The Foster City Tennis Club sponsors many USTA League teams and we have written many stories to share our team experiences with the club. If you are interested in joining a USTA League team, send email to fctcleagues@yahoo.com.
Senior 60 Men's 8.0 Team
by Jake Karmendy, Captain
The "A"s Have It
The extremely competitive Upper Peninsula Men’s Super Senior 60 8.0 League came right down to the wire. The Club’s “A” Team needed just one more win in its last two matches to secure 2nd place and a Playoff berth, but as luck and the scheduling gods would have it, both those matches came against the FCTC “B” team. And they came on one weekend in September.
The Club was fortunate enough to field two strong teams, and this final weekend proved to be well contested, exciting and fun [replete with beer and barbequed salmon]. The “A”s edged the “B”s for the final Playoff spot by virtue of a split of the two matches, but as has often been said … a good time was had by all.
The “A” team was captained by Jake Karmendy, ably assisted by Paul Fisher and George Gipe, while the “B”s were led by Keith Krieg and to a large degree consisted of Larry Parish’s Championship 65s team.
By contrast, the “A” team was composed of odds and sods from all over hell and gone. Joining long-time FCTC players Jin Jue, Wil Dang and Al Briones were Olympic Clubers Mark Kashevaroff, Jim Friedman and Ed Dizon; PTCers Maris Laipenieks and Dennis Argyres; San Mateo Highlands’ Alec Stanculescu; and SCTC’s Frank Donate. Even the captaining triumvirate included an FCTCer, a SM Highlander, and a Half Moon Bay TCer. It has been interesting getting all these parts together.
In early October the “A”s traveled to Westlake for the League Championship match having split regular season meetings against the Daly City club. This day, however, the matchups went FCTC’s way and we swept the #1 seed without dropping a set.
On a drop-dead gorgeous weekend on the Monterey Peninsula, the “A”s battled the best Norcal had to offer at the Norcal Sectional Championship. On Friday the FCTCers upset the favored Carmichael team 2-1 at Chamisal. On Saturday the guys did similar damage to Seascape’s hopes at Pebble Beach. Sunday morning pitted the “A”s against the other unbeaten team in the flight, Sierra Sport of Fresno, last year’s Sectional winner. Unfortunately the matchups did not prove fortuitous this time and Sierra Sport advanced to the Finals.
The guys are not shedding any tears; they are simply looking forward to the start of the 2012 season in April.
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Senior 60 Women's 7.0 Team
by Kacey Karmendy, Captain<</P>
Super Ladies Having Super Fun with Tennis
This season we found ourselves with more competition than we have had in the past. With five teams in our flight, we took our show on the road to Burlingame, Millbrae and Golden Gate Park. The competition was tough, but we were up to the task, and even eked out three team wins, lifting us securely off the bottom. (Note that this is a vast improvement over the past three seasons where we were victorious in only one team match in those three years!) And, as always, we LOOKED DARN GOOD on the court! Oh yeah, and we ate well, too!!
Although we won't be going on to post-season play, we look forward to continuing friendships forged, both on and off the courts. And we look ahead to next season, all the while honing our skills. Based on the rate of improvement over the past few seasons, it should only take us another 4-5 years to make it to the top!
Here's to a classy group of ladies: Rosemary, Lisa, Maria, Roz, Dania, Jan, Marcia, Mary, Marie, Irina, Marion, Connie, Sam, Fumi and Phyllis. (Notice I didn’t give your last names in case you are in denial about your eligibility for this elite league!) You all helped to make this season a SUPER one. Thanks for your participation and support, and, above all, your flexibility in the face of ever-changing lineups.
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Senior 60 Men's 7.0 Team
by Skipp Prack, Co-Captain
Well, we’re back or at least most of us are back. The core of the 2010 SS60M 7.0 team that went to Sectionals last year returned for yet another season. We improved on last year’s record by gaining 9 wins with only 1 loss in the regular season. This puts us in first and once again the playoffs must go through the Foster City Edgewater courts. Our team stands ready to duplicate if not better our previous successes.
