Ft Worth Tennis - One Month In

I know that some of the Dallas purist will complain about a Ft Worth post on the Dallas tennis blog,

But I will have you know that this post has been 100% approved by Lucky Thunder himself.
A little disclosure here, I am a member of the Flower Mound 4.0 team and this spring has started my first swim through USTA Ft Worth leagues.
It has been great having practices and home matches just down the street from my house, but that as been balanced out by the ass beating that is driving to South and West Ft. Worth.

But it has been a nice change of pace to play some new teams and visit some new facilities.
Some general observations. FTW, of course does not have the same participation levels that Dallas does. The overall strength level seems lower than the Dallas leagues.
There are some quality teams and players of course,
But, on the whole I would say that Dallas leagues are set up to be stronger.
What that means, I'm not sure. I have seen several 4.0 players that looked like they would be a better fit on a 3.5 team.
So that brings in to question the whole NTPR system and where you decide to rate your self at. (I don't want to get started on ratings talk right now)


3.5 Division
In the 3.5 Division we have 2 flights RED and BLUE

3.5 Red flight
The ATC Spoilers have jumped out to a 4 - 0 start and should finish the season 8 - 0.
They are anchored by 3.5 veterans Ty W. Sewell, Pedro Montalvo, and Gil Flores. They seem to be mixing up their line-ups and not relying on a core group of players which will help them in the play-offs.
This is my pick to represent FTW in the 3.5 Sectionals.
3.5 Blue flight
Southlake Edwards is in control of this flight, they are anchored by 3.5 tournament fixture Ron Whitson and two single players who look like they may be a better fit on a 4.0 team in Fernando Aguirre and Michael Cerny.
They don't have the depth of ATC but in a one match play-off situation they may be able to take them out.

4.0
One Flight - 12 teams - and an Incredible 11 matches!
Are you Dallas guys jealous?

The two teams on top here are both from the same facility Mcleland Tennis Center. (The Location - Shitty, the courts terrible, but they do have 2 public indoor courts Nice!)
The McL Old Gang Seems to have the edge on the McL Hammers.
I don't see either one of these teams being able to challenge a Bob Somebutt team however.
There are about 6 teams in the middle of the pack who seem to be able to beat each other depending on what line ups they run out,
and 4 cellar dwellers.

4.5
One Division - 5 teams - 8 matches - No Play-offs.

In this flight everybody plays each other twice, so basically it's Double elimination.
There is only one undefeated team - Southlake.
Southlake made it to the Sections last year as a wild card.
They are my pick for the FTW sectional representative this year.

That's all I have for this month,I'm no Ft Worth expert yet.
So if I missed something let me know.
All you Ft Worthers and Bi-Leaguers let me hear from ya.

Week One 4.5 results

Here are the 4.5 results from Week One:

Flight A

Feldman's team rolled as expected without dropping a set. In the feature match, Oak Creek beat T Bar 4-1, but two of the four wins were third-set tiebreaks. Interesting lineup for Oak Creek. Makes me wonder who was available. Maybe they were saving Gene for the spring season. Bovermann and Bazan squeaked by with close tiebreak wins. Royal Oaks was unimpressive in its win, proving that the sandbagging may be over for them. All in all, no big surprises with the two Oak Creeks in the driver's seat.

Flight B

High Point and Greenhill both rolled in their respective matches. Greenhill dominated 4 of the 5 lines, possibly emerging as a true contender, or exposing LB as a bottom-feeder. Time will tell. My team squeaked by Springpark 3-2. I think with a different lineup Springpark could have beaten us. Very happy with a win there. The Lakes rolled over Oak Creek/Juhn, but not as easily as I would have thought. Biggest surprise this week was with Brookhaven barely beating a perennial last place DFW Hilton team. Ken Moraif losing 1 and 3 is a huge surprise though so maybe DFW has some talent. But very questionable lineup for Brookhaven which makes me wonder.

Half the teams are undefeated and I'm looking forward to next week.

3.5 Week One - For Real!

3.5 A
This Flight held to form,
Both Lifetime and Oak Ridge won easily, 5-0,
Oak Ridge's win included a 6-0, 6-0 win by accused sandbagger Enrique Molina,
First the sandbagging acusations, then they steal Chris Jones from Oak Creek, and finally they give the finger to Oak Ridge county club,
Watch out for Oak Ridge (or should they be called Huffines now?), they maybe this year's new Durty Garland.
Brookhaven squeked out a win also, I think they may be left on the outside looking in.
3.5A Team Standings

