lines over the saint but upsets happen all the time at trilevel. The saint has enough players to make it close with the cheat.
ReplyDeleteHeavy favorite at 4.0. Do you remember what we did at nationals?
Deletewell that was in AZ, you forget that lil Tiny forgets how to play when he gets back to Dallas.
DeleteHumidity is high this week. Tiny is in trouble. He would be wise not to play himself.
DeleteThere's better 4.0's out there then Toni's team. They just didn't play on a 4.0 team that had enough strong players.
ReplyDeleteName them.
DeleteCan't name one.
DeleteHere we go.
ReplyDeleteWe won't talk about what happened at the match. We will only talk about the bs that happened at the dta and their "unbiased" committee.
We had emails and text from other captains saying that the Greenhill captain had a chip on her shoulder. We had emails from the players from the Greenhill team stating that we were not at fault in the situation. We were told by the committee that our evidence didn't matter. How could it not matter? We were asked why our women didn't win city playoffs every year. We were asked what level tcd we all played. We were never asked about what happened at the match. One of the people on the committee told us that we should distance ourselves for Mike. That's when we knew it was all about Mike and not about the match that was played.
We were told that participation was down and it was all because of us. The committee said that they had the numbers from the dta. The dta was not supposed to get involved at all, but they help the other team. When we asked if participation was down in all leagues, they couldn't tell us. They just focused on 8.0 mixed. We know that 9.0 mixed has not had more than 2 teams in a few seasons. We don't play 9.0.
Mike was suspended for lack of effort in a 3-1 win. Alan was suspended for saying someone was acting like a female dog. Gene was suspended for pushing someone. Gene never touched a person.
After the suspension, we turned in my appeal and the dta lost it. They actually said that We didn't turn it in. We did exactly what they told us to do and they said we did turn in an appeal. That was total bs.
You tell us if it was a fair decision.
Not from Alan. From a team member. Alan said he will never look at the blog again.
2 things:
Delete1) This certainly sounds like a credible account of what happened
2) Alan can't help himself and I am sure he looks at the blog on a daily basis
Spring Park would of easy win 18 and 40 n over this year but the DTA
DeleteHad it out for Mike Kelly
Agree with 9:34 and thus the reason Kelley was suspended. Had he of been eligible to play 18 and 40 you would have been looking at his 10th and 11th trip to nationals. It is very simple. Kelley was manually bumped up in 2013 bec he went to 3 national events that year. The petition went around started by several losing captains that he has beaten like a drum for years. The USTA looked at that and laughed and moved him back to 4.5, costing a few people their positions on the way. When the DTA figured that didnt work they went another route for a suspension that stuck. When you have won as many matches he has last 5 years and I believe dominated most every sectional and national match he played you will be a target. They went after Alan and Gene to make it look like they were not targeting Mike. People want to make this seem like they didnt understand how this happened. Really? Everyone on the inside knows and it is now leaking out. Certain teams, dismissed board members, certain club players, DTA insiders and DTA brass got together who were tired of losing to SP and Kelly in general and outed him for a year. They wanted so bad to go to sectionals for the first time they did and promptly got their ass kicked at sectionals and then realized it was not that easy and Kelly is that damn good (when he wants to be). People this is the DTA at work and what is scary is YOU could be next. Just go 121-4 in 5 years and get to a handful of nationals and you will be a target. What is ironic is he is going AGAIN next week. Oh well, I guess Fort Worth will begin their petition soon and he will have to play out of Houston, and then they will have him suspended a year and then he will have to go to San Antonio, and then.....
DeleteHow many teams you think will sign up fpr 8.0 mixed this spring now that Kelly and company are suspended? You will see them sign up like crazy. Where there are normally 4-5 look to see 8-9. Let's give everyone a trophy for playing since DTA trying to make it fair for all but lets give Canyon Creek, Greenhill, Tbar and Brookhaven a free pass to sectionals. Funny these teams that they can advance without SP playing but at sectionals they would get pounded. Not as easy as the "king of mixed" makes it look and Alan knows exactly where to place people in the lineup.
