Pro League at Lexington Country Club This Friday

Note: Click here for updated information regarding match times and standings. 

Upcoming Pro League Site 

Things will be very interesting on February 22^nd at Lexington Country Club when the Fort Myers Ritzman Tennis USPTA Pro League comes a-callin’. A race that seemed all but sewed up at the top, tightened up considerably at Shadow Wood, with teams posting the highest and lowest point totals of the season.

Scott Harrington
BRA captain

Going into the Shadow Wood stop with a 5-point lead, Remax emerged with its first loss of the season and a lead that has shrunk to 1.5 points!

The big (and I mean BIG) winner at Shadow Wood was Scott Harrington’s BRA, which posted the first sweep of the season, claiming 8 points against Mike Curran’s JM. JM barely escaped the “points-bagel,” by notching 1 point on Court 3.

Frank Fourgeau- Remax
Captain

Trailing Frank Fourgeau's Remax by five, and leading Mike Curran's third-place JM by 4.5 coming in, BRA turned up the heat on Remax and opened some distance over, now, third-place Babolat. 

Jeff Diggs- Babolat Captain

Speaking of third-place Babolat, kudos to Jeff Diggs’ squad for pinning the first loss of the season on Remax. The win vaulted Babolat into third, ahead of the slumping JM (4 points in two outings).

Shawn Hedrick- GD Captain

Shawn Hedrick’s Gateway Dental, which had been mired in a season-long battle with UG to see who would avoid the League’s cellar, posted its highest point total of the season (7).  Those seven points tied the previous high which was set by Babolat in Week 1, and vaulted GD into fourth place by a half point ahead of JM. It’s the first time this season that GD has risen above fifth-place.

Here were the team and individual match results from Shadow Wood:

Boston Retirement Advisors (BRA) vs. Johnny Malloys (JM)

BRA's Mike Barnes & Paul D'Amico

The match of note in the BRA-JM matchup was the battle of the top Court 3 teams. In my preview, I suggested that this would be one to watch, and it definitely was. 

JM's Larry Gagnon & Oliver Stenger 

I’m not sure of their exact records, but the teams of Paul D’Amico and Mike Barnes, Larry Gagnon and Oliver Stenger might have had just one loss between them. As expected, they split the first two sets, and battled back and forth throughout the match-tiebreak with D’Amico and Barnes edging Gagnon and Stenger 12-10.

   

Court 1- Scott Harrington/Jared Kalpin (BRA) d. Mike Curran/Elliot Debolt, 6-4, 6-1

Court 2- Jim Katterfield/Joel Hampton (BRA) d. Todd Wise/Kevin Kearns, 7-6 7-5

Court 3- Paul D’Amico/Mike Barnes (BRA) d. Oliver Stenger/Larry Gagnon, 7-5, 2-6, 12-10

Mixed- Bob Green/Kim Jones (BRA) d. John Ramsey/Christie Pollin (sub), 7-6, 6-4

Total Points= BRA 8, JM 1

Remax vs. Babolat

This matchup was the closest of the three, with just ½ a point separating them at the end. In addition, two of the four individual matches were decided by match-tiebreaks.

Babolat's Tyler Owens & Denny Rager

On Court 1, Denny Rager and Tyler Owens, who have yet to lose as a team this season, put on a show with Franco Mata (sub) and Luke Andreae as co-stars. In the end, Rager and Owens slipped past Mata and Andreae 10-8 in the match-tiebreak, earning 2 points for Babolat.

Remax's Dave Dooley & Jorge Magalhaes

Posting 2 points for Remax, Dave Dooley and Jorge Magalhaes won in another close one, slipping past Armor Persons and Toni Halski, 10-7 in their match-tiebreak.   

