1S - Janek
2s - Sarosh
1D- Goldberg/Thomas
2D - Kern/Veilleux
3D - Wood/Patton
Subs: Knutson, Towle, Urtis
I did not get a chance to watch Eddie's match, but the score does not reflect the closeness of the match.
For the first time IMHO I saw Sarosh get stretched for the first time against this guy. Sarosh rallied from a break down in the first to win and was up in the 2nd set and had to fight off a comeback to win a tight set.
Thomas and Brian lost a close one to two very competent players. A single break in the first and then a tiebreak in the second. I could have gone either way.
For the second match in a row, it seemed that Kern/Veilleux drew the opponents weakest team. They rolled in two.
After what seemed like an hour of drama with a deciding ladies match Wood and Patton FINALLY got on a court and played two tough guys and went down in two.
Here is a pic of the woman who got defaulted due to repetitive cramping/injury timeouts. It was kind of sad, but the off-court drama between the two teams was priceless...
This was a very tough match.
We are now 0-2 and mathematically eliminated. There has been some very high quality tennis this weekend and I now have a new perspective on this whole "ringer/sandbagger" argument after watching this group ROLL at sectionals in Dallas and see how tough the competition is at this next level.
We are playing Southern tomorrow AM who has a bunch of high school all-stars on their team. They went down pretty easily to NoCal today 4-1, so their only hope is to wipe us out and have Florida beat NoCal. We will see how it works out.
Chris, please expand on what your new perspective is on ringers/sandbaggers?
ReplyDeleteI guess I say my perspective has changed because over the last two years at 4.0 and 3.5 I have been on the losing end to what appeared to be some "over qualified 4.0" players.
ReplyDeleteThis was especially my sentiment when Waco seemed to walk through nationals last year in Hawaii.
What I mean to say is that when I contrast the level of play that I saw this weekend on all courts (men and women) versus the level of domination that was experienced by this team in Dallas made me really rethink what I consider "overqualified 4.0" players.
Every team out here was very deep and very capable.
There is no one dominating anywhere and most lines that I was watching could have gone either way.
I am not sure if my comments are coming across clearly or not...
You're just confirming what a lot of people have been saying all along. I think a lot of the normal complaining has been by players who don't have the right perspective on the levels. As usual they overrate themselves and think that if they get blown away by someone else than that player MUST be a sandbagger and is trying to cheat the system. The results of all the teams this year at Nationals clearly demonstrates that Texans and the Texas Section is at level for the most pary relative to the other sections.
ReplyDeleteEver figure out what happened to De los Santos?
ReplyDeleteOn the De Los Santos question:
ReplyDeleteHe made contact Friday afternoon and the reason he did not show is that he had a close friend pass away and had to go to Austin.
I am speaking for the team here, but I know everyone empathizes with the situation and our condolences go out to Eddie, but part of me wonders why a quick phone call wasn't made explaining the predicament so that people weren't thinking that he was just AWOL?
On the sandbagger follow up comment:
I think you summarized it well. Yes, either people in Texas need to recalibrate their expectations about who should be playing what level or all 32 teams here this weekend are all cheaters....
I equate the level of play here at 4.0 nationals to what I saw at 4.5 Texas sectionals in August. This statement goes for both genders.
I don't think that's completely accurate, Chris. I've been to 4.0 and 4.5 Nationals - It's probably fair to say (given we have asserted the fact that Texas players perspective of their levels are skewed - which I've been saying for a while - glad someone else out there agrees) the BEST OF THE BEST at 4.0 Nationals is competitive with your average 4.5 Sectionals team/player.
ReplyDeleteFor my team, I would agree that the best 4.0 National teams would be competitive (might not win - but could) with every team my 4.5 team played against this year in pool play.
Also, Chris, you guys drew probably the toughest pool possible. It will be interesting to see how NorCal does tomorrow.
I just wanted to clarify my last post. The best players at Nationals will be competitive with your average Sectionals players at the next level. This has always been the case. But to further demonstrate that Texas players overrate themselves, here's an example. My 4.0 team came in dead last at Nationals. We won 3 lines the entire weekend. The next year we all moved up and played 4.5. We won for Houston and at Sectionals we were competitive with the 4.5's. Won 1 match, lost a close 3-2 match against Tyler that came down to a 3rd set tb, and lost 4-1 to San Antonio, the eventual winners that year.
ReplyDeleteYes that is correct. Most teams at nationals have several out of level players. Everyone knows this, If your team wants to go to national at a specific level, you will need 5 or 6 players that are well above that level. Freeman only had tow, Ahmed and Kern. Thats not enough. Grenn and Benzon know this eh should take some pointers from them next year. its all about ringers.
ReplyDeleteYour point is well taken, however, considering the dominance they displayed at Sectionals it is still valid to say that the Texas section is nothing special.
ReplyDeleteChris,
ReplyDeleteI saw on the blog, you were missing Eddie De Los Santos. I reviewed the lineups and saw the Knutson played Singles in the first match and Patton and Wood played doubles. However in the second match Knutson was out of the line up. Did he get hurt in his singles match. Also I noticed the #1 player in the state was beat 6-1, 6-1. I guess this shows the more tournaments you play, the higher your ranking can get.
Chris,
ReplyDeleteI saw on the blog, you were missing Eddie De Los Santos. I reviewed the lineups and saw the Knutson played Singles in the first match and Patton and Wood played doubles. However in the second match Knutson was out of the line up. Did he get hurt in his singles match. Also I noticed the #1 player in the state was beat 6-1, 6-1. I guess this shows the more tournaments you play, the higher your ranking can get.