The Springfield Lasers dropped to last place in the World Team Tennis Western Conference after a 21-17 overtime loss to their instate rivals, the Kansas City Explorers, Saturday night at Cooper Tennis Complex.
The Lasers opened their season this week with four home matches and after a convincing win Monday night, the team dropped three straight.
?Obviously it?s disappointing that we?re not doing so well,? the Lasers? Paul Hanley said. ?Hopefully when we go on the road things can change a little bit.?
Hanley said that he is actually looking forward to playing some road matches because the court in Springfield does not suit his style of play well.
?This sort of surface is not my favorite,? he said. ?It?s a very high bouncing surface, so it will be interesting to see what the away surfaces are like.?
Hanley?s doubles partner Raven Klaasen said that the high bouncing surface is actually an advantage for the team because they are used to playing on it.
?This court is very bouncy so it?s hard for guys to come in one day and start playing on it,? Klaasen said. ?The home court advantage at the start of the season has been nice for me.?
Klaasen?s play in men?s singles has been a pleasant surprise in this first week. In Monday?s match Klaasen?s set was the only one the Lasers lost, but he got the win in each of the team?s next three outings.
Men?s singles was the first event of every match this week and Klaasen said he likes the role of setting the tone for the Lasers.
?The result of the team is a lot more important than my personal results but if I can get the team off to a good start then that?s key,? he said.
Klaasen came out hot Saturday night, he downed the Explorers? Ricardo Mello 5-3 to start the match.
The momentum didn?t carry over however as Lilia Osterloh, the Lasers? women?s singles player, fell to a hard-serving Madison Brengle 5-1.
From there the Lasers lost both women?s doubles and mixed doubles and by the time Klaasen and Hanley took the court for men?s doubles, the Lasers were down 18-12.
Klaasen and Hanley beat Mello and Alex Kuznetsov 5-2 to force overtime.
The Lasers would have had to win four straight games in overtime to get the win, but in the first game, Kuznetsov came up with some big serves and the Explorers (1-3) walked away with their first win of the season.
?We knew we could get one break, it would probably be really hard to get two breaks though,? Klaasen said. ?We gave ourselves a chance and he hit a great serve when it counted so it was a long shot but we stuck in there and gave ourselves a chance.?
The Lasers travel to St. Louis Monday to take on the Aces and they are hoping a change of surface will help them bounce back.
Men?s singles: (SGF) Raven Klaasen 5-3 Ricardo Mello (KC)
Women?s singles: (SGF) Lilia Osterloh 1-5 Madison Brengle (KC)
Mixed doubles: (SGF) Paul Hanley/Carly Gullickson 3-5 Mello/Kveta Peschke (KC)
Women?s doubles: (SGF) Osterloh/Gullickson 3-5 Brengle/Peschke (KC)
Men?s doubles: (SGF) Hanley/Klaasen 5-2 Mello/Alex Kuznetsov (KC)
Overtime: (SGF) Hanley/Klaasen 0-1 Mello/Kuznetsov (KC)
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Source: http://tagsgf.com/2011/07/10/sgf-lasers-drop-third-straight/
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