Rossmoor Tennis Club

located in Walnut Creek, California

Text Size
Thu, Mar 28, 2024

A bright sunny Saturday April 14 saw Rossmoor Tennis Club [RTC] put up a great fight but ultimately succumb to a fine team from The Villages in San Jose.

A grateful RTC team would like to put a special thanks to Carol Pillsbury and Margaret Lockwood who hung tough at Womens 4th Doubles.  They soldiered on when everyone had finished.  Ultimately, they held out in a second set tie break to win their match 2-0 against some fierce opposition.

As a result RTC lost 10-14 overall, a much more respectable score than apparent earlier in the meet.

The Good.  RTC had some notable wins:

  • Sherry Endicott and Becky Reiss won a very exciting match at Womens #1 6-4, 6-2.  This one had a large crowd on tenterhooks in a very close match where RTC won some critical points with excellent placement and tactics
  • Mike and Eppie Ying cruised through at Mixed Doubles #4, winning 6-0, 6-1 before the team reporter / photographer even got to their court for pictures.  Eppie was in a hurry to help with lunch!
  • Allan Tam and Chris Christopher at Mens #3 played with agility, consistency and precision to overcome the captain of The Villages and his partner 6-4, 6-4.  Obviously close.

The Middle Ground.

  • Larry Barclay and Dave Hickey swapped sets 6-3, 3-6 at Mens #1 against a tough team that finally worked out how to create an advantage at the net against our very strong, more baseline focused team.
  • Rog Artley and Nick Abdolhosseini at Mens #4 won their first set with agility and tennis slight of hand.   Both are creative about where they place the ball but their opponents came back to pressure them into another draw.  Score: 7-6, 1-6.

The Not So Good.  Elsewhere there were some tough losses for RTC, some close and some not so close:

  • Mixed #2: Mark Patterson and Cinnamon Renvall lost 1-6, 2-6 in a match that looked closer than the score suggested.  Some think Cinnamon was focused on helping with lunch and Mark on his job as Grill Meister at the barbecue.
  • Mixed #3: Judy Corliss and Dave Corliss fought hard with Judy's consistency and Dave creative shot making but lost 2-6, 4-6
  • Mens #2: Dave Kern and Mike Kiefer took an early trip to the shower as Mike from the Villages jumped onto every overhead and shot at the net.  "Wow, you missed one" said a shocked Dave Kern half way through the second set. 1-6, 0-6.  Great early lunch!
  • Womens #2: Jacki Rideau and Mary Jane Kiefer found themselves against a dominant team at the net, completely switched tactics to use lobs very effectively in the second set and almost puled back.  They went down 1-6, 6-7.
  • Womens #3: Eileen Plotkin and Poppy Tanner raced around the court, hit as many net cord shots as possible but lost 2-6, 2-6
  • Mixed #1: Shari Wiseman and Eugene Orvalle simply ran into a tough team losing 0-6, 3-6.

A special thanks to Rowena Slee, Head of the Food and Beverages Department for breakfast and lunch.  Getting together such a fine spread for almost 70 people requires a lot of work.  Her able lead assistants Cinnamon and Mark were helped by Carol Pillsbury, Eppie Ying and several others.  Mark Patterson made beautiful patterns on the chicken and apple sausages using his skills on the barbecue.  Both Mark and Dave Kern ran up and down the hill ferrying supplies back and forth on golf carts.

Also special thanks to Sally Nordwall, master scorekeeper, for keeping us all organized.

The Villages brought a fine team.  Congratulations.  Watch out in October.

Your tournament captain, Chris Slee.