May 30, 2004
High School Qualifiers results & pics
Standing room only Fri/Sat as spectators intently watch the matches from the bleachers
The Boy's high school state qualifiers provided two days of exciting quality tennis this past Friday & Saturday. Jordan Smith, of BCHS, won the singles title, manhandling David Warren 6-3,6-2, while Sarath Bhagavatula & Kyle Ungvarsky of Horseheads won the doubles in a hard fought 6-4,7-5 over Eric Rose & Chris Goroleski of Chenango Valley. Chris Nosky of Chenango Forks earned the 3rd singles qualifying spot with an impressive 6-2,6-1 victory over Kyle Reiss of Oxford while Jason Swails & Kiran Avarapalli of Vestal defeated Gangavalli & Robson of Delhi 6-2,6-2 to secure the final doubles qualifying spot.
The winner, Jordan Smith In the singles final, Warren put up a gallant effort, trying to counter Smith's big forehand and pace with well placed deep groundstrokes and carefully chosen successful ventures to net. In the end, however, Smith's serve, power and experience proved too much. Smith's serve exhibited dominating, raw power. He was only broken once, that occuring with Smith leading 5-0, 40-30 in the 2nd set. He served numerous aces and unreturnable serves, all of which left Warren shaking his head and mumbling. Warren did his best to get back in the match, but Jordan was just too good.This is Smith's 2nd championship title.
winners Sarath and Kyle, with coach Dan Palmer. Horseheads won the Section 1V team title last week over Vestal.
The doubles finals was hard fought and closer than the score indicates. The Horseheads duo got off to a quick start, leading 5-1, but then Chris & Eric settled down and started to play agressive doubles. The 2nd set was tight. Neither team took a lead until 5-5, when Kyle & Sarath broke serve. They then easily held serve to close out the match. There were numerous volley exchanges and poaching in the 2nd set by both teams. Chris and Eric really picked up their serve returns and hit numerous groundstrokes by and through the Horseheads team. They both became aggressive at net as well. But lack of consistent serving hurt them, causing them to give back hard-earned breaks of serve. The Horseheads team kept their compusure at all times, and proved just too steady and solid. All in all, a high quality doubles match.
Chris & Eric, all smiles as they realize they are still going to the states, or that they have to stand there until they finally do smile!
Also worthy of mention are the 3rd place playoff matches. The Vestal tandem of Swails & Avarapalli dominated their doubles match, producing their best effort of the tournament. Jason the senior captain was the difference, taking over the court. He seemed everywhere at net, and the Delhi team could not guide the ball away from his racquet. Jason missed very few serve returns and his 1st serve percentage was tremendous. He & Kiran compliment each other well. Both played a match they should be proud of.
Jason & Kiran
Chris Nosky also deserves special mention. A home-grown product under the tutelage and watchful eye of his coach Mike Rullo, Chris has risen to become one of the top juniors in the area. Chris came close to pulling off the unthinkable on Friday, stretching Jordan Smith to 3 sets, losing by only one break of serve. Chris had to qualify for the states the hard way, playing four matches. His concentration and improved play are to be applauded. 
Many of these competitors are BTC juniors. Smith is a BTC veteran, almost growing up at the club. Warren has made the trek each Sunday all the way from Oneonta to drill in our Gold group. Swails and Avarapalli are BTC mainstays (both showed dramatic improvement this year) while Goroleski & Rose also fine tune their games here in between all the other sports they play. Congrats to all, and a special thanks to the BTC teaching staff for all the hard work they put into the juniors. Best of luck to all in the states at the National Tennis Center next week.
May 26, 2004
High School State Qualifiers
The Boy's high school State Qualifiers will be held this Friday & Saturday indoors at BTC. Play begins Friday 10am and continues until 3pm. On Saturday, play starts Saturday at 10 am with the singles and doubles finals going on at 12.
The top 3 singles players and top 3 doubles teams advance to the NYHSP State Playoffs June 3-5 at the National Tennis Center in Flushing.
The top seed in singles is Jordan Smith of Binghamton. Jordan is undefeated in league play this year and last years state qualifier runner-up to Jordan Magarik. The top seeded doubles team is Sharath Bhagavatula and Kyle Ungvarsky from Horseheads.
Sat morning update...Jordan Magarik of Binghamton will be playing David Warren of Oneonta in the singles finals at 12pm. In doubles action, Sharath Bhagavatula and Kyle Ungvarsky of Horseheads face Eric Rose & Chris Goroleski for the title.
