4.0 Two Weeks in, not many surprises

So we have a bye weekend so I thought we could look at any interesting teams and players so far.

Flight A:
Lifetime may not have been able to keep their Wild Card but they earned a great seed for the spring as it doesn't look like they will see any real opposition in this flight. LB Houston and Eldorado will be trying to test them a little as they both will go after that 2nd spot. Not sure if any of the other teams are quite ready to contend yet.

Flight B:
Springpark has jumped out quickly but will soon be tested as they play Garland next weekend, the real showdown in this flight will not be until 6/18 of course Garland and Canyon Creek need to stay perfect until then for that match to have some hype to it. It will be a battle of the two captains who are trying to set records for most players registered. Rossouw v. Sisk

Flight C:
Greenhill and High Point/Bob will meet up on 5/14 and I have feeling that flight order might be decided as of that date. Anyone else in this flight going to give them a fight????

Flight D:
Fair Oaks came out of nowhere to jump to the top with team SWAT. Stonebridge thought to be a contender fell to Samuell Grand in week 2. Looks like this flight might be a battle of Dallas v. Collin County. SWAT took down Lakes in a close score although the match was decided before our two losses, unfortunately that is a theme with our team so far, win 3 and then lose 2. I guess I am OK with that as long the 3 win part stays the same.

Flight E:
Somewhat of an early season upset in this flight as Burt's perennial contender fell to JCC last week. This flight is the most even flight so having two losses will be hard to overcome, some interesting matches coming up in this flight. 4/30: Brookhaven v. Village, 5/7: Brookhaven v. OC, 5/14: JCC v. Village.

Any thoughts minions??

4.5 Pre Season Analysis

And here we go with a little bit of insight on how the 4.5 looks to break down.

flight A

HP/ Pickett has it locked up! They already have the wild card to qualies but look for them to waltz through this easy flight. Rumor has it that Jean Nguyen is out for the season with an ACL tear and having lost Big Clint Laukaf they may be thin at singles. Phy Pham is a nice add.

distant second: probably TBar. Lifetime/ Hill may have a say this time but lost quite a few players this season with Brownlee, Collin, Vascalis, and Mudsam. That is going to require a lot of recruiting this year; Oak Creek/ Myrick have an interesting roster

also rans: Hackberry (can't field strong lineups for away matches but have a solid top 8); Garland Sisk - not sure who else he will add but I don't think this is his focus; JCC seem serious but don't have dominating players

flight B

Royal Oaks are even further ahead of the pack here! What a cake flight! They may lack depth in singles but their dubs is DEEEEPPPP

Next are probably Brookhaven or maybe the Village who can be tricky. Kyle's team is always a tough match but not sure they can come second

Also rans: new team DCC?

flight C

This is the dog fight flight!

Favorites: Oak Creek have quietly retooled and have 3 ex Branch players and now have depth at singles and dubs

fighting for second: Greenhill, always a tough team with potentially the best top 2 singles lines out there; Brookhaven: have lost their lock singles but have experience and depth at dubs; Nothwood Noel - not quiet as strong as prior years or as previously anticipated as they lost some players to various teams incl Oak Creek; Canyon Creek return from the fall 2 team experiment to 1 team. They went 7&2 last spring losing to Branch and TBar

of course Morrison will win it all!!!!

QT picks:
flight A second place: TBar
flight B second place: Brookhaven/ Bartlett
flight C second Place: Brookhaven/ Harlee

DCC picks:
HP/ Pickett
Royal Oaks
Oak Creek
TBar - from QT

going to sectionals - HP/ Pickett (and Oak Creek if there is a Wild Card)

4.0 Spring Season set to begin

So I have a moment so I thought I would put up some preseason thoughts although I know things will change as new additions arrive on lineups over the next few weeks. It is strange that we had a drop off this year of about 100 players and 2 teams. There are some other teams that have split to make more teams so talent is spread out even more which should pave the way for favorites to roll on to the playoffs but the last few seasons there has been a surprise team in the playoffs so I doubt this year will be any different.

Flight A:

Favorites: Only one favorite here and that is Lifetime Fitness our reigning Fall champ. Some new additions plus almost all there team back minus their front line singles guys. This flight is rather weak so they will not be tested even if Stephen or Alan went out and played singles. :)
Contenders: Eldorado and LB Houston will fight it out for the 2nd spot. LB Houston did make the Fall playoffs with essentially the same roster but Eldorado is right on par with their talent. Eagles Landing hung out in the middle of their flight in the Fall and if either of these teams falter they might have a chance to sneak up.
Pretenders: Fretz, Westlake, Springpark, Royal Oaks and Village. None of these teams are bad but I just don't see anything on their roster that could have me put them near the top. With that said the contenders here are not strong so 2nd place is truly available to anyone who wants it.

