Final 3.5 Match

After a little less than a year of playing at the 3.5 level, it is time to move on.  As I mentioned in a previous post, I was bumped to 4.0 by the USTA computer and will be playing 4.0 for the upcoming USTA season that begins in late January.

As a precursor to the USTA season, my town, like many other towns, has its own version of USTA league play that occurs every Fall/Early Winter.  Known as the Miami Valley, my town of Dayton, Ohio has the Greater Miami Valley Tennis Association (GMVTA) League in which I played with my 3.5 team from last USTA season.

A couple of week’s ago, my team was sitting in first place having beaten the two best teams in the league head-to-head.  All we had to do was win out, and we were assured a spot in the championships.  As luck would have it, we choked a couple of weeks ago and lost to the last place team 2-3.  (I had to attend a visitation service for a family friend that day, so I fortunately did not have a part in that major choke.  Instead, I can blame some of my teammates.)

Going into last night’s match against a team from Schroeder Tennis Center (Tipp City, Ohio), we needed to take 4 of 5 courts in order to finish in second place and secure a position in the championship round.

Schroeder Tennis Center on a Cold January Night

In hopes of exacting revenge on a guy I lost to last USTA season, I asked my captain to play me at #2 singles.  He obliged, but unfortunately the guy I was gunning for wasn’t in the line up.  Instead, I played some 23 year old “kid” (at 38, he was a kid to me) with solid groundstrokes and a well above average serve.  Despite his good serve, I was able to break him mid-way through the first set, hold my serve the entire set, and eventually take the first set 6-4.

The second set was more of the same until he finally broke me to take a 4-2 lead.  Fortunately, I was able to break back right away, and we stayed on serve until 5-5.  I played a solid return game at 5-5 and was able to break him and then serve out the match.

I felt my game was a little off last night, and I felt I should have won a little easier than I did.  Nevertheless, a win is a win, and I was happy to end my brief 3.5 career with a victory.

My team?  Well…  We won the match, but we won it 3-2 as opposed to the much needed 4-21 outcome.  We dropped matches at #1 singles and #1 doubles.  Our usually victorious #1 doubles team lost the third set super-tie-breaker 16-14.  It is always tough to lose such a close breaker, but this one was especially painful because our guys had five straight match points at 9-5.  They just couldn’t close it out.

Despite just missing cut for the championship round, it was a good GMVTA season and a fun GMVTA season.  On to USTA…

Thanks for checking in.

DH

Filed Under: Next Step: 4.5

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  1. Rohan Shah says:

    Congrats David! It is really nice to see the progression of your game.

  2. Claudio says:

    Well done! Congrats, Dave!

    It’s awesome to see how you’re following your passion! A recipe for success and happiness. Way to go!!!

  3. David Henry says:

    Hey Claudio! Thanks for the message. Yes… I am having such a blast with Inspired Tennis. Funny how following your passion works well and is, as you said, a recipe for success and happiness. I hope all is well with you! I love following your life in Thailand on FB and Twitter – looks like you’re having a blast too. Take care, my friend.

    David

  4. David Henry says:

    Thanks – that post was written a while ago. I haven’t been playing nearly as much lately – been too busy with my son’s baseball team and daughter’s softball team. While I love playing, I love being at my kids’ games and practices more. I’ll get back to playing more regularly soon and will hopefully be able to continue to raise my game.

    DH