4.5 and 4.0 Turn the Corner For the Final Push to the Finish Line

4.5 Flight A - in a double round robin format, Brookhaven/Harllee has moved clear of the field sitting at 7-1.  Everyone else in this flight has at least four losses already.  McKinney/Rodriguez, Seay/Hall nad Gleneagles/Juhn are all tied in the four loss column.  McKinney still has to play Brookhaven, and Seay and Gleneagles have another match against each other.  Advantage to the winner of the Seay/Gleneagles match.

4.5 Flight B - continuing the trend in 4.5, Springpark/Aguilar has walked off with this flight as well sitting undefeated at 8-0.  They've had several 3-2 wins but they still keep winning.  They face second place Greenhill/Rossouw in the final match but already have this flight locked up.  Greenhill sits tied with Oak Creek/Martin at the three losses.  Oak Creek has the easier finish so they should edge Greenhill out for second.

4.5 Flight C - in a continuing good year for Bartlett, his Brookhaven team sits atop this flight at 7-1.  Oak Creek/Sangren and Springpark/Khaing are tied for second with three losses.  At first glance it looks like Brookhaven has this flight in hand since there are only two matches left.  Hold on a minute, those matches are against Oak Creek and Springpark.  This one is much more up in the air than it looks.  For Brookhaven, its two to make one.  One win down the stretch will seal the deal.  Oak Creek sits clear in second based on lines but they finish with Brookhaven and Las Colinas/Arnold, both of whom already beat Oak Creek. 

4.5 Flight D - back to the earlier theme, JCC/Reiman is undefeated and has a two match lead on second place Lakes/Way.  While JCC and Lakes still have to play, JCC need only beat last place Greenhill this weekend to lock up first before the final match.  Third place Lifetime/Arcaria still has a path to slip into second.  Lakes finishes with first place JCC and third place Lifetime, so two losses to close the season are not out of the question.  A Lifetime win over Lakes and SamGrand would then slide Lifetime into second.  Much will depend on how seriously JCC takes its final match against Lakes after they've already wrapped up the flight.  If JCC empties the bench, Lakes could catch a break.

 

4.0 Flight A - this flight looks like its neck and neck at first glance with three teams tied in the one loss column, but upon further inspection I'd say Oak Creek/Iyer has this flight locked up.  Garland/Kanchi has the schedule to slip into second but with the fall wild card they may choose not to.  Royal Oaks/Templeton and TBar/Snow match to close out the season could weigh heavily on the playoff race.

4.0 Flight B - Huffhines/Ratcliffe has this flight all but wrapped up with one match remaining and sitting as the only one loss team.  Canyon Creek/Patterson and High Point/Somabut sit tied for second with identical 6-2, 28-12 records but CC has the head to head tie breaker.  CC has a walkover final match so they should be hard to catch for second.

4.0 Flight C - this flight has our first 4.0 undefeated team with Garland/Russell sitting at 7-0 with only a straggler left.  Garland has been squeaking by with a lot of 3-2 wins so we'll have to see how that holds up.  Brookhaven/Bartlett and Greenhill/Ohl are tied in the one loss column but they finish the season playing each other so second place should be decided on the court this weekend.

4.0 Flight D - the final undefeated team in 4.0 is Eldorado/Browning.  They have slowly distanced themselves from the field, now sitting with a two match lead with only one left to play.  A full four teams sit tied in the two loss column so this flight is going to be a photo finish.  Lakes/Reifsnyder has a commanding line lead on the rest but they close against first place Eldorado so that could be the end for Lakes.  Oasis/Smith and LB Houston/Trentino still play each other so that's an elimination match.  And the last two loss team, Chandlers Landing/McLemore still has to play LBH.

4.5 Update - if we must

HOLY CRAP!  That thing from Alien looks a lot like Andy Murray.

4.5 flight A - Brookhaven/Harllee has jumped out to a commanding lead in this flight.  Mediocrity reigns supreme in this flight so no surprise with this result.  The boys from Brookhaven are 6-0 with their next closest pursuer mired at 3-3. 

4.5 flight B - no surprise here either, as Springpark/Aguilar remains unbeaten.  We do have a couple of teams rising up a bit, with Oak Creek/Martin and High Point/Somabut tied at 4-2.  Interesting in this flight, Greenhill/Rossouw has 27 players on the roster and the team is 3-3 so far.  Losses to HP and OC have them in a bind at the mid-way mark.

4.5 flight C - also hitting the 20 roster mark but managing to keep up the wins thus far, Brookhaven/Bartlett leads this flight at 5-1.  Springpark/Khaing sits alone in second with a 3-2 mark but three teams are tied at 3-3 with four matches left so the door is still open.

4.5 flight D - JCC/Reiman has bounced back from its disappointing 40s season with a 5-0 mark in this flight.  Lakes/Way and Lifetime/Arcaria are a peg back both stuck in the two loss column.

Since these are round robins at 4.5 a lot can still swing for any team but they're going to have to make their moves quick as the season is drawing to a close fairly quickly.

First look at how 4.0 is shaping up

We are now four matches into the season so there is enough match history to have a bit of a picture to work from.  Also I just changed jobs and my new employer has actually wanted me to work.  Hopefully that changes soon.

