Dukes Hand San Antonio Its First Loss : TeamTennis: Despite being delayed by flight problems, Newport Beach keeps playoff hopes alive with 26-23 victory.

The Newport Beach Dukes, undaunted by more than two hours of delays because of airplane troubles, upset the previously undefeated San Antonio Racquets, 26-23, Thursday in a TeamTennis match.

The Dukes’ flight to Dallas landed on schedule, but the flight to San Antonio was delayed about two hours as the team sat in the airplane waiting for the mechanical problems to be fixed.

The team arrived at the match 15 minutes after the 7:30 p.m. starting time, quickly warmed up, then upset San Antonio, which came into the match with a 12-0 record.

The victory moves the Dukes (6-6) into third place, a half-match ahead of Wichita, in the Western Division. Wichita lost Thursday to the Los Angeles Strings, 25-20.

The top three teams from each division advance to the playoffs.

“This was a great win,” Dukes Coach Greg Patton said. “It was just awesome to overcome what we did all day, then to play so well.”

The Dukes clinched the match at mixed doubles when Mano Bollegraf and Tim Pawsat combined for the second time this season and won, 6-5 (5-3), over Peter Doohan and Gretchen Magers. Bollegraf and Pawsat also won Wednesday, beating Tami Whitlinger and Robert Van’t Hof of the Sacramento Capitals.

Bollegraf was impressive in the women’s singles Thursday as she raced past Magers, 6-1. Magers and Louise Allen had opened the match by defeating Bollegraf and Elise Burgin, 6-5 (5-3).

San Antonio also won in the men’s doubles as Doohan and Sammy Giammalva beat Rick Leach and Pawsat, 6-3. But Leach rallied in the men’s singles to defeat Giammalva, 6-5 (5-3).

The Dukes conclude the regular season with matches at Atlanta and Martina Navratilova on Saturday and Charlotte on Sunday.

The upset of San Antonio was the last scheduled match for Coach Patton, who leaves the team to coach the U.S. Tennis team at the Pan American Games in Cuba.

“I’m really excited now,” he said. “I don’t want to leave. I would love to be with the team in Atlanta but I’m not supposed to be there. Maybe we should all sit in a plane for five hours.”