Thursday, April 23, 2009

Drama at LLTC

Omon said it best (or was it Odion?  I still can't tell the difference and usually mask my confusion with a "How's it goin', big guy?"):  "This is why we love league tennis."

Both Hurricane matches at Lee Leclear went down to the wire with a third set breaker at line 2 singles deciding things.  In 4.5 it came down to former teammates Ted Phoummarath and Aadrian Hasker.  Aadrian was rocketing bullet forehands and Ted was running and scraping balls back and mixing in the occasional passing shot and even an ace which shocked the crowd.  In the end, Pumma won an anti-climactic tie breaker as Aadrian finally ran out of shots.  

The Deucebags looked to be heavy underdogs when the lineups came out, as Miguel Morales and Rich Ryu were not present.  Captain Tran split up the Dugas brothers, and he and Trey pulled off a shocker, beating Odion and fellow Aggie Matt Sumrall.  Props should go out to Alain, who has improved as much as anyone in the league over the last five years or so and was continually hitting crisp volleys tonight.  Derrick Dugas and Bobby Trinh took down Sarosh Ahmed and David Lombardi and Omon handled James Bui at number one singles.  Line one dubs went to the Hurricanes easily as Burmann and Day continued their dominance.  

The Hurricane 4.0 team was not as fortunate.  Similarly, the line two singles match came down to the aggressor against the scrapper....maybe defense DOES win championships.  In this one, Daniel Durand came back from an early deficit to beat Phong Hau 10-8 and give Sienna the victory.   Scott Foster was dominant for the Hurricanes at line one singles, and truly looked to be playing at a different level.   Bruce Inting kept up his winning ways at line 2 doubles, but Sienna's Donn Nguyen and Ronnie Kwan dominated at line 1, and Scott Boarman and Dean Cushing pulled out a tight one in a well-played match at line 3 doubles.  

The Hurricane 4.0 team went the entire local season last year unscathed, and is already 0-1 this year.  It's pretty clear that this team is not of the same caliber as last year's team.   Freeman lost 8 guys from last year's team to the 4.5 ranks, (one of them, Roberto Narajos, was giving Don Rios all he could handle tonight and will be a high quality 4.5) and thus far it looks as though only one impact player has been added:  Inting.    Sienna has established itself as the favorite in that division, and the Hurricanes will have their hands full making it to the playoffs with JCC and the Nights both having strong rosters.  


55 comments:

  1. No drama at MPTC other than the guy at the desk holding the court assignments hostage before the matches until people paid their bills.

    I am sure the 4.0 team will rebound and take Sienna in the next match up.

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  2. Sienna has alot of mystery players that no one knows. I expect them to win their division.

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  3. Hurricanes vs. Deucebags was a fun filled exciting match. I will say that Hasker's lack of fitness cost him the match in 3rd set Tiebreaker in the end. Aadrian didn't have any legs left in the end. Kudos for Ted to show that defensive tennis and fitness can pay off in tight matches.

    Where was Rich Ryu? Miguel Morales? then again where was Tim Green? I guess his double bagel of tran in the gallery pumped tran up because he beat a very formidable dibua/sumarall last night. Deucebags will be a force but still need more depth.

    As for 4.0 hurricanes I guess they need to build from their loss. No matter what the blogger thinks the Hurricanes will still be the team to beat in Houston.

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  4. Puma's game is impressive. If Hasker is not fit, who is???

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  5. Must say, last night's match with the Deucebags and Hurricanes was pretty intense....and it was only the first match of the season! Gotta love how everyone stayed and watched the deciding battle with Hasker and Puma. The crowd even had their own war of words - USTA League Tennis: "Where Amazing Happens"

    Ted definitely played a great game and Aadrian had to hit clean winners just to earn a point, nothing was free. He just ran out out of bullets in the end.

    Good to see the Dugas brothers outdoing the Dibua brothers in wins. And Sarosh lived up to his reputation by hooking on the very first point! Both teams came out with a competitive lineup, and I'm sure Freeman and Tran will be a little more creative the next time they clash.

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  6. puma's game is not impressive. he's just a great pusher. he got whipped by hai vu last year. hasker's game has been in a runt for the past 4 months.

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  7. a message for sarosh... welcome to 4.5. you have to do more then just hook to win...

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  8. It looks like Freeman slacked off on his 4.0 team this year. Hard to find players when you live thousands of miles away.

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  9. Does anyone know what happen between the non-favorites Sienna vs Sugar Creek 4.5 match up?

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  10. Sugar Creek 4.5 came out and beat us 3-2 last night in a close match.

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  11. Now Chris, the 4.0 canes are a bunch of singles players and Bruce (on fire right now). League is all about the doubles. It will be next to impossible to beat sienna at home.