USTA League update wk 5/24
Adult leagues have now officially started, with most divisions playing this week. On the womens side, we have two 2.5 teams, six 3.0 teams, five 3.5 teams and four 4.0 teams. The men have two 3.0 teams, three 3.5 teams, and two 4.0 teams. The USTA has now made its site very simple (at least simpler) to navigate. Go to National USTA Once there, you find your league standings by plugging in your team name, gender and level under the Search option. For that matter, any of those search options work. Once you pull up your team league, you can click on the "Add to My Teams" icon located near the top right hand portion of the page under "League", just below your "2004 Binghamton". Next time you log on, you will find My Teams on your home page! You can add as many teams/leagues as you want here. This is best way to find standings and match information. I think this page has other neat options, but Dickey Sopchak, our USTA computer guru, has opted to show me one neat feature per week, which fits perfectly with my pace. On Sunday, June 6 from 9am - 2 pm BTC will be hosting the USTA Mixed Doubles Regional Championships. We have one local team, Hanzes 6.0, competing ....Come up and check out the competition from Buffalo and Rochester. Our local team can use all the spectators and support possible. You also get a chance to see just how good the top teams from our region are. Often you see the same players in other adult leagues.
The Kelly team The week's highlight match was the women's 3.5 match, Rauber/Kelly vs Jones/Starke, on Monday night. Two evenly matched teams battled for 2 1/2 hours. 4 of the 5 matches went to 3rd set tiebreaks. LouAnn Rauber/Lisa Kelly won the deciding match over Kris Starke/Barb Jones 13-11 in the tiebreak after saving 3 match points! Lisa & LouAnn win the player of the week award.
Oh yes....all USTA match schedules will be posted on the board as you walk in the club lounge. The board will tell you which match is being played on which courts. This is especially helpful when there are two matches at the same time or we are on a rain schedule.
May 25, 2004
"The Volley" by Collin Crawford
Proper technique as demonstrated by Arianna Stenta
In the midst of all the ongoing USTA matches, I thought it might be appropriate to narrow the focus for the tip of the month to the forehand volley. Forthcoming are two reminders that should help improve the consistency and quality of your forehand volley. Many players tend to swing at the volley. This is a major cause of inconsistency. How many times have we swung at a volley and instantly realized the fact after the ball has landed out, or in some cases has hit the curtain? Two ways players tend to swing at volleys are by snapping their wrists at contact, and by taking the raquet back before contact, as if to hit a ground stroke. Two reminders: lock your wrist back and keep your elbow in front.
Notice how Arianna has her wrist locked back in the photo. Her wrist locks back before and after contact. If the wrist stays locked, she can't force the tip of the raquet forward when she hits the ball. Snapping the wrist or forcing the tip of the raquet forward is considered a swing.
The other area to focus on in the photo is Arianna's elbow. Notice how the elbow is in front of her body. The elbow should always stay in front as the ball approaches. Players tend to bring it back as the ball approaches making it very difficult to hit the ball in front and make a solid volley. Once the elbow goes back it is considered a swing. Keeping it in front as the ball approaches maintains consistency and also gives the volley more pop because it is hit in front of the body, not late.
Just remember, to increase the consistency and quality of your forehand volley--lock your wrist back and keep your elbow in front
May 24, 2004
Upcoming Junior tournament
We are now taking sign-ups for our upcoming Level 1 junior tournament. Age categories include Boy's & Girl's 12, 14, 16 & 18 singles. All local entries will be quaranteed a minimum of 2 matches. Each participant must be a USTA member. This is a great opportunity to get much needed tournament experience. To enter, just..Click Here....If you do not want to use PayPal for your payment, simply mail us a check or call in a credit card #.
May 19, 2004
Junior Ladder Tournamnet
(Pictured L-R Williams 1st place, Kucko 3rd, Leung 2nd, Kashou 4th)
Brittany Williams' win over U-E's Wing Kay Leung in the final earns her the Girls Jr. Ladder title for the third straight year. Both girls battled hard and played some great tennis in the final. Williams is a junior in high school and plays 1st singles for the Chenango Valley Warriors. This year was an atypical start for Williams as she lost a few matches in the early stages of the ladder, but bounced back strong in the second half of the regular season and in the tournament to win it all.
Both matches in the semifinal round were close and also full of great tennis. One semifinal match had Leung up against Danielle Kashou and after a tough 9-7 win, Leung moved on to the final. Kashou, a sinlges player for Seton CC last year as an 8th grader, played well this year, but was disappointed with her 4th place finish......She'll be back.
The other semifinal match produced one of the grittiest performances I've seen in a long time. After badly spraining her ankle just days before the match, Jennifer Kucko went out and gave the 3-time Ladder champ all she could handle. Hobbling in between points Jen went on to battle Williams in a close 9-7 match, but came up short to the eventual champ. Kucko was given the opportunity to withdraw from the semifinal, but refused and went on to play anyway. Not only did she play the semi, but also came right back out after the match and played for 3rd and 4th place. Once again declining the opportunity to forfeit she went on to play and won the match earning her 3rd place!!!!! If the Ladder had a "Warrior of the Year" award Jen Kucko would have won it hands down.
Congratulations to all Ladder players this year. Once again the Ladder was a success that involved good fun, good match experience, and tough competition. Thank you to all parents and players that participated and we look forward to next year.