PLAYOFF SEMIFINAL:  MOUNTAIN VIEW AT OAKLAND-THURSDAY, FEBRUARY 22, 2007

By Shashin Shodhan

Oakland looked to stamp their dominance in the league with another convincing victory but Sean Lee and Mountain View came to challenge their domination.  Oakland's Freddie Gabriel was not 100% in health and so did not play in this playoff match but Oakland, this season, has been winning even when their ace Gabriel was not present.  Did their regular season dominance continue in the postseason?  Oakland still presented a formidable lineup with Jackie Lee, Avishy Schmidt, and Parry Husbands.  Along with Sean Lee, Mountain View brought Henry Sit and Joey Hu to Oakland.

Henry Sit (Mountain View) vs Parry Husbands (Oakland)

Parry Husbands was his cool, calm self this match where as Henry Sit was very pumped up and playing with a lot of energy.  This worked in Parry's favor as the game ended with a Henry missed serve at 10-4.  Henry continued his aggressive play in the second game but this time, his forehand loops landed on the table.  Parry was playing a steady, slow-spin game.  Game 2 to Henry to tie up this opening match at 1-1.  Henry stayed pumped up in the third and fourth game but Parry proved to be too steady for Henry.  Parry said after the match "I focused on attacking into his backhand and basically to attack first."  Oakland is now up 1-0 in this best of seven playoff match.

Sean Lee (Mountain View) vs Jackie Lee (Oakland)

The opening game has both players playing a lot of short balls and a lot of backhand-backhand rallies.  Jackie Lee escapes with a 14-12 first game win.  When the score was close near the end of the second game, Sean Lee slowly looped and then flipped on consecutive points and Jackie netted both as Sean did not put any spin on the ball.  Sean carried the confidence he gained from the second game win into the third game and found himself up 2-1.  Jackie totally dominated the fourth game leading 9-1 before winning 11-5 and did not allow Sean Lee to get in with his strong forehand.  Jackie played more down-the-line in the fifth game and it worked to give her a 11-8 fifth game win.  Oakland survived their toughest match and now is up 2-0 and in control of this playoff battle.

Joey Hu (Mountain View) vs Avishy Schmidt (Oakland)

Joey was warming up forehand loops during warm-ups which was a sight no one present had ever seen before as Joey was a counterdriver and smasher who rarely, if at all, looped.  Avishy Schmidt unleashed a barrage of winners in this match with Joey's serve returns being the main reason that he was able to win one deuce game.  Avishy won relatively comfortably 3-1 to put Oakland up 3-0 in this playoff match.

Sean Lee/Joey Hu (Mountain View) vs Avishy Schmidt/Jackie Lee (Oakland)

Both teams have played only one doubles match this season with both teams coming out the victor.  As dominant as Oakland has been this season with their closest match being a hard-fought 4-2 win against the Concord Cheetahs, Oakland has been as dominant in doubles play without a doubles loss on their record.  Sean Lee and Joey Hu put up a good fight in this match but Jackie and Avishy prove to be the better team with a 3-0 victory at 11-8, 11-8, 15-13.

Oakland, as expected, is now in the league finals and will now await the victor between San Francisco and Concord.