Bentleague Blog – 8/27/26 Match Recap
Crazy Eyed Starfish3@Spin Seekers3
Line 1 · Singles
1ptRudy P Kalman vs. Tony Priola
6-2, 6-2
Spin Seekers
Swami's take: Actually, 6-2, 6-1, and it wasn't even that close. You could tell revenge was on Lil Nadal's mind after the fluke loss last year to RuPaul in the Young Guns challenge match. Walking out to MC Hammer's Can't Touch This proved prophetic. Word on the street is that RuPaul could not sleep prior to the match focusing on a potential match up with his idol Barney Rubble (Shane). Lack of focus and proved to be his downfall against the crafty veteran. ~30-year age difference be damned. RuPaul won't soon forget this shellacking.
Line 2 · Doubles
1ptEd Dauterive / John Allen vs. Shane McCarthy / Jay Butcher
7-6, 3-6, 1-0
Spin Seekers
Swami's take: Highly competitive. As predicted, SS line 1 is formidable and Dr. Death came out a little rusty. Starfish sure did miss Tricky, but JA held his own as the steal of the draft in round 4. Keep an eye on top tier talent of Spin Seekers. Will continue to surprise and rack up W's.
Line 3 · Doubles
1ptJohn Hearn / Dave McGuirevsGreg Gorden / Ray Brouillette
3-6, 7-5, 0-1
Crazy Eyed Starfish
Swami's take: Hitman Hearns and the Unofficial Mayor of Mandeville are a tough out that's for sure. Expected a little better from the SS Twosome though. TSTB a little anti-climatic. Too inconsistent. Hitman was the difference in the end. Surprising power and consistency. Foresee a tight battle with Lil Nadal in his future.
Line 4 · Doubles
1ptJoey Dunbar / Robert GroeneveldvsAndrew McQuaid / Greg Eckholdt
1-6, 6-1, 0-1
Crazy Eyed Starfish
Swami's take: Interesting scores for the first two sets. Starfish twosome must have made some needed adjustments to throttle Big Burrito and Doc Eck so convincingly in the 2nd and third. Swami loves Joey Dubbs across his line (even though he KMA two points a couple of years ago) and predicts an MVP type of year in that sixth-round draft spot.
Line 5 · Doubles
1ptCayman Sinclair / Danny ButlervsJavier Rodriguez / Sid Hauptmann
3-6, 6-1, 1-0
Spin Seekers
Swami's take: Great win for Spin Seekers captain and Javier. Left the Starfish duo shaking their heads. That forehand from Senor' Sid is lethal. Seen some great battles with Cannon Cayman. JRod activity at the net was the difference. Just a tad better than the other Butler brother down the stretch.
Line 6 · Doubles
1ptKeith Laterrade / Chris Coincon vs. Kevin Phayer / Bentley Harvey
6-2, 6-2
Crazy Eyed Starfish
Swami's take: Enjoy the line 6 gift Smiley. Hopefully you be moving up the pecking order in future matches. Nice pairing with Reply all Chris Crossaint. Crossaint's consistency allowed LaterTIDE to roam free at the net. Sess got this one right at least. Team may not forgive him for his singles choice but this one proved worthy. Big question now is will Old Knees Harvey get a W this year. Word on the street is that Jeff Thompson may get more wins than Old Knees. Swami has faith. Just hope the KOD moniker don't stick. May need someone with their original hips as a partner moving forward. Burgess maybe?
String Theory1@Lil Bougie and the Ball Busters5
2026-08-277:00 PMcomplete
Line 1 · Singles
1ptDonald AllenvsMitch Tucker
6-4, 4-6, 1-0
Lil Bougie and the Ball Busters
Swami's Take: Both teams left a lot of quality singles players on their bench. Kudos to Lil Boosie for outsmarting the Acountant in week 1. Swami, personally would have liked to see Russ play Addison. Seems Bentleague has an issue with playing top tier talent against top tier talent. No offense, Rehash and Mitch. Just not the match up we were looking for. Knowing most would try to avoid Russ, Kenny pulls off master bait and switch and subs in Svelte Mitch. MDB closes it out in three to the dismay of the Donald.
Line 2 · Doubles
1ptMark Fair / Addison MelanconvsEddie Burdette / Russell Anderson
7-6, 6-2
Lil Bougie and the Ball Busters
Swaimi's take: One of the best first sets witnessed in Bentleague history. A lot of great points with high-quality rallies. As suspected, the Ego will have to round into form to challenge at line 1 consistently. And the use of the word round was intentional. The Cruiser (Eddie) more than held his own. Although the gap is narrowing, Russ (not to be confused with Russell) is still Bentleague's top tier. 2nd set was competitive, but losing that first set took the wind out of String Theory's sails.
Line 3 · Doubles
1ptMax Agnew / Chris KobrockvsMike Lane / Jack Ellis
7-6, 6-3
String Theory
Swami's take: Great pairing by the Accountant here. Fabio Agnew may be the perfect partner for I need to take a Kobrock. Word on the street is that Chris could not have played any better. At least he played better than he did at mixed State. Forsee this pairing creating havoc for others in subsequent rounds.
Line 4 · Doubles
1ptRonald Regouffre / Robby Economides vs. Mark Ferrer / Matt Dean
6-2, 4-6, 1-0
Lil Bougie and the Ball Busters
Swami's take: Teams better start practicing 10 pointers. Fan Favorite Regouffre (Cheech) had the crowd on his side but could not sustain 2nd set success. Dino and One Unplugged won the key points when it mattered most. Dino was especially good in the first and third and let's not count out FerrMagic. No one better to have in your fox hole as long as you don't take his third ball away while serving. Red Bull Robby and Goof put up a valiant fight...ie. They played good but evidently not good enough to secure the W.
Line 5 · Doubles
1ptDoug Dillon / Hal NietzchmanvsGarrett Phillippi / Mike Messa
6-2, 6-0
Lil Bougie and the Ball Busters
Swami's take. Ouch. Not often Hairy Hal loses 2 and Oh. Everyone was high on Marshal Dillion prior to week 1. Heard a lot about high value in that 12th spot. Jury is still out, but that twosome for Lil Bougie can be a tough riddle to solve. The Cerebral Cuban just what G-Money needed to offset his net game deficiencies. Spectators lost interest early so that's enough recap too.
Line 6 · Doubles
1ptKeith West / Bob Brown vs. Jack Blossman / Lou Bonnett
7-6, 4-6, 1-0
Lil Bougie and the Ball Busters
Swami's take: This is how you close out the first Thursday night of Bentleague. Crowd surrounding last match on the courts, and clock ticking towards 9:30pm. Would this be the first match not to finish and require a continuation on a subsequent night. Did this fact affect Wild Wild West's net play late in the TSTB. Swami knows Jaybo will always give his team a chance to win, but he was very impressed with Sweet Lou's consistency. Glad I didn't have money on this one. Would have bet the house on String Theory with that 8-7 lead in the TSTB. Never would have predicted Keith would miss three straight into the net at that stage of the match. Someone please do a wellness check on Rudy and Keith before this week's matches. Bob (not the one married to Whitney) Brown held steady in his debut. But, close only counts in horseshoes and hand grenades so back to the drawing board String Theory. Was the data algorithm faulty or did the team just not perform while their captain was vacationing. Tune in this week to find out!