Wallingford remains undefeated, this week taking down the scorching hot Merion three courts to 1. Wallingfords 1 – 2 combo also remain undefeated. Captain Derek’s phone has been ringing off the hook from many other D1 programs willing to get some of his insights as to his team’s performance to date. “It’s not that hard really, I get a bunch of ex D-1 tennis players and charge them next to nothing to play for me (OK I may or may not pay their dues) and the next thing you know, we have a championship Caliber team”. Other than our crappy neighbor that has threatened to shut us down, this has been a rather perfect season. By all appearances, Merion’s off season maneuvers has had a disastrous effect on their teams performance as they have only managed to pick up 2 points this season. I still would not bet against them as their one win was against Aronimink and they still have a bunch of matches remaining against some bottom 6 teams.
H-Valley also remains undefeated and this week’s opponents were Kennett Square. This team has not given up a single point to an opponent since week 1. They are almost a sure lock at a Top 6 spot but next week’s match against P-Cricket should be a good test as well. Kennett on the other hand has not earned a single point since their first weeks victory over Merion and will need to pick up some points if they want to remain in D1 next season.
Aronimink moved into third place with their victory over Martins-1. Aronimink matches up against their cross-town 252 rival Waynesborough, where WCC has won the last 6 contests dating back to January 2011. Drew Friel when asked about the rivalry and his team’s inability to defeat WCC stated “BRING IT ON… you can take this guarantee to the bank that we will be celebrating next week at WCC in front of all 3 of their Thursday night teams. Tell Mark Ray to fill those kegs”. “This rivalry is bigger than the league and predates paddle as we now know it. If it wasn’t for that lazy unnamed Aronimink member, who did not bid on that property in 1965, we wouldn’t be having this conversation.”
P-Cricket has now won 4 of their 5 matches this year as they also did not allow Vic Mead to earn their first point of the season. P-Cricket has certainly turned around the program and we have to think the thoughts of hanging in their new Hut-Mahal in a month or so is inspiring them this early part of the season. Vic Mead has to be second guessing their decision to move up with the big dogs after losing two critical players from last season as they have only won a single court this season, although several matches have been reportedly close.
Waynesborough drops their match to an awe-inspiring Greenville by the score of 3 courts to 1. In football terms, this match was a “Trap Game”, as WCC’s eyes must have been on next week’s opponent Aronimink. We all know too well what happens when you look ahead and Greenville took advantage to earn their second consecutive victory and now are only 2 points behind wcc for the 6th spot. Captain Tom explains, “I made a huge tactical mistake by bringing all my “Monkey’s” without a handler tonight. How can I expect to win in this division without the likes of a McAvoy or a Vlatko. Tell you I am not going to make that mistake twice this season. Greenville has been a little bit underrated this season in my opinion. In 5 weeks they have only lost once on Court 2 and once on Court 4. They are a team not to be taken lightly. As far with any comments with respect to next week’s Aronimink match, I always do my talking on the paddle court!!”
Martins-2 earns their first victory of the season as they attempt to edge their way from the bottom of the pack. Once again like clock-work, the Overbrook team was able to win on courts 1 and 2 but this time lost in a tie-breaker of games. The third court of Tim Farrel and Jamie Stein proved to be the difference of the night as they only dropped a single game for the evening. Captain Dan is looking forward to his next two matches against Vic Mead and Kennett as he expects to move up in the rankings and competing for a Top 6 spot before you know it.
