FROM 8TH TO 2ND

Summer League round 2~~

Lob-Otomies. None of us want one and we all probably know someone we think needs one, but many of you may wish that you were one! From dead last position after the first round, the “Lob-Otomies” jumped up to second spot on the standings picking up a league best 22 points over the week. And where there is success with one team, another team needs to suffer. In an act of trading places, “Art of Incompetence” collected only 4 points and from equal second 7 days ago and now sit at the bottom of the pile.

The complete mix-up of the standings is no surprise. Looking over all the results from round 1 (including make-up matches this week), only 5 points separated first from last. So a couple of wins from the last place team would catapult them up the standings. However, sitting idle for a week will undo all that work. And let’s not forget about bonus points. Just about every season the rule holds true: the teams with the most bonus points make the play-offs. Guess what? Even after just 2 rounds, the standings would almost be identical if it was ranked on bonus points alone. (Only “Technically Delinquent” and “Coordination Zero” would swap places.)

It wasn’t a stellar night in terms of participation, but we did have a few close results. I’ll mention Steve Boloven (“Point of No Return”) here, even though he lost 3-0 to Tom Pierce (“Serves You Right”). The first two games were 15-14 and 15-13, and the effort almost managed to kill poor Steve from hustling so much. At one point after he sprinted into the front forehand corner and hit the ball deep – almost directly over his head. From there, he was done running. Recovery to the ‘T’ was no more an option. It was either going to be a winner, or if Tom were to reach it and connect, it was going to drill Steve square between the eyes. Tom did the best he could – he raced to the ball and took one almighty swing… only to whiff. Like a real trooper, Steve did not flinch as he awaited his fate. I, on the other hand, flinched, cringed, covered my eyes, winced, and had a heart palpitation.

While that drama was unfolding, on the next court Cathy Lysack (“Nick-Knacks”) was taking some revenge from her cub championship loss to James Van Dyke (“Art of Incompetence”). With some powerful forehand kills and volleys, Cathy took the 2-1 victory. Both she and James have played 4 times together – each match has gone the distance, and this was actually Cathy’s first win in this ‘rivalry’.

The league now has a 2 week break. I don’t like to break momentum, but we hardly can expect anyone to be here on Memorial Day next Monday – not even I will be doing that! – and the week after is the 3B’s golf outing which many of you participate in. The good news is that everybody has plenty of time to make up your missed matches from weeks 1 and 2 and even get week 3 in early. And, if you are really clever, play future rounds early too – especially if you have vacation coming up!