Friday night's match between the New York Buzz and Delaware Smash wasn't exactly dripping with playoff implications. The home Buzz came in riding a four match losing streak, good for a 2-5 record on the year. The only thing keeping them out of the Eastern Conference cellar was the 1-6 mark held by the Smash, who started a four-match skid of their own with a loss right here in Schenectady. That defeat one week ago proved doubly painful for the Smash, who lost star player Liezel Huber to a torn ACL. Just as Buzz coach Jolene Watanabe rang up old friend Janet Lee to step in when Bryanne Stewart got hurt, Smash coach Mariaan de Swardt paid a distress call of her own to Rennae Stubbs. The # 6 doubles player in the world had no intentions of playing World TeamTennis this summer, but agreed to sign up on short notice. "Mariaan called me in a panic and asked me to play, so I obliged because I'm very good friends with her and wanted to help her out," Stubbs told me after the match.

World TeamTennis isn't the only arena where Stubbs is taking Huber's place. She'll be playing the back end of the WTA season with Cara Black, who's won one Wimbledon doubles title apiece with Huber (this year) and Stubbs (in 2004). "I'm looking forward to the rest of the year," says Stubbs. "Hopefully Cara and I can have the finish that we had last year. We had a great year at the end of last year, so hopefully we can defend our points and do really well." (This apparently means the end of the line for the tumultuous, on-again, off-again partnership between Stubbs and Lisa Raymond). Meanwhile, Stubbs hopes Huber will find a silver lining after knee surgery. "She'll be out probably for a good six months, which is a shame. But we talked and everything happens for a reason. Hopefully it will give her time to think about stuff. Having a major injury like that sometimes re-energizes your career, so we'll see what happens."

First set: mixed doubles -- Vahaly/Lee vs. Anderson/Stubbs

Bryanne Stewart continues to rest her ailing back, so Janet Lee remained in the lineup, teaming with Brian Vahaly in the evening's opening set. It was a debacle for Vahaly, who double faulted a total of three times in losing both of his service games. Lee, meanwhile, was completely outplayed by Rennae Stubbs, who scampered around and struck some very nice backhand volleys. A bang-bang rally on set point ended with Vahaly blocking a volley wide to fall 5-1. Naturally, Stubbs was pleased to help get her team off to such a strong start. "It was big. That was the first time I've played with Roger (Anderson). Robbie (Koenig) and I have been playing, so we decided to switch it up, just to see if we could change it up a little bit and get a win."

OVERALL SCORE: SMASH 5, BUZZ 1

Second set: women's singles -- Evie Dominikovic vs. Chanelle Scheepers

After splitting a pair of singles meetings last week, Evie Dominikovic and Chanelle Scheepers settled in for the rubber match. Scheepers was getting plenty of encouragement from Rennae Stubbs, who shouted instructions like "make her play!" and "c'mon, first serve!" from the sidelines. Scheepers nevertheless looked overwhelmed as she sprayed one groundstroke error after another. After Dominikovic held at love for a 4-1 lead, Coach Mariaan de Swardt decided to let "Stubbsy" walk the walk, sending her in as a substitute for Scheepers.

Stubbs hasn't played a singles match on the WTA Tour in over five years and the rust showed as she quickly fell behind 15-40 on her own serve. Pulling some slices and dices out of her bag of tricks, however, Stubbs saved the set points and held for 2-4. A lovely winning drop shot got Stubbs to 15-30 in the following game, so she went back to the well, hitting a drop shot on her service return (!) to go ahead 15-40. Dominikovic has been a truly feisty competitor for the Buzz, though, and she wasn't prepared to let this set get away. The younger Aussie battled to deuce, a single winner-take-all point in WTT's no-ad scoring. The longest rally of the set ensued, with Dominikovic finally prevailing. Evie jumped into the air, arms extended, grinning ear-to-ear as if she'd just won a Grand Slam title. If nothing else, her 5-2 win had gotten the Buzz back in the match.

