There were only two matches last night which interested me. The Deucebags were again at the center of things. Coming into the week, it looked to be a cakewalk for Alain Tran's bunch, but veteran captain Ken Douds had some tricks up his sleeve and had four last minute roster additions to make his team formidable. It was a nice move, perhaps designed to catch the Deucebags by surprise if they brought in a mediocre lineup. Sugar Creek added Sean Straley, Nick Hiemstra, Jason Cooney and a player who is unknown to me: David Herr.
I only have third hand information on the match last night, but I understand that the Deucebags took the match 3-2. Aadrian Hasker again had a tough matchup (and a toothache). Last year he was stuck in an easy division and was untested during the regular season. Simon Jim gave him a tough battle in the first set last night, but Hasker pulled it out and cruised in the second. The Deucebags also took line 2 singles as Douds used Straley and Cooney in doubles, where they both won their matches.
The Deucebags as a team have made great strides and are a close-knit group. They have weekly team practices on Wednesday nights and recently had a team tournament at Seven Lakes high school. Some emerging 4.0 stars like Rafah Ahmed also practice with the team as Tran looks to groom players for the future.
I've not heard any news from the other "big" match of the week where the Sienna 4.0 team hosted JCC. Sienna usually reports scores promptly...makes me wonder if there might have been an upset?
At MPTC last night, the 4.0 Hurricanes cruised over the Acers and I believe the Breakers pulled out a 3-2 win in 4.0 over Double Trouble with recently married Allan Chiu manning the number one singles slot for the Breakers.
Just heard from our 4.0 captain, Sienna won against JCC 5-0. JCC defaulted a singles Line (too many people with Rockets tickets) and of course numbers will never be our issue...
ReplyDeleteThat definitely puts the pressure on the Hurricanes if they want to take the division.
ReplyDeleteSienna still the team to beat in 4.0. The Westside 4.0 teams are looking good as well.
ReplyDeleteNothing much at LLTC last night either.
ReplyDeleteNothing much is incorrect as we finally had Towle vs Urban match-up to see which doubles partner was truly carrying the other. Turns out the "doubles specialist" title now belongs to Eric Urban.
ReplyDeleteBradley and Alzate crushed Whitsett and Bobo in 5.0 league last night. Black Sheep will be tough.
ReplyDeleteWatch out for David Herr. This guy can flat out play.
ReplyDeleteDid Herr play last night? Who did Douds use in singles besides Jim? Why not straley?
ReplyDeleteBig mistake. Douds should have played Straley and Jim in singles. You ALWAYS get both singles if you can.
ReplyDeleteBradley & Alzate played well... Hats off to them, but that was a very off night for Whitsett. Whitsett very rarely doubles, and even more rarely gets broken and rarely misses volleys, let alone floaters. Both sets were good. The 2nd was much closer than it appears by looking at the score, with (4) 3-3 all games. Bobo returned well, but as a team they are a little rusty right now. Bradley was an animal on the net, and was clearly the difference maker as Alzate turned around and lost a 4.5 match 1 & 3.
ReplyDeleteDavid Herr played Division 1 at Tulsa. Great Lefty player
ReplyDeleteNice Self Rating done by Mr.Douds
ReplyDeleteOther team captains will eat a self rating alive when then need too.
ReplyDeleteWhat school in Talsa did David Herr play? The University of Talsa has nothing about him on their website.
ReplyDeleteOr better yet when did he play for Talsa?
ReplyDeleteIt's Tulsa, not Talsa. Check collegetennisonline.com if you care. I haven't bothered to check.
ReplyDeleteSomething kinda' fun happened in Austin this weekend. They had all of the 4.5 teams show up at one site (Lakeway) on Saturday and each team played a "doubleheader". Nice to get all the players together at the same site for comraderie and/or to check out all of the other teams. Might be tough logistically to do that in Houston, but I thought it was a nice idea for Austinites.
ReplyDeleteBig matchup in Dallas 4.5 today between Feldman and Branch, probably the two top teams. No word on how it turned out.
Why do Memorial Park teams have to play at Homer "Thug Passion" Ford Tennis Center. Why aren't they called Homer Ford Double Trouble instead of MPTC Double Trouble.
ReplyDeleteBecause Memorial Park does not have enough courts to support the number of teams playing out of there.
ReplyDeleteOak Creek Branch won 5-0 today
ReplyDeleteNoone's picking them but Bear Creek is a sleeper team. Juan M. Pacheco and Massimiliano Perut are two of the most underrated 4.0 singles players around.
ReplyDeleteThey will be a tough 1, 2 combination in singles. That leaves Bear Creek to scrap up 1 doubles match to win it.
