Dukes Put the Heat on Charlotte to Win Team Tennis Match

The Newport Beach Dukes won four of five sets to defeat the Charlotte Heat, 28-20, Saturday night in a Professional Team Tennis match at Charlotte, N.C.

It was a relatively easy victory for the Dukes, who improved to 5-1. But it was not an easy night for Dukes’ Coach Greg Patton, who coached against the Heat’s Trevor Kronemann, his top player at UC Irvine the past two years. Patton has been Irvine’s coach since 1980.

“It was like having two sons in a fistfight,” Patton said. “I wanted Trevor to play well, but I’m in a different situation now.”

Kronemann did play competitively, winning his mixed doubles set, and his other two matches went to tiebreaker sets before losing.

Amy Frazier again was the top player for the Dukes, winning her singles match, 6-1, over Donna Faber and combining with Sophie Amiach to defeat Faber and Ronnie Reis, 6-3, in doubles.

Roger Smith also won two matches for Newport Beach, defeating Kronemann, 6-5 (5-2 tiebreaker) and combining with Marty Davis to defeat Kronemann and Paul Koscielski, 6-5 (5-0). Newport Beach will play the New Jersey Stars at 1 p.m. today in Florham Park, N.J.