Happy New Year everyone! This is my first post of 2011. I hope everyone went out of 2010 with a bang, and played lots of tennis! If you didn't, then it's a new year and you have plenty of time to make the most of it.
Since my last post, I've played in four 10.0 mixed matches now. It's the beginning of my 2011 campaign as a 5.0 player. It's a little different now that I need to make sure I bring my A game every time, versus at the 4.5 level, I could get by without having to play my best. So far, I'm 3 and 1 for the 10.0 season. My 10.0 team currently is sitting in 2nd place behind Harbor Square
10.0 standings. However, I think we got a strong squad and should bounce back in the 2nd half of the season with a win against Harbor Square and re-claim the top spot in the league. It's going to be tough though because they have a pretty tough squad in Francesca LaO and Jeff Servoss. If those two are playing, they probably shouldn't lose against anyone in the league. However, here's the reason why I think my squad (if you haven't figured out which team I'm on, it's the Bellevue Club under Maureen Strieb) has a shot:
- We've added some new players to the squad that will definitely make a strong impact down the stretch in Felice Lam and John Hieb. These two are very strong additions and will give the team much more depth on a variety of lineups.
- Andrea Olson and Todd Conley are 3 and 0 against some pretty tough squads See Records
- Maureen Strieb and I are 3 and 0, and have pulled out two tough Super Tie Breakers in a row See Records
- Our team is 6 and 1 in Super Tie Breaker matches. Teams that win Super Tie Breakers are a good indicator of performing under pressure.
- We escaped out of our encounter with the Amy Yee squad under Baraka Brown with 5 individual wins and 1 loss. I think this squad is quite dangerous and can give Harbor Square a scare. They have two 5.5 guys with Kyle Schraeder and Brian Ford that can hit cannons at you. Baraka Brown and Ariel Ohno are really tough; Andrea and Todd had to come back from 4 match points down to win. Jamie and Kate Dieveney are solid all around (did you know Jamie is part of an acapella group The Coats?). And they've added two new players that we were able to avoid in Kelle Schalin and Lawrence Chan. This gives them more options with their two strong 5.5 guys as Kelle is a 4.5 player. See Team Roster
It will be a fun stretch of tennis over this coming month. Our season will conclude by the end of January, so we'll know whether I'm Confucius or just full of crap. Hopefully not the latter :) If not, the PNW usually gets to send both the first place finisher and the runner up to Sunriver, OR for sectionals because of the wild card entry.
Also, more to come on the upcoming Men's 5.0 season. It looks like most of the rosters at this point have been established.
