Schenectady County Electrics vs. Delaware Smash
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.
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Last updated 26 September 2015
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