CONGRATULATIONS....

Congratulations to our pro Todd Ashdown on an outstanding season as head coach of the St. Edward Eagle's tennis team. Under the guidance of Todd, the Eagles finished the season 14-6, placed 4th in the St. Ed's Invitational, 1st place in the Medina Doubles Tournament, and sent an unprecedented 3 players to the state tournament in Columbus. One of the additional highlights of the season was hearing Todd say, "It's raining! The drought is over", as at last, after 19 years, the Eagles defeated St. Ignatius 4-1. Thanks Todd for a great season! With 5 of the 7 starters returning next year the '07 season promises to be an exciting one for Todd and the Eagles. IMPERIUM INCIPIT!!!

Good guys 4, Mayfield Village 1

Dick Lancaster's 3.5 guys stunned the East Siders by a count of 4 courts to 1. Mayfield came in with high hopes and a 2-0 record before running into the "A" Team. Ron Wacker and tall Todd Renzelmen won their usual matchup with Blake and Day in a breaker 2-6, 7-5, 1-0 at one dubs. Joe Pare and Wally Mueller had their hands full but pulled off second doubles in another breaker. El Capitan and Chuck Buschert won third in straight sets. The first set was a battle at 6-3 , but the guys wore down the opposition and cruised 6-0 in the second set. Grey Kennedy was a solid 3-3 winner at first singles, while Lars Eriksson went down 4 and 2 at second. You need to win tiebreaks to win in USTA and our guys prove they can do it over and over. Attaboy guys!!! Next up is Raquet Club East on June 7. Let's keep rolling!!!

Hot Night at River Oaks

The back courts were as warm as a sauna but some of the players were as cold as cubes as play began between the River Oaks Plymak team and the Wong Five Seasons team. Mauer and Gao had the most solid match at 2nd dubs and scored straight sets against Oaks' Kerswell and a lightning fast Fashina. Farnham and Stewart had a slow start but recovered to win in a match breaker against Barrett and Mckendry at 3rd dubs. Age and experience prevailed at 1st dubs as Wong and D'Avino pulled out a 3rd set tie breaker against Ata and Ott, giving Five Seasons the big W. Both singles match's were to River Oaks. Jeff Roberts fell asleep as he waited for the Plymak puff balls to return to him. Alfes gave Tollis too many "lesson" balls and so paid the price.

Clark's Super Senior Report

The River Oaks Super Senior "Old Farts" pulled off a Great Win against Western Reserve last night! Hank and Joe Arcisz were "thrown to the wolves" at 1st Duds, and while playing well, lost to Marty and Jack, 6-3, 6-3. Joe Pare and Dick rose from the dead, and (in spite of a lot of service return lobs) prevailed at no. 2 dubs, 3-6, 6-4, 1-0 (10-6). Lars and Frank overpowered at No. 3 Dubs, 7-5, 6-2, after being down in the first set, 5-2. Are you trying to give your Captain a heart attack?

Next week we face a strong Mayfield Village team at River Oaks at 7:30. Our new guys, Art and Dave will provide some new life to our really tired old guys!

Let's keep it going as we advance to "Indy or Bust".

John Clark (Captain of Old Farts)

MINOR SETBACK...

This week's spotlight is shining on Terri and Nancy...GIRLS YOU ARE AWESOME!!!The "IT" Girls of Summer suffered a minor setback Wednesday night, taking only 1 court in our match vs. the 2005 state champions from North Ridge 2. Nancy and Terri won on 2nd doubles, with Laura and Patti, and Richelle and Laurie on the "wrong side" of 3rd set tiebreaks. Diane and Gunilla fought to the bitter end, but came up just short on singles. We appreciate the support we receive at our matches from fellow teammates, families, and friends. Thanks to you all!!! Thanks Julie for the snacks...they were simply delightful! Though we didn't post the W, (avoid the L word at all costs!), we gained some self proclaimed "groupies". We imbibed our favorite beverages, not drowning our sorrows (well, maybe just a little!), but plotting our revenge...oh tennis turrets!...I meant planning our next match...WE'LL BE BACK!!! Week 3 Motto: "Winning is better than F****** losing!!!" (from team profile archives...who have we heard this from? HINT: not the author of this post, she would NEVER, EVER drop the F-bomb). Next up: "Away" vs River Oaks 2...Road Trip? Cooler? The Scoop: Clark and Wong proclaim themselves "groupies" The Fact: They just want their pictures on blog with The "IT" Girls of Summer The Scoop: Diane spotted wearing ancient, medieval stone known to fend off evil (note: evil on right...a.k.a. Fred and Mike) The Fact: Pricey "IN STYLE" necklace...The "IT" Girls of Summer love to accessorize!

Fat and Sassy

Wow, the food, the beer, and they were gracious in defeat. Thank you Jim Seifer and your Five Seasons team for a nice spread tonight. Lancaster'’s River Oaks 3.5 team walked out with full bellies and a 4 -1 win. Chuck Buschert was steady-eddy on 1^st singles. Grey Kennedy was off 2^nd singles in a hurry to see his cheering fans, Stephanie, twins Tommy and Billy, and daughter Madison. (Where did they get that red hair??). Mack Thomas and Ronnie Wacker frustrated the FS 2^nd dubs team with power and finesse. Joe Pare had to work all day at his daughter's house and relied on Steve Poe for a ride. Unfortunately Steve was riding a unicycle and Joe had no where to sit, 1^st dubs went kaput. Captain Lancaster, in his wisdom, paired up with Mucklo and they played a couple of young studs on court 3 who took it easy on the old guys and let them feel good with a win.

2 1/2 Seasons Last Night

One of the bright spots of last night at Five Seasons was that Stephanie Simmons won her 2.5 singles match. The 4.0 men came on at 9pm and other than Johnny “the brush” Alfes and Jeff “bones” Roberts winning at 1st dubs against baby-faced ringers recruited by the North Olmsted team ….there was only beer and no cheer in Wong country. The other matches need no recap except that John Hew vows to get even next time at 1st singles. Maurer and Gao had a private cheering section with lots of shouted advice but it never went beyond the glass. Guru’s suggestion to Tim Urwin…more lefty spin! As for Wong and D’Avino, I thought you had that guy when he threw his racquet under the back curtain.