Destiny Interrupted

WEST CHESTER RUSTIN – Saturday June 27th – With the beautiful West Chester Rustin High School as a backdrop, GV faced Easy Killer on Saturday with a chance to wrap up the 4.0 Men Red Division and punch our second straight ticket to the PATD District Playoffs. We figured Russell Chamberlin would pull out all of the stops in an effort to close within one match and force us to make up our match with the West Chester Aces to earn our Division Championship…and we were right. Starring at 1st singles was a 19-year old player on the Kutztown University tennis team that hadn’t played a single match for Easy Killer all season. Sure. It’s only Week 10…

Apparently, Cameron O’Donnell beats Cahn Ho soundly at practice. Russell seemed pretty proud of himself telling Captain Mike that news before the match started. Hey, whatever floats your boat. Bottom line – Easy Killer was just too much for us on this day. Luckily, we had a little margin for error, and now we have to beat the West Chester Aces on Wednesday to finish the job and move on to the playoffs.

1st Singles – Dave Umbach (2-1 singles, 1-0 doubles) v. Cameron O’Donnell (4-1 singles), 2-6, 4-6. While this was O’Donnell’s first match with Easy Killer this season, he’s played plenty of USTA Summer Tennis. He’s 3-1 at 4.0 singles in the EPTD, with his only loss coming after losing a 2nd set tiebreak and the 3rd set super-tiebreak. He has also been playing 4.5 tennis in the Philly Region, with a 1-4 record (0-1 singles). So, it’s not like he appeared out of nowhere. But it sure was handy that he showed up for this crucial match. Dave Umbach pulled out all of his tricks to get the 19-year old off his game, but O’Donnell was just too crisp for our Warpainted warrior, and knocked Umbach off in straight sets.

2nd Singles – Brett Siegfried (8-0 singles) d. Cahn Ho (6-2 singles, 1-2 doubles), 6-3, 1-6, 7-6. As soon as I heard this matchup set up for Court 2, I wished I could just watch instead of being troubled with my own match. This was a true battle of 4.0 singles titans. Cahn has ripped through the PATD 4.0 singles scene again, losing only to Jimmy Riggs in Week 1 because of an injury suffered mid-match (plus, Riggs was DQ’ed and bumped to 4.5 soon thereafter). His only other singles loss came in a 3 setter in the Delaware District. Meanwhile, Brett’s success has been well-documented here – he has dropped only one set this year (to Tom McAvoy), though his matches have been far closer in score than Cahn’s. Brett got off to a nice start in this match, taking the attack to Cahn before dropping the second set in convincing fashion. As the third set unfolded, there was a chance that this court would decide the overall match and it was clearly nip-and-tuck. Before it was over, unfortunately, we dropped our third court and Brett’s amazing third set tiebreak win became anti-climactic. That said, it was an amazing, gutty performance by Brett on a hot day, and should serve him well in tough matches to come.

1st Doubles – Trach (9-0 doubles)/Heck (2-0 singles, 6-0 doubles) d. Phouthavongsa (11-1 doubles)/McAvoy (0-1 singles, 2-1 doubles), 6-2, 7-5. It seems that most members of Easy Killer play a lot of tennis in a lot of different districts. Hap Phouthavongsa had put up a perfect 11-0 doubles record this year in his play for Easy Killer, the Delaware District and the New Jersey District. Tom McAvoy is the huge-serving tower of power that took a set off of Brett Siegfried in singles action 5 weeks back. And Rich Trach and I flat out smoked them. This was the 5th time Rich and I joined forces this year, and frankly, we haven’t played any better than this. We made very few errors, took advantage of almost every offensive opportunity, and I even served well enough (though I was broken serving for the match at 5-4 in the second) to not embarrass myself. A well-rounded, fairly dominant win over a very good opponent. I would love to be able to continue playing with Rich through the playoffs, but I have a feeling that Mike Schmidt’s return to Germany may not allow that to happen.

2nd Doubles – Mackenthun (6-1 doubles)/Schmidt (3-1 singles, 1-1 doubles) v. Markowitz (6-0 doubles)/Faith (0-1 singles, 5-0 doubles), 6-7, 4-6. This turned out to be the pivotal match. The Germans had teamed up a few weeks ago to knock off the youngsters from the Drunken Fools, and we needed them to bring down the undefeated duo of Markowitz and Faith to pull out the match. Unfortunately, Markowitz and Faith’s record is far from a mirage – they are a very tough doubles team, and they used the momentum from the first set tiebreak win to jump out to a 4-1 second set lead before holding on for the 6-4 second set win. This was Holger’s first setback of the season – he’s having an amazing year.

