MIDDLETON — The Boston Lobsters pro tennis team opened its season against the New York Sportimes last night at the Ferncroft Country Club, and the many fans in attendance left happy with what they had witnessed.
The Lobsters won all five matches as "Crustacean Nation" favorite Coco Vandeweghe was out on the court for three separate matches: women's singles, women's doubles and, for the first time in her career, mixed doubles.
The final result was a 25-16 victory over the Lobsters over New York.
"It was a good start; everyone played well. but I really liked the number of pressure situations we came through in," said Lobsters head coach Bud Schultz, who then shifted gears and talked about putting Vandeweghe into three different events. "She's our horse and we're going to go with her, particularly in the mixed (doubles)."
Cheers of "Hot Coco!" and "Booty!" (for her mixed doubles partner, Eric Butorac) could be heard all night long as the 19-year-old Vandeweghe really had her serve booming, making it an easy decision for Schultz as to who would partner with Butorac in the final match of the night.
Vandeweghe had to watch former teammate Raquel Kops-Jones compete in mixed doubles last year, but the former's departure opened up the spot for Vandeweghe. She couldn't have asked for a better partner in her first go-round, either; the talented Butorac is currently the No. 19 ranked men's doubles player in the world.
"Bud asked me if I could play mixed (doubles) and I had never played that before, ever. But was stoked to play mixed and with Eric. I was always kind of jealous of Raquel last year," said Vandeweghe, who helped Butorac top New York's tandem of Katie O'Brien and Alex Bogdanovic, 5-3. "It's so much fun to play with the guys and have the guys rip (shots) at you."
Butorac also spoke about playing with his new mixed doubles partner.
"She has a huge serve and its a lot of fun for me at the net, jumping around and getting balls," said Butorac. "And Coco brings good energy, which is always important."
Vandeweghe finished with 15 aces on the night, picking up six in her women's doubles match with newcomer Mashona Washington that they won, 5-3. But Vandeweghe's most impressive performance came in her singles match against the Sportimes' Abigail Spears, where she fell behind 4-3 before rallying to force the tiebreaker. Vandeweghe then blasted a serve that gave Spears no chance at a volley to pick up the 5-4 win.
After the match, Vandeweghe expressed her gratitude for the fans in the area.
"I am so happy that Boston has embraced me," said Vandeweghe. "I grew up playing arena sports and my whole family was in arena sports too, so the cheering and the music and that stuff is awesome. I enjoy it a lot."
Jan-Michael Gambill opened the match in impressive fashion against Jessie Witten as the Lobsters' oldest male player found his serve early and handled Witten 5-2. After the women's doubles match, Gambill and Butorac partnered in the men's doubles, edging out Witten and Bogdanovic 5-4 in the tiebreak.
All in all, it was a night of success for everyone not wearing a Sportimes jersey.
"It was a great opening night. We have almost the exact team back from last year with one new addition (Washington) who brought energy and right away we were having fun. That usually means you're playing well," said Butorac.
The fans were great. After the fourth (of July) its always tough to get a crowd, but everyone was here and into it. Hopefully we can keep this type of attendance and we'll keep trying to put on a good show."
