Summer League
semi-finals~~
Serves You Right v
Point of No Return
It was close – just like it was in round 2 when these teams
squared off. Back then, “Serves You
Right” edged out the win by 2 points only, and this time the winning team
got through by only five.
For the first time all season, “Serves You Right” were beaten on bonus points. “Point of No Return” collected 9 of
them, one more than their opponents. “Serves You Right” also had a sub
stepping in for one of their most reliable players. Colin Bayer hadn’t lost a match all season either, but
unfortunately could not play this week. With these two setbacks, could “Point of No Return” take advantage?
The evening started out well for “Serves You Right”. Jeff
Gembis is getting more solid as the summer weeks progress and was too much
for the scampering Dane Fossee with
a 3-0 win. It was the first time these two had played against each other, I’m
sure Dane will be gunning to play him again soon. “Serves You Right” continued on strongly as Josh Slominski took revenge on the round 2 result where he fell to Brian Bartes 2-1. A scrambling affair,
Josh proved to be a little steadier this time around and pulled out a valuable
3-0 victory.
The news wasn’t all bad for “Point of No Return”. Tom
Bejin scored 3 important points for them after taking Chato Hill for a tour de court; Josh Gershonowicz better hope he doesn’t have to stand in front of Judge Murphy anytime soon as he walked
away with the 2-1 triumph; and Andrew
Walawender stepped up from the previous week where he lost to Jim Smietana 2-1 and reversed the
result this time around. (Jim was subbing for the absent Colin Bayer.)
However, as soon as “Point
of No Return” would crawl back within a couple of points, “Serves You Right” would surge ahead
again. Shail Arora came off the
court bent over and heaving in gallons of oxygen, looking like he had just been
slapped around by John Mann. But
contrary to how it appeared, Shail had taken all 3 games. I guess amid the
agony of exhaustion, I missed Shail’s sigh of relief! Paul Fershee then outplayed Peter
Fromm to snatch all 3 games from him as well.
When I received news
of Ted Morris’s 2-1 victory for “Point of no Return” over Mike Rock (and according to Ted, I
missed the ‘match-of-the-century’!) with one match left to play, “Serves You Right” were too far ahead to
be caught. They had managed to overcome their obstacles and earn their way to
the final next week. The last match was still completed – Jerry Rock lobbed and dropped his way to a 2-1 win over Alan Howard to only leave “Point of no Return” 5 points behind.
Final score: 26-21.
Lob-Otomies v
Technically Delinquent
This contest was even closer. This literally came down to
the final match. Winner takes all. We’ll look at how we reached that point in
the first place…
“Technically
Delinquent” won against this team in round 5 but not all the matches were
played. Bonus points would not be a factor here since both teams picked up 8 of
them. The result would be decided on court. Sante Fratarcangeli gave them a good start with a hard fought,
tight 2-1 win over Paul Huth and Bob Rogers complimented that with a
solid 3-0 win of his own over Tom Fabbri.
Bob’s match looked a little like Shail’s because when the two players walked
off the court, Bob appeared the worse for wear. But I suppose that is how Bob
always looks after playing squash!
Jay Bonahoom was
the next to pick up a win for “Technically
Delinquent” as he sent Jeff Jardine
packing 3-0. Following suit, John
Perkins dominated his opponent and put another 3 points on the board for
his team. But the wins were starting to come in for the “Lob-Otomies” as well. Mike
McCuish got the ball rolling with a 3-0 victory over Bert Donovan and not far behind him was Andy Petcoff also ripping off 3 consecutive games against Brian Schrage. Chris Tipton inched them even closer with a tough 2-1 win over Jim Miller, and after Kevin Prather’s 3-0 win, the two teams
were tied 20 points apiece.
With one match reaming, all the pressure landed squarely on
the two remaining players. “Technically
Delinquent” was relying on Tom Healy
and “Lob-Otomies” had their hopes
lying all over Paul Flanagan.
According to the match records, these two have only played each other in league
or ladder 4 times. Paul has won 3 of those matches, including the last 2
meetings which were a 2-1 result. On paper, Paul would be slight favorite - but
it really could go either way. I’m not sure either Tom or Paul were aware how
much their result meant. I was not witness to the contest – they had organized
the show down at a time that I crawl myself out from under the bed sheets
cursing at my alarm clock.
No doubt, this epic battle eclipsed the Morris v Rock ‘match
of the century’. The result was forwarded to me quietly and humbly. Healy -2 ;
Flanagan – 1. With that win, “Technically
Delinquent” gets through by the narrowest of margins, 22-21.
