The final show down of the year for the Westchester Platform Tennis League took place Tuesday night with the Division 1 final four. #1 seed Greenburgh played #4 seed Manursing at Pelham Country Club and #2 seed New York Athletic Club faced off against #3 seed Bronxville Village at New York Athletic Club.
The first semifinal featured 15 players playing in nationals this weekend out of a possible 20 players. It was a very high level of paddle with an inordinate number of FYM shots due to the warm weather. Greenburgh 1 took the match after registering wins at the 4 and 5 spots and Mike Gillespie and Max LePivert clinching the win versus Mark Parsons and Peter Griffin 7-5, 6-2.
Over at NYAC, NYAC battled Bronxville for the remaining final spot. Here, 11 out of a possible 20 players were headed to the nationals. Again, great paddle, warm weather, and lots of FYM shots. This match was closer than many thought it would be, and it came down to the 3 match after NYAC took 1 and 2 and Bronxville took 4 and 5. NYAC came out on top when Marco Grangeiro and Bob Considine won at the 3 spot and advanced to the finals.
The Finals were ready to get underway, but not without some controversy first. NYAC1 Captain Eric Cruz made some last minute adjustments to his lineup, and flip flopped Jared Palmer and Ben Stein. Stein moved up to #1 to play with Mike Cochrane and Palmer went down to # 2 to play with Kevin Smith. Cruz also substituted Mike Stern for Whitney Craft at the 5 spot.
Legendary Greenburgh Captain Peter Dampf asked Division Representative Russ Jellineck to approve the change, which he did. Dampf must have huddled with his council of elders, Patricio Misitrano and Mike Gillespie, before considering changes to his own lineup. After some deliberation, the Greenburgh lineup did not change and we were ready to go.
The first match down was the #4 spot that went toGreenbrugh. Patricio Misitrano and Mark Fischl got the first W in less than 45 minutes (including warmups). The #5 spot soon followed, again with Greenbrugh coming out victorious. Karl Levanat and Faycal Rhazali won 6-2, 6-3 and the 3-time elague champs were now one match away from winning the playoofs.
NYAC then won at the #1 spot making it 2-1 for Greenburgh. Finally, Greenburgh won a hard fought second set and the match at the #3 spot to seal the win. Sebastian Bredberg and George Wilkinson beat Considine-Grangeiro 6-2, 7-6.
With a total of 25 players competing in this final four that are also going to nationals, and a number of top ten ranked players,Westchester once again established itself as the mecca of paddle. Congratulations to Greenburgh, and good luck to all in the nationals.
