Orange County Breakers eliminated from playoff contention

The Orange County Breakers are the defending World Team Tennis champions, but the home club did not exactly roll out a lineup full of experience Wednesday night against the visiting Springfield Lasers.

Injuries have hit the Breakers hard this season. Their expected men’s singles player, Stephane Robert, never suited up for them after Breakers coach Rick Leach said that Robert suffered a knee injury at Wimbledon. Leach added that Andreja Klepac, last year’s World Team Tennis Female MVP for the Breakers, aggravated an elbow injury on Sunday and is out for the rest of the season.

The Breakers’ lineup Wednesday included two World Team Tennis rookies — Jacqueline Cako and Marcelo Demoliner — plus Yanina Wickmayer, last year’s league Female Rookie of the Year, and fellow second-year player Darian King.

“We didn’t have the experience, that’s for sure, but there’s no excuse,” Leach said. “It’s just tough if you don’t have the chemistry of having the same team the whole year.”

The year will end soon for the Breakers, who will not have the opportunity to defend their title. With one match remaining in the regular season, Orange County was eliminated from World Team Tennis finals contention following its 20-17 loss to Springfield at Palisades Tennis Club.

The Breakers (5-8) conclude their season Thursday with another home match against the Washington Kastles at 6 p.m. Springfield (7-6) travels to San Diego on Thursday for the regular-season finale, and both teams have a shot to snag the second finals berth. The finals will be contested at the first-place Philadelphia Freedoms on Sunday.

Orange County stayed close throughout Wednesday’s match, but 18-year-old Miomir Kecmanovic closed it out in men’s singles for the visitors against King with a 5-2 victory. King had a three-all point in the final game with a chance to break Kecmanovic’s serve and extend the match, but Kecmanovic hit a backhand down the line that King was unable to return over the net.

“It was tight, but it was good for him,” Springfield coach John-Laffnie de Jager said of Kecmanovic. “People forget, he’s only 18 years old. It was a great experience for him. Obviously, it’s pressure, and he knows he needs to close it out to give us a shot. He’s been playing well this whole season. He has a couple of things to work on. He hates losing, and he just needs to learn how to deal with it better.”

The Breakers held a 12-10 halftime lead after three sets, but Springfield’s Daniel Nestor and Abigail Spears beat Demoliner and Cako 5-2 in mixed doubles. Cako, a former All-American at Arizona State, played in her second match of the season for Orange County following Klepac’s injury.

“That team, Nestor and Spears, had been playing mixed [doubles] the whole season, and it was the first time playing mixed [for Demoliner and Cako],” Leach said. “It’s difficult to be thrown into that situation, but [Cako] did great. Two games was enough to keep us in the match, and I think Darian played well. He just got beat on the three-all points. I can’t fault the way that everyone tried and competed.”

The three-all points were a difference throughout the entire match, with Springfield winning 10 of 13 and Orange County converting just three.

Orange County’s Wickmayer defeated Springfield’s Vania King 5-3 in women’s singles to open the night, before King and Spears came back to defeat Wickmayer and Cako 5-2 in women’s doubles.

King and Demoliner beat the Lasers’ Daniel Nestor and Kecmanovic 5-2 in men’s doubles.

The Breakers have lost two home matches in two nights, but will try to avoid three in a row when they play on Thursday.

“We need to be professional and do our best, and we did tonight,” Leach said. “It came down to the last set, two three-all games, and we didn’t win them.”

matthew.szabo@latimes.com

Twitter: @mjszabo