Schenectady County Electrics vs. Springfield Lasers
by Christopher Gerby
From the perspective of the World Team Tennis league standings,
Thursday night's match between Schenectady County and Springfield
wasn't terribly significant. Midway through the season, the 2-4
Electrics and 3-4 Lasers were already looking like long shots to play
in August 26th's WTT final. However, the Schenectady debut of
reigning French Open champion Mary Pierce drew a fairly large,
enthusiastic crowd. The only hitch was the late arrival of
Springfield's Debbie Graham and Tara Snyder. A flight connection
mishap on the way from Illinois forced them to more or less step right
off the plane onto the court, a good 25 minutes later than scheduled.
"Just one of those days," said a beleagured Graham.
First set -- men's doubles: Haygarth/Hill vs. MacPherson/Stafford
The men's doubles set has opened all four of the Electrics' home matches
this year and, for the most part, has yielded all the excitement of
watching paint dry. This time around the teams were virtual mirror
images: a South African with a receding hairline (Brent Haygarth) and
a powerfully built Aussie (Mike Hill) taking on an Aussie with a
receding hairline (David MacPherson) and a powerfully built South
African (Grant Stafford). All four showed solid form in their
service games, eight of which ticked by without a single break point
opportunity. Aside from some nice touch volleys by Hill, the
highlight was Haygarth netting a volley and dejectedly kicking the
ball all the way into the stands. Shaky play at the net finally
cost Brent in the tiebreak, the two key points being backhand volley
errors from Haygarth when Schenectady was serving. The Electrics
did get to within 2-4 in the tiebreak, but MacPherson then closed out
the set with a winning forehand volley. OVERALL SCORE: SPRINGFIELD 5, SCHENECTADY 4
Second set -- men's singles: Michael Hill vs. Grant Stafford
There have been some memorable moments in Grant Stafford's 10-year singles
career (he even held a two sets to love lead against Patrick Rafter
at Wimbledon in 1997), but the Johannesburg native has been easing
more and more into the role of doubles specialist. It therefore
wasn't shocking to see him get off to a slow start in his bout against
Mike Hill. A double fault and a backhand error dropped Stafford
from 15-15 to 15-40 in his opening service game. At that point, a
ball boy dropped a ball just as Grant was going into his service
motion. He protested to umpire Candy Pantano, hoping to receive a
first serve, and was fairly livid when Pantano said she hadn't seen
what happened. "Why weren't you watching? What were you doing?" No
answer was forthcoming, but Stafford regained his composure enough to
win the next three points and the game. Nevertheless, Hill quickly let
it be known he was the evening's sharper player. Limiting his errors
and effectively rushing the net, Hill held at love, broke for 2-1, and
tacked on another hold for a 3-1 edge. Stafford did a nice job of
protecting his serve for the remainder of the set, but Hill just had
too many weapons. The Aussie served a pair of aces in the final game
of the 5-3 set. OVERALL SCORE: SCHENECTADY 9, SPRINGFIELD 8
Third set -- women's doubles: De Villiers/Pierce vs. Graham/Snyder
Even though she's reached a pair of Grand Slam doubles finals this
year, on Thursday night Mary Pierce looked like a less natural
doubles player than her partner, Nannie de Villiers. It was De Villiers
who struck a beautiful stab volley winner in the first game of the
third set, drawing some applause from Pierce herself. Nannie put
away another volley winner two points later to close out her service
hold. Debbie Graham and Tara Snyder, meanwhile, were looking like two
players who hadn't gotten enough time to prepare and warm up. Graham's
big serve has made her a doubles force for years, but she and Snyder
missed a few volleys as Debbie was broken for 2-0. After a De Villiers
hold made it 3-0, the Lasers finally got a 40-30 lead on Snyder's
serve. However, Graham netted a volley to bring up game point, which
De Villiers took with a winning forehand volley. A frustrated Snyder
tossed her racquet high into the sky. The only good news for Tara and
Debbie was that the end was near. De Villiers held at 15, closing
out the 5-0 set with yet another winning forehand volley. OVERALL
SCORE: SCHENECTADY 14, SPRINGFIELD 8
Fourth set -- women's singles: Mary Pierce vs. Tara Snyder
The one previous singles match between Mary Pierce and Tara Snyder
was recent and decisive. Less than two months ago, Pierce routed
Snyder 6-3, 6-1 on her way to the French Open title. The hard court
in Schenectady's Central Park is considerably faster than the Roland
Garros clay, but a similar result seemed to be in the offing when
Pierce jumped out to a 2-0 lead. Backhand errors began seeping into
Mary's game, however, as Snyder held for 1-2 and broke for 2-2. The
fifth game was determined by forehand errors from the Snyder racquet.