3.5 B
This flight also held serve with wins by Westlake and Highpoint.
Highpoint look dominate in doubles, but is still struggling in singles, dropping line #1 and Sutherland going to the 3rd set tiebreaker on line #2.
HP need a singles ringer or sandbagger bad, maybe the Oak Ridge boys can lend them one of their spares.
Sam Grand also posted an impressive win, but with a roster of only 10 players they will not be able to keep it up.
Next week - The All New Revamped Durrrrrty Garland make their debut!
3.5B Team Standings

3.5 C

Epic Fail of the Week
Fretz defeats Oak Creek 4 -1

Old Custy Oak Creek dropped 3 out of 4 third set tiebreakers to the Young upstart Fretz team and may have seen their playoff hopes disappear.
Greenhill put in a strong 5- 0 win, even with out sandbagger Zack Stein in the line up.
And Canyon Creek had a strong showing as well.
3.5C Team Standings

4.0 Week 1 (Mostly rain)

So I am guessing everything is posted from this weekend since most matches were rained out including SWAT v. Garland (we hope to make up in early May).

Flight A:
TBar took out fall playoff participant BH/Helterbran fairly easily with the only win coming at line 2 singles for BH. Colao/Martin winning at line 1 v a good doubles team was impressive but not sure if this shows more of a step back for BH or a step forward for TBar. Maybe a little bit of both but nothing mind blowing here. If anything I think it shows 2nd place is more wide open than I thought here. Hackberry and OC have the roster to jump up and contend in this flight with TBar. 1st place is all but decided but the rest will be very tightly contested.

Flight B:
Oakridge v. CC was rather close but in the end it shows as a 4-1 win for CC. Oleg had to face Hans which is no treat and he fell i n 3 sets along with 3 other matches that went to the 3rd set TB. BH/Bartlett got off to a strong start taking on the Village B team which struggled especially at doubles. Don Buford looks to be back in good form with a good win over Khaning who has a lot of talent. If Buford can stay on track this team will be dangerous because they have many options at doubles. I expect them to contend all season long.

Flight C:
Royal Oaks put up a good showing as a new 4.0 team but fell to the Village. It looks like most new teams they have some top talent but get somewhat thin after that. Although they have a big roster so there may be some hidden surprises. The Village will make noise in this flight especially if everyone stays healthy and they can keep up at singles. High Point got off a strong start with a 4-1 thumping of OC/3. Not sure what to make of this one but starting out with a win is always good and if Harrigan stays at singles (hint hint) they will be tough to beat. Go get'em guys! The most impressive or depressing result was the sweep put on by Brookhaven/Pearlman over new team Collin County. I know some of these guys have bounced back and forth from 3.5 and I have a feeling come June they will be back at 3.5 (maybe that is what they are working on) if they continue to have results like this. Nice win for BH, I expect more good results from them.

Flight D:
Thorntree had a good debut sweeping doubles which was good since they were swept at singles. This is not a bad LBH team but Thorntree will have to improve at singles if they want to contend in this tough flight. LTF started off the season strong with a 5-0 sweep of Stonebriar, new singles player Vahdat started off the season with a woodshedding of Moomjian (6-0, 6-0) ouch! And yes Eddie is back and didn't drop a set along with the rest of the team. Springpark also had a good outing with a 4-1 crushing of Stonebridge, and they added a new player..........drum roll please..............Jonathan Marcus. Jonathan if you needed a place to play you could have called you didn't have to go to the dark side. (OMG)


I will post something later in the week about week 2 which for most will be week 1.

4.5 Week One

4.5A

Featured Match: Oak Creek/Branch v. T Bar

Two playoff teams from last fall clash in the opening week. This should give us an idea of how competitive T Bar will be this season, and if any team will be able to challenge Branch. If T Bar were to pull the upset the rest of the season will be much more interesting. In other matches, Feldman and Royal Oaks should cruise. Bazan has as good a chance as ever to get a win this week against an improved Village team. Collin County or Bovermann could emerge as a darkhorse with a convincing win this week too.

Predictions:

Oak Creek d. T Bar 4-1
Feldman d. Stonebridge 5-0
Collin County d. Bovermann 3-2
Village d. High Point 3-2
Royal Oaks d. Hackberry 4-1

4.5 B

Featured Match: Huffhines vs. Springpark

Not quite the featured match of the other flight but the only matchup between two above .500 teams from last season in this flight. The rest of the matches should not be competitive either. High Point v. T Bar could be interesting to see where both teams stand. T Bar has been labeled as the B team but I think they could be a contender.

Predictions:

Huffhines d. Springpark 3-2
Greenhill d. LB Houston 4-1
High Point d. T Bar 4-1
Lakes d. Oak Creek 4-1
Brookhaven d. DFW Hilton 5-0

Thoughts?