Oxfordshire lost top spot in Division 2 despite winning 22-17 at Cleveland over the weekend.
Somerset and Merseyside won their fixtures by wider margins to push Oxon down to third, one point off the top.
After Saturday's games, Oxon were 11-7 up, with the ladies' B team drawing 3-3 (lady-of-the-match Nicola Curzon, average 16.70) and the men's B winning 8-4 (Barry Stratford man-of-the-match, 29.22).
The margin remained the same on Sunday after the ladies' A team drew 3-3, Louise Carroll taking the lady-of-the-match award with an excellent average of 22.43.
With the score at 14-10, it was all down to the men's A team.
They were given a rip-roaring start by Olly Varney (pictured), who won with a brilliant average of 33.86 - the highest in the division last weekend, but then Cleveland grabbed the next five games.
Nick Cobb (28.30) stopped the rot and Pete Hall (25.91) pulled it back to 5-3.
Cleveland took two of the next three, Peter Rouse (22.24) winning for Oxon, but last-man Tony Leone clinched overall victory and three bonus points by winning 3-1 (24.16 av).
Although the A team lost 7-5, they recorded one of their highest ever team averages of 26.29.
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