Four gaffes off that wing broke the Kansas native, who then fell
behind 4-2 when Pierce stormed through a successful service game.
Snyder held at love for 3-4, but control of the set still rested in
Pierce's hands. She was in vintage form in the eighth game. She
drilled a wicked swinging backhand volley from mid-court for 15-0,
threw in an ace for 30-0, and blasted a service winner for 40-30.
Snyder then pushed a backhand return over the baseline on set point.
It had been a competitive bout, with some good groundtroke exchanges,
but it was Pierce who'd executed her powerful shots with better
accuracy. OVERALL SCORE: SCHENECTADY 19, SPRINGFIELD 11
Fifth set -- mixed doubles: Pierce/Haygarth vs. Graham/MacPherson
The overall match result was virtually a foregone conclusion before
the final set even got underway. The underdog Lasers would need to
win the mixed doubles and then reel off several more winning games in
a row in overtime. Content with a safe lead, a number of the fans
filed out during the break between sets. They actually missed some
of the night's most entertaining tennis. Haygarth held easily for a
1-0 lead, but MacPherson answered with an impressive hold of his own,
guiding a backhand down the line for 1-1. The see-saw third
game went down to the wire, Pierce double faulting on game point to
fall behind 2-1. Game 4 was also hotly contested, featuring one
great rally in which MacPherson fell down making a reflex volley but
won the point anyway. However, Graham's complete inability to put a
first serve in play cost her. On game point, she struggled to dig out a
low backhand volley, squealing as the ball sailed long. Playing in
her warmup jacket (a concession to the chilly night air), Graham was
making an admirable effort but committing some costly errors.
Haygarth held at love, giving the Electrics a 3-2 lead in the set
and a formidable 22-13 lead in the match. The hill for Springield
to climb became even steeper when MacPherson fell behind 0-40 on his
serve. As announcer/DJ "Dr. Sound" played his "Twilight Zone" music
for approximately the fifth time, MacPherson turned around and gave
him a piece of his mind. "Not only are you annoying me," MacPherson
grumbled, "you're annoying everyone in the entire stadium." Even
though it was a visting player slamming the home announcer, MacPherson's
tirade drew a round of applause from the sympathetic crowd. For his
part, "Dr. Sound" seemed quite pleased two points later, when Haygarth
ripped a forehand winner down the line to break MacPherson for a 4-2
lead. Graham and MacPherson actually garnered a couple break points
against Pierce in Game 8, but could convert neither. Graham's return
of a Pierce first serve on match point landed long, wrapping up
Schenectady's 5-2 win of the final set. FINAL SCORE: SCHENECTADY 24,
SPRINGFIELD 13
The circus atmosphere (complete with a pair of frisbee-throwing
clowns) may not have agreed with David MacPherson, but it was a
thoroughly enjoyable experience for Mary Pierce. The 25-year-old
happily signed autographs and posed for pictures before the match,
during the intermission, and after the victory. Even while playing,
she had a smile plastered on her face. She summed up the night by
saying, "I had a lot of fun. It was great. I enjoyed my teammates. I
enjoyed the crowd. I enjoyed the music." She'll play one more match
for the Electrics (a road date in St. Louis) before returning to the
WTA grind with tournaments at Stanford and San Diego. Pierce
didn't exactly make any headlines with her post-match comments, but
did confirm that her very successful doubles partnership with Martina
Hingis will continue for the rest of the season. Nannie de Villiers
will have to be content with playing one more WTT match alongside
Pierce. "Mary just shows you exactly what power can do and sort of
takes charge of the point," Nannie said. "I really enjoyed that."
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Last updated 26 September 2015
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