    Should have seen Greg giving Freeman the play by play over the cell phone last night. Funny

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  12. I have a feeling that the Hurricane 4.0 team will be just fine, their roster only has 11 guys on it with plenty of time to add folks. I'm sure they didn't want to lose last night but that group is very crafty and knowledgable. I wouldn't want to play them in June or July.

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  13. Narajos beat Don Rios, very impressive.

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  14. Team of the Decade, maybe not.

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  15. it would be interesting to see the duecebags and hurricane the next two meetings. i would play morales in doubles and rich in #1 singles. bui number #2 singles until hasker gets his game back. the doubles line up is always dynamic and unpredictable.

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  16. How about a Dibua brothers vs Dugas brothers Davis Cup Duel. Odds makers picks?

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  17. Too bad LLTC doesn't have wireless. I'd bust out the laptop with webcam so freeman could watch streaming video :P

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  18. Dibuas would destroy Dugas brothers. Not even close.

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  19. The Deucebags almost beat the "team of the decade" without Morales or Ryu and with low 4.5 players like Mouton, Patton and Trinh in the lineup. Team of the decade my ass.

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  20. hahahaha...that's funny stuff.

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  21. Who the hell is Miguel Morales and Rich Ryu? Last time I checked Morales lost to Abshire in the Gallery and Rich Ryu wasn't even on the Deucebags Roster. Both are mid level 4.5 players.

    BTW Patton and Mouton got DESTROYED 6-2,6-2 and the match wasn't even close.

    Where was Tim Green? He must have been afraid to give Alain a Hell 0,0..

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  22. Who won between Shwing and Jedi Knights?

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  23. The Dibua's are not that great. They have been made to look better by having ringers such as Armstrong and Hulbert on their prior teams. Tim Green is a has been. The whole team is a big group of has beens. I GUARANTEE the won't win Houston.

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  24. Why dont you post your name with that Guarantee?

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  25. I guarantee that the hurricanes won't win

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  26. Anybody know what the Big difference between a 5.0 player and a 4.5 league player? Watching Hasker last the other night couldn't he compete at the 5.0 level?

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  27. No. The top league singles players in 5.0 would eat him up. Puma played 5.0 one year and lost almost every match I think.

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  28. There is a huge difference between league and tournament 4.5 and 5.0

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  29. That may be true with the exception of some Top 4.5 players(Omon) and Top 5.0 players (Smith). These guys are high level Tournament and League players.

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  30. I Green played in Matt's place and huffman played in sarosh's place...Thursday's match would have been a blowout for the Hurricanes.

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  31. Not sure why those players did not play, but I am sure not all of the Hurricane's roster is signed up. They may be having tryouts.

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  32. Not to take anything away from the Deucebags or Sienna's success but, over the course of a season a team gets stronger. Why go all out so early? We do have a playoff if i'm not mistaken. Nice to win but things don't get competitive til City Playoffs.

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  33. Nothing wrong with going all out. It makes for some good tennis.

    Hurricanes 4.0 looks weak. Foster, Inting, Dwyer, and Chambers look like the only good league playesrs.

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  34. Are there better players in Houston 4.0 league?

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  35. How did Foster get a 4.0 rating?

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  36. I'm sure Red is to blame.

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  37. Foster probably got influenced by Freeman to play looking at his league allegiance. He's got some game though!

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  38. Why is Houston the only City that plays USTA summer league on Thursday evenings? All the other cities play during the weekend.

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  39. Because we rednecks from houston likes to eat bbq and getting drunk on weekends.

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  40. Thursday night league tennis sucks! Who wants to play no ad tennis in the dark? LLTC lights are bad and MPTC lights are in blind spots. Not fun tennis.

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  41. Does the other Westside 4.5 team have any good singles player?

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  42. Why would Red be to blame for Foster's 4.0 rating? Oh wait, he is living his 4.0 career through the eyes of someone else because he will suck in 5.0 and can only win with a 4.5 team full of ringers.

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  43. Can Kingwood Crush beat the Hurricanes? Does anyone know the format of the playoffs for 4.5?

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  44. with steve phan in the line up, they definitely have the fire power to take down the hurricanes.

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  45. what doubles teams from Crush could take the Hurricanes?

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  46. Who is the best singles player in 4.5 league? 4.0 league? What about best doubles team in 4.5 or 4.0?

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  47. Best 4.5 singles player: Hasker
    Best 4.0 singles player: Foster

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  48. Best 4.5 Singles Player is Omon Dibua

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  49. Best 4.5 Singles Player is Now Sean Straley. He was added to Sugar Creek Today.

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  50. Hasker already lost. Try again.

    Straley...now that is a ringer.

    Looks like Red, Green, Freeman, Hollis are not the snakes of captaining this year.

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