Sorry, I've been bogged down with other things and don't have time to preview all of the levels and flights this year. My quick impressions on Houston's teams:
I think the 5.0 team will have its hands full with the Fort Worth and Dallas teams. Austin doesn't look that strong and Noho is a virtual walkover. I've played (and been crushed by) Dallas singles guy Chris Walker (James Blake's half brother) and am curious to see how Hasker will fare in the battle of lefties. I've seen Walker wear down in the heat, but Hasker looked gassed in the afternoon heat yesterday as well.
The Hurricane 4.5 team has certainly benefited from some very friendly flights this year. Their success at Sectionals depends greatly on the aforementioned young singles guys on the Corpus team. Many of the Corpus players (Barre, Whitehurst, Shandy, et al.) have been traveling to Dallas for Sectionals for a decade or so, and are competent players, but the eligibility of the youngsters will decide whether the team is a factor or not. The Canes may make it to Sunday, but they will be huge underdogs to go any further.
The Lakeside 4.5 team got stuck in a tough bracket. Dallas, San Antonio and the Valley fill out their flight. Will Hess and Bui play singles in each match? Lakeside has three lines that can compete with most teams and will be dangerous, but I just don't see them emerging from this tough pool.
The Chancellor's 4.0 team has been practicing very hard getting ready for the heat in Dallas. Bao Hangoc, Tuan Tran, Minh Hoang and Cuong Truong, among others, all braved the afternoon heat at Memorial Park for hours yesterday and seem accustomed to outdoor play. As you probably know, 4.0 Sectional pools are one team bigger than 4.5 flights, so a champion is required to play 6 matches in three days. Chancellor's has shown little depth in singles. Can Hoang and Truong play two singles matches each day and be at their best?
The Hurricane 4.0 team could have a similar problem. Singles depth should not be a factor for the 'Canes, as they have a number of quality singles players. The overall depth is a question mark, however. The team has a number of young players who (one would think) should not be affected by two matches a day in the heat.
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Has anyone looked at the local 5.0 results lately. Some obvious tanks going down. Sumrall and Burmann lost 6-0, 6-0?
ReplyDeleteThat was a default. 6-0,6-0 doesn't count in computer.
ReplyDeleteAustin 5.0 is the team to beat at Sectionals. They have their ringer singles player in place. Neal Bobba was a 5.0 bump down then mid year bump up back to 5.5. He will be very dangerous.
ReplyDeleteHow good is Lubbock 4.0 this year? I do not see any other teams in Chancellors flight that would challenge them besides Lubbock.
ReplyDeleteNO Houston teams won last weekend and NO Houston teams will win this coming weekend. Forget Freeman, Hollis, et al. They all will go down. A few may make it to Sunday but none of the teams will be able to compete on Sunday.
ReplyDeleteYO. Houston basher. Tell us who WILL win.
ReplyDeleteDon't take offense. I'm from Houston - don't hate it. I just don't see that any of the teams are as strong as years past.
ReplyDeleteI just can't see the singles guys play their top games in the heat twice a day. I say it a "no-go" for both teams.
ReplyDelete>>> I saying this so that a reverse jinx occurs. Go HOUSTON!!! Make us proud and jealous while you sweating it out in the 115 degree heats. A/C is my good friend.
The better the singles player the bigger the advantage. The great singles players need to beat up on the average players and get off the court. If they dont they are in trouble. It is when a player gets into a dog fight that they could be toast for future matches which could happen to many singles players next weekend.
ReplyDeleteLittle depth in singles? Chancellors have a howdy doody look alike that won a tournament in Ft Worth a few weeks ago. I forget his name
ReplyDeleteIf Chancellors is counting on somone who won the Ft Worth zone tournament they're in a lot more trouble than we realize. Everyone knows tourney players are no match for the top tier league players. This further demonstrates their ignorance and inexperience at this level
ReplyDeleteThe above comment was obviously written by someone from the Lakeside 4.0 team.