3rd Doubles – Werkiser (2-1 doubles)/Van Alstine (0-3 doubles) v. Chamberlin (11-3 doubles)/Rubenstein (8-2 doubles), 2-6, 6-2, 4-6. It’s not often that you’re going to see two players who are eligible for Super Seniors play hang with one of the toughest doubles teams in the district. Russell and Ron play together in multiple districts, and they win a lot more than they lose. Rich Trach and I managed to hold them off in Week 5, but they are an awfully tough out. And here we were, on serve in the third set with Kenny and Guy having a chance to absolutely steal this court and with it, the match. Alas, it was not to be. Ron and Russell made a few too many shots down the stretch, and our boys couldn’t quite pull it out. A truly valiant effort though, and Kenny and Guy deserve huge props for an outstanding try.

So it all comes down to this. Russell is probably doing his best to stack the West Chester Aces’ roster as you read this. Brett’s court was the only one that was underway when this match was suspended, and he can’t play on Wednesday, so we may not even have resolution by Wednesday night. But, we can take care of that by winning all of the courts that we can get in after work on Wednesday, and make Brett’s court irrelevant.

I don’t think anyone wants to toast Mike Schmidt’s departure without the Division title in hand. So let’s take care of business on Wednesday and move on to Districts!

Cardiac Kids

(one week late!)

KINETIX SPORTS CLUB – Saturday June 20th – Great Valley needed to keep winning to keep their lead over Easy Killer at two games coming into their Week 9 matchup with Kinetix. Kinetix had dropped two out of their last three, with the lone win being a 4-1 romp over Healthplex. They did take 2 courts from Easy Killer in Week 6, and knocked off the West Chester Aces in Week 5, so they could not be overlooked. Let’s get to the match review.
Right off the bat, GV benefitted from a big break, as one of the courts was a forfeit win due to a late cancellation by a Kinetix player. All GV needed to do was pick up a split of the remaining 4 courts.

1st Singles – Michael Schmidt (3-1 singles, 1-0 doubles) d. Kali Woodward (0-1 singles), 6-2, 5-7, 6-1. This lively match took place on the far court at Kinetix, court #4. Watching Kali warm up, to say that he looked “casual” out there would be an understatement. And watching the match was no different…Woodward just kind of loped around the court, and then unleashed crackling groundstrokes into the corners of the court like they were nobody’s business. Mike Schmidt was clearly rattled in the early going, but regained his composure and outlasted the former teaching pro. Those of us in the peanut gallery were VERY concerned about this match, as it could’ve been the deciding tilt. No worries, though!

2nd Singles – Greg Heck (2-0 singles, 5-0 doubles) d. Jim Vesci Jr. (0-2 singles, 1-3 doubles), 6-1, 6-1. I had played Jim in doubles a few weeks back, and knew what he brought to the table – solid serves, erratic but powerful groundstrokes, decent net game. And, of course, a striking resemblance to Vince Vaughn with his hat on. During warm-ups, he was hitting the ball very well. Once the match started and he missed a few gimmes set up by his big serve, his strokes deserted him. He got very tentative and that led to a quick match. Jim told me during one of the changeovers that he is completely revamping his game through lessons – I give him a lot of credit. I can’t imagine rebuilding things at this point in my tennis career. But on this week, it didn’t help him much.

1st Doubles – Trach (8-0 doubles)/Mackenthun (6-0 doubles) d. Jamieson (3-4 doubles)/Flippen (2-3 doubles), 4-6, 6-3, 6-4. Larry “Foot Fault” Jamieson and Tom Flippen gave our doubles specialists Trach and Mackenthun all they could handle on Court 1, but in the end our guys fought them off and managed to secure the victory. We watched Jamieson bombing serves from the peanut gallery, and let me tell you – serving is MUCH easier when you’re 6 foot plus and stepping 5 feet into the court before unleashing those rockets. If he ever makes it to Sectionals, I sure hope he doesn’t run into any 75-year old female referees with nothing better to do than spot foot faults from three courts away. But I digress…

2nd Doubles – Mead (3-1 doubles)/Dare (1-4 doubles) v. Keefrider (1-0 singles, 1-3 doubles)/Pillutla (3-3 doubles), 3-6, 3-6. Tom and Jimmy never really got in synch in this match on Court 2. Tom and Holger knocked off the same opponents in Week 4, but Keefrider and Pillutla had command of this one from the get-go. Jim Dare’s had a tough year – in watching this match, he would make several solid shots in a row, be in the right position, and then dump one into the net once our guys got the advantage. Seems like he’s just a small adjustment away from winning some big matches.

