TEAMTENNIS : Dukes Lose Match, West Division Lead

The Newport Beach Dukes quest for World TeamTennis’ West Division title received another setback Saturday with a 26-24 loss to the Phoenix Smash at Phoenix.

“We got cut to the bone,” Dukes Coach Greg Patton said. “In three years of coaching TeamTennis, this probably is the one that hurts the most. We played well. The pressure was tense. We felt the blade was against our throat the whole match.”

It was the second-consecutive loss for the Dukes (8-5) following a seven-match winning streak. They dropped out of first place entering tonight’s regular season finale at Wichita (2-11).

Vail (9-5) took the lead with a 28-15 victory over Raleigh. The Dukes are in second, a half-match ahead of Sacramento, 25-24 losers to the Los Angeles Strings.

The Dukes and Smash were tied at 20 heading into the final set of the night, mixed doubles. Phoenix’s Ellis Ferreira and Anne Smith were 6-4 winners over Ronnie Bathman and Amy Frazier. Bathman was broken in the final game.

Each set was decided by a 6-4 score. Phoenix (5-9) took the early lead when Smith and Rosalyn Fairbank-Nideffer defeated Frazier and Lise Gregory.

Frazier then tied the match with a victory over Fairbank-Nideffer.

“Amy played really well,” Patton said. “What is her strength for her team is that she cares so much. In some ways, it becomes a weakness. She was up 40-30 at 5-1 and then she double-faulted two points away. Then Roz grabbed that and rolled with that.”

The Dukes went ahead when Bathman and Rikard Bergh topped Ferreira and Greg Holmes. The Smash tied again the match when Ferreira overcame a 3-1 deficit to beat Bergh.