The Frosty Hollow Freeze 2017 Home Opener:
NERC @ Frosty Hollow Freeze:
It was the 2017 Home Opener for the Frosty Hollow Freeze on somewhat a chilly and gusty afternoon. The Freeze welcomed team NERC from Mill Creek for a home opening tennis affair. After warm-ups, the players laced up their shoes a bit tighter and stepped onto the match courts. With the home crowd setting up court side in their seats, you could almost smell the excitement getting ready to begin at the home opener. The players were ready, the fans were ready, the tennis balls were ready, and the first serve was ready for striking. Oh yeah.
The Frosty Hollow Freeze 2017 Home Opener Lineup was put in with an exclamation point! While the chant, “Go Freeze Go” echoed through the crowd, the lineups were being presented. Your 1st Singles player, Ian Blackman! Your 2nd Singles player, Shawn Gallagher! Your 1st Doubles pair, Dmitry Belov and Bob Hawley! Your 2nd Doubles pair, Ashish Patel and Eric Ulzinow! Your 3rd Doubles Pair, Lance Shaffer and Mark Shaffer! The home crowd cheers!
The NERC team from Mill Creek was not too pleased about the crowd noise. The Freeze love playing in front of their rowdy and loud crowd. Ian Blackman started the Freeze off with 5 points and then celebrated in his nice new ride. Shawn Gallagher belted in 4 points and kept the NERC team trying to claw for some points.
Heading over to the Doubles courts, you had Dmitry Belov and Bob Hawley. Belov, making his Frosty Hollow Freeze debut and paired with Hawley teamed up pleasantly to score 6 points and made their opponents miserable. Another Doubles pair, Lance Shaffer and Mark Shaffer pulled out 3 points on a very physical court. Patel and Ulzinow came in with their finishing touch to add 4 more points for the team in good manner.
The Freeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeze win! Team NERC defeated! It was a stunning shutout; 22-0! A job well done! The Freeze head out on a road swing next and are going to try to continue their winning ways. They want their fans to continue to make noise and be that crowd where other teams don’t like to play in front of at any place. As the crowd chants; Go FREEZE Go!
Also; The Carlos Araujo Show, aired on ESPN 5 (el Cinco) on Saturday night:
Hello again aficionados of the Freeze, this is Carlos reporting on the match played against the Nercs (or Narcs) from Mill Creek. The show has moved to ESPN 5 (el Cinco) to celebrate Mexican something day.
In the second match of the season, the Freeze seems to be ready to steamroll the opposition. On a cloudy overcast day, the Freeze opened up a can of whoop ass on our rivals. To start, 1st singles, Ian (one half of the M&M boys) Blackman, again had no trouble with his opponent. Cool, calm and round, he efficiently destroyed his rival winning in two sets. 2nd singles Shawn (the other M&M boy) Gallagher, finally took an ex-lax to avoid the indigestion that plagued him last week and quickly disposed of his rival in two sets. His opponent melted in the court not in his hands.
As far as the doubles matches, 1st doubles, Bob (el flaco) Hawley and Dmitry (the terminator) Belov said hasta la vista Baby to their counterparts in two sets. The crowd was mildly surprised that Bob was actually able to jump (about one inch) and put an overhead smash away. Dmitry, with his icy stare, finally put the match away with a winning forehand. When asked if he can play next week, his response was “I’ll be back”.
In the 2nd doubles match, Ashish (Teddy Graham) Patel and Eric (The Viking) Ulzinow, decided to play baseball instead of tennis, as least in the first set. It looked like they had a bet on who was going hit the fence more times than the other. However, once they began to play tennis, the match was over. By flashing great serves and passing strokes, Team Nabisco won the next two sets. Teddy Graham Patel finished the match with an Ace. Way to go.
Finally, 3rd doubles match, was also an exciting affair, as Team Langosta was taken to three sets before completing the sweep. In the initial set, Lance (Langostino) Shaffer was dicing and slicing to the delight of the crowd and Mark (Papa Lobster) Shaffer (or grinder) depending on your point of view was controlling the sidelines with deep strokes that kept the opposition at bay. In the second set, things changed to their chagrin, but in the third set Team Grinder (or Lobster) depending on your point of view, quickly regained control and put the match away. The Lobster grinded the other team like parmesan cheese.
Overall, the sweep seemed like one of many to come. The Freeze iced the opposition from the beginning. The Nercs were annoyed as the home crowd was noisy and rambunctious. One player asked for the crowd to silence, complaining he couldn’t hear the ass-kicking being handed to them. Team captain Nadine (Super Mom) Shaffer and number one fan Heather really put forth an All-Star lineup.
Until next time, I pity the fool who decides to take on Freeze. Carlos signing off.