Orange County Breakers fall to Vegas Rollers in World Team Tennis match

Nicole Gibbs has found her game, and that could pay off for the Orange County Breakers, although it wasn’t enough in another tight and tough World Team Tennis defeat Saturday night.

Gibbs, winner of just one of six singles matches through the Breakers’ first nine encounters, put away 15 successive points to romp a five-game sweep in women’s singles at Palisades Tennis Club in Newport Beach, staking OC to a five-point edge on the visiting Vegas Rollers after three of five matches.

The Breakers (4-6) couldn’t close, winning just four points in women’s doubles and mixed doubles, as Vegas (4-6) pulled out a 17-16 victory behind Sam Querrey and his 14 aces.

The defeat, their third in five one-point decisions this season, dropped them into a fifth-place tie with Vegas and Orlando, a game behind San Diego (6-6) and a game and a half behind New York (6-5) in the battle for the final two semifinal berths.

Vegas pulled out the last two doubles matches by 5-2 scores, with Querrey delivering four successive aces in the penultimate game.

“That was devastating, for sure,” Gibbs said. “We’re still in the playoff hunt, but it’s looking a little more marginal, taking losses like this.”

Querrey beat James Ward, 5-2, in men’s singles to give the Rollers an early edge, but Gibbs was dominant in the second match, streaking to a 3-0, 30-love lead before Vegas coach Tim Blenkiron pulled Harriet Dart and brought on Sabrina Santamaria. Gibbs won all six points for the 5-0 win, and Ward and Luke Bambridge’s 5-2 doubles victory over Querrey and Matt Reid made it 12-7.

Then it all went wrong.

“We really wanted it tonight, and it’s so tough,” Breakers coach Rick Leach said. “They bring in Sam Querrey last minute. He’s a tough assignment, he’s so good. He was on tonight.”

So was Gibbs, who said she “started to turn the corner” in a 5-3 loss to San Diego’s Amanda Anisimova in the Breakers’ 22-14 road loss Friday night.

“I’d been so nervous in my first few matches, just worried that I was letting the team down, and I kind of let go of it yesterday,” she said. “I was like, you know, I’m going to have fun and be aggressive, and I think it showed in my singles today.”

Said Leach: “She’s peaking at the right time.”

The Breakers have four matches left, three at home, and the next two are Monday. They face Washington (2-8) in a rain makeup at 9 a.m., then face Orlando (4-6) at 6 p.m. A trip to Missouri to face second-place Springfield (7-3 ) follows Tuesday, and they wrap up the regular season Thursday evening against Washington.

“We just have to rest up Sunday and come really ready to play Monday,” Gibbs said. “Monday’s going to be a huge day for us. We can put some scoreboard pressure on some other teams if we come away with two wins, and then we’ll see what happens.”

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