ReplyDeleteAs young and as deep as they are, I just don't see anyone being able to beat the 4.0 Hurricanes. they will be the dominating team from Houston that goes all the way
ReplyDelete2:01, obviously it wasn't. Chancellors is solid and they beat us soundly. They'll represent Houston well as will the Hurricanes and I wish them both the best of luck, give us an all-Houston final please!
ReplyDeletePK
I don't know who is the best team 4.0, and who will win on Sunday... but I know one thing for sure: Both Houston teams will definitely have the most fun, and both teams are getting along pretty well. Houston is probably gonna stand as one unit, unless the two teams have to play against each other.
ReplyDeleteSo much for the Houston haters.
I like everyone on the 4.0 Hurricane team. They all seem real nice except for Arata.
ReplyDeleteThoughts on tournament officials' decision to use no ad scoring in Dallas last weekend (and probably this weekend)?
ReplyDeletePussification of America.
ReplyDeleteDobson has been dq'd from Corpus 4.5 team, but Asaad has been cleared to play. His college experience was considered to be individual, rather than part of TAMU-CC's team.
ReplyDeleteHow does it work when a player gets DQ'd? Shouldn't all the wins in his previous matches be given to the opponent? If so, the Brew Crew should be the ones going to Dallas.
ReplyDeleteAny adjustments to play - ie no ad scoring, excessive wind, 3rd set tie break, etc. will benefit a weaker team/player.
ReplyDelete10:21: According to the national regulations, 2.04E(1), it's up to each section to determine which matches to reverse. Texas regulation #8 says that all matches should be taken away from a disqualified self-rated player. But Dobson probably self-rated correctly at the time, then later committed to SMU, which caused the DQ. Also, it would be a logistical nightmare to take the entire team out of the tournament and replace them with Brew Crew one day before leaving for Dallas. Likewise, the winner of sectionals will still advance to nationals, even if some of their players are dq'ed after sectionals, and even if those dqs would have changed the results. It doesn't seem totally fair.
ReplyDeleteShame on Brew Crew for not figuring it out sooner.
ReplyDeleteRoss sure does talk a lot of trash for someone who got spanked by me 6-1 a few weeks ago.
ReplyDeleteWho is Ross?
ReplyDeleteRoss is from Friends, you know the sit com from the late 90's on NBC. Pfffh.
ReplyDeleteThanks 11:33. I guess it would be a nightmare to send a different team a day before. Should make for a fun weekend in the sun!
ReplyDeleteRe Erhart Asaad. What does it mean that his college experience is individual vs team. Is this an exception to the USTA Self Rate guidelines which states if you play for a D1 school and a certain age you should self rate as a 5.5. This is going to make for a DNRTP nightmare trying to figure out if a player was an individual or team player. And I love the way the USTA/TTA makes these type of rulings without educating the membership. It's a moving target trying to figure out the guidelines for self-rating. This is setting a precedent that will be hard to manage and monitor.
ReplyDeleteIt's funny that the Dallas folks knows who the best team in 4.0s (Hurricanes) is and the local Houston folks are clueless. Pay attention, cluelees, Dallas has already won 3.0, 3.5, and open. Dallas blog is predicting that the 4.0 Houston Hurricane team is the team to beat. Anybody that knows anything about 4.0s should also know that the Houston Hurricane is the top dog and will prove it Sunday.
ReplyDeletewww.tennisexpress.com
ReplyDelete2 out of 3 NO-AD 3rd set super tiebreaker. Matches will go quick. No cramping this year !!
ReplyDelete@5:25 Are you 13 years old? Does your dad play for the Hurricanes? There is no way an adult wrote that. Because 1 person on the Dallas blog thinks Freeman has a great team they are the favorite and everyone in Houston is clueless because they do not agree. Where did it say that everyone in Dallas thinks Houston has the best team? They are not the favorite. There are probably 5 or so teams that are co favorites and none of them know enough about the other teams to even be stupid enough to think they are the sole favorite. Such an ignornant psot by you. Just keep sucking up to the Canes!
