|
by Christopher Gerby With a dramatic come-from-behind victory in St. Louis, the Schenectady County Electrics had evened their season mark at 4-4 and crept back into the World Team Tennis playoff picture. Nonetheless, the club had to pull out all the stops to draw a crowd for Monday night's home match against the Kansas City Explorers. It was declared "Family Night," with free ice cream handed out to all spectators during the fourth set. Even admission was free for anyone who'd bought a ticket to the team's previous match. These special incentives were required because neither lineup could boast a famous name. In fact, the rosters read more like the draw of a challenger event. The Explorers have been making do with a pair of doubles specialists (Jeff Coetzee and Alistair Hunt) and two young Americans (Jennifer Hopkins and Holly Parkinson). The Electrics, meanwhile, didn't even have Nicole Pratt, who's off playing in the WTA event at Stanford this week. Taking her place was Jolene Watanabe, who's been virtually living on the challenger circuit for the past decade. First set -- men's doubles: Haygarth/Hill vs. Coetzee/Hunt Australian Michael Hill opened the evening's first game with an ace and ended it with another ace. It was a sign of things to come -- 19 of the set's first 20 points went with serve! The stream of easy holds brought Schenectady to a 3-2 lead. That put the pressure on New Zealand-born Alistair Hunt, who surrendered the match's first break, double faulting twice in Game 6. Coetzee and Hunt have actually been the most successful men's doubles tandem in the league this season, but now they trailed 2-4 and had to face Brent Haygarth's strong serve. Haygarth drilled an ace for 15-0 and three points later clinched the set when a mis-hit return off Coetzee's racquet sailed wide. So ended a surprisingly rough set for the visiting Explorers. OVERALL SCORE: SCHENECTADY 5, KANSAS CITY 2 Second set -- men's singles: Michael Hill vs. Jeff Coetzee After shining in the doubles set, Mike Hill looked to continue the momentum in this matchup against Jeff Coetzee, a diminutive South African who hits with two hands off both sides. Coetzee got some national TV time last year when he and Eva Melicharova faced none other than John McEnroe and Steffi Graf at Wimbledon. He's otherwise had a low-profile career, though, and Hill pretty handily overpowered him on the way to a 3-1 lead. Coetzee then got into a 15-40 hole in his third service game and lost it when Hill smacked a winning cross-court backhand. The Explorers now found themselves being routed 4-1 in the set and 9-3 in the match. It didn't get much better in the following game. Hill squandered two set points, but made good on the third, rocketing in a questionable ace. The mild-mannered Coetzee apparently thought it was a fault, but all he did was quietly stare at the court for several moments before sadly walking to the Kansas City bench. OVERALL SCORE: SCHENECTADY 10, KANSAS CITY 3 Third set -- mixed doubles: De Villiers/Haygarth vs. Hopkins/Coetzee Two of the women finally made their debut in Set #3. Kansas City got off to a strong start, for a change, breaking Haygarth at love and adding a Coetzee hold for 2-0. Nannie de Villiers and Jennifer Hopkins were successful in their opening service games, the latter taking a 3-1 lead with an ace. Haygarth blasted a pair of aces himself in a hold for 2-3. Facing Coetzee's serve, Schenectady battled back from 40-0 to 40-40 (which in WTT's no-ad scoring is a sudden death "game point"). However, De Villiers netted a backhand volley, grimacing and bouncing her racquet as her team fell behind 2-4. Nannie held her own serve for 3-4, so it was up to 19-year-old Hopkins to serve out the set. She got to 30-30, but was handcuffed by good dipping returns on the next two points, losing her serve and tying the set at 4 games apiece. The tiebreak started promisingly for Schenectady, with Haygarth hitting back-to-back aces for a 2-0 lead. Their opponents got the next three points, though, Hopkins earning the first mini-break with a winning return. Winning service points from De Villiers and Hopkins made it 4-3 Kansas City, with Jennifer serving. She went to Nannie's forehand and the ensuing return just barely missed the corner. The Explorers take the tiebreak 5 points to 3 (and the set 5 games to 4). OVERALL SCORE: SCHENECTADY 14, KANSAS CITY 8 Fourth set -- women's singles: Jolene Watanabe vs. Holly Parkinson It was a case of youth versus experience as 31-year-old Jolene Watanabe took the court against Holly Parkinson, a relative pup at age 21. It was the youngster who struggled early, dropping serve in the set's first game. Parkinson clearly favors her forehand -- she was standing so far to the side on her service returns that she was practically begging Watanabe to test that wing. It was a real feast-or-famine stroke for her early