New York Buzz vs. Hartford FoxForce
by Christopher Gerby
For the second time in eight days, the New York Buzz hosted the
high energy, value-for-your-money Hartford FoxForce. Their
July 15th
clash was a four-tiebreak affair finally won by the Buzz. With hopes of
a playoff berth still intact, New York was under pressure to repeat
that effort. Meanwhile, the FoxForce were coming straight off a
heartbreaking overtime home loss against Sacramento. They even endured
a flat tire on the way from Hartford to Schenectady and had plenty of
excuses to turn in a lackluster performance. Instead they battled the
Buzz in New York's most exciting home match of the season. And as you
might expect with the clownish Jensen brothers, the entertainment
began before a single ball was struck. Luke and Murphy's names were printed on
the back of their jerseys in a wildly inappropriate stenciled font
befitting royalty. Luke came out wearing a hat with a Swedish flag
design on it, for no readily apparent reason. And during the formal
pre-match team introductions, the brothers kneeled down so they
would be roughly the same height as 5-foot-2 teammate Sonya Jeyaseelan.
The tone was set for a fun, unpredictable evening.
First set -- women's doubles: Craybas/De Villiers vs. Jeyaseelan/Maleeva
A practice session on one of Central Park's public courts
had Jeyaseelan and Magdalena Maleeva very ready for this opening set.
They got off to a blazing start, playing aggressive doubles to break
Nannie de Villiers at love. Maleeva ended the second game with two
consecutive aces, although Nannie argued over the non-call on the
second. She asked chair umpire Cam Bundy, "What are you watching?
Seriously, what are you watching?" Along with the rest of us, Bundy
watched the Buzz get their act together, winning three games in a row
to gain the lead. Game 6 went down to the wire, but Maleeva struck a
service winner for 3-3. Then it was her turn to argue a call, wailing
"No no no, that ball was right on the line!" early in Game 7. When
Craybas served a long fault on the next point, Maleeva sarcastically
quipped, "That was in, I think." Craybas reached a 40-30 lead, but
made two errors in a row to give away the game. Jeyaseelan then
served out the set, taking it 5-3 as Craybas sent one last lunging
forehand wide.
OVERALL SCORE: HARTFORD 5, NEW YORK 3
Second set -- women's singles: Jill Craybas vs. Magdalena Maleeva
Jill Craybas played remarkably assured tennis against the much higher
ranked Magdalena Maleeva eight days ago, winning that set in a tiebreak.
However, she was clearly out of sorts on this occasion. Maleeva won
11 of the first 13 points and led 2-0, 40-0 when Buzz coach Eric
Kutner decided it was a time for a change. Teams are allowed to make
one substition per match, so doubles specialist Nannie de Villiers
got the call to replace Craybas. Undeterred, the Bulgarian held her serve and squeaked
out a break for 4-0. "Good playing, Maggie. Keep it up," yelled
Murphy Jensen from the sidelines. De Villiers was doing better than
her predecessor, though, and she managed a surprising break of Maleeva
for 1-4. When Maggie sent a forehand long to end the following game,
De Villiers pumped her fist and shouted "come on!" The Buzz comeback
fell short, though, with Maleeva gathering herself to close out the
set, dropping only one point in Game 7.
Maleeva was pleased to have gotten the better of Craybas in their
rematch. "I knew I had to play well because she played very well
against me the other time. I was jetlagged a little, not feeling
very good, I had just arrived. Now I've had a few matches and I'm
feeling better." She wasn't exactly overwhelmed by the replacement
opponent. "Nannie can't really bother me, because she's not
solid. I should not have lost that game at 4-0. I was kind of
playing stupid." For her part, De Villiers was simply glad she got an
opportunity. "I was too happy to just go in there and see if I could
get any game. It's funny, because after I came off, I thought I
actually did badly, but then I realized I was 3-0 down when I went
on," Nannie said with a grin. "She's a very, very good player, very
consistent, and I haven't played singles for so long."
