Thursday, July 9, 2009

LLTC Impressions

The Hurricane 4.5 team won easily. Odion, to be honest, looked a bit off to me. It's a credit to him that he was able to win without playing his best. Ted Pumma destroyed Sean Lacy, as I suspected he would. I think he was fired up with all the talk of him being weak against serve and volleyers.

Possibly the most surprising thing was seeing Ted Bradley playing doubles. I'm not sure the strategy was sound, in effect "diluting" his talent with Chad Shaw. That's not a knock on Shaw, but I think Bradley alone gives you a better chance of taking a line. I guess the strategy was to hope for Lacy and Alzate to sweep the singles and Bradley to take a doubles line????? Anyway, the Black Sheep lost 5-0 and now have a lot of ground to make up if they want that second slot. They're an extreme longshot at this point.

I haven't been on the phone this evening so I've not heard results from elsewhere. The Hurricane 4.0 team was very unimpressive tonight, struggling mightily in their 4-1 win over Lost Forest. A performance like that will not get it done in either of their next two matches.

SAP won 3-2 over much-discussed Sienna. For me, the match of the night out there was a "meaningless" one, which could end up being meaningful if things break a certain way. Fifty-something Doug Whitehead fought off cramps in a match that lasted almost two and a half hours and beat tournament stalwart Roger Osorio in a third set breaker. Osorio is younger and looks fit, but also cramped on the last point, having to go to his left hand on the last shot of the match due to hand cramps. Just wait 'til the heat of the weekend daytime matches, boys....

In other news, I've heard that the Lakeside 4.0 team won 4-1 in a close match, and that Chancellor's pulled out some third set breakers in winning 3-2 over Copperfield. I haven't talked to anyone in the other 4.5 matches...hope someone will fill us in.


47 comments:

  1. Ssshhhwings defeated Kingwood Crush3-2. Rothe and Judson won the last match on the court at line 2 doubles in a 3rd set breaker but the key to the match was a 3rd set, 12-10 breaker win by Monty Lindloff and Ki Kim at line 1 doubles over Hai Vu and Phi Huynh

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  2. Also, the Deucebags and Shwing both pulled out 3-2 wins.

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  3. Incidentally...I need a clarification on format during citywides. I was under the impression that regular scoring was to be used (as it always used to be in city playoffs), with the third set being a super breaker, but SAP and Sienna were playing no ad. Was I wrong?

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  4. Yep, it is posted on HTA website:

    https://www.houstontennis.org/Content-Public/Page-Edit/Page.asp?iID=-286066200

    NO Add Scoring; two out of three sets with 3rd set being a Match Tiebreak. (First team to 10 win by 2).

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  5. It's stupid to have a trip to Sectionals depend on 3 all points.

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  6. Yep, I agree with post @ 12:06am. In 4.0; they should do a round-robin; instead of 2 bracket and no-add scoring. This format does not guaranteed the two strongest team representing Houston at sectional. I currently like the 4.5 playoff format this year; it should be like this for all the levels.

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  7. BOBBY TRINH IS MY HERO!!!
    Khang Quach held his own too with a perfect lob winner to set up match point.

    GO DEUCEBAGS!!!

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  8. Okay Khang, please step away from the microphone. Is your head elevated yet?

    I WANT TO HAVE BOBBY TRINH BABY!!!

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  9. Sienna is done, they suck

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  10. Come on Greg, I told you it is the economy! We had to tighten our belts and play no ad scoring. It is all we could afford....

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  11. Sienna might go 0-3 in playoffs. Trash talking doesn't pay off.

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  12. Sienna WILL go 0-3. I would think their captain would have assembled their best lineup of their 20+ roster for the playoffs. If that is the case, they will not stand a chance against Bear Creek and Lakeside. The afternoon sun will be their demise.

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  13. Don't understand why Bulan and Kwan were on the bench.

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  14. Greg, do you know when mid-year ratings will be posted? Seems to me they usually come out shortly after the 4th.

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  15. Last year they came out on July 17th.

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  16. apologies to puma, i really thought he was at a disadvantage to the net and volley game.

    very impressive puma!

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  17. Kwan's cheerleading abilities rivals his tennis skills!

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  18. Man, Steve Phan almost lost to Flad Patterson. He sucks now.

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  19. Kwan and Bulan both suck.