OVERALL SCORE: SMASH 7, BUZZ 6

Third set: men's doubles -- Crabb/Vahaly vs. Anderson/Koenig

Men's doubles was highlighted by the quick hands and even quicker feet of Robbie Koenig. After winning a point with a nice touch volley early on, Koenig did an odd, elaborate celebratory shuffle around the court. The set also featured a couple vicious racquet throws by Jaymon Crabb and Roger Anderson, but did not feature a service break. At 4 games all, a tiebreak would have to settle matters.

At 2-2 in the 'breaker, Anderson earned a crucial mini-break by ripping a return at Vahaly's feet. Koenig extended the lead to 4-2 with a nicely angled backhand volley and once again exhibited his merry little bit of fancy footwork. Koenig then clinched a 5-2 win of the tiebreak with yet another deft volley. Anderson dropped his racquet and started waving his hands around in an attempt to have the crowd acknowledge Koenig's virtuosity. The Buzz fans mostly responded with silence, but Koenig deserved full marks for his net game and showmanship. "He's just a big dork," Rennae Stubbs said of Koenig after the match. "He's just trying to play up to the crowd and have some fun. That's the whole idea of Team Tennis. That's what people enjoy when they come out here is that they get to be a little bit closer to the players and get to know a little bit more of their personality."

OVERALL SCORE: SMASH 12, BUZZ 10

Fourth set: women's doubles -- Dominikovic/Lee vs. Scheepers/Stubbs

The 15-minute intermission that usually follows the third set at Buzz home matches was cut short to about 5 minutes here, as the powers that be apparently just wanted to get this battle of WTT bottom feeders over with as early as possible. Not unlike the set that preceded it, women's doubles went with serve to 3-3. 21-year-old Chanelle Scheepers then did her best to prove Barry MacKay's theory about the seventh game of a set being the most important. She double faulted to 30-40, then threw in a puffball serve on break point that Janet Lee drove down the line for a clean winner. A love hold from Dominikovic followed, securing a 5-3 win of the set and tying the cumulative tally.

OVERALL SCORE: SMASH 15, BUZZ 15

Fifth set: men's singles -- Brian Vahaly vs. Roger Anderson

The rivalry between Brian Vahaly and Roger Anderson dates back to their college days. Despite being two years younger, Vahaly owned Anderson when they toiled for Virginia and Georgia Tech, respectively. Anderson got his revenge at a USTA challenger event in Yuba City last month, but Vahaly struck back by clobbering Anderson in their first Team Tennis meeting. The pressure would be on both players here, as the first to win five games would clinch a rare victory for his team.

Serving well right from the get go, Anderson had a much easier time holding serve than Vahaly, who kept having to bail himself out of trouble with deep groundies. On serve at 3-3, Vahaly's baseline game finally broke down. Three straight errors saw him lose the game at 15, giving Anderson the 4-3 edge and an opportunity to serve for victory. The lanky South African made good, wrapping up a convincing love hold with an ace. Anderson lobbed a ball high into the sky, celebrating his match-clinching 5-3 victory.

FINAL SCORE: SMASH 20, BUZZ 18

"Matches like this are won on one or two points," Roger Anderson said after his narrow singles win over Brian Vahaly. Having the outcome of an entire match balanced on a few swings of the racquet like that would faze some players, but not Anderson. "That's why I play the game, you know? I love to be in pressure situations. I think that's where the best of my game is brought out... A lot of people get in that situation and they get tight, but I say you've got one shot at it, go for it." Anderson is still ranked outside the world's top 400, but feels like that win over Vahaly in Yuba City turned things around for him. "Since then, my confidence has improved and I've started believing I can beat guys who are ranked higher than me and bigger names."

Rennae Stubbs had certainly done her part, teaming with Anderson for the 5-1 mixed doubles win that gave Delaware an early lead. "I'm on my fourth day of practice after not hitting a ball for two weeks, so I felt tonight I was finally starting to hit the ball better," Stubbs said during our one-on-one after the match. Seeing all of the Aussies across the net prompted Sydney native Stubbs to exclaim, "I should be on the Schenectady team, not on the Delaware team!" She is fitting in well with the Smash's tight-knit band of South Africans, though. "I think we're gelling really well as a team and we enjoy being around each other, so it's been fun." Undoubtedly having less fun are the hapless New York Buzz, scheduled to play their next home match on July 17th against the St. Louis Aces.