Port Washington meet: A-3 on Court 3, the racked light-tray, a three-set loss

timeline_event

pivotal · 6 Nov YDAU

When: 6 November YDAU — the annual E.T.A.-vs-P.W.T.A. mammoth meet on Long Island; individual results recapped 7 Nov
What: Coyle plays A-3 singles on Court 3 at the Port Washington meet. He is early in an endless butterfly-shaped rally, and later smashes a sucker-lob so hard it bounces up and racks Court 3's tray of hanging lights, drawing what might be sincere gallery applause. He does not win: the broadcast logs a hard-fought three-set loss to Port Washington's Shelby van der Merwe of Hempstead, Long Island (score printed with en-dashes; paraphrased, not quoted). E.T.A. routs P.W.T.A. overall and the whole P.W.T.A. staff and squad have to sing a really silly song — Coyle and Troeltsch the A-squad's only singles casualties.