4.0 flight A - at the head of the pack and undefeated is Oak Creek/Iyer.  They have been in or close to the playoffs fairly frequently the last few seasons.  Tied at 3-1 are Garland/Kanchi, TBar/Snow and Royal Oaks/Templeton.  Normally I'd pick Garland to win this flight but they also have the QT wildcard from winning the fall so that muddies the water a little.  Should be Oak Creek and Garland at the end.

4.0 flight B - much to still be decided here.  High Point/Somabut is the only undefeated team in this flight but there are four teams still tied at 3-1; Canyon Creek/Patterson, Springpark/Walters, Huffhines/Ratcliffe and McKinney/Clifton.  High Point will be there when the season is done.  Who will be with them?  Inside edge to Huffhines because they have already beaten Canyon Creek, but Huffhines plays Springpark this Saturday and the winner is in the driver's seat for second in this flight.

4.0 flight C - this flight is completely back loaded for the second half of the season with four teams still undefeated.  In order of current line lead we have Greenhill/Ohl, Hackberry/Myers, Brookhaven/Bartlett and Garland/Russell.  The gauntlet begins this weekend though with the first elimination match being Hackberry versus Garland. Neither of these teams has excelled at singles and have been riding their doubles thus far.  Greenhill and Brookhaven look a little stronger on paper but all these teams are close enough that it will depend highly on who is available for the key matches.

4.0 flight D - while flights B and C are the toughest top to bottom, this is the weakest.  We currently have Eldorado/Browning as the only undefeated team followed at one loss each by Chandlers Landing/McLemore and Lakes/Reifsnyder. 

Not the strongest year for 4.0 in Dallas in general and several teams have a fair shot of advancing to sectionals.  Early favorite is still Garland/Kanchi but it isn't anywhere close to the team he had last year.

40s playoffs have finally arrived

4.5+ over 40 - this will be an all Sunday affair.  Brookhaven/Bartlett plays Lifetime/Arcaria at 9:00am and the winner plays Oak Creek/Sweeney at noon.  And did I mention there is now a 100% chance of rain on Sunday?  Good thing there aren't a lot of matches.  Never more than in these "plus" leagues is availability more important.  Sure, in your 4.0 league you have some players better than others but in this flight the difference in a top end 5.0 and a good 4.5 is huge.  Of course the first problem is actually having a top end 5.0.  There are a couple out there and if they are or aren't available they can make all the difference.  Sweeney proved he had the deepest team only losing one match while the other two playoff contenders lost three apiece.  Depth is now less of an issue.  How good are your top six - not eight through twelve - becomes much more important.

4.0 over 40 - this is the most wide open city playoff at this level I've ever seen.  40s has been around for a few years now and while there have been some good 4.0 teams each year, this is the most balanced year for the playoff contenders that I've seen.  That may be because Dallas just doesn't have a dominant team this year, or possibly several teams or good (we won't really know until sectionals), but it should be a wide open event.  These guys are playing a round robin over Friday and Saturday, with the seeds listed as: 1) Oak Creek/Ramasami, 2) Springpark/Walters, 3) Canyon Creek/Patterson and 4) Huffhines/Clark.

Just to reacap: 9.0 55s was won by Oak Creek/Sweeney going away and 8.0 55s was won by Greenhill/Kayser in a three team playoff. 

Good luck to everyone this weekend.

Seniors, still?

A bit of a yawner this time of year.  Nothing really going on except for 4.5 over 40s finishing up their flight play matches. 


Oak Creek/Sweeney cruises 4-1 over TBar/Fikes with Fikes and Pascal pulling out a third set tie breaker to keep from being swept.


Lifetime/Arcaria sweeps Greenhill/Rossouw with Rossouw defaulting two lines.  He has 21 people on the roster and he defaulted two lines?  Rossouw's playoff chances are all but done at this point.


In a Brookhaven intra-club challenge, Bartlett's team took down Harllee's team 3-2.  That was a big win for Bartlett, moving his guys into third and dropped Harllee into fourth and in danger of missing the playoffs. 


High Point/Martin lost to JCC/Reiman 3-2 and likely took itself out of the playoff hunt as well. 
Reiman even pulls out a third set tie breaker himself at line three doubles to secure the victory.


And in the battle for the basement, previously winless Greenhill/Ohl edged Gleneagles/Juhn 3-2 to pass them in the standings based on lines.  Ohl's guys sweep singles and in what is becoming a trend, another captain wins a big match and clinches the victory.

In other news, 55s has now wrapped up as well. 

9.0 finished as follows: Oak Creek/Sweeney, Brookhaven/Bartlett, Gleneagles/Juhn, TBar/Hackett, John Paul II/Gradick and Eldorado/Entrekin. 

8.0 finished as follows: Greenhill/Kayser, Springpark/Blesi, Brookhaven/Bartlett, Lifetime/Heflin, Canyon Creek/Rainwater, TBar/Snow, Brookhaven/Tarangioli, Stonebridge/Cummings and High Point/Meyers.

So far it looks like Sweeney and Bartlett are having good senior seasons.