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Kastles Win Eastern Conference Championship

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Friday, July 24th 2009

After a controversial encounter with the Sportimes on July 16th that was just memorialized as ESPN SportsCenter's top play of the week, last night's playoff match was hyped to a level that few thought it could live up to - but it did. In what was one of the most thrilling WTT matches of the season, the Kastles took an early lead, fell behind, rallied to overtake the Sportimes and held on for a narrow overtime victory.

Like the two teams' infamous last match, Friday's affair was exceptionally close and hotly-contested. Because the Sportimes were seeded higher, they chose the order of events, and decided to start with mixed doubles-the Kastles' best event. Grand Slam winners Leander Paes, who was named the WTT's 2009 Male MVP on Friday, and Rennae Stubbs have been the best mixed doubles team in the league and last night was no different. Though the Sportimes' Abigail Spears and Robert Kendrick have also been successful as a duo this year, the Kastles were too much, winning the event 5-4 in a tiebreaker.

Next up was women's singles, where the Kastles' Olga Puchkova faced off against Spears, the second-ranked women's singles player in the WTT this season. Spears won both crucial three-all points to take the set, 5-2, and give her team at 9-7 lead going into the third event.

Men's doubles was the last event before halftime, as Paes and teammate Scott Oudsema played Kendrick and Jesse Witten. With the Kastles needing a victory, they came within a point of falling behind a break in this crucial event. Down 0-3 in a critical game of the set, Oudesma and Paes fed off the incredible energy from the partisan crowd of Kastles fans to fight off four break points and win the game. More important, the comeback swung the entire momentum of the match. In the very next game the Kastles broke Kendrick and Witten's serve leading to a decisive 5-3 win and putting the Kastles back into the match.

With nothing separating them at the break, the final two events, women's doubles and men's singles, would decide the match, and the Eastern Conference champion. Stubbs and Puchkova, who have at times struggled as a doubles team, tonight showed the character of champions facing the Sportimes doubles team of Spears and Christina Fusano. With no room for error, the passionate Kastles crowd got behind its team for each of the three important three-all points during the event, and their team responded by winning all three. It was especially gratifying for Puchkova who came up with several key shots to lead the Kastles to victory in the set. Stubbs and Puchkova embraced after bringing the Kastles within one event of victory with a resounding 5-2 win in the fourth event.

On the verge of a title, Oudsema had the challenge of facing Kendrick, the WTT's top-ranked men's singles player and the 69th ranked player in the world, to close out the match. What was already tense due to the stakes of this match was even more emotionally charged due to Kendrick's central role in the infamous July 14th encounter. Oudsema showed a confidence that has grown as the season has progressed and he proved resilient and tough throughout the event. With Kendrick up 4-3 in the event, Oudsema fought off two breakpoints at 2-3 to hold serve and force a tiebreaker.

Even though Kendrick won the tiebreaker, Oudsema had the opportunity to serve for the match with the Kastles leading 21-19. On the match's final point, in a fitting end to a rivalry that has been a YouTube sensation, the Sportimes looked for a video review to save them, however their challenge of a call on Oudsema's service was unsuccessful. The Kastles mobbed each other on the court to celebrate the victory and the fans stayed to savor the moment and show their appreciation for what the team had just accomplished.

Tags: tennis, kastles

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