The trophy ... the participants ... the pink ... the stuff 3.0 history is made of!
The first ever One-Doubles season came to an end with all the drama one would expect from such a first-ever league!
From the regular season that saw so many firsts, to the postseason that saw even more firsts, to the championship final that saw so many ... well ... firsts ... congratulations to all who participated in this FIRST EVER MOST AMAZING LEAGUE OF ALL-3.0-TIME!
Interested in how this most amazing league took place? OF COURSE YOU ARE! Read below to get some insight into ... 3.0 HISTORY!
Regular Season
Team Record Sets Won Sets Lost Games Won
Independence 7-0 14 0 86
Bay-Force-Westlake 5-2 10 4 73
Cleveland Skating Club 5-2 10 4 75
Center Court 5-2 10 5 70
Chagrin Valley Athletic Club 2-5 6
Wembley 2-5 5
MVRC 1-6 2
WRR&FC 1-6 3
During the regular season, Team Independence, led by Captain Gunnar and his compatriot Rymwen, won the Flight with a perfect record, wrapping up the title on the final day of the regular season with a convincing 6-1, 6-4 victory against runner-up Independent, thus making 3.0 history by winning the first ever One-Doubles league championship!
Other regular season highlights included runner-up Bay-Force-Westlake (B-F-W) playing their home matches at four different locations (making one wonder where "home" really is), CSC beating Center Court, Center Court beating B-F-W, and B-F-W beating CSC, meaning that 2nd place through 4th place were decided by a series of tie-breakers. As it turns out, said tie-breakers were important for, as it turned out, they determined playoff bracket positioning (which, as it turned out, wasn't important at all).
CVAC, Wembley, MVRC, and WRR&FC all enjoyed inaugural 3.0 One-Doubles wins as well, meaning everyone - quite literally - was a winner this season!
Except, as it turns out, for the actual winners.
Sadly for Team Independence, Captain Gunnar, was congratulated by the USTA with a DQ and promotion to 3.5 after his first ever District playoff win for the 18+ Force team a few weeks before the One-Doubles championships took place, meaning Team Independence, and their two-man roster, were eliminated from postseason play. Sorry Rymwen!
But congrats Rymwen on the first ever regular season title!
Playoffs
B-F-W d. Center Court, 6-7 (3), 7-5, 10-8
With the top four seeds punching their playoff ticket to the posh courts of NDCL to determine the first ever One-Doubles playoff champion, everyone was excited to see what the bracket would look like!
And by "everyone" we mean "no one."
Indeed, with Team Independence eliminated, that meant CVAC, once thought eliminated from playoff play, entered playoff play as the #4 seed. Meanwhile, as the top three seeds had traded off wins against one another, this was anyone's event!
And by "anyone" we mean "almost no one."
For, as it turned out, no one really wanted to play other than the top two seeds (who, ironically, were actually the top three seeds). As a result, the championship playoff would be just that - singular! One match to determine the first ever One-Doubles Playoff Champions!
THERE CAN BE ONLY ONE ... One-Doubles Champion!
B-F-W, the (now) #1 seed, took on Center Court, the (now) #2 seed. Going into this big first-ever match, both teams enjoyed some advantages. For example, the B-F-W tandem of Captain Travis and Anthony hadn't played "tennis" since their 18+ team had won at the Midwest Sectional Championships two weeks prior, meaning they were ... well-rested (?). Center Court, meanwhile, had beaten B-F-W during the regular season, meaning they clearly had confidence going into this all-important match! With that in mind Captain Suhas called on the hard-hitting lefty, Abhi, who had gone 1-0 versus B-F-W during the regular season to help the win. Captain Travis, meanwhile, smartly went with 3.0 doubles veteran Anthony (after teammates Scott and Denis refused to play). WHAT A CAPTAIN!
With the lineups set, thus began the first-ever One-Doubles Championship, and it was the Center Court team of who came out on top early, showing great resilience to come back from three 0-40 starts in each of the first three games, showing such resilience that they took the early first set lead! B-F-W, meanwhile, weren't about to give up (especially since they had to drive to the middle of nowhere to take part in this event and didn't want to get blown out right away) and were able to hang on just enough to push the first set to a first set tiebreak! Captain Travis' plan of using a brand-spanking new racquet for the first time ever may have somewhat backfired at this point as Captain Suhas, with his monster spin forehands, and Abhi, with his blistering lefty serve, were able to get out to the early lead and win the first set tiebreak to take a ... first set lead!
Down a set and down a chance to make 3.0 history, long-time 3.0 veteran Anthony decided to take history (and his teammate) by the throat and commandeer the match. With single-minded pin-point serves and with single-minded pin-point forehands, combined with plays so amazing that the Center Court players could only double over in laughter, Anthony single-handedly carried led his team to an early break and an eventual second set victory.
Heading into the all-important, history making THIRD SET SUPER TIEBREAKER, Captain Travis got back in the game, and did so by making a vital leadership call that all great captains must at some point make if they hope to achieve the win - a strategy change! Indeed, Captain Travis decided to strategically have Anthony hit each and every ball that crossed onto their side of the court, no matter if it were near him or not, making sure to yell "YOURS!" even if the ball was within inches of himself and an entire court away from his teammate. Thanks to this key strategic shift, B-F-W were able to run out to an early lead that Center Court struggled to overcome, and when Captain Travis finally did actually his the ball, it was such a surprise to everyone that it immediately ended the match.
And with that, the championship was complete! Captain Suhas and Abhi enjoyed a fantastic season, going 3-1 in all 3.0 competitions and making it all the way to the championship finals in this first ever One-Doubles event. Captain Travis and Anthony, meanwhile, went 5-1 on the year together. And thanks to Anthony's skill and Travis' key ability to stay out of the way, he not only earned his career 3.0 victory #50 (!), but his Team B-F-W a place in 3.0 immortality - One-Doubles Champions! Congratulations to the entire B-F-W team on a glorious One-Doubles 3.0 season!
And all it took was for most of the league getting DQ'd, refusing to play, or getting lost en route to NDCL.
Huzzah!
Congratulations to all the participants and good luck next season!
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