And that’s it. 3rd Doubles was a forfeit. We go into the big match against Easy Killer with a chance to put them away and not have to worry about a make-up match with the West Chester Aces. If we can’t close them out? Well, we still control our own destiny. But things get a little dicier…

Cruisin'

Wanted to post something about last week's match...even though I wasn't there, and we played league doormat Healthplex. First, I have a question that perhaps someone who was there could answer - if you are only going to have 6 guys show up AT A HOME MATCH, why would you default both singles matches and only play doubles? Wouldn't you default one doubles match and give yourselves a chance? Were none of their players fit to play singles? Ah well...

Anyway, GV prevailed this week 4-1 - both singles matches won by default, we went 2-1 in doubles. Rich Trach and Dave Umbach re-acquainted themselves on the tennis court with a straight set victory, while Jimmy Dare and Joe Virgulti made great smiles happen (TM) with a double bagel win. Jim Shinehouse (is it just me, or do we have a ton of guys named "Jim" on our team?) and Jack (not Jim) Legoretta fell in straight sets at first doubles.

And there you have it. That's all I know. I don't even know if it was sauna-like in the Healthplex. I don't know if Dave U. wore the warpaint indoors. I feel so out of the loop.

Our magic number for districts is 2, as apparently Easy Killer needed a 3rd set tiebreak win to pull out a 3-2 result over the West Chester Aces. We face Kinetix this weekend, needing a win to get one step closer to putting this thing away. So, let's take care of that, okay?

Nerves of Steel

Apparently there was a video game called "Nerves of Steel" once. Who knew?

Dateline – Saturday June 6th, 10:30 AM. Rich Trach and I had just completed our demolition of our opponents at #2 doubles (okay, demolition is a little strong. Sound defeat, perhaps?). Guy Van Alstine and Dennis McKernan had fallen at #1 doubles to a strong team. On the two remaining West Chester East courts, GV was down one set to none at #2 singles and #3 doubles. And God only knows what was going on across town where Brett Siegfried was battling Jakub Avramov at #1 singles. As I left the courts with my wife and son to meet a friend for lunch, I couldn’t help thinking that we were in danger of letting Easy Killer back into this season if things didn’t turn around…

What a silly concern! With a teamful of USTA League Tennis veterans like the Great Valley squad boasts this year, nothing is ever over until we say it is! Was it over when the Germans bombed Pearl Harbor? Dave U. put his infamous slow motion tennis/jedi mind tricks into action and rebounded to win his 2nd singles match in 3 sets, and Tom Mead grabbed Capt. Kenny by the scruff of the neck and willed 3rd doubles to a 3 set victory as well. Along with Brett Siegfried’s straight set victory and Rich and my win at 2nd doubles, GV put up another 4-1 win and maintained our 2 match lead over Easy Killer.

I didn’t watch enough of the other matches to add a whole lot more of my pithy commentary. I do want to thank my 16-month old son Aaron for trying to replicate the feel of a home Davis Cup match at the West Chester courts. Whenever our opponents would toe the line to serve on my son’s side of the court, he would start banging his hand on the metal risers as a distraction. Well played, boy!

#1 Singles – Brett Siegfried (7-0 singles) d. Jakub Avramov (0-2 singles), 6-3, 7-5
#2 Singles – Dave Umbach (2-0 singles) d. Michael Weidinger (2-2 singles, 3-0 doubles), 3-6, 6-4, 6-1
#1 Doubles – Van Alstine (0-2 doubles)/McKernan (0-1 doubles) v. Ortega (2-0 doubles)/Hebenton (4-1 doubles), 2-6, 4-6
#2 Doubles – Heck (1-0 singles, 5-0 doubles)/Trach (5-0 doubles) d. Stevens (1-1 doubles)/Dharmaraj (1-1 doubles), 6-4, 6-3
#3 Doubles – Mead (3-0 doubles)/Werkiser (2-0 doubles) d. Francis (2-2 doubles)/Patitucci (1-3 doubles), 3-6, 6-3, 6-4

Notable: Brett just keeps on rolling. 1 lost set in 7 matches this season. Wow. Tom Mead continues his undefeated run in his rookie season with GV, this time carrying Kenny to a 3-set victory. Rich Trach and I played better this week, though my service problems continue. We kept points much shorter and poached effectively. Apparently our opponent Karthekeyan Dharmaraj is a 3.5 – he was a pretty solid player with a strong serve. He has to be a tremendous asset to his 3.5 team.

That’s about it for this week. GV faces Healthplex at the Healthplex sauna this week. I’ll be in the Poconos, 3 beers in by the time you guys take the courts. If conditions are similar to last year, drink lots of fluids. I think I lost about 10 pounds of water weight that day. Didn’t help that I choked away the 2nd set tiebreak and had to play 3…