4.5 Mens Playoff Predictions

     Playoffs are here for the 4.5 league. I really enjoy watching tennis at this level because you get to see a variety of skills. Is it better to hit hard or use spins or finesse? The answer is....any or all of them as long as you get a win. I remember watching one of our singles players warm up and clearly thinking, "This guy is going to blow him off the court within an hour." Wrong, credit to Mr De Hoyos for grinding it out and making it a great match to watch. Now let's breakdown some of the key players you would expect to see out on the courts during the playoffs.

    Dominion Aguilas (12-2) are on top of the standings for a reason. Talk about having a cup half full. Their singles options will be Alejandro Sanchez, Francisco Garcia, Hector Munoz, Tony Sifuentes and Luis Hernandez. Doubles are a little harder to figure but expect to see Luis Moreno/Jorge Vasquez, Daniel Cambon/Tony Sifuentes and George Brother/Carlos Uribe. This line up should win during the playoffs. Expect this team to continue to dominate. 


    Blossom Force (11-3) also have some impressive players to pick from. Singles player are Stephan Poole, Tyler Crawford, Bradford Anderson, Scott Schendel, Jason Michaud and Thomas Reader. Doubles should consist of Sundy Muniz/Baumgartner ,Thomas Cline/Scott Wilbur and Stephan Poole/Bradford Anderson to even have a chance against Dominion. They might not have the deepest team but they only need 3 lines to get a win. Anyone see Thomas Reader play lately?? Damm good!!


    JCC SA 4.5 (9-5) will this team do more than watch the final from the sideline? Singles Henri Akono, Victor Torres, Brandon Delnano, Patric Castillo, Thomas Wild, Jason Martinez and Tejinder Somal. Doubles should look like Mike Vogal/Scott Meyers, Mike Miller/Matt Colton and Randy Tawil/Joshua Villarreal. The doubles look solid but unfortunately their singles are not at the same level as the teams ranked above them. Looks like their best chance at singles did not qualify to play the post season, Mr Del Campo!! :-(


     Sonttera Smash (6-6) Will this team win more than a participation ribbon for their playoff efforts? Singles should be Scott Fonger, Ferny Avila, Chris Shaw, Enrique Medina, Christian Beyer and Francisco Santos. Doubles should include Robert Wood/Fernando Avila, Davis Lesch/Kevin Mullins. Robert Wood did a great job of getting this team to the playoffs but I don't expect them to put much of a fight going forward. Just not enough quality depth on this team for the elite 4.5 level.


   This is a quick run down of the 4.5  playoff teams and who to look for in match ups. Lets hope all teams have their best players available when they are needed. Time to send a tough team to sectionals. 


   Good luck to the teams that advanced to the playoffs.  Please let me know your opinion or thoughts on these teams or if I am way off on my assessment. Who do you think will take it all or is any team not showing their full potential??


Lob Master

Shout out to all leagues and players

If you would like to share information regarding your league on the blog then do not hesitate to contact me using the email address on the side bar. Partipants can suggest topics for discussion and surveys that can inhance their experience playing tennis in San Antonio. Right now the 4.0 men's league has been the only league discussed on the blog. Both men's and women's leagues, 2.5-5.0 are welcome to participate. It is your sport and this can be a extension of your racquet.

Playoff Update

Playoff picture is set for this weekend 5-19/20-2012. The seeding is out and so are the draws. Let's do a little breakdown of the first round matches and beyond.




Round #1, Boerne 4.0 vs Sontera Rojo winner to play Fair Oaks Raiders



Boerne has options in singles with Ron Tope, Derek Clow, Larry Gromley and Dennis DeCreny. The question is which of these 4 player with play against Rojo. The line you would expect to see on Saturday would likely be Larry and Dennis singles, Jack Clow/Tope,  Shoemaker/Olmstead, and  Mahler/D. Clow. Why? This line up that crushed Sontera Select in their only loss of the season. This may come down to how the captains play their lineup. Both sides need to be creative to win.


Sontera Rojo's singles players are David Trang, Buddy Lomax, Stephen Ison and Michael Latimer. What line up should you expect to see are Trang and Ison in singles, Doubles combo Scott/Tilley, Seale/Ross and Restrepo/Fields. Rojo made it to the finals in the fall, can they get there again??



Winner - 3-2 Rojo. No, maybe Boerne. It is going to be a fun match to watch but whoever wins will NOT have the depth or fire power to compete against the Fair Oaks Raiders!! Again, this is for fun right??




Fair Oak Raider's potential singles Greg Mabrito, Jason Granato, Orlando Pares, Eric Davis, and Jared Thomas. Potential line up are Mabrito and Davis. Doubles Thomas/Stone, Thompson/C Lowry and Coker/Clarkson. The truth is they could use any combination that we might not have seen before. Again, this team has a deep roster.


Fair Oaks Raiders win in semi-finals 5-0.





Round #1, Sontera Select Vs Oak Hills Clubbers winner will play Blossom Borg. Sorry, THE BORG.



Sontera Select's singles player are deep with Christian Beyer, Jorge Cosio, Jose Lopez amd Christopher Bingham. Potential Line up are Beyer and Lopez at singles. Doubles would be Bingham/Arellano, Ableman/Gayler and Gallaspy/Connolly. This team is singles heavy and will depend on them to get through to the next round. Wild card is Cosio because he plays both singles and doubles.