DeleteTo 8:58:
Delete"Alan knows how to place people in the lineup????". WTF? "Um, let me see, where should I put Mike Kelly. 1, 2 or 3? Thats a tough one". Give me a freakin break. You are starting up 1-0 wherever he plays. A 3 year old could captain those teams and still dominate. My grandmother is 96, cant see and is nursing home bound but she could get to nationals. Please post facts and not opinions!
There was an appeal. There was a committee of three people who made the suspension, then another committee who upheld the decision. Each of the three people on each of the committees did not know any of the players involved. I don't understand why Alan was suspended since he wasn't at the match. My assumption is that since he is the director of the club where the blowup occurred, he was held accountable.
DeleteWhat I know about it is it was total bullshit. I've seen some serious bad sportsmanship in mixed and it wasn't even Springpark.
DeleteWell yeah every mixed match I play there's bad sportsmanship. Mixed brings out the worst.
DeletePretty sure sportsmanship extends well beyond the 60-90 minutes you are on the court.
DeleteThe constant, systematic tanking by Kelly, Alan, Zachrys, Pearson, etc., is far from what would be defined as good sportsmanship. If they used a specific incident to penalize a couple of dudes who habitually undermine the spirit of a recreational tennis league, then good on DTA.
True but there are a couple of clubs that make t he experience miserable everytime. BH/CC are your top douchebags.
DeleteAs a Springpark player, we have never had an issue with Brookhaven or canyon creek. Brad is a great guy and canyon creek didn't play us in any match last year. The said they could not field a team to play us and scores were made up. We haven't had any bad experiences until last year. There's always a word or two exchanged from both parties, but it has been out of hand until the red solo cup was involved. Again, the suspensions had NOTHING to do with the match that was played. It was about canyon creek not wanting to play Springpark anymore. That was pretty much said to us at the committee meeting.
DeleteSince your commenting on bahalf of Springpark, why don't you tell us what you think about all the tanking that goes on by Kelly, Alan, et al.???
DeleteKelly does what he wants. Alan doesn't tell him what to do. Alan has won every match at 4.0. He's not trying to protect being a 4.0. Alan has no college playing experience. He is an average player, but a really good coach.
DeleteAlan tanked down to 4.0. That he chooses to play now does not change that fact.
DeleteThat Alan turns a blind eye does not change the fact he welcomes the tankers to play at Spring Park with open arms.
I have run into the girl that filed the complaint against Spring Park on other occasions and I can attest to the fact that she is crazy. There is no truth that comes out of her mouth.
DeleteGlad to see Sam Huynh found his game thus weekend.
ReplyDeleteGlad to see Vince Kingsley didn't.
DeleteAn earlier poster blogged Kelly's "next ban would be 3-5 years" is wrong. I looked it up in handbook and confirmed with the DTA. Next ban/suspension is 5 years, then a possible 10 year or lifetime ban depending on the situation.
DeleteVince never had a game to find.
DeleteActually SpringPark will have an 8.0 team. The suspension states that they can not "host an 8.0 match". This means all their matches will be away. Let's see if they win with out Kelly. He will still be suspended. I've talked to alan about his team and it looks pretty good. And it's all SpringPark members.
ReplyDeleteThe Saint and The Cheat play for it in the morning. Good call on that one.
ReplyDeleteWe'll see how smart Tony is. Corey better check player IDs.
DeleteHahaha! How many times has he tried that?
DeleteSo what is the status of Tri-level? I see our great DTA doesn't know how to enter scores on a timely fashion.
ReplyDeleteThe Saint beat the Cheat. Looks like Arcaria beat Le and Tran. That probably surprises Le.
Delete...and the Saints choke in the last match, sending the Cheats to Kingwood.