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  20. The Black Sheep got rocked but I disagree with Htown concerning strategy. By dropping Bradley to doubles, they almost won on 1 and 3 doubles. Combined with the fact that everyone thought Lacy would play better against Puma, they gave themselves a chance. Blacksheep can beat some teams but they just aren't good enough this year to get the wildcard. Canes will roll

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  21. who is kwan and bulan ? like Ben & Jerry ?? i heard they are 4.5 wannabe !! they have trouble playing with 4.0 summer league. Give it up ! Let me play instead !!

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  22. Kwan and Bulan were watching with their "women"...

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  23. Enuf with sienna, they are done for the season. Let's focus on chancellors

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  24. i've got a question, and hopefully someone will have the answer.

    i've seen many people throw in a foot fault now and then....it happens, and it's usually never called.

    however, when a player is foot faulting on every serve (3 - 6 inches) inside the baseline, and it is blatantly obvious he/she is doing so....should the foot fault be called?

    if you are a 4.0 or above player, there is no reason you should ever foot fault, much less every time you serve the ball.

    i'd like to hear people's comments on what is the best way to handle this situation (IN THE PLAYOFFS).

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  25. Most people who do it probably don't realize that they are doing so.

    In this situation I have just kindly reminded them that you have to serve from BEHIND the line.

    Most of the time once you tell them they become aware of it. If it continues then just start calling foot faults.

    Or get both captains over there to judge equally.

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  26. In my opinion if theres no official's i would tell the captain's to watch his foot-fault just like they would see the line calls.

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  27. Was it a Sienna player?

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  28. Who will win out of chancellors and Lost Forest next week?

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  29. I think it was one of those old folk's from lakeside.

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  30. So who are the two teams that are going to represent houston?

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  31. i'm not going to go into who it was. however, this person is tall and has a big 1st serve.

    i'm not sure it would have had a huge outcome in the match, but it could have. maybe this person would not have put as many 1st serves in play, may have been more aware of his/her footing (and thus made more service errors), etc.

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  32. Poor James Blake. He just sucks in 5 set matches. Up 2-0 and the drops the next 3.

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  33. In 4.0, Sienna and the Hurricaines, in that order.

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  34. Chancellors will crush Lost Forest and Copperfield will edge out the Hurricanes making Sunday's matches in pool 2 very interesting.

    Lakeside will beat SAP 4-1 and Sienna will beat Bear Creak 3-2 or 4-1 setting up a very interesting Sunday for pool 1 as well.

    The 2nd place 4.5 spot is up for grabs at this point and it will continue to be up for grabs until the last set of matches on Sunday.

    This year is much more exciting than years past.

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  35. Chancellor will die in the heat. Those indoor folks will not make it; they are spoiled with the A/C and wind-less condition. The Le brothers will dominate in doubles.

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  36. You mean Sienna still has a chance to make playoffs? I thought they suck.

    Prediction for Sienna's lineup?

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  37. 1st place in 4.5 is not a given, because on any given day...

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  38. Chancellors won't die in the heat. They are all Vietnamese.

    That is like the hottest place on earth.

    Maybe the lakeside guys could have taken them out a generation ago only had they known!

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  39. Who takes 4.0 and 4.5 is not a given this year, but there are heavy favorites: Hurricanes in both divisions, Deucebags in 4.5 will be tough, and Chancellors in 4.0. I thought Westside was a heavy favorite too, but Hurricanes pretty much blew them out.

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  40. and I thought Kingwood was a favorite till they lost.

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  41. Chancellor club air conditioning doesn't work so they might as well play outside and get some fresh air. Heat won't bother them.

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  42. The foot faulting reached epic proportions last night at Copperfield, by both teams.

    Copperfield didn't field their best team and it hurt them. David Kent and Alex Bergmann were both out, and David Mazaltov is not a true doubles player, he's much better in singles. Jason Rawls and Logan Thrower did not play to their potential either.

    Where were David Kent, George Orchard, Brad Feazell, Sidney O'Pry et al? These veterans would have made the difference.

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  43. Thrower is the worst foot faulter in the city. Letan does it but not as bad. Thrower is outright cheating

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  44. It wasn't just Thrower, but he's bad. I saw chronic footfaulting on both sides.

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  45. Rawls and Thrower suck. Rawls held serve once the whole match. Trinh is closer to a 4.0 and Quach only played well when he needed to and still pulled out a deciding win.

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  46. there was definitely some major foot faulting going on out at copperfield last night thats for sure !

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  47. Sienna 4.0 lineup is a total JOKE ! Mixing up people randomly or playing the same people until they are exhausted physically and mentally and then throwing them aside ! Need to really question their leadership !! Captain Kirk and mr. spock. Their head is in space somewhere else...

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