NCRC, Mayfield, and Paramount Westlake reign 3.0 supreme in18+ while Towpath takes 55+!
The 18+ and 55+ 3.0 league seasons are complete and oy vey, what a season it turned out to be! If you read our predictions (https://www.doublefault.org/post/2022-3-0-review-18) which we know you DID, you already know some of the 3.0 greats that were hitting the 3.0 courts in 2022. So now let's find out who were the greatest of the greats!
Flight 1 Results & Highlights
NCRC 9-1 (39 matches won)
Towpath 9-1 (34)
Springside 4-6 (23 matches won, 57 sets lost)
Green 4-6 (23 matches won, 60 sets lost)
P. Medina 4-6 (21 matches won)
Fairlawn 0-10
As we predicted (ahem ... seriously, why would you go anywhere else for your 3.0 info? COULD you go anywhere else for your 3.0 info?!) it was a battle between the legendary Towpath club and the uber-consistent NCRC club. Towpath, with more championships than any other, looked to repeat their 2021 title, but NCRC, a consistent playoff performer the last half-decade, not only challenged that attempt, but bested it as well! Led by Captain Timothy, NCRC ran out to an eight match winning streak, besting Towpath 4-1 in early June to take an early lead in the standings ... AND IN INTIMIDATION! That being said, Captain Frank, one of the winningest captains of all-3.0-time, rallied his troops, and in an all-important rematch at the end of the season, led his boys (well, technically men as they're all 18 or over) to an all-important 3-2 victory at home! In the end, though, both clubs could be considered winners as both clubs enjoyed fantastic playoff qualifying seasons!
Flight 1 MVP
Benjamin Young - Seven wins in eight tries, with a mix of singles and doubles for good measure, meant that NCRC Captain Timothy had a Swiss Army Knife of a player at his disposal, and he utilized him to MVP status!
Flight 1 Rookie of the Year
Jaime Unklesby - The NCRC rookie went an undefeated 8-0 including 7-0 at singles!
Flight 1 Most Improved Player of the Year
David Benson - Springside's David went from one win in 2021 to seven but a year later!
Flight 1 Comeback Player of the Year
William Fox - Removed from his isolation to the Siberia-like conditions of 3.5 tennis, William earned a valuable three wins in four matches for his beloved Towpath!
New Flight 1 3.0 Achievements
NCRC - Benjamin and Matthew chalked up their 40+ career 3.0 wins while Timothy and Mel are now over 30+ wins!
Towpath - Returning 3.0 William earned career 3.0 win 47, John notched win 66, two-time D.F.O. Player of the Year Ron now sits at 75, Captain Frank is at 86 individual wins (4th all-3.0-time!) and 70+ captaincy wins (2nd all-3.0-time!), while the biggest achievement of the season is that Craig, with a 17-2 league season overall, became only the second ever player (behind the infamous Travis) to earn over 100 career 3.0 wins, now sitting at an impressive 105 ... only two behind the all-3.0-time record!
P. Medina - Captain William and all-court player Denny are just shy of 70 with 68 career 3.0 wins, doubles standout David just clipped 30+, and all-star Roderick not only notched his 70th career 3.0 victory, but with 175 3.0 matches played, is now 2nd all-3.0-time behind the legendary Clem!
Flight 2 Results and Highlights
Mayfield 1 9-1 (40 matches won)
LaTuchie 9-1 (35 matches won)
CRC 6-4
Mayfield 2 3-7
Wembley 2-8
CVAC 1-9
As we predicted (we are on a roll!), LaTuchie would be the odds-on-Vegas favorite to challenge for Flight 2 supremacy, and indeed, they were! With Coach and Captain Eric, they had just the leader up for the task despite losing so many great players from their 2021 Flight Championship team, including, and basically the only one that mattered, THE Great Scott Hovey (sorry Jeff and Ron!). The veteran presence of Reddy, Nicolas, and Alan helped steady the LaTuchie ship while blossoming talents like Erik and Geoff showed they had what it took to keep LaTuchie's unblemished 3.0 name just that - unblemished! However, it was a team of relative newbies that ended up hoisting the pretend Flight 2 Trophy! Not that these were a collection of rookies but rather a collection of experienced 3.0ers who wanted to collect one thing - WINS! And win they did, as Captain Robert, personally going undefeated on the season, led his team despite being down most of the season to a Flight Title after a late 3-2 team victory at the home of Herb LaTuchie!
Flight 2 MVP
Nicholas Fasola - Going 7-0 on the season is impressive, but going 7-0 in singles against some of the best singles players in all of N.E.Ohio is super duper MVP caliber impressive!
Flight 1 Rookie of the Year
George Raguz - Mayfield's Rookie went 8-1, playing both singles and doubles, showing he's got the all-court skills to make a big 3.0 name for himself in the future!
Flight 1 Most Improved Player of the Year
Corey Roth - CRC's Corey improved from his two win season in 2021 to an impressive seven wins in nine tries in 2022!
New Flight 2 3.0 Achievements
Mayfield 1 - Nicolas chalked up career 3.0 win 35, with over 30 of them on the rough and tumble courts o' singles!
Mayfield 2 - For the first time in their history, the King's of Mayfield played with a non-King ... three of them in fact!
Wembley - Captain J.P. captained his 49th career team victory!
