The entries in the Greevy cup this year were a bit disappointing, two of our regular Aiken players were unable to play one due to injury and the other was going to be out of town. So there were just the four of us battling it out. Rick Preston narrowly beat Dacre Stoker, who gave owe half 15, in a tight 3 set match: 6-5, 3-6, 6-3 while Ben Cook, gave owe half 15, beat Charlie Bostwick 6/2 6/1. In the finals Ben Cook, who owed ¼ 15 proved he is really improving every time he steps on the court and he beat Rick Preston 6/1 6/2.
The Noll Cup was better attended by Aiken players and out of town guests. Alex Spence from Boston beat Aikenite Bauer Vaughters love and love even though Bauer received a full 15. Ryan Carey proved just too strong for Ginny Goodyear with a 6/3 6/1 victory even tough Ginny received a full 15. Ed Hughes, candidate for comeback player of the year, beat Bill Blalock 6/3 3/6 6/3 in one of the most entertaining matches of the weekend. Ed also beat Tiger Riviere 6/1 6/5 to land him into the finals.
The other semi final was between Ryan Carey and Alex Spence, there were no handicap points between them and these two young guns held nothing back. There were plenty of hard hitting going on, Alex seemed to take better control of loose balls and either found openings or cut the ball into corners to force a Carey racket error. Had the net and dedans been 2 inches lower the score could easily had been very different. The score ended up 6/2 6/5 with plenty of aching elbows by spectators just imagining how it must feel to hit balls that hard!
In the final against Ed Hughes, Alex Spence showed he can play a more traditional game; he kept the ball down, moved Ed around the court, and served very well. Ed stuck with him for the first set, he played a wonderful controlled game, but in the end his fitness level was not quite there yet. Congratulations to Alex for the Noll Cup victory 6/4 6/1.
The consolation round was somewhat abbreviated due to a conflict by one player, so we decided to play it only from one side of the draw. Charlie Bostwick played a brilliant match against Bill Blalock, showing all of us that he is on the road back, he lodged a 6/0 6/0 victory to put him in the finals against Ginny Goodyear. This final was the most hotly contested match of the weekend. Charlie owed a full 15, he won the first set 6/3, Ginny roared back and won the second 6/5, Charlie closed out the match with a 6/3 third set.
All in all it was good to see quality singles being played in Aiken, something we have not had in the past. I feel that the impetus form this tournament will spurn us on to continue singles play which will assist us in confirming our handicaps online.
