Teams

STL/Gontarz/Cheese 5: The Cheese Strikes Back

2025 Tri-Level 18 & Over · Men 3.5

11 players · average NTRP 4.25 / ST. LOUIS

View scouting list →
Schedule9 played
2025-10-06vs Hamliton/AbramsonWon 21
L#1 DoublesPaul Gontarz / Stefan Nosic vs Jason Ariston / Trevor Neale0-6, 6-1, 1-0
W#2 DoublesGenyl Rufino / Brendan Czaicki vs Kyle Feder / Charles Welton6-4, 6-2
W#3 DoublesSean Bracken / Smeet Merchant vs William Gregerson / Christopher Stark6-3, 6-3
2025-10-01vs SuperSmash Bros/PottebaumWon 21
W#1 DoublesStefan Nosic / Paul Gontarz vs CHRISTOPHER KRIEGER / Nathan Meinert6-3, 4-6, 1-0
L#2 DoublesPeter Gontarz / Alex Boker vs Michael Ho / Joel Pottebaum5-7, 3-6
W#3 DoublesHarold Nottingham / Smeet Merchant vs Paul Malcharek / Jeremy Brown6-1, 7-6
2025-09-22vs Breakpoint/SameerWon 30
W#1 DoublesPaul Gontarz / Stefan Nosic vs Philip Kammann / Paul Reiss6-3, 6-1
W#2 DoublesGenyl Rufino / Brendan Czaicki vs Steven Gibbons / Matthew Suddarth6-3, 6-1
W#3 DoublesHarold Nottingham / Matt Essman vs Bo Jin / Anthony Trent6-2, 6-1
2025-09-17vs Hamliton/AbramsonWon 21
W#1 DoublesPaul Gontarz / Joseph Hunter vs Guillaume Huchet / Jason Ariston6-4, 4-6, 1-0
W#2 DoublesGenyl Rufino / Brendan Czaicki vs Charles Welton / Malik Hagens6-3, 6-3
L#3 DoublesSmeet Merchant / Matt Essman vs Christopher Stark / Stuart Friess1-6, 4-6
2025-09-08vs SuperSmash Bros/PottebaumWon 21
W#1 DoublesPaul Gontarz / Stefan Nosic vs Scott Hornung / Nathan Meinert7-6, 6-2
L#2 DoublesAlex Boker / Brendan Czaicki vs Michael Ho / Sam Edwards5-7, 4-6
W#3 DoublesMatt Essman / Smeet Merchant vs Miles Yetter / Dave Heritage6-4, 6-3
2025-08-25vs Breakpoint/SameerLost 02
L#1 DoublesStefan Nosic / Joseph Hunter vs Rafay Cheema / Paul Reiss6-0, 2-6, 0-1
L#2 DoublesBrendan Czaicki / Peter Gontarz vs Steven Gibbons / Matthew Suddarth2-6, 6-3, 1-0
2025-08-18vs Hamliton/AbramsonWon 21
L#1 DoublesJoseph Hunter / Paul Gontarz vs Guillaume Huchet / Eric Abramson3-6, 6-4, 0-1
W#2 DoublesBrendan Czaicki / Genyl Rufino vs McKenzie Rawden / Malik Hagens6-4, 6-3
W#3 DoublesMatt Essman / Harold Nottingham vs William Gregerson / Stuart Friess6-3, 6-3
2025-08-11vs SuperSmash Bros/PottebaumWon 30
W#1 DoublesJoseph Hunter / Stefan Nosic vs Scott Hornung / CHRISTOPHER KRIEGER6-4, 7-5
W#2 DoublesAlex Boker / Brendan Czaicki vs Michael Ho / Stephen Barker6-4, 6-3
W#3 DoublesSmeet Merchant / Harold Nottingham vs Dave Heritage / Jeremy Brown6-1, 6-4
2025-08-04vs Breakpoint/SameerWon 21
W#1 DoublesStefan Nosic / Paul Gontarz vs Rafay Cheema / Zachary Plocher7-6, 6-7, 1-0
L#2 DoublesAlex Boker / Peter Gontarz vs Wesley Law / Steven Gibbons3-6, 7-6, 0-1
W#3 DoublesMatt Essman / Smeet Merchant vs Bo Jin / Matthew Frederick6-3, 6-4
A tie can be incomplete. Tell us if someone is missing.
i
Grouped by tie — one fixture, several lines. A line shows only when a player on it is someone we have indexed, so an early-season tie for a newly-added team can look short. This also means the line count here will not match the header, which counts individual player appearances.
Flight standings4 teams · Men 3.5
TeamWLInd. WInd. LSets lostGames lost
1STL/Gontarz/Cheese 5: The Cheese Strikes Back8119819209
2SuperSmash Bros/Pottebaum54141328241
3Hamliton/Abramson45151229230
4Breakpoint/Sameer1862147310

Ordered by team wins, then losses, then sets lost — the order USTA uses to seed a flight. Individual wins are lines, not ties.

