Playoffs Night #1

Lee Leclear tennis center was hopping last night as the citywide championships got underway. Unfortunately, I spent most of my time watching my own teams play and didn't get to watch TOO much else...

The once-mighty Mob Squad limped into the playoffs with a depleted roster and pathetically could only get six players to play in these playoffs as all attempts to change team committments were denied. All six are high quality players, however, and as the old adage says, it only takes four players to win a match. The Mob has always had singles strength, and this year they counted on 19 year old Aadrian Hasker and veteran Ted Phoummarath to carry them through. Hasker edged previously unbeaten Brian Mills in the first set breaker, and then rolled through the second set. Ted P. relies on quickness, fitnesse and consistency, and that combination was a little too much for Sarosh Ahmed last night as Pumma won comfortably.

The Met figured to have the edge in doubles. Ward Jannuzzi and Michael Chec were at line 3 and received the default, and David Yang and Phong Regent were very impressive at line 2, beating Santesteban and Pham three and three. David Yang is quite a player. It was my first time watching him and every one of his strokes were solid and impressive. At line one, the match of the night featured the Phan brothers against Jacob Vernon and Daniel Duplechin. Steve Phan has historically been the Mob's best singles player, but they desperately needed some doubles strength. Vernon and Duplechin played magnificently and took the first set in a breaker. Their play dipped ever so slightly in the second and the Phans turned it up a bit and then overcame Minh's cramps to capture the super-breaker and giving the Mob its third line.

In the other 4.5 match, the Black Sheep pulled out a 3-2 win over Ssshhhwings. Peter Rothe was again out of the lineup for Shwing. Three of the five matches went to the third set as the teams seemed evenly balanced.

I have always thought of Peter Hansen as a doubles guy, so despite his impressive singles win earlier in the season it surprised me to see him at number one singles last night. Hansen was a key doubles guy on the SWAT team that made it to Nationals in 2005 and won a tight two setter against Mike Giordanelli last night. Westside's singles don't look that imposing on paper, but they won both lines last night as Sean Lacy also won at #2. Ssshhwin is always tough in doubles, and took two of the three lines, but dropped the match tie breaker at line one as Ristau and Alzate took out the strong partnership Benoit/Judson.

In 4.0, the Hurricanes manhandled Willow Fork in the singles, but showed vulnerability in the doubles, losing one line and going three sets in another. Reese and Montes rolled for the 'Canes in the third doubles line.

The 4.0 match of the night featured Sienna and Lost Forest. Chris Trevino had been spotless all season for Lost Forest, but got crushed last night by Justin Smith at one singles. Ace Melchor eked out a win at line 2 for Lost Forest. Each team one a doubles line and the match came down to Ronnie Kwan and Scott Boarman, who survived some confusion over the score to pull out the win for their team.

I'm not sure what happened in the Chancellor's-Smokers match, but it looked like Chancellor's was in control. Ismael Dutchover dropped the first set but survived a tough match with Nathan Huynh, winning in three at one singles.

In the other matchup, Daniel Goodwin's SAP team lost 4-1 to a Copperfield team that looks strong and has a solid shot at a berth in Dallas. Tuyen Nguyen won the only line for SAP. Thomas Sawaya dominated at one singles for the Copperheads.