on, though. Parkinson hit three wild forehand errors in the second game, a Watanabe hold for 2-0. Holly's struggles continued and she couldn't even count on her doubles partner to lend moral support -- Jenny Hopkins was out fetching frozen cappucinos for their male teammates! Games 3 and 4 each went to 40-40. The first was won by Watanabe when she ripped a forehand passing shot down the line. The second also went Jolene's way as Parkinson dumped a backhand volley in the net. As the players switched sides, Schenectady Couny held a commanding 4-0 lead in the set and an 18-8 edge in the match. Even though she's uncomfortable at the net and erratic with her groundstrokes, Holly Parkinson is a player with some potential and she finally began showing it. Since every game counts in World Team Tennis, Kansas City's spirits had to be buoyed a bit when Parkinson held serve for 1-4 and broke Watanabe for 2-4. The Maryland native also got the better of Game 7's rallies, holding serve at 15. Watanabe suddenly appeared to be wilting. Leading 4-3, 30-30, she netted a defensive backhand. The increasingly upbeat Parkinson clenched her first and promptly broke serve, ripping an authorative backhand winner to even the set at 4-all. Besides cracking up his teammates by dancing to some of the music between points, Jeff Coetzee was making frequent shouts of "Come on, Holly!" The tension was mounting as both Parkinson and Watanabe committed a couple errors to make the tiebreak score 2-2. Parkinson ripped a forehand winner for 3-2, but sent a forehand long for 3-3. Watanabe took the lead with a winning touch volley, but Parkinson answered with one of her own. The set would now be determined by a single point. It was the youngster who blinked, pushing a backhand drive over the baseline. She'd made a creditable comeback, but come out on the wrong end of a 5-4 tally. OVERALL SCORE: SCHENECTADY 19, KANSAS CITY 12 Fifth set -- women's doubles: De Villiers/Watanabe vs. Hopkins/Parkinson Things were looking bleak indeed for the Kansas City Explorers. To win the match, they'd have to claim the fifth set and dominate the overtime session. Perhaps too young to think they were out of it, Hopkins and Parkinson played some inspired tennis in the crisp night air. With a 30-40 lead against Watanabe's serve, Hopkins snapped off a beautiful backhand overhead to score the set's first break and a 2-1 lead. Hopkins held at love for 3-1, as De Villiers netted another volley and looked disgusted with herself. Nannie redeemed herself in the next two games, though, holding serve for 2-3 and clipping the baseline with a forehand winner to clinch a break of Parkinson for 3-3. That made the overall score 22-15, but the kids across the net just would not go away. A winning backhand return from Parkinson and a nicely angled backhand pass from Hopkins closed out a break of Watanabe for 4-3. Jenny had to face a pair of break points in her attempt to serve out the set, but she persevered and the 5-3 frame ended with De Villiers sending a return into the net. OVERALL SCORE: SCHENECTADY 22, KANSAS CITY 17 OVERTIME: If Hopkins and Parkinson could now reel off five winning games in a row, they'd tie the overall score and send the match into a "super-tiebreak." De Villiers and Watanabe merely had to win one game, but they were both struggling at this point. Kansas City had a break point opportunity against Watanabe and appeared to convert it when a backhand lob from Hopkins came very close to the baseline. It was ruled out, though, and umpire Ken Hull failed to make an overrule, claiming he was unsighted (or, as he put it, "screened"). Undeterred, Hopkins got the break on the very next point, deftly putting away a forehand volley to make the overall score 22-18. After a long discussion with Hull over which player was supposed to serve next, Hopkins replaced Parkinson at the baseline and stormed through a love hold to make it 22-19. Kansas City coach Paul Smith then scampered out and advised his players to stay together on the baseline when returning Nannie de Villiers's serve. The defensive strategy didn't pay off. De Villiers, so agitated over her poor volleying in this set, notched a service winner for 40-15 and an ace on match point. Overtime ended as the fourth set had, with Kansas City's valiant comeback effort falling short. FINAL SCORE: SCHENECTADY 23, KANSAS CITY 19 Schenectady's new women's doubles combination of Nannie de Villiers and Jolene Watanabe was less than stellar on Monday night, dropping 8 of 12 games between the fifth set and overtime. The Electrics snuck off with the victory, though, thanks to the big lead Michael Hill and Brent Haygarth had earned in the first two sets. Schenectady County improves to 5-4 on the season and carries a three match winning streak into Tuesday's critical bout against Mary Joe Fernandez and the Eastern Conference-leading Delaware Smash. |