The New York Buzz finally snapped a five-match losing streak on July 16th, with a decisive fifth set singles win by Brian Vahaly clinching a 22-18 road victory over the Delaware Smash. Vahaly received something of a hero's welcome as the Buzz chose to celebrate his birthday on the 17th (even though Brian actually turns 26 on the 19th). Team owner Nitty Singh presented Vahaly with a cake in the shape of a tennis racquet shortly before the first set got underway, while a recording of "Happy Birthday" played over the PA system. That was the extent of the festivities, but Vahaly plans to enjoy his real birthday on Tuesday. "I'll have the day off, so I'll probably sleep in a little bit. Our owner's gonna take me shopping, I think. She'll buy me something nice."

Further cause for celebration came with the news that reigning Wimbledon doubles semifinalist Bryanne Stewart would be back in the Buzz lineup. Stewart, who suffers from scoliosis, had taken a week off to rest her ailing back and hip. A regimen of icing, anti-inflammatories, muscle relaxers, and stretching had Stewart feeling good enough to play as early as July 15th, but cautious owner Singh advised her not to risk further injury by coming back too soon. Asked how it felt to watch from the bench during the Buzz's losing streak, Bryanne replied, "Oh, it's frustrating! I hate watching. Watching when you really care, like watching my brother play or whatever. You get so nervous on the sidelines."

A third pre-match storyline emerged when it was announced that the Hawkeye instant replay cameras were in place for the first time in Schenectady. Similar to the replay system in the National Football League, the new "coaches challenge" rule in World TeamTennis allows teams to formally dispute upwards of three line calls during a match. A correct challenge results in the call being overturned and the team retaining its challenge. If the call on the court stands, the team loses one of its three attempts. A coach indicates his or her desire to challenge the call by throwing an orange beanbag with a yellow streamer attached. This item, which vaguely resembles a festive octopus, would sail through the air several times as the Buzz took on the visiting St. Louis Aces.

First set: men's doubles -- Crabb/Vahaly vs. Erlich/Ram

Jonathan Erlich and Andy Ram, a pair of doubles specialists from Israel, have collected a number of impressive scalps over the course of their partnership. Doubles luminaries Knowles/Nestor, Black/Ullyett, Llodra/Santoro and the Bryan twins have all fallen victim to Erlich and Ram. The forceful way they were snapping off fierce volley winners in the opening set on Sunday night left little doubt as to their prowess. However, it was the unheralded Buzz combination of Jaymon Crabb and Brian Vahaly that notched the first break. Crabb ripped a passing shot right at Ram on a game point to break Ram's serve and snare a 3-1 lead. A series of relatively comfortable service breaks followed as the Buzz held on for a 5-2 victory.

"I was very surprised we won doubles," admitted Vahaly, who gave a very thorough explanation of how he and Crabb pulled off the upset. "Jaymon has been playing really good doubles, a lot better than I have. He's just been serving great. I mean, that's really the best we can do. We've gotta serve and try not to get into volley wars with those guys, because they are better doubles players than we are. We spend a lot of time discussing where we're gonna serve, which direction we're gonna move. We play an I-format, so we do everything we can to frustrate 'em and try and just sneak out one break, which is what we did. The points that they win are very impressive. They're a very, very good team and we just sorta sneak points out. That's why this format really favored us. The longer that match goes, the more they're gonna take over. So we got the win and snuck out of there as fast as we could."

OVERALL SCORE: BUZZ 5, ACES 2

Second set: mixed doubles -- Crabb/Stewart vs. Erlich/Russell

Bryanne Stewart looked fairly tentative in the first few games of her return to New York's lineup. She and Jaymon Crabb were doing more than enough to hold their own serves, though, and Jonathan Erlich of the Aces became frustrated enough to earn a code violation warning for racquet abuse. Tied 3-3 in games, but trailing 40-15 against Jennifer Russell, Stewart came to life. Her winning forehand return was followed by a winning backhand return by her countryman Crabb. Now facing a winner-take-all game point, Russell put a first serve in, only to see Stewart drive a nifty forehand return at her feet. Russell netted the low volley and surrendered the break. Stewart served it out from there, with Crabb emphatically clinching the 5-3 result by letting out a huge grunt on a winning overhead smash.

"I didn't put 100% on my serve. Just tried to get a high percentage of first serves in, so it's more of a three-quarters serve than a bomb," a sheepish Stewart admitted after the match. She was able to run freely, however, and was really clocking her returns after the rust wore off. "I only hit on Friday and I didn't play yesterday, so I haven't really hit that many balls. Then it kinda came back pretty well. I was seeing it pretty nicely tonight."

OVERALL SCORE: BUZZ 10, ACES 5

Third set: men's singles -- Brian Vahaly vs. Andy Ram

The fluid, explosive service motion that launches Andy Ram forward stood in marked contrast to the lethargic, seemingly casual nature of the rest of his play as he lost the first three games of his singles encounter with Brian Vahaly. Ram's flashy, hit-or-miss style came together after that as he held to 1-3 and broke to 2-3. Vahaly bounced back, striking some nice returns to break for a 4-2 edge. Ram was clearly dictating play, but as he'd done in the men's doubles, Vahaly put in enough solid serves on important points to emerge victorious. A service winner on set point made it official, giving the Buzz a 5-2 win in singles and an eight game cushion overall.

