After day 1 of the 40 & over 4.0 Nationals, most of the favorites were doing well but there was one upstart. So who made the semis?
Upstart Hawaii was 2-0 after day 1 and just needed to win 1 court today to advance, but they went out and won 3-2 to go 3-0 and 11-4 on courts. They are on to the semis tomorrow.
The other team that was well ahead in their flight was Pacific Northwest. They only needed to win 2 courts to advance, but they won 5-0 to take any drama out of it and finished 3-0/13-2.
Next, Southern was not able to pull the upset losing 3-2, meaning Mid-Atlantic went 3-0/9-6 advancing to the semis.
Last, in the 5 team flight it came down to the last match. After losing a close first match 3-2, Midwest came back and won 2 straight to give themselves a shot as they played Texas in the last match of the day. To aid their chances, Texas had to go back to back playing Southern Cal who was still in it immediately before playing Midwest. Texas beat SoCal meaning Midwest had a shot if they could win 4-1. Alas, Texas won 3-2, but two of the wins were in match tie-breaks so it was close, and they pulled off a 4-0/14-6 record to get to the semis.
Looking back at how I handicapped the flights, Texas was the favorite and they won. Mid-Atlantic was a clear favorite and they won. PNW was a clear favorite and they won. The only upset came when Hawaii rated third in their flight played above their ratings and beat out Northern. So, either Hawaii was underrated, possible given they are on an island and don't have rounds of playoffs to beef of their ratings with, or they just stepped up and played better than expected.
So, what do the ratings say for the semis? Look for that preview shortly.
No comments:
Post a Comment