SUMMER SEMI SLUGFEST

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.

Gazing into my crystal ball, the final should be a bruising encounter. The teams played each other in round 6 and “Serves You Right” won 18-16. That day, both teams picked up the same amount of bonus points, and of the 8 matches completed, both teams won 4. Seven on those matches were 2-1. My crystal ball just went hazy. It failed to tell me who is going to win.