In Round 2 a reality check as 0 out of 5 Maccabi sides won (Grade 10 Pollak had a bye).

Grade 5 Section 3 Maccabi 2-2-26 defeated by Black Rock 4-6-47

Joel Fredman/ Rob Minc 2-6 2-6
Marty Schwarz/ Steve Gostin 1-6 0-6
Joel Fredman 0-8
Marty Schwarz 8-5
Rob Minc 5-8
Steve Gostin 8-2

We played what I believe will be the strongest team in the comp. We had Joel/Rob play againat a father/son pairing who played well together going down 2&2. Marty/Steve played a very good pairing and error strewn going down 1&0 - not a great start. In the singles Joel played with a knee niggle and struggled to be competitive losing 0/8,  Marty played really well and won 8/4, Rob fought valiantly but went down in a close one 5/8, and Steven played well keeping his opponent guessing, winning 8/2. So 2/4 down on the day.

- Steve Gostin

Grade 7 Section 3 Maccabi 2-2-34 defeated by Donvale 4-6-54

Saul Muscatel/ Jan Tenenberg 2-6 1-6
Rafael Epstein/ Steve Bendel 4-6 4-6
Saul Muscatel 2-8
Rafael Epstein 9-8
Jan Tenenberg 4-8
Steve Bendel 8-6

Overall a very tough week against Donvale TC who were a very tricky side to play against with a clear strength in doubles style of play. MTC went down 4 rubbers to 2.

With it being a doubles focussed week, Saul and Jan played the no. 1 pair losing 2-6,
1-6 after Saul suffered an arm injury in the first set. 

Emergencies Steve Bendel and Raphael Epstein stepped up to the plate but went down in a close one, 4-6, 4-6. 

Saul and Jan fought against the strong number 1 and 2 players in their singles matches but went down 2-8 and 4-8 respectively. 

Steve hung tough in his singles winning in a very close and great match 8-6. 

Raphael Epstein fought valiantly in his match winning in an extremely close tie-breaker 9-8 (7-4).

- Saul Muscatel

Grade 8 Section 4 Maccabi 2-4-40 defeated by Berwick
Gilad Nagar/ Lachie Zuker 3-6 6-3 (8-10)
Ryan Behr/ Steven Kleytman 6-2 6-1
Gilad Nagar 6-8
Ryan Behr 2-8
Lachie Zuker 3-8
Steven Kleytman 8-0

Tough competition today against Berwick. Just ahead after doubles, Lachie & Gilad going down by the narrowest of margins, we couldn’t match them in singles, claiming only 1 rubber. Gilad fought hard, and got within a point to even the match 7-7, but the young gun held his nerve. Lachie and Ryan were outplayed by solid hard-hitting players, whereas Steve cruised to victory. Today, Steve was the highlight, dropping only 3 games in a one-sided affair. We welcome our star #1 player Ilay from next week.

- Ryan Behr

Grade 9 Section 3 Maccabi 1-1-31 defeated by BLTC White 5-7-56

Nathan Rapoport/ Daniel Goodrich 5-7 1-6
Joel Rabinov/ Wayne Myers  3-6 2-6
Joel Rabinov 8-6
Nathan Rapoport 7-9
Daniel Goodrich 3-8
Wayne Myers 2-8

Away at the BLTC en tout cas today, we went in with the same successful pairings as last week.

Daniel and Nathan got out of the blocks early for a 4-0 lead. They had chances to close out the set at 5-2, however it all went downhill from there as the opposition ran away with it for 5-7, 1-6 result.

Joel and Wayne had a slow start at 0-4 before getting into the match, getting it closer for 3-6. 2nd set was on serve at 2all, before being broken for 2-6.

Joel played against a hard hitting opponent (someone who we have seen many times over the last decade). Down 0-2, got the match on his terms for 4-2 and had many chances for the break for 5-2 but couldn't get it. Joel (still in winter 2023 form and in the zone forogt the new rules) thought he blew serving for the set at 5-4 and 6-5. Fortunately had no issue with serving out the match at 7-6 for a 8-6 win.

Wayne was playing another youngster: and at 2all seemed to be in the match. However his opponent ran away with the win (2-8).

Daniel just coulnd't get going, losing 2-8.

Nathan played in the highest quality match of the day, with some gruelling rallies. However it went from 2all to 2-7 with the opponent lifting his game (as well as Nathan dropping balls too short or down the middle). However Nathan got back into the attacking mindset to level it at 7all. Unfortunately ran out of gas in a 7-9 loss.

Overall: This BLTC side always have our number. Beaten us 6-0 and 5-1 18 months ago. Just a matchup issue for us. We knew their weaknesses, just didn't play well enough to expose them (Wayne and I probably only made the #2 hit 2 backhands- and we won that point). Plus 1st serve % and returns are key: Wayne and I did neither in doubles. But we hope to get our season back on track next week.

Grade 10 Section 3 BYE

Grade 10 Section 4 Maccabi 0-0-6 defeated by Berwick 6-8-56

Riley Brick/ Jacob Nathan 0-6 0-6
Stephen Kleid/ George Mehl 1-6 2-6
Riley Brick 0-8
Stephen Kleid 3-8
Jacob Nathan 0-8
George Mehl 0-8

Outclassed and a learning curve for our inexperienced team.

 - Stephen Gorenstein