Vahaly has made his mark as a fifth set savior for the Buzz, three times pulling close wins out of the fire as the team's anchor. However, he and coach Jolene Watanabe agreed it would be better to schedule his singles earlier this time around. "I just wanted to get my matches early and out of the way," Vahaly told me after the match. "When you play last, it's very draining because the whole match can come down to you. Lately I've just been tired. My elbow's been hurting. (Ram) is the third best singles player in the league, with me being second. I anticipated a very close match, which it was. I didn't think that we could really steamroll him." (In case you're wondering, the top ranked man in the league is still Ramon Delgado, who took a 5-3 win over Andy Roddick when "A-Rod" suited up for the Aces the night before they played here).

OVERALL SCORE: BUZZ 15, ACES 7

Fourth set: women's singles -- Evie Dominikovic vs. Jamea Jackson

Long a darling of the USTA's player development program, 19-year-old Jamea Jackson has recently begun turning her potential into results. A nice grass court season (including successful runs through the qualifying at Birmingham and Wimbledon) enabled Jackson to crack the world's Top 100 for the first time. Alas, the forehand she wildly mis-hit into the stands in the opening game of her bout with Evie Dominikovic suggested this would not be much of a showcase for the rising African-American. Her cause was not aided by the evening's first replay challenge, called for by Aces coach Greg Patton. The small monitor in the umpire's stand (alluringly visible from my courtside seat behind the St. Louis bench) showed that the Dominikovic shot questioned by Patton had indeed hit the line. Whether those computer recreations of a shadowy ball leaving a mark on the line are valid or not is for Hawkeye experts to determine, but at least the process was handled quickly and efficiently.

Jackson held in the opening game, but continued to spray unforced errors and was considerably outplayed by Dominikovic, who broke twice for a 4-1 advantage. A winning lob at 30-30 in Game 6 took Dominikovic to set point. Evie's first serve was called long, but she strenuously disagreed and convinced Coach Watanabe to throw the orange/yellow challenge flag. Hawkeye showed the ball catching the service line, so the umpire ruled it an ace, bringing the 5-1 set to a novel conclusion.

OVERALL SCORE: BUZZ 20, ACES 8

Fifth set: women's doubles -- Dominikovic/Stewart vs. Jackson/Russell

Still holding back on her serve, Bryanne Stewart squandered a 40-15 lead in the first game of the night's final event. After a poaching Jennifer Russell knocked off a volley to break for a 1-0 lead, her teammates Jonathan Erlich and Andy Ram each began waving both of their digit fingers in her direction. Overcome by either far-flung optimism or (more likely) gallows humor, they were indicating the 11-game deficit Russell and Jamea Jackson needed to overcome in the cumulative tally. When Russell held for a 2-0 lead, Erlich and Ram were at it again, now doing a "jazz hands" gesture with their palms, showing the 10-game mountain the Aces had left to climb. But even with Evie Dominikovic twice incorrectly calling for replay challenges, the great Aces comeback did not materialize. A break of Jackson got the Buzz to 2-2 and games went with serve from there to 4-4, when a tiebreak was played.

BS serving: Dominikovic nets a high backhand volley -- 1-0 ACES

BS: Long rally ends on a winning Stewart forehand -- 1-1

JR: Russell punches a forehand volley long -- 2-1 BUZZ

JR: Russell nets a shoestring forehand volley -- 3-1 BUZZ

ED: Dominikovic throws an ace out wide to earn match points -- 4-1 BUZZ

ED: Russell sends a backhand return long, tosses her racquet into the sky, and kicks it on the way down -- 5-1 BUZZ

FINAL SCORE: BUZZ 25, ACES 12

The comprehensive sweep of the previously 6-3 Aces by the previously 3-6 Buzz seemed to come as a genuine shock to Brian Vahaly. "It was a long day today. I mean, I don't think we knew how the team was gonna be. We got a ride back from Delaware around 4 o'clock and literally hopped in the shower and then came here to the courts. We were a little bit unsure, but that's the best everybody's played as a team at the same time." It may be a bit late in the campaign for the Buzz to be finding their form, but upcoming bouts against conference rivals Boston and Philadelphia give Vahaly hope of making a late push for the postseason. "I think we're starting to find our form a little bit late in the season. That's a little frustrating, but at the same time, we've still got four more matches and we're definitely not out of the playoffs by any means."

Along with the momentum engendered by a two-match winning streak, the Buzz have a return to full strength with Bryanne Stewart taking her place on court. "It was nice to see Bryanne back, 'cause she was playing really well," said Vahaly. "Obviously she's a huge asset to the team. When she's playing well and back and healthy, we become much stronger in women's doubles and mixed doubles." Stewart's own optimism was relatively tempered as she spoke while having her back wrapped after the match. "I was a little bit cautious. That's why I was standing up on the sideline, not sitting down, getting cold or anything. It's not 100%, but it's good enough." Stewart is happy to be playing again, but hasn't taken to the instant replay system as quickly as her teammate Evie Dominikovic. "It's kind of hard to get used to," Bryanne said when I asked for her take on it. "I keep forgetting it's there. I didn't actually make a call for one tonight, but maybe next time." Stewart believes the challenge rule "will come in handy on big points," but she's not sold on the actual orange-and-yellow beanbag flags used to signal challenges. "They're a bit crazy. I don't know who came up with that design. It's bright and colorful, I guess."

The Buzz now face a trip to Boston in the team van, but at least they're leaving town on an upbeat note. "Everybody was in a good mood tonight, with it being my birthday celebration and stuff," said a grinning Vahaly. "We'll let him have a beer tonight for dinner," offered Stewart, who cautioned that Vahaly shouldn't expect a big party just yet. "Maybe on his real birthday we'll give him special treatment, but we're pretty tough." That real birthday will have come and gone by the time the Buzz van rolls back into Schenectady for their home finale against the Philadelphia Freedoms on July 20th.