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by Christopher Gerby Two weeks ago, the Delaware Smash came into Schenectady County and pulled off a 21-19 win over the Electrics. However, that was with superstar Serena Williams on the Smash roster. Semi-retired Mary Joe Fernandez took her place in the rematch, a battle between the top two teams in the World Team Tennis Eastern Conference standings. First set -- men's doubles: Haygarth/Hill vs. Grant/Sell On July 12th, Brent Haygarth and Michael Hill scored an uncomplicated 5-2 win over Geoff Grant and Michael Sell. A repeat looked possible when Hill opened the set with a love hold. Grant got a questionable fault call in Game 2, blurting out "No! That hurts." It hurt even more when Hill ripped a winning return of the second serve. The Smash eventually held for 1-1, though, as Hill steered a volley wide on game point. Mishaps at the net also cost Schenectady in Game 3, Hill netting a volley for 30-40 and Haygarth netting one to surrender the evening's first break. The next few games went with serve, taking Delaware to a 4-3 lead. Leading 40-30 in his effort to serve out the set, Sell called Grant over for a strategy session and motioned for "Dr. Sound" (the announcer/DJ who plays sound clips during Electrics matches) to egg him on with the "Jeopardy!" music he'd been playing whenever Grant and Sell had a meeting before the serve. "Dr. Sound" hit him with an audio clip of a loud heartbeat instead, but Sell wasn't intimidated. He threw in a good serve which Hill returned into the net. OVERALL SCORE: DELAWARE 5, SCHENECTADY 3 Second set -- men's singles: Michael Hill vs. Mike Sell Perhaps a bit on edge after losing the doubles set, Michael Hill complained early on about a ball boy behind the baseline having "dropped the ball three times" during a single rally. Chiming in from the Delaware bench, Geoff Grant said, "Hey, they're your kids." Grant paused and added, "Fix it, Cuva" -- a friendly dig at Electrics coach Gerry Cuva, who was Grant's coach here last year. Hill may have been unnerved, but he was making the set's most memorable shots, including one beautiful drop volley which nearly bounced back over the net. Sell, meanwhile, was holding his serve by winning most of the long baseline rallies. Sell was broken to fall behind 2-3 in the set, but Brad Dancer (the most active, talkative coach I've seen in WTT this season) scrambled out to give him a reassuring pat on the back and some words of encouragement. Sure enough, Sell got the break right back in a game marked by a couple bad Hill errors. In fact, after missing one volley, the Aussie launched a ball all the way out of the stadium and received an official warning from umpire Jim Hull. Easy holds from Sell and Hill took the set to a tiebreak. Sell won the first point, but popped a string on his next serve. He'd broken a string earlier in the set and asked Dancer if there was a stringer on hand to help him out. The answer was apparently no -- bad news for Sell, who'd only brought two racquets. So leading 1-0 in the tiebreak, Mike solemnly declared, "That's it. I guess I'm out." WTT teams are allowed one substitution per match and Coach Dancer had to use it here, sending Grant in to sub for Sell (who picked up his chair and playfully tried to stuff it in a courtside garbage can). It was a tough situation for Grant, coming in cold with the set on the line. He immediately surrendered a mini-break when Hill laced a backhand winner down the line. Hill went on to win the tiebreak 5 points to 3, ending it with a backhand volley that Grant couldn't dig out. OVERALL SCORE: DELAWARE 9, SCHENECTADY 8 Third set -- women's doubles: De Villiers/Watanabe vs. De Swardt/Fernandez Mary Joe Fernandez and Mariaan de Swardt both have Grand Slam doubles titles to their credit and had to be heavy favorites going into this encounter with Nannie de Villiers and Jolene Watanabe. De Villiers was really struggling with her volleys the previous night and she ended the opening game by pushing one wide. De Swardt, a hefty woman with a powerful serve, then held at love for a 2-0 lead. Watanabe snuck out a hold for 1-2, but Mariaan and Mary Joe were clearly playing the more solid, aggressive doubles. At 15-15 in Game 4, De Villiers netted a forehand return and grumbled something unprintable. At 40-30, De Swardt put away a smash after a serve that De Villiers thought was a fault. "I know you've got it on the line," Nannie complained to umpire Hull, "but clearly it's not." Trailing 3-1, De Villiers just became more and more frustrated with the line calls and her own slumping game. At 0-30 in Game 5, she thought she'd hit a service winner, only to have it ruled a fault. "You've got to be kidding," she said, glaring at Hull. After