Bear Creek has a solid overall team. They will be in the City playoffs along with Copperfield from Division I. Copperfield will be hard to beat.
ReplyDeleteCopperfield might be the best 4.0 team in Houston. They have some nice bump downs and new additions to their roster.
ReplyDeleteBear Creek: Don't bring a knife to a gun fight.
ReplyDeleteScott Foster and Aaron Green will beat Juan and Massimiliano in a walk.
We still have some housekeeping in our division but make no mistake, we will make City.
Everything up to playoffs is just practice.
Is Aaron Green the second best single player on Hurricanes?
ReplyDeleteScott Foster is not the best singles player on the Hurricanes and Aaron Greene is not the second best singles player (but they are both good).
ReplyDeleteI like Bear Creek's chances against Copperfield.
Whatever, Foster and Green can't win every line for them. I believe Sienna showed the Hurricanes weakness. All hype, no substance.
ReplyDeleteGreen lost against us in doubles.
ReplyDeleteScott Foster would beat all legit 4.5 players.
ReplyDeleteTo the last poster, Scott Foster lost 1st round at the Coke in 4.5 doubles.
ReplyDeleteI agree, the Hurricanes are all hype, always have been. Foster played all last year and didn't even get bumped up. I don't ever even remember his name showing up on this blog as being anything special. Greene is an average tournament player but can't even beat Sienna at line 3 doubles.
ReplyDeleteHype, hype, hype
Foster lost in the 2nd round in doubles after beating the San Antonio major zone winner (Wayne Morgan) in singles in straight sets. There is nobody in 4.0 that can beat him in singles.
ReplyDeleteIf Foster is so good why didn't he play singles last year? Did Freeman screw up or is 4.0 really tough? He had Najaros, Martinez, Foster, Morris, Dwyer and Pham. All of those guys are pretty good in 4.5.
ReplyDeleteIs Scott Foster young with a big first serve and one handed backhand?
ReplyDeleteYup
ReplyDeleteScott Foster did not play singles last year because the Hurricanes were so loaded last year.
ReplyDeleteScott Foster is clearly the most dominant singles player in 4.0 this year barring an unknown self rate coming in.
It's not just Foster's big first serve try to return his second. It's hard to break someone's serve when they have such a variety and the never double fault.
ReplyDeleteAnd serving is only half of the game a player has to be able to return a little even if it goes to a tiebreak.
Predictions as to which teams will grab the 2 playoff spots in 4.0 and 4.5.
ReplyDelete4.0:
Copperfield / Bear Creek
Chancellors / Westside-Phoenix
Sienna Plantation / Hurricanes
SAP / Roliso Boys
4.5:
Copperdield / Swing
Kingwood / Westside-BS
Hurricanes / Sugar Creek
Scott Foster has the best serve in in 4.0 and 4.5.
ReplyDeleteFoster does not have the best serve in 4.5, Odion has the best serve in 4.5.
ReplyDeleteCopperfield 4.5 has slowly been adding depth to it's team. They now have two legitimate singles players and fairly decent depth for one or two doubles wins each week.
ReplyDeleteMan, this has turned into the kiss Foster's ass blog.
ReplyDeleteYes, he is good.
Yes, he should probably be playing 4.5.
Yes, he is under the radar at this point, but by playing on both the 4.0 and 4.5 team he should get bumped after this year.
Yes, Freeman hid him well last year, did not expose him too much to getting bumped(as a good captain should).
But realize he is one line and if Freeman starts playing him at singles then teams will just throw a scrub out there and sacrifice that line and target the other 4.
Based on the city playoff predictions listed, how would you rate them 1-8 for 4.0 1-6 for 4.5?.
ReplyDeleteThe Sienna/Hurricanes runner-up will likely be stronger than some of the division winners.
4.0:
Copperfield / Bear Creek
Chancellors / Westside-Phoenix
Sienna Plantation / Hurricanes
SAP / Roliso Boys
4.5:
Copperdield / Swing
Kingwood / Westside-BS
Hurricanes / Sugar Creek
Canes will sweep all 3 divisions. Foster went 3 with Yang from Rice last year. He's not unbeatable in singles.
ReplyDeleteHere is how I would rank the 4.0 divisions. I don't know 4.5 well enough to guess
ReplyDelete4.0:
1) Hurricanes
2) Sienna
3) Chancellors
4) SAP
5) Copperfield
6) Bear Creek
7) Westside-Phoenix
8) Rolido Boys
Despite the 1st loss, Hurricanes are still the team to beat. If JCC, were in another division they would have cracked the top 8.
Foster is a tweener. A really good 4.0 and a an alright 4.5.
ReplyDelete