In a remarkable season, all five Maccabi adult teams finished in the top four and qualified for the finals. There was great hope and optimism. However, none of them were able to progress to the Grand Final in a heartbreaking end to the season.
Section 3 Maccabi 2-3-38 defeated by Ormond 4-6-49
Jordan Jaffe 2-8
Steven Gostin 3-8
Geoff Rosenberger 2-8
Marty Schwarz 8-2
Gostin/Schwarz 5-7 2-6
Jaffe/Rosenberger 6-2 4-6 6-2
Jordan’s experienced opponent played the en tous cas surface to perfection. Driving the ball, slicing where necessary and volleying precisely. He caused Jordan way too many headaches and was far too crafty.
Steve played a youngster. Steve’s serving was off badly, but he managed to regroup to take an early lead. Unfortunately his opponent was very consistent and very patient, and slowly worked out which balls to play aggressively.
Down 02, Geoff and Marty were on next. Geoff’s opponent looked like a gym junkie, amazingly fit and strong. And when a few early balls were overhit, this looked to play into Geoff’s game. But alas, things turned sour again as his opponent found his range (especially on the backhand side). Geoff lacking the required intensity lost 6 games in quick succession to lose the match.
Marty played the weakest player and dismantled him in the manner we required. Some long and intense rallies, Marty holding strong to give our team a glimmer of hope.
Marty/Steve’s 1st set agonisingly close and many missed opportunities. Unfortunately it was one sided in the 2nd set (against us). Jordan/Geoff were both fired up to make amends in the doubles and they started brilliantly taking the 1st set relatively easily. The 2nd set was also theirs for the taking. The 3rd set was somewhat irrelevant (due to the scores on the other court). However, both pairings decided to complete the match and at least we salvaged a rubber, the last for the season. Whilst it would have been nice to make the grand final, we were certainly not in the best 2 teams and a 4th place finish is probably a fair reflection of our team.
- Geoff Rosenberger
Section 4 Maccabi 2-2-37 defeated by Airdrie Park 4-6-51
Jonny Henquin 2-8
Saul Muscatel 3-8
Jan Tenenberg 8-3
Ryan Behr 8-6
Jonny Henquin/ Marcus Frajman 2-6 6-7
Jan Tenenberg/Ryan Behr 3-6 5-7
A strong season came to an end in the semi-finals. All of our players gave it their all. Jan and Ryan played well to win their singles matches. Jonny was well beaten by the best player in our section, a player that is yet to taste defeat this season. Saul was affected by an arm complaint. It was 2-2 after singles but unfortunately neither Maccabi pair could apply enough pressure. Special mention to Arvid (who has been injured all season) for being there to support us.
- Marcus Frajman
Section 6 Maccabi 3-4-44 defeated by Kings Park 3-5-57
Ilay Givoni 2-8
Aaron Kramer 8-7
Daniel Henquin 8-5
Anthony Murray 5-8
Ilay Givoni/Aaron Kramer 3-6 3-6
Adam Needleman/Daniel Henquin 1-6 7-5 10-2
Ilay played an opponent in red hot recent form and he was also not playing at the level he is capable of. Aaron was simply a brick wall. In a terrific effort in his first adult final he simply kept the pressure up and despite being down 5-7 his opponent eventually cracked. Daniel brings true competitive spirit to every contest and played a guy who had a big game. There was concern but Daniel showed his typical pluck to win his service game to love and complete a meritorious victory. Anthony played a very smart opponent who has won every game this season and played every game. However, in the battle of the two lefties , Anthony used all his experience and made him work incredibly hard.
In the number one pairing Ilay and Aaron played an aggressive pair and made them work but just could not get on top at any stage of the match. Going down in straight sets but a solid effort. Daniel and Adam started off with the tactics that worked against this pair last time om our home courts. They were smashed in a very fast first set and needed to re-adjust with some new tactics. Managed to do this and get the win after regaining the momentum and starting to dominate.
Overall, a very solid effortIn years to come the club will point to this match as the day the clubs best prospect in a very long time has been discovered in Aaron Kramer. Along with the slightly older super talent in Ilay Givoni the club has a lot to look forward to and I am grateful to all in the team who made this season so enjoyable.
- Adam Needleman
Section 8 Maccabi 1-1-35 defeated by Highmoor Uniting 4-6-54
Nathan Rapoport 6-3
Joel Rabinov 3-8
Yonatan Sirkis 8-7
Daniel Vertes 4-8
Rabinov/Sirkis 3-6 3-6
Rapoport/Vertes 3-6 5-5
Played at Coastesville on windy and dry courts, we had 2 courts for the singles.
Joel just couldn't get into the match against a flat hitter. Though down 1-4, got back to 3-4 and had a short ball in middle of the court on the forehand for 4all before copping a howler of a bounce that changed the match, going down 3-8.
Nathan played well and was ahead for most of his match against a leftie. However his opponent got back to 5all before Nathan played some poor games, gifting it away for a 6-8 loss.
Daniel played another flat hitter. He played well at times, however his opponent hit his backhand better than in any other time he has played against us and that was the difference, Daniel going down 4-8.
Yonatan had another slow start, down 2-6 before he finally stepped up his game, getting it to a tiebreak. His opponent then got out to a 6-2 lead with 4 match points (with everyone on edge as that would have ended the day) before his opponent imploded, Yonatan doing what he needed to do to claim the tieabreaker and onto the doubles.
Joel and Yonatan were in the match (and defintely the best they have played together). However, they just kept finding ways to lose games, going down 3-6, 3-6.
Nathan and Daniel had dropped the opening set 3-6 and with a lead in the 2nd set tried to close out the set, however they weren't able to and at 5all with the day decided, elected to call it a day.
After being 0-4 after our opening 4 rounds, the goal was to just get wins from there. We found our momentum and groove to win 6 in a row to make finals. But it wasn't to be. A pleasure to play with the boys: Yonatan's first season of pennant was a learning curve. Now we have time ahead of winter to finetune our games.
- Joel Rabinov
Section 9 Maccabi 2-3-45 defeated by Carmelite 4-5-47
Ben Pollak 6-8
Saul Jayes 5-8
Charlie Landau 5-8
Jack Stock 8-3
Ben Pollak/ Saul Jayes 6-2 6-4
Daniel Goodrich/ Akash Lagad 5-7 6-7
Unfortunately a very disappointing way to finish a great season. A BIG shout out to Jack for his awesome work in singles, keeping us in the tie with his singles win. Unfortunately, myself, Charlie and Saul couldn’t quite replicate his brilliant effort. Going into doubles we knew we had to win both and had our work cut out for us. Myself and Saul probably played our best doubles match of the season, especially Saul who volleyed superbly throughout the match. Unfortunately though, Daniel and Akash, although fought on courageously to give themselves chances after going down early in each set, they couldn’t quite close it out. Overall, obviously disappointing but we definitely take the positives out of the season and hopefully this will make it sweeter when we win the title next season.
- Ben Pollak