Flight 3 Results and Highlights
P. Westlake 6-2
Bay Village 4-4 (20 matches won)
Western Reserve 4-4 (19 matches won)
Force 3-5 (21 matches won)
CSC 3-5 (17 matches won)
The smallest of all the Flights in terms of teams packed some of the biggest intrigue as these neighbors (sorta) battled it out all season long. Force, who had lost nine players from last season's historic run, played spoiler, while Bay, full of experience and exuberance, challenged eventual winners Paramount Westlake all season long! Captains John and Mark helped their club achieve something they haven't achieved in recent memory - or distant memory! - a Flight Title! Despite starting the season 2-2 with two losses to local rivals Force and then Bay, Captain John and Mark motivated their fellas to four straight victories, including three in a row to the tune of 3-2 match wins!
Flight 3 MVP
Nathan Chavez - Helping lead his Bay team to a runner-up finish, Nathan enjoyed six wins, all in singles!
Flight 3 Rookie of the Year
Anthony Provoznik - Force's Captain Jeremy has a knack for finding rookie talent, and he did it once again with Anthony, a rookie who enjoyed six wins in seven tries!
Flight 3 Most Improved Player of the Year
Charlie Post - Bay's longtime 3.0 veteran enjoyed one of his best seasons to date, improving from his 1-1 mark in 2021 to finish 3-3 in 2022!
Flight 3 Comeback Player of the Year
Kuldeep Vaghela - After taking a season off to improve his game (or his wrist injury), Kuldeep returned in mid-season form, helping his new team Force each week with his 5-0 mark!
New Flight 3 3.0 Achievements
Bay - Mark and Erik both notched career 3.0 win 20 during the season!
Force - Anthony scored his 30th career 3.0 win while Ado surpassed win numero 45!
Summer Qualifier Playoff Predictions
LaTuchie @ NCRC
Towpath @ P. Westlake
Taking place the weekend of July 21st, these four clubs will vie for a place at Districts in early August! So who will win?!
We don't know!
BUT the big match of the Qualifer's will no doubt be Flight 2's runner-up LaTuchie travelling to Flight 1's champions NCRC. As for the home-team, they enjoy a doubles tandem the likes of which few teams may boast, as Captain Timothy and Matthew are 10-1 in all league action in 2022, not including a tournament win at Akron and a runner-up finish at the NTRP's! Add in singles vet Benjamin, singles rookie Jaime, and the home cooking of the North Canton area and oy vey, NCRC is going to be tough to beat! That being said, LaTuchie heads to NCRC with strengths of their own, including rookie sensation Geoff and second-year star Erik! Sprinkle in the veteran experience of Reddy, Eric, and Alan, and 2021's District runners-up look to silence the NCRC home crowd!
The other match is a veritable David v. Goliath, if David was swinging a tennis racquet rather than a sling-shot. Towpath boasts a legendary 3.0 status and some legendary 3.0 players, including 100+ win's leader Craig, former 55+ National Champ William, two-time D.F.O. Player of the Year Ron, and one of the best captains in the game, Frank. Helping to blunt some of this advantage, though, is that Towpath has to travel from Akron to Westlake, and as it's Orange Barrel season, that's always a challenge! Another advantage is that Westlake's strength, singles, looks to be Towpath's one question mark, as Paramount's Todd and Ryan bring big singles games to their matches. Mixed in with veteran players like Mark, Ryan, and Captain John, the big question is will Paramount be able to avoid the jitters that come with playing such a legendary group like Towpath!
55+ Results and Highlights
Towpath (Warner) 6-0
North Ridge 3-3
Towpath (Bassak) 2-4
Towpath (Fox) 1-5
In a flight dominated by the 2021 Flight Champions, this flight was also dominated by the most historic club in the area, Towpath, fully guaranteeing that Towpath had a 75% chance of winning it all! And speaking of winning it all, that's just what Captain Craig's team did, to the tune of an undefeated league record that didn't just give them the Flight title, but the Ohio title as well! That doesn't mean there weren't some close matches, especially as these tennis brothers, especially from Towpath, had to face off against one another time and time (and time) again, especially (3x!) noteworthy for some of the very players who had won a National Championship the year before were split amongst the three clubs!
Flight MVP
Craig Warner - Not only did he go a perfect six for six in the six matches played, but he also captained his team to Flight success!
Flight Rookie of the Year
Timothy Booher - New to the 55+ group, Timothy enjoyed a perfect 5-0 mark in his first 55+ campaign, helping to lead Captain Craig's team to Flight success!
New Flight 3.0 Achievements
Towpath - As mentioned above ... Returning 3.0 William earned career 3.0 win 47, John notched win 66, while the biggest achievement of the season is that Craig, with a 17-2 league season overall, became only the second ever player (behind the infamous Travis) to earn over 100 career 3.0 wins, now sitting at an impressive 105 ... only two behind the all-3.0-time record!
North Ridge - Robert now sits at an astounding 99 career 3.0 wins while current D.F.O. Hall of 3.0 Famer Clem added to his career wins total (now at 98) and has played well over 200+ career 3.0 matches! Robert R. is now at 68 wins while Ben is nearing 60 as he's at 59!
Good luck to the 18+ teams going at it this weekend in the playoffs, the 40+ guys ending their season next week, and all the teams in the coming weeks during the playoffs!
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