Mixed Doubles Finals

Hello tennis fans!

Today Sunday 9/30/07 at 8:00am, the mix doubles tennis championship was played and here is the result. The champion team ...is...not...#1 seeded players Nancy Whitney/George Sablan. The champion team... is... #3 seeded Naomi Subala/Orlando Devera and you all better get use to their names because you are now going to be seeing them a lot at the top. In the entire tournament, they bulldozed everybody on the other side of the net and lost not even one set. Was it a fluke that they made it to the semi-finals? Maybe. Was it a fluke that they beat the #2 seeded players Tommie Matsushino/Leo Taylor? Maybe. Was it a fluke that they beat the #1 seeded players Nancy/George? Throw out the window the words FLUKE and MAYBE because there was no longer any doubt that they are real champions. They are INDUBITABLY real champions. The only time there was a semblance that the match was going to be interesting was on the first set when the score was one game apiece. Nancy and George started out focused on their objectives, many things going their way, but as the match progressed, Naomi and Orlando started to foil those objectives. On the second set, Nancy /George changed strategies, but soon found out they could not match the stamina and resilience from Naomi/Orlando. Nancy/George dug deep to find in their repertoire of shots, something they could use to turn things around but nothing worked because everything was clicking in Naomi and Orlando's way. Naomi played brilliantly at the baseline returning everything poured to her and Orlando played brilliantly at the net, even when George hit power shots from anywhere on the court. 

 After the match, Chuck asked, "George, when you write up the results of this game, are you going to be using the word PULVERIZED to describe the defeat?" I told Chuck that his choice of this word is quite descriptive because Naomi and Orlando actually destroyed us, i.e., PULVERIZED us. Now that I am out of a trance and had more time to think of what happened, I felt as if Naomi and Orlando not only pulverized us but HUMBLED US TO SUBMISSION. Naomi and Orlando made history today by winning the first mix doubles qualifying level tournament championship at Trilogy in Rio Vista. Soon they will join women doubles champion Judy Griffith and Marcia Penning to go to Vistancia, Peoria, Arizona to represent us at the 1st Annual All Trilogy Tennis Tournament . I want to thank all the participants for many exciting matches and for displaying good sportsmanship during the two weeks of the two tournaments. I also want to thank all the numerous tennis fans who came out to watch the matches. I personally enjoyed the ambience of excitement--- even though Nancy and I got PULVERIZED---and I hope you all did too. My only regret is that now that the tournaments are over, I am no longer a sportswriter. By the way, if you guys enjoyed the lay out of the pictures with the play by play description, I need to extend billions of thanks to Dave Hinders, Chuck Williams, Joe Downes, and Cora Velasco. These are the people who contributed a lot to make things exciting. If I left anyone out, I apologize. George Sablan

Director Player Development

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As participants, spectators, scorekeeper and webmaster we would like to second George's comments regarding the level of play and the sportsmanship displayed by all. On behalf of all of George's pupils, we would like to express our thanks to the Coach for his instruction and dedication to the game.

Chuck & Dave

Semi-Finals Saturday

Hello tennis enthusiasts!!! The two tennis semi-finals matches were played today and here are the results. Many tennis enthusiasts, in fact this was the biggest crowd during the last two weeks , came to watch good tennis!!! The first match was between #1 seeded players Nancy Whitney/George Sablan and Kathie Zirretta/Dave Hinders. Nancy/George lived up to their #1 billing by ending Kathie/Dave's winning streak and now moved on to play the championship event Sunday 9/30/07 8:00am. As expected, Kathie Zirretta hit endless power baseline shots to Nancy Whitney but Nancy played near flawless defense and many times converted defensive to offensive shots. The last time Nancy displayed shots this good was two years ago when she played mix-doubles with George and won the number one position at Brentwood against Brentwood's very strong mix-doubles team. Dave Hinders, as usual, tried to take every opportunity to score from short range. He did score but not enough to overcome the strength of the #1 seeded players. He had excellent serves with good speed but Nancy who likes receiving power serves returned nearly every one. George's strategies were to use tempo, not power, to lob, to hit down the middle, or to angle the shots each time he was close enough to the net. The strategies worked. The second match was between #2 seeded players Tommie Matsushino/Leo Taylor and #3 seeded players Naomi Subala/Orlando Devera. The #3 seeded players upset the #2 seeded players and will now play the championship event Sunday 9/30/07 8:00am. Both teams started slow because of jitters possibly due to having a big crowd watch them play. Slowly but surely, Orlando started to overcome the jitters and started to attack the net winning almost every point. While Naomi kept the ball in play, Orlando found many ways to put it away. Naomi was a happy camper at the baseline. She was very steady and mixed regular ground strokes with lobs that frustrated the opponents. The opponents tried so many things to get her out of her comfort zone but all to no avail. Everyone knows that Leo Taylor is one of the top players and everyone knows that he can start slow and like a light switch, he can turn on his game. Leo can be everywhere on the court because he is a very fast and can score from everywhere. Leo hardly ever loses a match regardless who his partner is. Guess what? The real Leo Taylor did not show up and his game never picked up. At the beginning of the second set, Iris Lucero cheered, "COME ON LEO!!!" And a minute or so later, Iris said, "LEO IS WAY OFF HIS GAME." I wanted to ask Leo what happened, but knowing him as a gentleman and true professional, he will not use any excuse for losing a game. Leo is the type of player who will say that today the better team won. Tommie played good from the baseline, returned lots of balls with good pace but Naomi frustrated Tommie by mixing up the shots, some with regular ground strokes and many with lobs to various parts of the baseline. Mark your calendar. On Sunday 9/30/07 8:00am, the championship match will be played. There is no doubt this match will be exciting!!!! Both Naomi and Nancy can hit to each other all day long from the baseline. Orlando will have to be creative to find ways to score points or find ways to hit balls between George and Nancy which will be difficult because both George and Nancy have good court coverage. On the other hand, George will have to switch from tempo to sheer power to drill holes wherever possible. Orlando and Naomi are capable of upsetting the #1 seeded players just as they found the capability to upset the #2 seeded players. Can they really do it? You all come and watch the match to see if they can do it. This will surely be an exciting championship final. The winner of the mix-doubles championship final will go to Vistancia, Peoria, Arizona for the 1st Anuual All Trilogy Tennis Tournament George Sablan Director Player Development

