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
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
