Breakers blast rival Capitals
IRVINE — Monday night was Mascot Night for the Orange County Breakers tennis team.
The team announced that it was the birthday of its mascot, FlutterFrog. Several of his buddies were on hand, including mascots from Vanguard University (a lion), Chivas USA soccer, Pepperdine University (a wave) and “Bernie” from the Inland Empire 66ers baseball team.
The mascots made members of the small crowd at Bren Events Center laugh.
The tennis made them applaud.
Orange County earned its most lopsided victory of the Mylan World Team Tennis season, topping rival Sacramento, 21-13.
The Breakers are now 4-3 at the halfway point of the season, tied for second in the Western Conference with Texas and one match behind first-place Springfield. Sacramento fell to 3-4.
Monday’s match was tied at 11-11 after three sets, before the Breakers dominated women’s and men’s singles.
“I think we had a little bit of Roddick hangover, if you will,” Breakers Coach Trevor Kronemann said. “Everything seemed tonight like we had to work for it, which we do every night anyway, but tonight it just seemed extra difficult for the first couple of sets. Then we got it going in the end … Last night was the first night we’ve slept in our own beds, most of us, in a week. I think everybody got a little too much sleep last night.”
Coco Vandeweghe and Steve Johnson helped Orange County put the match away. Vandeweghe blasted Olga Govortsova of Sacramento, 5-1, and Johnson topped Ryan Sweeting by the same score.
Orange County fell in a hole early, as Sacramento’s Mark Knowles and Megan Moulton-Levy topped Treat Huey and Maria Elena Camerin of the Breakers, 5-3. But Vandeweghe and Camerin came back for their best women’s doubles result of the year, a 5-1 victory over Moulton-Levy and Govortsova.
Camerin, the Italian playing in her first year of World Team Tennis, was impressed after the match.
“It was a good match, because [Moulton-Levy and Govortsova] used to play together, so they know each other very well,” Camerin said. “But I think we played very good. We served good, we returned, we were really on time tonight.”
Orange County went into halftime up on the scoreboard. But Sacramento again evened the match after men’s doubles, where Knowles and Sweeting topped Huey and Johnson, 5-3.
The Breakers dominated at the end, however, and seemed to enjoy the moment. Camerin danced during the timeouts.
“It’s a very fun experience,” Camerin said. “I’ve played many team competitions in Europe, but this is the most fun one. It’s tiring, because you travel a lot, but you are like a team. It’s much different. In a normal tournament, we are always alone … I like this kind of stuff with music. I like funny things, and I think I feel very comfortable in this kind of situation.”
Kronemann echoed that, saying this team was one of the most enjoyable that he’s been around in 23 years in Team Tennis.
“Everybody’s gelling, and we’re having a great time,” Kronemann said. “We’ve got a lot of camaraderie, a lot of inside jokes going and funny stuff that’s happening. Now we’re playing not only for Orange County, but for each other. We’re going to try to win this thing and get it done, try to sneak into the playoffs and see what happens. I’m excited with where we’re at. It could be a lot worse.”
The Texas Wild, featuring the top-ranked men’s doubles team of Bob and Mike Bryan, visits the Bren at 7 p.m. Tuesday. The Breakers are 1-1 this year against Texas, but those matches were without the Bryan brothers, who currently hold all four Grand Slam titles.
Tickets are available for Tuesday’s match and all remaining home matches at https://www.breakerstennis.com.