the second serve, De Villiers badly missed a routine smash and slammed her racquet. Two points (and another service line argument) later, De Villiers double faulted and tossed her racquet high into the sky. Nannie's meltdown finally ended in the sixth game, which went to 40-40 (a sudden death "game point" in WTT's no-ad scoring system). The deciding point turned into a virtual volleying war between Watanabe and De Swardt, but it was Fernandez who ultimately put a low volley into the net to make it 4-2. Watanabe then held serve for 3-4, finishing that game by placing a beautiful topspin lob just inside the baseline. It was a good comeback by Schenectady's women, but it was short-lived. On set point, Fernandez hit a solid serve to the De Villiers backhand. Nannie's return landed in the net and she once again bounced her racquet in digust. OVERALL SCORE: DELAWARE 14, SCHENECTADY 11 Fourth set -- women's singles: Jolene Watanabe vs. Mariaan de Swardt Mary Joe Fernandez has played some singles during the World Team Tennis season, but Mariaan de Swardt handled those duties on Tuesday night. De Swardt had previously split two official meetings with Jolene Watanabe, losing to her at the '96 Australian Open but exacting revenge last year at Wimbledon. De Swardt was visibly annoyed by a foot fault call early in the set, but put it behind her on the way to a 2-1 lead. De Swardt then got a break point in Game 4 and cashed it in, coming over her backhand (which she was slicing most of the time) to smack a cross-court winner. Gerry Cuva decided he'd seen enough from the ineffective Watanabe, calling on Nannie de Villiers to replace her. De Villiers did an OK job of spitting balls back at De Swardt, but she didn't really have any weapons with which to hurt her. The two games they played against each other were close, but De Swardt won both of them, taking the 5-1 set when De Villiers sent one last backhand into the net. OVERALL SCORE: DELAWARE 19, SCHENECTADY 12 Fifth set -- mixed doubles: De Villiers/Haygarth vs. De Swardt/Grant The Electrics could still beat the Smash by winning the final set and forcing overtime, but it was looking like a lost cause. Brent Haygarth appeared to think so -- he spent the first few games making faces and chatting with Michael Hill (who was gobbling ice cream on the sidelines). However, the first game did feature the best point I've seen all season, a rally in which all four players made extraordinary gets. De Swardt nearly rumbled all the way into the stands making one return of a low, angled Haygarth volley. De Villiers finally lost the point by pushing a forehand volley long, but she and Haygarth went on to hold for a 1-0 lead. Grant held convincingly for 1-1 and then absolutely ripped a winning forehand return to open Game 3. "Hey Geoff, you're not supposed to do that," pleaded Dr. Sound. Grant, who played two seasons for Schenectady, shrugged and replied, "I'm used to these courts." De Villiers went on to lose serve, putting Schenectady in a 1-2 hole (13-21 in the overall score). Game 4 featured Mariaan de Swardt acing Brent Haygarth with a second serve. Brent looked suitably embarrassed and got some ribbing from Mike Hill. The game did go to 40-40 and the ensuing rally was a thriller. Grant had to scramble all over the court before finally putting away a winning backhand volley. Geoff threw his arms into the air, jogged to the Delaware bench, and got a congratulatory hug from his coach. The situation was looking more hopeless than ever for Schenectady, who trailed 2-4 after holds from Haygarth and Grant. The Electrics faced a match point at 40-40 in Game 7, but De Villiers stayed alive with a service winner. She and Haygarth even got a break point in Game 8 and De Villiers thought she won the game with a nice backhand return. Just as she was happily clenching her first, Nannie heard a late out call come from the linseman. She stormed up to the net and said, "There's a mark there, thank you very much." Her objections fell on deaf ears, though, and Schenectady once again faced match point. Geoff Grant put Delaware's 5-3 win of the set in the books by knocking off a forehand volley. FINAL SCORE: DELAWARE 24, SCHENECTADY 15 A match which had been competitive for three sets turned ugly for the Schenectady County Electrics, now all but mathematically eliminated from playoff contention. Mary Joe Fernandez, who once toiled as a member of the Electrics, was pleased with how her return to upstate New York turned out. "I love it here. I got to play here a couple years ago in Schenectady and it's a lot of fun. It's a great facility and a good atmosphere. Our team played really well tonight." Mary Joe's Delaware Smash now sport an 8-3 record, the second best mark in the entire league. |