City Playoff Wrap Up - 4.5 and 4.0

It would be easy to say that things went as expected at 4.5 if you only looked at the final standings, with the traditional powers of Greenhill/Rossouw and JCC/Reiman holding off the new comers from SpringPark/Aguilar and the always playoff present Brookhaven/Harllee.  It was a little more interesting than that though.  Greenhill did take down SpringPark 4-1 in the first match on Friday, but SpringPark lost two third set tie breakers making this one a little closer than it may have looked.  SpringPark also lost a first set tie breaker in singles so I think we know what they need to work on.  And while JCC had what looked to be a close 3-2 win over Brookhaven, JCC did sweep singles easily.  Very difficult to sweep doubles in the playoffs.

Round two saw another game effort from Brookhaven, taking Greenhill to the edge at 3-2 but still another loss.  JCC nearly slipped up in this round against SpringPark but relied on a singles sweep to carry them through (there will be a theme here if you're paying attention).

In the final round of play SpingPark took down Brookhaven 4-1.  Brookhaven had already been eliminated and spread some playing time around.  This left only the two undefeated teams squaring off in the final match, as it should be.  Just when I’d have guessed it wouldn’t happen, we had two sweeps in one match.  JCC swept singles and Greenhill swept doubles.  Of the five lines played, four weren’t close.  Both singles were blowouts as were lines two and three doubles.  It all came down to line one doubles which was Shreiner and Faris over Sumrow and Cambron 6-4, 0-6, 1-0.  That’s two big momentum swings and I’m sorry I wasn’t able to see that one.  Looks like both teams will go to sectionals so good for them. 


Word on the street all season had been that Greenhill was strong in doubles and JCC had the singles and I guess it turned out to be true.  With the doubles versus singles issues that both teams seem to have I have to wonder how far they will go at sectionals, but I also hear Freeman is relaxing on his couch this year so anything is possible.  While it's usually easier to find a way to win one doubles line than one singles line (if you have issues at both), it's also true that you're singles guys will wear out if you're having to sweep singles in every big match.  Could be tough for both squads moving forward. 

At 4.0 there were a lot of expected results and a couple of very interesting surprises.  Let’s start with the biggest shocker.  Garland/Sisk won 4.0 cities.  That they won is surprising, I had them finishing second or third behind High Point, but how they won is more surprising.  More on that later.

Friday had High Point/Somabut taking out Huffhines/Jayaram 4-1.  I saw High Point and Garland competing for the wild card spot at 4.0 but maybe as a sign of things to come this 4-1 wasn’t as strong as it looked.  There were three third setters and High Point won them all.  Garland then swept Huffhines/Ratcliffe with only one close match. 

Saturday morning saw McKinney/Kanchi’s first match and it was a sweep of Huffhines/Ratcliffe with only one close match.  But the real match of interest was High Point versus Garland for the presumptive wild card.  The two teams split singles and split lines two and three doubles.  It’s hard to know whether the singles or doubles third setter finished last (usually the singles) but the key match looked to be line one doubles which went for Garland. 

Saturday afternoon Garland beat Huffhines/Jayaram 4-1, winning two out of three third setters, with all lines being close except three doubles.  In a rematch of flight play, McKinney got their revenge on High Point with a sweep and the singles were complete blowouts with both coming in at 6-0, 6-1.  This is what I expected in their flight play match before we saw a light lineup from McKinney early in the season.  Garland is now sitting at 3-0 and seemingly having a wild card sewn up. 

Sunday morning saw another McKinney sweep, this time of Huffhines/Jayaram, but with two third setters in doubles.  High Point then swept Huffhines/Ratcliffe, who defaulted two lines. WTF?

In the last matches on Sunday, Huffhines/Jayaram beat Huffhines/Ratcliffe 4-1 with Ratcliffe defaulting two lines again.  He has 17 guys on that roster and can’t get more than four to come play in the playoffs on Sunday afternoon?  That then only left the battle of the undefeated, again, as it should be.  But it was an odd one.  Singles were split with huge blowouts.  Yaremenko blows out a McKinney self rate.  Flora plays seven games and retires (without winning a game).  Teterud and Horsley are up 6-2, 0-1 and they retire.  Then lines one and two doubles split third setters for a 3-2 Garland win.  I bet they were wondering what the heck was going on with guys falling like flies on the other courts.

I wasn’t there so I can’t say what happened, other than both Garland and McKinney are headed to sectionals.  Straight up, McKinney wins this match 4-1 but I was told the ambulance came every day and twice on Saturday so anything is possible. 

Congrats to all the players this weekend and good luck to those advancing.  I’ll take a look at sectionals in a week or so.