Johnson/Black vs Schneemann/Pisnik at the SXY Newport Beach Open

And this morning, the wind was very calm. We're starting to see a little more gusts at time. And I think it affected Lacey on that service return. So Lacey is discussing with our lead referee for this match, Mr. Don Stanley, that she saw something in her peripheral view. I believe like a clipboard fell on the court. And so we're actually going to restart at 0-0-2. The ball was too high, and she puts it away. Great shot from Tyra Black. Pissnick's team had come into this one as a relatively new partnership, just 7-2 together. So that's probably two tournaments. Some nice play in there. Tina really setting that up. That's classic Tina Pissnick play right there. And then pickleball fans, of course, know about Georgia Johnson, Hurricane Tyra Black. This is a partnership we've seen quite often on tour. So not a new partnership on the other side. 51-14, so 65 matches career played between Hurricane Tyra Black and Georgia Johnson, one of the more seasoned women's doubles teams in the entire sport. Tina being pretty conservative there in transition zone and drops into the net. I'd like to see her maybe attack that ball. I think it was attackable. Nice little firefight there. Goes to Lacey Sneeman. 1-0-2. Tyra pops it up, and Tina Pissnick finishes it off. The 2-0 start here on a great grandstand court. I would say this is a top five grandstand court on the entire PPA tour. Very cool environment here in Newport Beach. Set up. If it continues to gust like it is currently, we are going to see some misses that are typically uncharacteristic from these players. Second serve, 0-2-2. Going to see a better overhead angle than that. What a shot from Tina Pissnick. We know it's so hard to put away the ball against Hurricane Tyra Black and Georgia Johnson, and Tina Pissnick successful there. 2-0-2. Tyra's not being aggressive enough with her volleys at the net. She's not putting enough pressure when they're driving the ball at her. She's really inviting Pissnick and Sneedman to get to the line, and that's why they lost that rally. It's 3-0. Tyra Black not quite locked in in this bronze medal match yet. Down 4-0. And a wise timeout called. 5-0 start. Set up, 0-5-1, 0-5-2. About an inch or two out, so the first point of the match for Johnson and Black. And on that rally, we actually saw Georgia come over with her backhand and take a ball from Hurricane Tyra's forehand. So you may see Georgia play a little bit more of the court from the right side since they're down big early. Cross-court attack, and Lacey Sneedman is ready. Great hands from her. 6-0-1, second serve. Second missed forehand third into the net from Lacey Sneedman If I was Hurricane Tyra in Georgia, I would try and focus my return of serves to Lacey Sneedman's forehand or her backhand. She's missed a couple thirds now. The wind is really affecting Lacey when she's playing from the back line. 0-6-1. 10 to 12 mile an hour gust. 1-6-1. Tina Pissnick drops that one into the net. Second serve. Pulls out by about a foot. 1-6-2. And we can probably see Pissnick and Sneedman go right there. Soft to Hurricane Tyra's backhand. See that sometimes on tour, and it works out well for them there. 6-1. And then on the other side, I think Georgia and Tyra are trying to work the ball soft to Tina Pissnick's backhand. So they don't think that Tina can create much offense from her backhand side. That's probably a spot they're going to try and target. Georgia starting a firefight there with a two-hand backhand speed up off the bounce. A nice little firefight could have gone either way. All four of these players have top-tier hands on tour. 1-6-1. I think Georgia trusts her hands, though. 1-6. Longest one of the match, probably a 30-ball rally. Tyra finishes it off. 2-6-1. And how many times have we seen Georgia Johnson burn opponents with her placement? What a shot from Georgia Johnson. 3-6-1. Enough communication on that middle ball from Georgia and Tyra. They weren't sure who was going to lean in and take it. 6-3-1. 6-3-2. You probably hear a lot of players on tour say, I don't want to dink with Georgia Johnson. So look for Lacey Steen and Tina Pissnick to try and keep the dinking rallies away from Georgia. Lacey held that attack until the very last second and she disguised it well, and her counter-attack was ready. At the highest levels, the first shot's not always going to work. You have to trust your counters to the counter-attack. That was nice from Lacey Steen. Tina attacked that one dink too early there. One more dink, I felt like she would have been in a better spot. Got a great game one here. It's 4-6. After being down 6-0, Johnson and Black working their way back. I believe that she missed that ball, but the wind is playing tricks on these players. 5-6-2. Not really getting involved in many of these rallies at all. I would say 70% of the balls are going towards Tyra. 6-5-2. Really nice point there from Tyra and Georgia. Tyra sets it up, and Georgia finishes it off with a big forehand volley. They're getting some coaching from Julie Johnson in between rallies here. Receiver is 6-6-1. All day long on the defense. 7-2. 