TeamTennis : No Rest for Buds Before Their 25-19 Loss at Boston

The tired San Diego Buds, one day after moving into a first-place tie with Oakland in the TeamTennis league, lost to the previously winless Boston Bays, 25-19, Saturday night in Boston.

After defeating the Aces on Friday night, San Diego (6-3) traveled all day Saturday and wasn’t afforded any warmup time before stepping onto the court to meet the Bays (1-8).

“Yes, I definitely think the fatigue factor played an important role in us being so flat. At least, I hope that was the reason,” said Larry Willens, the Bud coach. “We tried to sleep on the plane but when we got there nothing went right for us.

“We arrived at our hotel at 5:50 and they told us we were supposed to practice at the arena at 6. So, by the time we got there, all we could do was step on the court and start playing.”

With no chance to work out the kinks, the Buds started poorly. Drew Gitlin and Ann Henricksson opened the match with a 6-4 mixed doubles victory over Butch Walts and Mary Lou Piatek. Then, Mike Leach defeated Todd Nelson, 6-1, in men’s singles to give the Bays a 12-5 lead.

San Diego’s usually reliable women’s doubles pair of Piatek and Robin White was also sluggish and fell, 6-5 (5-0 in the tiebreaker), to Henricksson and Andrea Leand.

“Mary Lou was just a wreck out there,” Willens said. “And Robin was, too. She didn’t get going until the singles but by then it was too late.”

White defeated Henricksson, 6-1, for the Buds’ only victory, but Boston put away the win when Leach and Gitlin knocked off Walts and Nelson, 6-3, in men’s doubles.

“Even though we were tired, that’s no excuse for a lack of concentration,” Willens said. “We were terrible on the three-all points and that cost us. It seems, when we do well on those, we win; otherwise we do badly. There’s no middle ground.”

There also won’t be much rest for the Buds before their next match, scheduled for 2 p.m. today in Miami Beach against the Breakers. San Diego defeated Miami Beach, 23-21, in its opening match of the season at the Sports Arena.

“Not only we will not get much rest again, but we’ll have to get used to their clay courts,” Willens said. “None of our players have played on clay in a long time so hopefully we’ll have an hour or so to warm up this time.”

Bud Notes The Buds will finally get a day off Monday, before heading to San Antonio to play the Racquets on Tuesday night. San Diego returns home to meet St. Louis on Wednesday night. Up to two juniors (16 and under) will be admitted free with a paying adult to the St. Louis match. Robin White, with her win over Ann Henricksson, has won three straight matches and six of her last seven. In that span, her record in games is 40-20.