Women's Doubles Final

On Sunday 9/23/07 8am with many viewers on the tennis sideline, the formidable #1 seeded women's doubles players of Marcia Penning/Judy Griffith were unstoppable as they pulverized the opposing team of Nancy Whitney/Naomi Subala to capture the first annual qualifying level championship at Trilogy in Rio Vista.

Marcia and Judy will soon be on their way to Vistancia, Peoria, Arizona where hopefully will reign as the first champion of The First Annual All Trilogy Tennis Tournament.


Nevermind that Marcia spent months nourishing an injured shoulder, nevermind that she hasn't held a tennis racket in months and nevermind that at the beginning of the match she missed three shots at the net that she normally could place easily when she is not rusty because once she got those things out of her system, it was back to business as usual. To put everybody on notice that she came to play and win, she started with a drop shot where her racket was only about six inches from the net and the ball dropped only about six inches on the other side of the net.Roger Federer, the world's #1 player, would have a tough time duplicating that shot.




Then Marcia started placing the balls that only players who actually believe in the Trilogy slogan NEW BEGINNINGS could retrieve.On the sideline, Kathie Zirretta must have uttered these words four times, "MARCIA IS SHOWING NO MERCY."












Chuck Williams, an underpaid scorekeeper, while watching some great shots, became mesmerized and forgot his scorekeeping job several times but Orlando Devera who had the uncanny ability to watch everything, filled in for Chuck.






Nancy and Naomi did display some spectacular shots. On the forehand side, Nancy caught Marcia dashing to the center of the net to poach and Nancy hit a magnificent solid shot deep and straight down the line for a winner. Then on one point, Marcia placed a ball to the far outer line to the ad side almost out of reach for any human being, but Naomi with the move that only Venus Williams could possibly reach with split legs, did get to the ball and almost produced a winner.









However, Nancy and Naomi just could not keep up with Judy and Marcia and were not able to regain the shots that they displayed during the semi-final event. They know that if they have to face Marcia and Judy again, they can produce the shots they are capable of doing.










While Marcia was taking care of business at the net, Judy was doing what she does best when she has a good net partner and that is running from side to side at the baseline, scrounging and returning balls to the opponents. She was a strategist, setting up shots for Marcia to put away. She was also busy figuring out what to do with the deep high lobs from Noami and Nancy.







The mix doubles tournament match is this week. The first mix doubles match is on Tuesday 9/25/07 8am between Kathy Zirretta/Dave Hinders and Iris Lucero/Chuck Williams. On the same day at 4pm, Naomi Subala/Orlando Devera go against Alice Hill/Joe Downes. Let's all come out and watch these two exciting matches!!!!! I am going to be out of town tomorrow and I am going to be asking Chuck to be my tournament official and the sportswriter.


George Sablan
Director of Player Development

CourtJesters Make Tennis History

On the 21st of September 2007, tennis history was made as four members of the CourtJesters Tennis Club opened competition in the first ever Trilogy at Rio Vista Tennis Tournament. George Sablan, Director of Player Development provides the following description of the event:

Today at 4pm the women's doubles semi-final tennis match was played . Many tennis enthusiasts were entertained as they watched Nancy Whitney and Naomi Subala relentlessly returned everything Kathy Zirretta and partner Tommie Mitsushino pounded back to them. There were many long rallies , many times the ball came across the net ten times before the point was won. Even after the first set was won by Nancy and Naomi, one could sense that Kathy and Tommie could make a comeback on the second set because it appeared as if they changed the game plan which was working. At one point when a tough point was won, Tommie yelled, "Kathy, it's working." However, Nancy and Naomi prevailed also on the second set. When I asked Nancy about the second set, she said, " Kathy and Tommie appeared to be gaining momentum and I thought we were going to lose the second set."

There were many who came to watch the match. For those who missed the semi-final match, don't miss the championship match. The championship match will be played Sunday 9/23/09 8am. Nancy and Naomi will be playing against the number one seeded players Judy Griffith and Marcia Penning. Come and watch exciting tennis!!!! I will be there to watch.

The mix doubles tournament will begin next week and the first match will be played Tuesday 9/25/08 8am. Come and watch Kathy Zirretta and partner Dave Hinders battle it out against Iris Lucero and partner Chuck Williams.

There is a change in schedule. The match scheduled for Wednesday 9/26/08 8am has been changed to Tuesday 9/25/08 4pm. This match will be played by Naomi Subala/Orlando Devera against Alice Hill/Joe Downes. If you plan to watch this match, please take note of the new time and date. This is another must watch match. You know Alice and Joe will keep the ball away from Orlando. Let's all come and watch to see how the points will be won and how Naomi will hold up with so many balls coming her way.

George

Every tournament needs an official scorekeeper.

Joe Downes consistently performs the duty.

Some in attendance were truly surprised!