With Lexington Woods three points ahead of us after week 5, now it was our turn to try to play catch-up, and we almost succeeded. In fact, we fell only one point short. The final weekend was amazing: At Belmont, our guys took all five, with three of the points coming in close matches. Meanwhile, at Lexington Woods, last place Dunmoor gave the first place team all they could handle, winning one of the 9:00 matches (the #5 spot, which was played early), then going three sets in all three of the matches that followed. Had they won one of those matches, Lexington Woods would have finished the season in second place, but Lexington Woods ultimately won all three of them.

So, we missed out on the cheap Division Winner bagtag, but the coveted pewter plate was still within reach, and we liked our chances. This had been a very strong division (and that wasn't just my opinion -- other captains had the same thing to say about the teams in this group), yet we had finished a solid second and beaten the division winner in the head-to-head match. The possibility that we could sneak in as a second place team didn't seem so far-fetched.

For the first round of the playoffs, we drew Aberdeen, the B-2 team with the highest point count during the regular season. Aberdeen dominated their division, and even their 31-4 record was a little misleading, as three of their four losses were due to forfeits or injury withdrawals. Undaunted, we went the distance with them -- we won at #1 and #3, and, when the #4s split sets, the match came down to one set. Aberdeen won that set with a break at 5-4 to advance to round 2.

Aberdeen won their round 2 and semifinals matches without losing a set. (Their win in the semifinals was against a team from Brickton Station, who eliminated Lexington Woods in their round 2 match.) That set the stage for a dramatic City Finals at the Stone Mountain Tennis Center, pitting Aberdeen against a team from Avocet. I was at that match, along with co-captain Gordy Hamilton, and here's my report on what transpired:

Last weekend at the Stone Mountain Tennis Center, Aberdeen lost the City Finals to a team from Avocet, 30-5 during the regular season. It was quite a tense match. Avocet won the #1s quickly, then beat Aberdeen's previously unbeaten #2s in three sets, coming back from 5-3 down in the third set to win it. Aberdeen's #2s were the same pair that beat our #2s decisively, so seeing this seemingly unbeatable team go down was quite a surprise to informed spectators Gordy Hamilton and me.

With a 2-0 lead in matches, Gordy and I didn't see how Avocet could have any trouble winning the city now -- our #3s had beaten the same Aberdeen #3s easily, and our match at #4 had been close. However, at #3 Aberdeen lost the first set but won the second in a controversial tie breaker (with a disputed line call on a point Aberdeen won), then took the third set.

Meanwhile, the #4s split sets and in the third Aberdeen ran out to a 5-2 lead. They had two chances to serve it out, but Avocet broke both times to even the match at 5-all. Then Aberdeen broke back and finally held a game to win it.

So, it came down to the #5 spot. Now Gordy and I were thinking there was no way Aberdeen could lose. We knew how good Aberdeen's team #5 team was, and we had the Aberdeen captain's own comments that his #5s regularly beat the #3s in practice. Aberdeen's #5s got off to a slow start and lost the first set but won the second easily by controlling the net and volleying well. Since Avocet's #5s were spending a lot of time in the backcourt, it looked like the third set would be no contest, but Avocet's #5s played the pressure-packed final set with more composure and won it.