Court 1- Denny Rager/Tyler Owens (Babolat) d. Luke Andreae/Franco Mata (sub), 6-2, 3-6, 10-8

Court 2- Frank Fourgeau/Corey Knapp (Remax) d. Jeff Diggs/John Jerome, 7-5, 7-5

Court 3- Dave Dooley/Jorge Magalhaes (Remax) d. Halski/Persons          4-6, 6-1, 10-7

Mixed- John Gillette/Erica Cossairt (Babolat) d. Dan Moenning/Christie Bradley, 6-3, 6-2

Total Points= Babolat 5, Remax 4.5

Gateway Dental (GD) vs. University Grill (UG)

GD's Ryan Sherry & Shawn Hedrick

There were two thrillers that finished in match-tiebreaks in this skirmish as well. On Court 1, in a candidate for “Match of the Night,” Sergio Rebolledo and Patrick Kangwa outlasted Ryan Sherry and Shawn Hedrick 10-8 in their match-tiebreak. Sherry and Hedrick came back from 4-6, 3-5, with Sergio serving at 40-0, and fought off 7 match points to take a second set tiebreak, but Sergio and Patrick held on to get the 2 points for UG.

GD's T. A. & Anthony Hatori

On Court 2, Mike Lawver and Tom Fisher (sub) for UG jumped out to a commanding 4-0 lead over Anthony Hatori and I in the first set, and held on to win it 7-6. Anthony and I took the second 6-3, and notched 2 points for GD by claiming the match-tiebreak 10-6.

Court 1- Sergio Rebolledo/Patrick Kangwa (UG) d. Ryan Sherry/Shawn Hedrick, 6-4, 6-7, 10-8

Court 2- Anthony Hatori/T. A. Niles (GD) d. Mike Lawver/Tom Fisher (sub), 6-7, 6-3, 10-6

Court 3- Steve Shortridge/Jeff Timmer (GD) d.  Mark Drons/Terry See, 7-5, 6-1

Mixed- Alex Hermeto/Kerry Kendrick (GD) d. Tony Martin/Carolyn Lawver, 6-2, 6-1

Total Points= GD 7, UG 2.5

Lexington Preview

2011- 2012 Lexington Pro League 

If you haven’t had a chance to check out the matches, you won’t want to miss the action at Lexington. Joe Rubin, his tennis staff, and the Lexington Food & Beverage staff always offer first-class hosting. In addition, food and beverage proceeds will benefit Barbara's Friends!   Court 3 and Mixed Doubles matches begin at 4:00pm and First and Second Doubles are scheduled for 5:30pm.

Remax vs. Boston Retirement Advisors

BRA's Jim Katterfield &
Joel Hampton 

If it takes a marquee match-up to get y0u out, we've got one this Friday. No.s 1 and 2 Remax and BRA, respectively, will face off in a battle that is likely to crown the regular season champ, and the best two teams on Court 2 this season will go at it. 

Frank Fourgeau & Corey Knapp
for Remax

There's a pretty even match-up on the Mixed court, BRA holds the edge on Court 3, and with a sub on Court 1 for Remax, there's a good chance that BRA will carry Court 1 as well. Don’t be surprised, however, to see all of the courts go to match tiebreaks in this one.

Babolat vs. University Grill 

Babolat's Armor Persons & Erica Cossairt

Babolat will face UG, and is likely to hold onto its third-place standing…unless GD or JM posts a big number and UG pulls off the upset. That upset is no big stretch since the Babolat and UG tied with 4 points each the first time they met this season. 

Gateway Dental vs. Johnny Malloy's

GD's Kerry Kendrick & Alex Hermeto

These two are 1/2 point apart in the standings, and three of the four courts are "pick em" matches. The likelihood is that JM's Court 3 team will be probably get back on the winning track, but tiebreaks are good possibilities in the other courts.  When GD and JM met the first time, JM edged GD by 1 point, so chances are it will be close again.

UG's Mark Drons & Terry See 

But saying things are likely to be close in Pro League is like saying we’re likely to have sunshine in Florida. As you may have noted form the scores above, at Shadow Wood, seven of the 12 matches played involved at least one tiebreak, and two of the matches in the GD/UG match-up ended in match tiebreaks, and contained another tiebreak set.

I expect more of the same at Lexington this coming Friday. Be sure to click here for updated information regarding match times and standings. Game, set, match…T. A.