That sounds a little bit over the top, doesn’t it? I have to tell you that playing with these guys this year is not like playing on any USTA team, it is more like getting together weekly with a bunch of old (pardon the expression) friends.
Returning this year were Ben Asaro, Jeff Brown, George Gipe, Alan Hall, Chuck Lumia, Mitch Tom, and Skipp Prack (co-captain). Added to that mix were the talents of Roger Meadm Rich Mozzini, Tom Pang and Nobu Yashimura. The master leading this semi-motley crew is none other than our returning captain, the old (again with that word) pro himself, Jeff Jung.
So it is on to the playoffs, the Sectionals, infinity and beyond. No matter what the outcome, above all else, this season has been unquestionably FUN.
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Men's 3.5 Team
by Derrick Joe, Captain
After starting the season with a record of 3-3, our FCTC M3.5 team was a long-shot to get in the playoffs, let along reach the District Championships, but that's exactly what we did. We had a second-half surge, winning seven of the last eight matches. With a little help from a Ladera Oaks disqualification, we shot from sixth place to a tie for fourth. At the end of the regular season, we won the tie breaker, having a higher number of individual match wins, getting us into the local league playoffs as the fourth and last seed. (This reinforces the notion that every game/set/match counts!)
The local league playoffs were nail-biters. We beat #1 Peninsula Covenant Community Center, 3-2, with dominant wins from the doubles teams of Jeff Deeney/Derrick Joe and Jeff Burgos/Randy Lee along with a clutch, deciding singles match win by Arjun Iyer. It was a pressure-filled match, played with both teams watching and cheering, knowing the season continued on for the winner. We then dispatched #2 San Carlos Tennis Club A by a score of 3-2 behind wins from Deeney/Joe, Burgos/Lee, and singles player, Gene Cherng.
Our fairytale season took us to Districts in Sunnyvale, where we had to go to battle against San Francisco Tennis Club, Veterans Memorial Park of Union City, and Mango Park of Sunnyvale. With 16 courts and a ton of observers, it was very easy to be distracted from our matches. The journey started early Friday morning against SFTC. We were quite surprised by the high level of play of these opposing teams. We thought we lost this match 2-3, but by the afternoon, we learned a SFTC player received a three-strikes disqualifcation, giving us the match win, instead. In Saturday's afternoon heat, however, we were out-played by Veterans Memorial Park, which beat us 4-1. We walked into Sunday's midday match beat-up and tired, losing to Mango Park 4-1. Veterans Memorial Park handily won the weekend, not losing to any of the other teams. (In fact, they are now on their way to Nationals.)
Our season has come to an end but the team played with great composure and dignity as representatives of the Foster City Tennis Club. We had excellent play from the whole roster, top to bottom, with everyone contributing in matchplay, practice, and even in spectating/cheering when necessary. Our singles players, Gene Cherng, Derek Dai, Arjun Iyer, and Andre Zandona, all had exciting matches down the stretch. Our doubles players, Jeff Burgos, Jeff Deeney, James Goh, Derrick Joe, Yu Kasagi, Randy Lee, Oscar Louie, Skipp Prack, Craig Quan, Win Reis, Amit Saini, and Darrow Wehara, had to deal with odd early-season pairings, but really hit their stride as the season wore on, playing very focused doubles matches though our "Cinderella"-like run.
The doubles team of Randy Lee and Jeff Burgos were the MVPs of the season, going 8-0 together, five of which were in the post-season. They had a superb run during Districts where of of their three matches, two went to the third set. They never displayed an ounce of frustration during play and exhibited exemplery sportsmanship on the court. When the opposing captains are praising the play and demeanor of our players, even in defeat, you know our players are playing with integrity.
It was an extremely exciting season for our M3.5 team and we are now looking forward to next year. We have a great core of players with post-season experience, ready for next adult season, so if you are a 3.5 player looking for a competitive team for 2012, this is where you will want to be!
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