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| Ready for another tiebreak? |
Well the season is really off to an exciting start for our
ladies teams! Last Wednesday, the first LCWTL match at home for our Bronze team
ended in a thriller, with Hideaway resident Vivian Landis and Nina Carpenter
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| Vivian & Nina last week |
closing
out the final match of the day with a hard fought win in a match-tiebreak. The
following day, also at home, Rennie Bassett (new co-captain of the Bronze team
and co-captain of the 3.0-Minus team) and Jane Hill lost a heartbreaker in a
match-tiebreak to close out our first 3.0-Minus match.
The Hideaway emerged with more points than the other team on
both occasions, despite splitting the four courts in the 3.0-Minus match. That
was also the story today, as our ladies captured 14 points to 12 for the
Landings in our second home match for the Bronze team.
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| Court 1 Heroines Diane Russ & Fran Negin |
We jumped out to early leads on Courts 1 and 2, but what may
have seemed likely to be relatively easy wins early on, turned out to be
anything but! On Court 1, Diane Russ and Fran Negin cruised to a 6-2 first set,
but their opponents were determined not to go gently into that good night, and
fought back to take the second set 6-3.
The match-tiebreak was drama-filled to say the least, with
both teams having match points. However, Fran served for the match at 11-10,
put her second serve in, moved forward and hit a splendid cross-court forehand
that the opponents couldn’t handle. Game, set match, Hideaway!
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| Pat & Reggie together again |
On Court 2, I don’t know that Pat Ben-Dov and Reggie
Mishkovish could have played any better early in their match. It was good to
have Reggie’s pinpoint accuracy on hand and Pat was firing darts of her own.
Our ladies went up 4-2, but I could see that it was going to be a very tough
match to close out.
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| Just too much running! |
The two ladies that Pat and Reggie played were probably as
good as we are going to see all year at the Bronze level, and they got to just
about everything, and forced Pat and Reggie to work really hard for just about
every point. The effort took its toll and Reggie and Pat lost the first set
4-6, and the second 1-6. The team they played could easily have been on first
court.
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| Calamity Jane & Resilient Rennie |
Rennie and Jane represented us on Court 3, and boy did they
ever! The match was relatively close early, but the opponents jumped out to a
5-2 lead and took that first set 6-3. I suspect that when I left for lunch our
ladies relaxed, because Jane and Rennie returned the favor in the second set,
taking that 6-3, and won the ensuing match-tiebreak as well. I’m sorry I missed
that comeback, but if my absence is what it takes, then so be it.
Court 4 featured Hideaway resident Paula Barry (in her
return to the courts after considerable absence) and Nina Carpenter. Our ladies
showed a resilience that is fast becoming our trademark, because they bounced
back from a 2-5 deficit as well, to push the first set to a tiebreak. Alas,
they lost that tiebreak and the second set 3-6, but they battled valiantly to
the very end.
All in all, it was another inspired and inspiring effort
from all the ladies on the courts today, and I was pleased to be a part of it!
Tomorrow (Thursday the 23rd) the 3.0-Minus team will travel to
Heritage Palms for their first away match. Let’s continue to give it our best
and enjoy our time on court. There are so many things that are more important
than winning or losing a tennis match; right? We miss you already Pearle, and thanks for assuming the mantle Ren! Have fun ladies!
