Thursday, April 17, 2008

Opening day

It's opening night tonight. Many of the rosters appear to be fairly full, but I'm sure there will be some last minute signups.

However, right now there look to be some clear frontrunners in the race to get to Dallas.

The 5.0 division is littered with players from the Met...every team has members and/or players from the Met's tough offseason Thursday night league. David Toney's team has picked up a nice addition in Arun Nanjappa, as there is no Rice 5.0 team this year. Based on preliminary rosters, they appear to be the team to beat, although Hernan's Lost Forest roster is yet to be filled out.

The 4.5 division appears to be a one-horse race. Kingwood came so close to making it to Nationals last year, and has most of their key players (minus Odion Dibua) back. They've added Juan Lopez as well as Brandon Burris, Hugh Burris, Dan Hanley and others. Their division will have some competitive matches as Jason Freeman has put together a very tough team which will be a definite contender for that second spot in Dallas (if there is one). David Yang, Chris Hunckler and Phong Regent are some of the top players on Freeman's squad.

The Mob Squad has also returned from its hiatus, minus several of its former contributors. Still, they have a couple of solid singles guys in Steve Phan and Ted Phoummarath and many of their doubles guys have had success at the Sectional level in the past. They'll have a tough battle tonight with Peter Rothe's team, which is always solid in the doubles lines.

You can almost always pencil the Jedi Knights in for the playoffs, and it certainly looks like they'll be a contender again this year. They've added Ted Erck, who was a big name in Austin tennis back in the day, and who has played a pro tournament or two. I'm not quite sure who their singles guys will be...Ryan Cooper had not yet signed up when this was written. As noted, Copperfield will be stronger this year, but will not be the unstoppable force some people were anticipating. Still, with John Kudrick, David McMullan, Bryan Robins and some others, they'll be solid. It looks like Tommy Ristau has taken over the captaining duties for the Black Sheep. They have a few names I'm unfamiliar with, and will bear watching.

In 4.0, I think it's a two horse race. Freeman's Hurricanes again appear loaded, and Chancellor's has littered their roster with very good players in an attempt to wrest the crown from Freeman. Most of Freeman's Nationals team from last year has been moved to 4.5, but many on his roster had impressive showings at the Coke, and Freeman has a good eye for talent. Chancellor's has some young talent mixed in with some guys who've proven themselves to be quality 4.0 players (I'm sure some would say that's an oxymoron) in the past.

19 comments:

  1. Mob Squad: +singles, -doubs
    Swing: -singles, +doubs
    Met: -singles, +doubs
    Kingwood: -singles, +doubs

    Everyone knows that singles is the key to any roster.

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  2. The 4.5 talent level that some of these teams field is ridiculous. JUCO players, ex DI-A collegiate players, and guys playing in 5.5 NATIONALS apparently a few years back? Are you kidding me?

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  3. Where is the love for "Old School"!

    Allen

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  4. You got to be a factor in this decade to get a mention!

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  5. I see Red Benzon made an appearance on Dywer's team. Look out for some current touring pros to show up on the roster by seasons end.

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  6. Let me know when you are ready to step out!

    Allen

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  7. Alan you were 0-3 in postseason in 4.5 last year and 0-1 the year before. Not counting mixed. Why you think you can hang in 5.0?

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  8. Has anyone picked up Brian Smith for a 5.0 team yet ? He can definitely help someone out in singles (or doubles)

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  9. Predictions for this week in men's 4.5 winners

    4.5 I- Kingwood and Met
    4.5 II- WSTC and Rice
    4.5 III- MPTC (shwings) and MPTC(yutts)

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  10. I would change that to.


    4.5 I- Kingwood and Met
    4.5 II- WSTC and Rice
    4.5 III- LLTC - Dwyer and MPTC(yutts)

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  11. I can only predict LLTC (dwyer), winning one singles from Phoumarath, but if he plays Lindloff, they might not win any singles. As for doubles, I predict LLTC winning one line from Benzon. LLTC definitely need more established players in their roster. Therefore MPTC wins 3-2 over LLTC.

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  12. I seriously doubt any of Rothe's team can beat Ted in singles. And if Lindloff plays, he will be more likely to play with his regular doubles partner.

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  13. If Steve and Ted play, they should win both lines of single.

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  14. In that case they would take both singles and win one doubles.

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  15. All they need is 3 lines, the rest do not really matter, unless you just want more bragging rights walking off the court.

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  16. Curious to see if Freeman plays Patton or continues to put him on the proverbial pine as his did in Tri-level. Go Patton. Freeman sucks! Oh I meant good luck Freeman. Have fun guys I'll be checking the entertaining progress.

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  17. Any one who thinks the Mob Squad will be the same as a few years ago is crazy. Look how much worse there captain has gotten. And he at least plays once in while.

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  18. Well at least the Houston tennis blogs are consistent. Always putting someone else down and posting anonymous.

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  19. Mr Kern,

    Freeman treats me worse than Goldberg. He let's Goldberg watch the match from the bench, he makes me sit in the car in the parking lot.

    Richard Patton

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