Flight B:

Favorites: Garland looks to jump back to the top of the pack after some fall "work" on gaining back some old players. Canyon Creek returns a solid roster and I actually think might just be the strongest team in this flight. I don't see any others really touching these two teams in this flight.
Contenders: Stonebriar, Lifetime/Kaiser, Springpark and Fretz all have middle of the pack written all over them. A few strengths on each squad and would say Fretz is a solid 3rd but will have a tough time catching one of the top two teams.
Pretenders: Northwood, Gleneagles and Westlake. All have one or two good players but not enough to be considered a team that could win week in and week out.

Flight C:

Favorites: Greenhill and Team Bob meet again in regular season play. I have to say I think Greenhill might have the angle on 1st place in this flight but you never know what Mr. Bob has under his sleeve since I guess he won't be playing any 4.5 tennis.
Contenders: Dallas Country Club and Springpark have some good players but not enough to go up against the depth of either of the favorites.
Pretenders: Gleneagles, Canyon Creek, Huffhines and OC/Bogle 2 could have asprirations of 3rd or 4th place but really would be hard to go much higher with their rosters.

Flight D:

Favorites: The SWAT team and the Lakes meet again and I see us both returning to our fall positions of 1. SWAT and 2. Lakes.
Contenders: Stonebridge has some quality experienced players including the return of Cocoran and Brookhaven has a interesting mixture but not enough strength up top to aspire higher than 3rd place.
Pretenders: Huffhines, Eldorado, Samuel Grand and Fair Oaks. I honestly don't know all that much about these rosters other than their recent history and that history shows this about where they will finish although their are some solid players on each team.

Flight E:

Favorites: Village and Brookhaven Pearlman will fight it out here, again doesn't it seem like these two were just in the same flight last time around, I could be wrong but either way I see the two of them at the top but it is no slam dunk as it is in other flights.
Contenders: T Bar has mastered the art of finishing 3rd or 4th although they have bubbled up to be a playoff team every so often and this might just be their year if all goes in their favor. Oak Creek is curious here with such a small roster I would think there needs to be some more talent added to make this team into a real contender.
Pretenders: Hackberry, Garland, Canyon Creek and JCC. Nothing on these rosters say anything more than they are in it for the regular season only.

Captain's Meeting Saturday/ Tennis Link Fixed / Season Starting up

I don't really have time to do a new post, as I am already behind being out of town all week for work, but here is a quick update to give us a change of scenary.

Captain's Meeting - Get updates on the rules, meet the captains of the other teams, play a little captains tennis doubles mix and match afterwards (weather permitting - It appears to be only raining in the morning on Saturday!)

Tennis Link - Just reviewed it, and it is up and running. Done and fixed already.


With the beginning of the Captain's meeting, we signify the start of the season. Looks like we have the start of the new season in 4.5 with the exact same number of teams as last year. We did lose a team last seaon (Hilton) due to excessive defaults on a team - so it can happen guys! Overall same number as teams as before. Players is still yet to be determined.

Ultimate Tennis and TCD have both kicked off already, and this Sunday looks to be a good day for you tennis minded people.

Cheers!

New USTA / Tennis Link / Tri Level Sectional Results

So what is the take on the new USTA / Tennis Link site? Looks like we have some serious Ooops! going on here.

So, doing the best summary on Tri-Level with the tools available. (which kind of majorly bites because you can't see the quality of the losses, or which lines lost...whine whine, bitch bitch. - HINT: I think Klamecki is a good gun for hire, he seems to be a smart techie guy... but i digress.

Sisk did not match up well with SETX and lost to SETX. This opened the door for Houston, whom won the flight, but took a loss to Sisk along the way. (3 way tie for first in that flight, and Houston won with 4 less sets lost in flight A).

Meanwhile, Team Pickett cruised through flight B, never dropping a set in there flight!!! WOW!

Finals summary (Pickett beats Houston 2-1) INTERESTING NOTE!!! The exact same score that Sisk beat Houston by as well) Again, I can't tell if it was a match up thing, which lines lost, or what happened there, but inquiring minds want to know. So, feel free to make your Sectional and USTA website comments. Me, I made my comments already, so it seems silly for me to bash further.

P.S. I Would, however, love to hear from a USTA rep on an ETA on the site being fixed (since it does appear they peruse the blogs from time to time). - So, I nice SWAG from USTA rep and I guess we could file this under positive communication.