JEDDAH: The Samahang Pinoy Tennis Club (SPTC) reeled-off to its first in-house tournament for the year 2011, in collaboration with the King Abdulaziz Tennis Club (KAUHTC) with four teams fighting out in a two cross-over ranking matches to determine the top two finishers to advance for a showdown in the championship game. Dubbed as SPTC-KAUHTC Pinoy Send-off Games in dedication to the departing colleague and long-time member, Narcing Del Socorro, who will be leaving the Kingdom soon on final exit. The tournament will be in a team tennis format consisting of five doubles pairs in each team and will be played in the King Abdul Aziz University tennis courts, with the finals to be held in Trio Ranch courts. The opening salvo of the games was won by team SPTC-Chet against the SPTC-Uly B team at 3-2. SPTC-Chet team captain Ramil Abdua and Dan lost a gallant effort to partners Tahir and Irwan 7-8. Not losing hope, Amin Paraji and Rommel outplayed Vic Alvaran and Ali Callanta 8-1 to level the score at 1-1. The third set was then taken by Arthur and Zaldy with a 8-5 win over Jun Tomas and Osman. The fourth set was again taken by Al-Nijar Jarawi and Ron against Cesar Quilenderino and Mahdi at 8-2 to win the set and settle the match 3-1. Playing for points, Chet Bautista and Rading Bautista lost 3-8 to the pair of Manny Bato and Matoori to set the final score at 3-2 for team SPTC-Chet. On court 2, SPTC-Estong sealed the match 3-1 with still one set to be played by winning over KAUH-Narcing. Oca Lovitos and Ben Micu of team SPTC-Estong marked its presence by edging Alan Pernia and Robby Manginsay 8-7. In the second set, it was time for KAUH-Narcing to tie the score at 1-1 with Kerwin and Adi Olegario winning 8-6 over Gary Bautro and Ellie Baltar. The third set was controlled by SPTC-Estong's Romy Sorra and Roger Gonzales when they outsteadied Pio Coronado and Cizzner Carascal to chalk an 8-4 victory. The fourth set was likewise taken by SPTC-Estong as its pair of Rolly Bautista and Lito Bentulan carved a hard-fought 8-5 win over Narcing Del Socorro and Julius Garcia. The fifth set was deferred due to the no-show of both teams players and was re-scheduled to the next playing day. The next round will be a cross-over match between the winners against the losers to determine the top two teams in the tournament. Which in turn will then battle it out for the championship. The tournament is organized and managed by SPTC through the chairmanship of Corly Obtinalla with support from its secretary Ellie Baltar and Marlon Pagsanjan. __
