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WTT Orange County Breakers

Newport Beach Breakers Drop Decision To Springfield In Rematch Of 2009 Western Conference Finals

July 22, 2010 - World TeamTennis (WTT)
Orange County Breakers News Release


The Newport Beach Breakers' second-year ladies tandem of Marie-Eve Pelletier and Julie Ditty won the team's lone set Wednesday in women's doubles as the hosts fell to the Springfield Lasers, 23-18, in a rematch of last year's World TeamTennis Pro League presented by GEICO Western Conference finals at The Tennis Club Newport Beach.

The Breakers (5-8), playing for the fifth time in six nights and the 11th time in 13 nights, lost to Springfield for the second time in three days and could not prevent Springfield (9-4) from clinching a share of its second consecutive Western Conference regular season title. The Lasers and Breakers finished first and second, respectively, in the conference in 2009, with the Lasers advancing to the WTT Championship following a supertiebreaker win over the Breakers in the WTT semifinals.

Team chemistry has not been a problem for the Breakers this season, but winning the big points has. Wednesday's opening set of mixed doubles and third set, in men's singles, provided the latest evidence as the Breakers dropped both sets in tiebreakers despite holding a combined five set points in those sets.

The Breakers have lost 13 of the 21 tiebreaking sets they have played this season, including seven of the last nine and five of six through their three-match series with Springfield this season. The Lasers won two of the teams' three meetings this month.

"It's one of those things where we've needed to be a little bit more aggressive on the big points," Breakers coach Trevor Kronemann said. "To lose 13 of 21 tiebreaker sets, that's shocking but it's not surprising. Those game points, when you get to three, you've got to get them. And you can probably go back and look at all the three-all points we've had and lost."

In the match's opening set, the Breakers' tandem of David Martin and Pelletier rallied from 4-2 down through the crisp, deep service returns and groundstrokes of Pelletier and Martin's steady volleying to force a five-point tiebreaker before losing three set points in the tiebreak - the second on Pelletier's service return that clipped the net and flew inches wide - and dropping the set, 5-4.

Pelletier got her redemption in the second set as she and Ditty dictated most of the play and continued their solid ball-striking while pulling out a 5-3 set against Carly Gullickson and Chanelle Scheepers.

Leading 9-8 after two sets, the Breakers turned it over to Lester Cook in the hopes that he could extend the lead. Instead, the Breakers dropped another 5-4 set and tiebreaker by the same score as Cook lost the last of two set points against the Lasers' Rik De Voest. Cook artfully set himself up for an overhead at the net but he left his feet and hit the ball off the bottom of his racket frame and flew his smash out of the court.

"They turned out to be huge," Cook said of his team losing both tiebreaker sets. "I felt responsible for losing that last point. It was just one of those fluke times when the guy is falling to the ground and he's screaming and I just missed the shot. That's a two-game swing. It's one point here or there, especially in World TeamTennis. It's unlucky to be in those situations, but we shouldn't be in those situations."

The Breakers' defeat in men's singles evened the match at 13-13 but clearly changed the momentum in the Lasers' favor as Springfield went on to win the match's last two sets, in women's singles and men's doubles. Springfield closed out the match out as its league-leading men's doubles team of Martin Damm and De Voest defeated Martin and Cook, 5-3.

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