OVERALL SCORE: HARTFORD 10, NEW YORK 5
Third set -- mixed doubles: Bhupathi/De Villiers vs. L Jensen/Jeyaseelan
Easy service games for Mahesh Bhupathi, Luke Jensen, and Nannie de
Villiers quickly produced a 2-1 lead for the Buzz in the mixed. Game
4 nearly got away from Sonya Jeyaseelan, but Luke Jensen saved a break
point with a winning volley and let out a victorious roar when De
Villiers netted a return for 2-2. A couple points into Game 5,
Jeyaseelan caught the corner with a winning lob and jumped into the
air twice before engaging her partner in an excited high five. On
the very next point, Bhupathi carved a nicely angled drop volley and
Jensen gave chase. "I've got it...no I don't," said Luke as the ball
bounced a second time. He eventually lost the game by returning a
Bhupathi second serve into the net.
Game 6 went to a 40-40 sudden death game point and the ensuing rally
was a beauty. Jensen went flat out on a backhand volley, diving
through the air, rolling, and popping back up. However, as soon as
Luke regained his footing, a Bhupathi reply was headed right at him.
Jensen popped a forehand volley long to lose the point and the game.
The Buzz finally had a set where they were up a break. De Villiers
took full advantage, losing just one point on her serve to clinch a
5-2 win of the set. Luke Jensen, who feels like he's been letting
his team down this season (despite acrobatic shots like he pulled off
in this set) whipped the court surface with a towel as he returned to the
Hartford bench.
OVERALL SCORE: HARTFORD 12, NEW YORK 10
Fourth set -- men's singles: Justin Bower vs. Murphy Jensen
Hartford's first trip to Schenectady featured Justin Bower winning a
ho-hum 5-3 set over Murphy Jensen. Four relatively uneventful service
holds into tonight's set, it looked like we were headed for more of
the same. However, Game 5 ended with the longest rally I've seen in
Team Tennis all season. The lefties ran each other all over the court
before a Jensen error finally gave Bower the break and a 3-2 lead.
Justin reminded Murphy that "the Tour de France is in Europe,"
apparently referring to all the ground they covered in that marathon
point. Another extended rally capped off the next game, with Bower
ripping a forehand winner down the line to hold serve and take a
crucial 4-2 lead. Suddenly the overall match score was tied.
Bower opened Game 7 with back-to-back winners and got to 0-40 when
Jensen misfired on a backhand. Murphy saved the first two set
points, but faced another at 30-40. Several strokes into the point,
Jensen came to net and hit what looked to be a winning volley.
Bower got to it, though, and threw up a defensive lob. Jensen replied
with an overhead smash, but Bower also got that ball back. With his
third chance to put away the point, Jensen hit a nice drop shot.
But leaving no doubt about his wheels, Justin Bower sprinted forward,
reached the ball just before its second bounce and flipped back a
miraculous forehand winner, putting a spectacular exclamation point on
his 5-2 win of the set. Bower pumped both of his fists and screamed
like a professional wrestler. Buzz coach Eric Kutner walked out to
congratulate him, accidentally blocking Murphy Jensen's path to the
Hartford bench. With a nasty scowl on his face, Murphy shoved
Kutner out of the way!
Hartford coach Paul Assaiante quickly endeavored to calm down his
charge, talking while Murphy sat with his head buried in his hands.
Eric Kutner eventually made his way over there and had a quiet
exchange with an apologetic Jensen. (The two would later
share a cordial handshake and a few more calm words after the match which made
it apparent there were no hard feelings.) Meanwhile, announcer Dr. Sound was having
a bit of fun with the incident. He repeated one of his usual
mantras -- "no one pushes us around" -- which was particularly
pointed in this case. He then spotted Nannie de Villiers throwing
frisbees to the fans and asked, "Hey Nannie, can I have one as a
shield?"
OVERALL SCORE: NEW YORK 15, HARTFORD 14
Fifth set -- men's doubles: Bhupathi/Bower vs. L Jensen/M Jensen
The momentum of the match immediately took another shift as the
Jensen brothers broke Mahesh Bhupathi's serve and celebrated by
bumping chests. The next game went to 40-all, but Luke escaped with
a service winner...immediately followed by an ear-piercing shriek from
teammate Sonya Jeyaseelan. The Canadian sparkplug shared an embarrassed laugh
with Maggie Maleeva when she realized the entire crowd heard her.