6-6-2. Pinch against Georgia Johnson. She will punish you every time her forehands strike. Excellent there, 7-6. Point. 8-6-2. Point. That's the pattern that I think Tina Piston and Lacey Steen have won, but sometimes you get an attackable ball. Hurricane Tyra is just ready with her counter-attacks. That's what she's known for. They're up 9-6. Hurricane Tyra Black, she knows that she's going to pop up dinks at times. Her dinks are not the most perfect on tour, but her counter-attacks and her recognition whenever she's popping up the ball, she's always ready for the attack. Duked. Due to Tina Piston's backhand, she had a couple of attackable balls there, and Tina's not really doing much with it. She's backhand slice volleying it, and it's not creating any pressure. So most players on tour would have a two-hand backhand, or they'd roll it. Tina is slicing those volleys, and it's just not working against this team. Tina actually doing more with that backhand volley on that rally specifically. Kind of a backhand punch. She was rolling it over, and that was the difference, folks. So I think she's recognizing that her backhand slice volley wasn't doing much, so she's being way more aggressive on that backhand volley in that rally. That is locked in Tina Piston right there. Totally in rhythm on that rally. It's 8-9 now. I think we need a timeout from Georgia and Tyra right now. Momentum can swing very fast in pro pickleball. Two more, and they'll take game one. A big side out there. Ball is now in the hands of Hurricane Tyra Black at 9-9-1. The women's side attacking four-hand volleys like that. Perfect spot chosen from Georgia. And she's in with a ton of pace. They've got a game point now, 10-9. So it's scheduled going forward. So both of the Kawamotos are going to play way less tournaments. And Editui Anatoa, that's three of the current women's doubles top 10 players, are kind of going to fall way down in the rankings due to the number of tournaments they're going to play. So there's so much opportunity for all the women below them to really rise up the ranks. Perfect spot there from Tina Pissing, placing it low to Georgia Johnson's backhand and forces a miss. When Georgia misses a shot into the net, you know it was a good shot. Pace on that ball, creating a little bit of pressure. 0-1-2. 0-1. Well, that was really good play there. I like the aggressiveness from Tina. That's a shot she can absolutely hit. Just misses it. 1-0-1. Serve looked out. Yeah. 1-0-2. Cross court there with her attacks. Works that time, but expect Tina to be ready next time. 2-0-2. Lacey Steeman is so good at creating offense when she gets a dink to her forehand. 0-2-1. Lacey really showing out right now with the backhand roll. 1-2-1. And just like I mentioned a few rallies ago, so Tyra going cross court on some of those attacks. A couple of rallies ago, Tina was late. That time, big forehand counterattack. That is more what you'll usually see from Tina, if she gets a volley to her forehand side. And a piss sink. That is how you win points at the highest level. You have to construct it. 3-2-1. Point. We're going to have it. We'll see what. After review, the rally is overturned. The ball was in. Lots of free challenge. No free challenge remaining. One free challenge remaining. We'll resume play at 3-2-2. 4-2-2. Lacey's third shot dropped too high. Georgia with a nice backhand volley. 2-4-1. And Lacey continued to play keep away from Georgia Johnson until they get an attackable ball. 2-4-2. The right shot selection there. 3-4-2. Towards Tyra. Nice hands from Georgia Johnson. 4-4. 4-4-2. Set up. Well, Tina piss sink looking super strong here on Carvana Grandstand court. 5-4-1. 5-4-2. 6-4-2. Point. Lacey's Neiman choosing all the right balls to attack. It's really working for her throughout this match. 7-4. So a bit of impatience there from Tina Fisnick. Pretty easy hands battle win for Georgia and Tyra. 4-7-1. Perfect spot there from Tyra. She saw Georgia Johnson sort of leaning to the middle, and Tina places it right down the line of Georgia Johnson. 4-7-2. Gets a paddle on it, but dumps it into the net. Set up. Lacey's Neiman has always had some of the better put away shots on the women's side. 7-4-1. A conversation as well. Probably top five with her put aways. Here we go. 7-4-2. Set up. 4-7-1. Second serve. Tina Fisnick fighting off a ton of pressure from Georgia Johnson until she misses a shot wide. 4-7-2. Really good play. Even though it's windy, a lot of times you see players start to play pretty conservative at times when the wind is gusting. But these players are really playing well in these conditions. 7-4-1. Hurricane, Tyra Black. Ball called. Set up. 4-7-1. I don't think I've ever seen Lacey Neiman miss an overhead. 4-7-2. It's unbelievable when she gets a high ball to her forehand. Set up. 7-4-1. As we see a lot in women's doubles, they're backing up when they pop up a ball to be ready for that counterattack. Tina Fisnick does it there. And it's very hard to put away the ball against someone that backs up in the transition zone. It really just becomes a firefight that you have to win. And that one goes to Tina Fisnick. 