Kastles Capture WTT Championship
It's sadly not often that a Washington team wins a championship, so you might as well get down. A large collection of tennis aficionados did just that on Sunday night, after witnessing the Kastles overcome a late charge by the Springfield Lasers to win the WTT title and the King Trophy, 23-20. Since the WTT experience at its core is a jovial one, attendees were already in a good mood despite the sweltering heat and humidity. The victory for the home team had fans chanting in unison and leaping up and down.
Perhaps halftime entertainer DJ Kool said it best, after I ran into him and asked his opinion on the evening: "Woooooo!"
Woo, indeed.
(An aside: yes, that DJ Kool, who, even at 50, made sure to note that he was "representing Southeast!" as he surreally performed his mid-90s hit "Let Me Clear My Throat" at a tennis match.)
If Kool hadn't been enough to get the sizable crowd on its feet, the championship-clinching women's singles match did the trick.
The Kastles won the WTT crown in just their second year of existence. (Kyle Gustafson / www.photokyle.com)
Olga Puchkova was the hero of the day after weathering an incredible three straight Championship points in the singles match to defeat regular season WTT Women's MVP Vania King. Puchkova had gone down four games to two against King, the first time since the beginning of the match that the Kastles had not been in the overall lead. The sixth game was a killer, when a netted volley from King crawled over and agonizingly fell on Puchkova's end of the court to put the match at the vital junction. Things seemed to be spiraling out of control for the 21-year-old Russian, who also had numerous unforced errors in the women's doubles set -- Washington's only defeat in the five matches played. But as the fans chanted her name, Olga managed to dig deep; after she held off King's three chances to win the title, there was no stopping her.
There was no stopping coach Murphy Jensen, either, as he and the rest of the Kastles carried Puchkova around the court after she solidified the win in the tiebreaker.
The Kastles dominated the early parts of the match, obviously boosted from the fact that their home court had been chosen as the "neutral" site for the league championship. It was hard to miss the slow degradation of the impartiality of the Kastles Stadium public address announcer -- before a point in the fifth event, he even said, "I know that this is supposed to be a neutral site, but whatever, go Kastles!" Scott Oudsema, the final match's MVP as the player with the highest winning percentage, and Leander Paes (who had previously been named the WTT Men's MVP) looked very strong in early play as Washington built a 15-11 lead through three sets, mostly thanks to "Boom Boom" crushing serves left and right.
"This match is what WTT is all about," said Lasers coach John-Laffnie de Jager. "It was exciting."
And with that, Party Tennis closes up shop for the year; we'll certainly enjoy the hangover of a nice big silver trophy and the memory of DJ Kool's hooks until next summer's return.