ReplyDeleteUmadbro?
ReplyDeleteRe Erhart Asaad: Apparently the Texas Section recognizes a distinction between a college student playing tournaments against other college students, and a college student playing team matches against other college teams. Asaad played at least two college-only tournaments, the Baylor Invitational, and an ITA event in College Station, both in the fall of 2005 while he was attending Texas A&M Corpus Christi. Neither of these was considered a team event, so he played as a student, and not a member of A&M's team. Per Asaad, the A&M Coach, and the Corpus league coordinator, he never was a member of the varsity team, and never played for them. Thus he is allowed to play 4.5, and has been cleared to play sectionals tomorrow. Merely attending a D-1 school does not mean you are a D-1 player. By the same token, a lot of colleges have club teams. Playing for them is not the same as playing for the varsity team, and wouldn't be a dq.
ReplyDelete12:09 - Thank you for the clarification and I agree with that assessment and think it is fair.
ReplyDelete12:09 - Thanks for the explanation.
ReplyDeleteHonestly, the TTA really needs to put together a private forum/bulletin board for Texas team captains to ask questions and share information. I think that such a forum would go a long ways towards cleaning up the issue of bogus self-rates. Calling Todd Reed every time there is a question is not an efficient method for handling these issues and makes consistency difficult.
The Copperfield women's 4.0 team just won their first match in Dallas, 5-0!
ReplyDeleteAs did Chancellors
ReplyDeleteHurricanes 4.0 won 5-0, Lakeside 4.5 lost 1-4.
ReplyDeleteLakeside 5.0 won 2-1.
ReplyDeleteLakeside will find the sledding a little tougher at 2pm when they line up against the TEAM from Austin. They are Stacked packed covered smothered and topped, as they say down at the griddle.
ReplyDeleteAustin 5.0 rolled over NOHO 5.0 3-0 this morning.
ReplyDeleteLOL@ the smack talking Austinite in 2:08.
ReplyDeleteYou guys couldn't even win your own local league without the help of the idiot Formula One captain who played an illegal player that was later DQed.
Ouch, Hurricanes 4.5 lost 3-2.
ReplyDeleteyo 3:00pm where did that come from. I think you are confused. I was talking about 5.0 not 4.5 Looks like both Austin and Houston 4.5 bit the dust today.
ReplyDeleteAustin 5.0 rolls to nationals!!! Great doubs matches carried them through to Cali.
ReplyDeleteHouston and Austin 5.0 had a great match that came down to an amazing winner volley at the end by Sean Fifield, a former Houstonian.
Greg Jones played lights out! Good luck next year to everyone. Now that super team won, Austin will have to split up. Sad times.
Aug 8 11:46pm--what the fk are you talking about? Who is 'everyone' that 'knows' that tourney players can't hang in league play? Show me some hard numbers genius.
ReplyDeleteThe irony is I couldn't see some of these league players being able to last thru an entire tourney. To win the tourney you typically need around 5 wins in a weekend to take it all. How many of these Thursday night players can withstand the extreme temps, playing possibly 2 or 3 matches in a day to move on (specifically singles).
ReplyDeleteCongrats to the Chancellors 4.0 team! They did what everyone said they couldn't do. Lose to a retarded Beaumont team. Way to go morons!!
ReplyDeleteAny truth to the rumor that Chancellors George Ross asked to be taken out of the line up when he found out Arata was coming to watch his match?
ReplyDeleteHow do u like me now?
ReplyDeleteI would have to say Pete Rios after this weekend has secured a spot next to Leander Paes as one of the all time great Indian players
ReplyDeleteTed Pumma cramped up getting out of bed this morning
ReplyDeleteCongrats to the Hurricanes. They breezed thru Semis and Finals to win it. What happened Dallas....nothing to say? Thought not.
ReplyDeleteAugust 11 10:36 am, I told you that the Hurricanes would win easily and everybody knows except you (clueless)
ReplyDelete