9-4-2. That's bread and butter for Tina Fisnick. If she gets a high backhand, she's really good at placing it low. Set up. And that's pretty common for Lacey Neiman to have the occasional shot where she's ultra aggressive and really going for a sometimes risky attack. And she's capable of that. But that one, just not there. 4-2-2. Great play. And Lacey finding a chance to attack. Sets it up. Finishes it off. They have game point here. Trying to force a third game. And there it is. You can see what makes Tina Fisnick such a tough player on the Carvana PPA Tour de Golf. Had a great attack there. But Lacey Neiman's hands too good. She's playing really well right now. 1-0-2. Set up. And I believe that's the second or third forehand pop-up that Tina Fisnick has dumped into the net. 0-1-1. Set to serve. Tina Fisnick waiting, waiting, disguising that attack. Probably thought she was going to go to Tyra Black. But instead, she picks a great spot to go to against Georgia. And Georgia was late. Georgia takes over on that rally. We'd like to see her be very active and try and take more balls from the middle. There it is. Yep. Thought she was going to throw away that ball for sure. But we need to see Georgia Johnson be very active and try and take over in this third game in order to pull it out. 1-1-1. Attack just doesn't work. I've got to show you that previous rally was so good. The replays, because the action is just way too good right now. And Lacey Snuman might start attacking Georgia Johnson. She's starting to feel very confident. Goes after her there. And Georgia misses the counterattack. All right, so Tina Fisnick has to like this pattern. They've been targeting it all day long. If they can get backhand to backhand, Tina and Tyra with these dinks, patience, and sticking to the plan will help them make the podium. On the other side, we see Georgia and Tyra just continuing to target that small window of Tina Fisnick. Soft to her backhand side. And when you have a smaller target, sometimes you're going to push it wide like that. I think we've seen throughout this match that actually the secret spot is middle on both teams. I think both teams aren't communicating enough on these middle balls. And I think it's not being exploited enough. Loving it here in Newport Beach. That is classic Hurricane Tyra Black and Georgia Johnson. The best team in women's doubles at scrambling from the back line. And Lacey's forehand lobs off the balance are really good. Really good, but it's a windy day. And that one's held way long. So likely we'll not see any more lobs throughout this match. That was the first one. We're not going to see any more. And Lacey Steeman knows that Hurricane Tyra is trying to work that ball to Tina Fisnick's backhand. And so she's able to lean into the middle like that because she knows Tyra's not going to play it down her line. And so she's getting more attackable balls because she can just sit in the middle. You made an out call? Yes, she made an out call. Second serve. All right, so Lacey hit that ball so hard. I think it was hard to see if it was in or out. But Georgia definitely called it right away out. And Lacey just can leave her line wide open. She knows that when the ball is to Tyra's backhand side, it's just not going down her line ever. And so that's really how Lacey is helping create some offense. It's 5-4. Oh, wow. She got silver in mixed doubles. Great play in there from keeping pressure on their opponents throughout the rally. Set up an attack from Tyra. So almost exclusively at the no-volley zone, the dinks are going towards Tyra. Occasionally, Georgia working her way into these rallies. Second serve. That may be the difference in the rest of game three is how many times will Georgia Johnson touch the ball. Every time they go at Georgia, she just has to scramble. It's an attack, and she's being pressured. She can't create any offense when it's like that. 6-6. Second serve. 6-6-2. Great play in there from Tyra. Really trapped Lacey Steeman as she's trying to work her way forward through transition zone. Second serve. Lacey actually said, and that ball is going to land in. But the wind carried it about two feet out, so. 6-6-2. Some swirling conditions on site. 7-6-2. Lacey got blown up on a level play there from Lacey. And she has a fist bump after that one. And it's not that she hadn't attacked the ball. She hit it as hard as she could. It wasn't anything like that. It was a perfect spot. 8-7-2. 9-7-2. Side out. And Tina hit a perfect forehand undercut drop on the rally before that. But then she tried the same exact shot. She was moving forward when she hit it and dumps it into the net. Second serve. 7-9-2. Somehow, someway, keeps that ball in. She hit it with so much backhand slice. 8-9-2. 8-9. And you can see how far back Tyra backed up on that rally. Point. I think that was probably Georgia Johnson's ball that Tyra just a little bit overaggressive on that side of the court. Match point. First thing that we've seen Tyra actually redirect off her backhand when she's going with Tina Bissing. She works it to Lacey's demon. And I think Lacey was shocked that she dinked her there. Oh, and she went for an Ernie. Put it away, but too aggressive when you're down. Match point. And the bronze medal in the podium and 600 PPA Tour ranking points goes to Tina Bissing.