DeleteWho made that lineup for the Saints? I guess they hate Kingwood. I guess Corey asked for Sisk's input to come up with that.
ReplyDeleteNice job Blake Bearden and his team winning the spoliler......2 chances....apparently there were TWO....3rd set tiebreakers!! Ouch Corey!!!! That's got to hurt. So close to dethroning Le.
ReplyDeleteWas anybody to see this match or other matches.
Corey's lineup blows my mind. You were 2 lines away from winning and you put three lines that could be beaten. When that close, you have to put your A lineup on the court.
DeleteThat was Vince's lineup
DeleteThese are the fruits of inexperienced captains. When captains have never been to the post season they like to get everyone playing time. A captain has to have the brass balls to tell the others that we are here to win.
Deletenot sure why Kirkpatrick and Corey or Barrie did not play final match to clinch it up, live and learn
DeleteI think that is the question we are all asking. With a chance to win, you can't play a 4.0 on the 4.5 line.
DeleteVince needed a patch to get qualified. The 3.5s were up a set and 5-2 and choked. It happens.
DeleteYou had 3 lines and needed 2 to win. It's captains fault, unless he played and lost and he didn't play as he needed to get more people with matches. Corey's team barely won VS LE....COREY'S 3.5 team lost vs LE. If I was a captain I would have added dubs teams and not individuals. But, that's me.
ReplyDeleteCorey's team seemed focus on winning that prior match VS LE by losing 4, 1 at 3.5......You should have rethought that lineup perhaps..... It must be hard losing 2 tiebreakers but its both 4.5 and 3.5 who lost in tiebreakers. Plus...Corey had the #1 Texas ranked doubles Tournament player playing that match... Pushkar at 3.5. After look at results...Bearden 3.5 team seems to be the only team who even had a competitive match vs LE.
Deletedid anyone see these matches
ReplyDeleteI watched the last match. Kingsley isn't a strong 4.5 and the Indian dude on the 3.5 line looked lost.
DeleteHow did that 3.5 line lose after being up 5-2?
ReplyDeleteMad props to the comeback match of the Dallas Tri. This match must of been closer then it seems and then they lose like 5 straight games. It sounds like Bearden's team figured out something or maybe they were making a lot of errors early in the match.
So, what happened in the 3rd set tiebreak, was that close or then Bearden guys run away.
I don't know any of these players. I did see some of the match and I did talk to one of their teammates after the match. They won like 10-5. Apparently, they had 2 guys who never played with each other so they didn't have the greatest chemistry. Heard it was won with an ace. Boom!!, little 3.5 humor.
ReplyDeleteI was told that the 3.5 players on Bearden's team had never played together either; they didn't even practice together before the tournament.
ReplyDeleteWow, finally a little 3.5 love on the board. Funny thing, Jeffery lost to 2 former partners. Pushkar had probably the most playoff experience this year of the 4 playing final match, check out tennislink.
ReplyDeleteLe's 3.5 line went 4-0 and had only 1 competitive match vs Bearden, all other matches were blowouts. Bearden went 2-2, Corey's guys went 2-2, and Kanchi the big goose...0-4. 3.5 star... of the Tri...Lucky went 4-0, playing all 4 matches. I would say a few of these guys would win at 4.0 too that played 3.5 this weekend but they like tanking in the fall.
Nice job to all who played in Tri level. Its always fun seeing Dallas battle Dallas.
ReplyDeleteWow, Tony the mighty Le almost lost.
ReplyDeleteCan wait to see Le and Clarks teams bumped up, come on USTA / DTA ...get these sandbagging people on the correct level. Both captains are notorious for being the kings of Dallas sandbagging league.
Agreed 11;33, hey USTA and DTA, DQ all tankers with auto bump for 2 years.Look at Tony Le's and all of Keith Clarks teams. Then, USTA..look at Houston Freemans teams.
ReplyDelete