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USTA weekly update 6/7
Action really heated up in league play this past week. A lot of matches were played in spite of the rain and some league races are beginning to take shape.
Cindy Moore displaying fine clay court form in her match vs Teri Ruhl. The Gregory team has raced to a 3-0 record in the women's 3.0 division, but has yet to play the McNamara team, which also is undefeated at 2-0. The Kelly team is still dominating in the women's 3-5 division while the Hoesel team has pulled off back-to-back 3-2 wins to take 1st place in the Women's 4.0.
On the men's side, Gary Crowley's 3.0 team is 2-0 against the O'Connor team, a team they know well. These two teams are the only 3.0 teams in our league the past three years. The Men's 3.5 and 4.0 leagues are just getting underway.
There were two highlight matches of the week, both occuring Thursday evening. The 4.0 Women's Hoesel team narrowly defeated arch rival Ithaca 3-2. Four of the five matches went to a 3rd set tiebreaker.
In the Men's 3.5 league, Orville Wright's 3.5 team defeated a familiar foe, Dick Hoesel's team 4-1, winning all four of their matches in a 3rd set tiebreak to clinch the match. That is what I call living on the edge. Mike Faulkner defeated captain Dick Hoesel 10-8 in one tiebreak, and the new kids on the block, Joe Mirabito & Chris Simpson, won their tiebreak 12-10 at #1 doubles, defeating the veterans Andy Awylard & Ed Farrell. Joe & Chris are former basketball standouts who have just recently taken to the tennis courts. Perhaps we should be conducting team recruiting on the basketball courts! According to Gerad West, team member of the Wright team, these two teams have developed a "friendly rivalry". "The Hoesel team had won the league three years in a row before our team won it last year. I think youth may have played a factor in the super tiebreaks as we wore them down". It's interesting to note that Orville Wright was a team member of the Hoesel team until two years ago, when he formed his team, comprised mostly of Owego residents. These two teams will play two more times this season. I think I will be watching the next match!
Yesterday we hosted the Western Regional Mixed Doubles at the 6.0, 7.0 & 8.0 levels. It was a great day of tennis with teams from Buffalo, Syracuse and Rochester competing, as well as Colleen Hanzes local 6.0 team.
To view all league results, go to National USTA. A reminder that our 24th Annual BTC Clay Court will take place this weekend. Entries are still open until Tuesday. I hope to continue to gain player quotes for the weekly update. If you have any news or matches of interest to report, feel free to e-mail me at mstarke@tennisctr.com.
Posted by mstarke at June 7, 2004 05:44 AM