August 10, 2018 – Team RDUTennis secured the #1 seed for the Raleigh Pro League Playoffs with a 3-1 victory over Team Brier Creek Orthodontics. After rain outs the past two attempts to hold a match at Brier Creek Country Club, the weather was perfect and the club did an excellent job of hosting. Although the home team did not get the victory, the Brier Creek crowd enjoyed a fun evening of tennis and socializing.
Team RDUTennis scored first as Brian Rosenthal and Jon Stokke won the Men’s 1 court over Chris Fletcher and IB Ilesamni 6-1 7-6. In a match that looked like it would be a blow-out, Fletcher/Ilesamni fought hard in the second set to force a tiebreak. But, Rosenthal/Stokke won the big points and took the tiebreak 7-4. Team RDUTennis went up 2 courts to none as their Women’s team of Macy Fisher and Liz Speicher came back from losing the 1st set 4-6 to handily winning the 2nd 6-1 and taking the 3rd set tiebreak 10-5 over Tiffany Selvaggio and Jenny Green.
The crowd moved to the upper courts as the Men’s 2 and Mixed courts were going strong. At the Men’s 2, Team Brier Creek Ortho’s David Chermak and Phillip Cardella dropped the 1st set 3-6 to Will Rollinson and Praveen Chandrasekhar, but came back to take the 2nd 6-3 and force the 3rd set tiebreak. Chermak/Cardella hung tough to take the tiebreak 10-6 to give Team Brier Creek Ortho a point. With Team RDUTennis up 2 courts to 1, it came down to the Mixed court to see if Team Brier Creek Ortho could win it and force a Captain’s Choice Super-Tiebreak. Team RDUTennis’ Chloe Smith and Jon Davis won the 1st set 6-4, but Team Brier Creek Ortho’s Erin Faulkner and Ben Glass fought back to win the 2nd in a tiebreak. In the 3rd set tiebreak Smith/Davis pulled away early and won 10-5 to seal the team victory for RDUTennis.
By winning 3 courts and getting a point for the team win, RDUTennis moved ahead of Team Mosquito Authority to secure the number 1 seed for the Playoffs next week.