Schenectady County Electrics vs. Kansas City Explorers
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.
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Last updated 26 September 2015
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