See the full flight, with every team’s record

ScoutingWhere each opponent usually plays

Signed-in extra: whether this captain plays strict strength order or mixes it up, from every doubles line they have put out. Create a free account to see it.

Roster averages 3.69 estimated across 10 rated players. No lineup is published in advance, so the column below is where each player has actually been used — a captain's habits are the best available forecast. Sign in and claim your record to see who you have played.

3.95
Brendan Czaicki
usually #2 Doubles 100% · published 4.5
3.90
Paul Gontarz
usually #1 Doubles 88%, also #2 Doubles 13% · published
3.90
Stefan Nosic
usually #1 Doubles 100% · published
3.84
Alex Boker
usually #2 Doubles 67%, also #3 Doubles 17% · published 4
3.78
Genyl Rufino
usually #2 Doubles 100% · published
3.65
Matt Essman
usually #3 Doubles 100% · published
3.60
Harold Nottingham
usually #3 Doubles 100% · published
3.43
Smeet Merchant
usually #3 Doubles 100% · published
3.41
Peter Gontarz
usually #2 Doubles 100% · published
3.39
Sean Bracken
usually #3 Doubles 100% · published
Joseph Hunter
usually #1 Doubles 100% · published
Established pairs

Doubles pairs from this roster with three or more matches together anywhere — ordered by performance against what the rating gap predicted, not by record.

Genyl Rufino + Brendan Czaicki4162% games+10.6% vs expected
Paul Gontarz + Stefan Nosic281456% games+9.7% vs expected
Harold Nottingham + Matt Essman34862% games+5.2% vs expected
Joseph Hunter + Paul Gontarz10256% games+3.4% vs expected
Joseph Hunter + Stefan Nosic10655% games+3.0% vs expected
Peter Gontarz + Alex Boker224 matchesnot enough data
Alex Boker + Genyl Rufino033 matchesnot enough data
Smeet Merchant + Sean Bracken303 matchesnot enough data
Roster

Ordered by our estimated dynamic rating, which is why two players at the same published level are not tied — a published 4.0 says nothing about where inside the band someone sits. Lines played in this team’s season are shown beside each name.

4.5
Brendan Czaicki
59W–33L career · 7 lines in 2025
63%37%<1%
3.95
Paul Gontarz
188W–115L career · 8 lines in 2025
<1%<1%>99%
3.90
Stefan Nosic
140W–76L career · 7 lines in 2025
<1%<1%>99%
3.90
4
Alex Boker
48W–33L career · 6 lines in 2025
1%87%12%
3.84
Genyl Rufino
89W–76L career · 4 lines in 2025
<1%2%98%
3.78
Matt Essman
108W–38L career · 5 lines in 2025
<1%13%87%
3.65
Harold Nottingham
77W–31L career · 4 lines in 2025
<1%24%76%
3.60
Smeet Merchant
162W–98L career · 6 lines in 2025
<1%69%31%
3.43
Peter Gontarz
81W–70L career · 3 lines in 2025
<1%74%26%
3.41
Sean Bracken
33W–23L career · 1 line in 2025
<1%78%22%
3.39
Joseph Hunter
35W–17L career · 4 lines in 2025
not enough data

Three percentages are where each player stands right now: the chance they are below their band, inside it, or above it, on the way they are playing this season. The number on the right is our estimated dynamic rating, which USTA never publishes. This is today rather than a forecast of December, because a forecast has to assume future matches and cannot know whether someone will even be offered them. Percentages are blank where a player has too few matches this season, or at a level where the model does not yet beat a base-rate guess; the estimate is a weaker claim than a probability and survives where those do not.

Not affiliated with or endorsed by the USTA. Ratings labelled as published are USTA year-end figures; anything we describe as an estimate is ours, not USTA’s. Match data is from USTA TennisLink.