Kastles Come Up Short Against Explorers

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Saturday, July 18th 2009

KANSAS CITY, JULY 18—After matching the Kansas City Explorers game-for-game during the first half of the their match Saturday night, the Washington Kastles eventually came up short, losing by a score of 24-17.

Entering the match in second place in the Eastern Conference with a one-game lead over the Boston Lobsters (over whom the Kastles also possess the head-to-head tiebreaker), the Kastles (5-7) knew that they would have their work cut out for them playing in Kansas City against a team that featured the Bryan brothers, the #1 doubles team in the world.

The match started with the best mixed doubles team in the WTT, Grand Slam winners Leander Paes and Rennae Stubbs, battling it out against Bob Bryan, and Lindsay Lee Waters. After falling behind 3-0, Leander and Rennae fought back to even the set and eventually prevailed in a tiebreaker, giving the Kastles the momentum and a 5-4 lead after the first event.

Next up was another close event, as the Kastles’ Olga Puchkova and the Explorers’ Eugenie Bouchard faced off in women’s singles. After the two alternated games for most of the set, Bouchard eventually won the tiebreaker, tying the match at 10-10 going into the third event.

In men’s singles, the Kastles’ powerful Scott Oudsema took on the second-ranked men’s singles player in the WTT, Mike Russell.  Russell broke Oudsema at 4-3 giving the Explorers the event 5-3, and a 15-13 lead at halftime.

After the break, the Kastles’ team of Stubbs and Puchkova matched up against the Explorers’ Bouchard and Kveta Peschke in women’s doubles. With the Bryan brothers on deck, this was a must-win event for the Kastles if they were to come out of Kansas City with a victory.   However, Stubbs-Puchkova lost two deciding three-all points in dropping the set 5-1.

Down six games heading into the final set against the world’s top-ranked doubles team in the Bryan brothers, the Kastles’ Paes and Oudsema came out fighting. The Kastles duo matched the Bryan brothers point-for-point for most of the set. After tying the event at 4-4 the Bryan brothers took the tiebreaker thereby providing the 24-17 margin of victory for the Explorers.

The Kastles are now a half-game ahead of the Lobsters for the second and final playoff spot in the Eastern Conference. With three matches remaining, the team returns to action Monday to take on the undefeated Springfield Lasers in Springfield at 8:05 Eastern time.

Tags: tennis, kastles