Ahoy! PCA topples the Pirates

Our team faced off against last year’s regular season winners – the Tennis Addition Pirates on Saturday night, February 20^th at TA.  We won all 3 courts and improved our record to 7-0 with 3 matches remaining.  We play TST 3/6, Kinetix 3/19 and UMLY 3/27. 

Scorecard for Match # 1001440667 in 2010 USTA League Tennis – Mixed Doubles PATDStatus: Reported by Pork Chops and Applesauce

		Team ID: *****	Vs.	Team ID: *****
Date Scheduled :	2/20/2010	Date Match Played :	2/20/2010	Entry Date:	2/21/2010
		Home Team		Visiting Team	Best 2 of 3 Sets
#1 Doubles	Pork Chops and Applesauce is the winner.	Eileen M. McKeogh Canh H. Ho Completed	Vs.	Marjorie B. Wentz Dan S. Remillard	6-3 6-4
#2 Doubles	Pork Chops and Applesauce is the winner.	Diana Deaver Russell Chamberlin Completed	Vs.	Megan Faunce Mark S. Smith	4-6 6-1 6-1
#3 Doubles	Pork Chops and Applesauce is the winner.	Cheryl Sciscione Joseph Ferry Completed	Vs.	Valerie Mead Brian D. Zansitis	3-6 7-6 6-3

At first doubles, Eileen McKeogh did an admirable job of stepping in with Canh Ho to win in straight sets against Marjorie Wentz and Dan Remillard.  I keep hearing that Dan is playing great tennis, how he regularly hits winners with his forehand, his fine 1^st & 2^nd serve, and his ability to poach at the net.  I’ve also played Marjorie a few times and she’s certainly a top of level player.  This was a good win for us and I expect Eileen & Canh could win against anybody at 8.0.

At second doubles, Diana Deaver and I faced Megan Faunce and Mark Smith.  We got off to a slow start and we were down 1-4 to start the match.  We came back and leveled the set at 4-4 but we still managed to drop the first set.  I realized days later that this means I must have been broken at the end of the set – how conveniently I purge such revolting memories from my head!  The good news is

that Diana and I were not discouraged.  We were able to keep our focus and play consistent tennis.  The game score in the 2^nd & 3^rd sets is a little deceiving.  Most games were relatively close and hats off certainly goes to Diana for playing outstanding tennis – well done D! We played well together. 

At third doubles, or in our flight as it’s known, “the new first doubles” featured the individual matchup of the season – yes, I mean that.  The Pirates dropped a bomb by placing Val Mead & Brian Zansitis there.  Val & Brian have played together for two years now and are in my opinion the toughest individual team we’ll face all year.  They were undefeated in 4 matches this season and they lost only 1 regular season match last year.  Fortunately, our players, Cheri & Joe were up to the task.  They have practiced once, played one match (last week) and then they played this match.  I thought they would do well because Joe is, hmmm, well, ahh  – what’s the word, hmm, Joe’s good, that’s the ticket – Joe is good.  Cheri played 4 matches at Districts last year at the ultra-competitive 3.5 level and did extremely well.  So, it makes sense that this team would do well and how could I be wrong (says the divorced man)?  We didn’t quite get on track in the first set – the 2^nd set was a war and a break of Brian’s serve mid-way through the 3^rd set essentially sealed the deal for us.  GGGGreat win guys.  Well done Cheri!

The good news is that our team has depth which will pay dividends should we be fortunate enough to advance in the post season.   In a nutshell, last Saturday night was a fun as it gets for us in USTA tennis.  We were able to come out on top against a contending team and the play was fun because every Pirate competitor was such a pleasure to compete against.  On our court, Megan and Mark were funny, making jokes and trying hard to win.  On court 3, Brian has such a laid back style that it’s hard to tell he’s playing an actual match and I’m sure he and Val have strong confidence playing together because they have done so well.  On court 1, I saw some great points and as I have personally played Margie and Dan I know they are both class acts as well.

So it’s on to TST – our nemesis 3/6.  I can assure everyone that this match is an important one because they always seem to stick it to us including a defeat they handed us last year in the most unlikely of circumstances.  We will do our best to improve on last year’s performance.  Thank you to those of you who came to cheer for us – it always means so much to have supporters in attendance.