Oak Hill's Clubber's singles guys are Clayton Swann, Scott Kablesh, Ariel Navarro, Ricky Nunez, Raunaq Niekani and one more with Omar Gonzales. My money on seeing this weekend are Kablesh and Nunez to even compete against Sontera in singles. Doubles line up for this weekend you should expect to see Gonzales Brothers, Weintein/Bullard and Padua/Studevos. Now the opposite is true for this team that will lean of doubles to get them past their first round.



Winner - Potential #1 seed goes down. Sontera Select goes down 3-2 due to unfavorable doubles matchups and they will likely split the singles.  




The Borg - Blossom's singles players are Ronnie Valle, Luis Ortega, Brady Harrison, Kris Workman and Adrian Santillan. Favorable singles line ups are Kris and Luis. Doubles are Beltran/Montante, Leatherman/Bradshaw, and Maxey/Cuellar. This team must rely on their doubles as they have multiple players who have outclassed competitors state wide in the recent major zone tournaments. Their singles guys are good but I would not expect them to be able to compete with the 4.5 bump downs that are on other teams. Since the singles guys do not play many tournaments,  it is hard to gauge their ability to win when the pressure is on.

The Borg wins semi-finals 3-2 sweeping the doubles. Will be lucky to win a set in singles.

Now let's see how close I was to my predictions this weekend. Do you see anything playing out differently??

Lob Master

Mens 4.0 Predictions as playoffs approach

FLIGHT A

Sonterra Select (8-1) seem to be the team to beat in this flight. They appear to have found an automatic win in the singles line up with Christian Beyer, a 4.5 bump down. He has dominated the 4.0 and has only 1 loss in 4.5. Shawn Connolly's team has dominated this flight and only loss of the season was to.....Boerne 4.0.. Playoff Bound - 100%

Boerne 4.0 (8-2) also seems to be in the drivers seat for a playoff spot. They control their own destiny with 2 winnable matches left on their schedule. This team continues to impress with only 10 players on their roster and I'm thinking none of them under 40 years of age. They do NOT have one guaranteed win like Sontera Select but they will find a way to win. This is a real team effort. Hats off to Captain Derek Clow for moving players around to maximize their strengths. Playoff Bound - 95% 

FLIGHT B

Fair Oak Raiders (10-1) have put a 4.5 team at 4.0 level. You ask how could this be, please explain?? Okay, this team has at least 8 players that were bumped down from 4.5 at some point. They have been able to flex their muscle when needed also by adding high quality 4.0 players to compliment their already heavy line up. Gregory Mabrito has dominated all opponents at the #1 singles spot. This team is the favorite due to their depth and experience. Playoff Bound - 100%

Oak Hill Clubbers (6-4) control their playoff birth with 2 matches remaining. On paper, this team has all the players to dominate but unfortunately, your best player are not always available. Scot Kablesh, Ricky Nunez and the Gonzalez brothers will need to be available for the next 2 matches in order for this team to advance. Playoff Bound - 60%

Alamo Heights Diaballicals (6-5) have a slim chance to make it into the playoffs. Their last match of the season will be against Oak Hill Clubbers this weekend 5/5/2012. David Mellot has done a great job getting to this point without any super stars. Let's see if the Court Warrior can motivate his team this weekend for an upset and bring up their % to make the playoffs. Playoff Bound - 30%

Shavano Park Worrich (5-5) could sneak up and still find a playoff spot if all the stars aligned right. Another team with a lot of talent but unable to field them all at the same time. Scott Worrich and Ken Flores are some of the top singles players in the league. They also have the talent to put together some strong doubles teams as well. What needs to happen for this team to make the playoffs?? Help from the other teams plus dominate the last 2 matches 10-0. Playoff Bound 20% 

FLIGHT C

The Borg (10-0) seem to have put together a pretty solid roster this season. What do you expect when Captain Vic Quintanilla is involved.? This team has dominated this flight but the question is,  who are their top players?? A quick look at the tournament rankings may answer this question.  Every week the line ups change and the players you would expect to play are not available. This team may be undefeated simply by chance. Their strength is in doubles as they do not have a dominant singles stand out player. Playoff Bound - 100%

Sontera Rojo (7-3) plays Greentree this weekend for what could be the last playoff spot. Walter Leeman always seems to find the right combination to win matches. David Trang and Stephen Ison have  come through in singles when a win was needed. Not a lot of stars on this team but it's filled with quality players up and down the roster. Playoff Bound - 70%

Greentree (6-4) can NOT afford to lose any more matches if they want to make the playoffs. Can the winner this Fall bring it's best players this weekend??  Greentree has the talent to play against any team but again they are not always available. The surprise for the team so far has been Carey Calvert with a winning record against some top singles players in the league. Playoff Bound - 30%

I hope I was able to do every team justice in my evaluations. The recurring theme this season seemed to be really good players couldn't always be available. If your best players were always available, would the playoff teams still look the same?? Please let me know if I missed anything. 

I will try to handicap the playoffs once the draws are out for the 19th and 20th for further discussion and opinions. 

Prepared by Lob Master