Buzz WTT Champions, Finally

by Staff
7/28/2008
by Staff - 7/28/2008

It took 14 years and four attempts, but the New York Buzz finally captured their first World TeamTennis Championship, posting a 21-18 win over the Kansas City Explorers Sunday at Allstate Stadium at Westfield Galleria in Roseville, Calif.

The Buzz handed Kansas City their only two losses this season. In addition to Sunday’s win, New York handled the Explorers 23-17 on July 15 in Kansas City.

“We played point by point today and we never looked at the finish line,” said Buzz coach Jay Udwadia. “We really came together as a team this weekend and this is a team I really want to keep together for next year. This is an absolutely great experience.”

The Buzz won the two singles events, when Nathan Healey defeated Dusan Vemic 5-3 in men’s singles and Yaroslava Shvedova posted a 5-3 win over Kveta Peschke in women’s singles. The two singles wins gave the Buzz a 10-6 lead after the first two events.

Kansas City closed the gap to 13-11 at halftime after Rennae Stubbs and Vemic scored a 5-3 mixed doubles win over Healey and Shvedova. Stubbs and Peschke then secured a 5-3 win over Shvedova and Gabriela Navratilova in women’s doubles.

With the match tied at 16-all headed into the final event, Healey and Patrick Briaud came up strong to close out the match, defeating the Explorers’ James Auckland and Vemic 5-2. The match ended on a point when Vemic touched the net to seal the victory and the first WTT crown for the Buzz.

“We played really well in the last set and even if Vemic had not touched the net, we were prepared to serve for the match at the end,” Healey said following the match. “After more than three weeks on the road and playing a lot of matches, it feels great to win the whole thing.”

The New York Buzz have been in WTT for 14 years and Sunday was the fourth time the team reached the WTT Final. In 2007, the Buzz lost in the final to the Sacramento Capitals and they also reached the Final in 2002 and 1998.

“We knew from the time we drafted this team, we were going to win this year,” said Nitty Singh, longtime owner of the New York Buzz. “This championship has been a long time coming and things worked out well for us this year. From relocating the team to a new site in Albany to having a team that wanted to win so badly and were willing to set everything aside to accomplish that goal, we knew we had something special. We felt it was our year, our destiny.”

The Buzz moved this year indoors to CDPHP Court at the Washington Avenue Armory in Albany.

The MVP for the WTT Championship Weekend was Rennae Stubbs, who had the best winning percentage of any player in the semifinals and final match of the 2008 WTT Championship Weekend.

2008 WTT FINAL - New York Buzz def. KANSAS CITY EXPLORERS 21-18

Men's Singles - Nathan Healey (Buzz) def. Dusan Vemic (Explorers) 5-3
Women's Singles - Yaroslava Shvedova (Buzz) def. Kveta Peschke (Explorers) 5-3
Mixed Doubles - Rennae Stubbs\Dusan Vemic (Explorers) def. Nathan Healey\Yaroslava Shvedova (Buzz) 5-3
Women's Doubles - Kveta Peschke\Rennae Stubbs (Explorers) def. Gabriela Navratilova\Yaroslava Shvedova (Buzz) 5-3
Men's Doubles - Nathan Healey\Patrick Briaud (Buzz) def. Dusan Vemic\James Auckland (Explorers) 5-2