Quick holds from Justin Bower and Murphy Jensen took the Hartford
lead to 3-1. "C'mon, Justin, we need this!" was the imploring cry
from Nannie de Villiers. "Go get them, Luke!" countered Maleeva
after Bhupathi served his way to 2-3. At 30-30 in Game 6, Murphy
put away a powerful smash and the endlessly energetic Jeyaseelan sprung out of her seat,
drawing a laugh from De Villiers. A big serve from Luke then made it
4-2 in favor of the Jensens. Sonya hopped up again, running in place
while screaming in delight. (Gee, do you think she wanted to win this
match?)
Bower netted a volley, getting his service game off to a poor start.
Murphy then knocked off a winner for 0-30, inspiring Jeyaseelan to
leap up and run around in a circle while pointing and yelling. Another
errant volley from Bower made it 0-40 and gave Hartford a fistful of
match points. Luke missed a return on the first, but Jeyaseelan was
still pumped up and instructed Murphy to "let it rip!" However, a
deep Bower serve made it 30-40. Luke then taunted the South African,
saying "ace me, Justin." Incredibly, Bower took him up on the dare,
swinging a perfect serve out wide for 40-all. Murphy made no such
taunt on the next point, but Bower repeated his act anyway, blasting
another impeccably placed ace to win the game and extend the set at
3-4. Bower bent down low, clenching his fist as the fired up crowd
hollered its approval.
Eric Kutner and Nannie de Villiers rose from their chairs, egging
the fans on, asking for even more support. However, Murphy Jensen
blocked it all out, throwing in a service winner and an unreturnable drop
shot on his way to a 40-0 lead. Once again, the Jensens were on the
verge of winning the set and match. Luke tried a drop volley of his
own which clipped the tape but fell back onto Hartford's side for
40-15. Murphy went to the well again himself on the next point,
hitting a drop shot in the direction of Justin Bower, who made like
a jackrabbit one more time and ripped a backhand winner between the
Jensens. Now it was 40-30 and Hartford had its seventh chance to
secure victory. This time they made it count, as Murphy put in a good
serve and Luke angled off a winning backhand volley. The Jensen
brothers were rather subdued about it all, perhaps too emotionally
drained from that 5-3 roller coaster of a final set. Sonya Jeyaeelan,
on the other hand, was jumping up and down with reckless abandon,
thrilled that her team finally won a nail-biter.
FINAL SCORE: HARTFORD 19, NEW YORK 18
Even after Justin Bower's description-defying heroics, Murphy
Jensen's goat-to-hero recovery, and Maggie Maleeva's two sets of
world class play, one could argue that little Sonya Jeyaseelan
stole the show. She was happy to discuss this win and the previous
night's narrow loss to Sacramento. "We had the
same situation. We were up quadruple match point on the guys and
we lost. Again (tonight) we were up by the same thing and we were, like, hoping
our guys would not think about what happened last night and come
through. And they really did... We came out here and fought through
and it's great." A knee injury and some "tough draws" (first round
bouts with the likes of Henin, Huber, and Coetzer) have caused
Sonya's WTA ranking to fall all the way from 49 to 193, but she's
optimistic about getting back on track this summer. Contrary to a
rumor I read, though, she's not scheduled to play doubles with
Monica Seles in Toronto next month. "I'd like to. I'm not sure. She's not
playing in Toronto, actually, but I asked her if she'll play with me
in New York (at the US Open), so we'll see. Hopefully she'll stay
healthy."
While Jeyaseelan attempts to claw her way back into the world's
Top 100, Magdalena Maleeva has her sights set on qualifying for
the year-end Masters event in Germany. "It would just be nice for me
to be in the Top 16. My goal was to be seeded at the Grand Slams,
so I did manage that for the French and Wimbledon. I'm feeling good,
I'm really healthy, and I'm playing pretty well." As for the Buzz,
this heartbreaking loss dropped their record to 6-5 and cast major
doubt on their dwindling playoff aspirations.
Obviously a bitter pill to swallow, but Nannie de Villiers was gracious in her post-match comments. "I think
Hartford was just so psyched up to come out here and win. We had
lost to them the first match (in Hartford) so we weren't thinking we
were gonna kick their butts or anything easy."
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Last updated 26 September 2015
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