One would expect a veteran team to be hitting its stride at this point of the season and a team of mostly rookies to be experiencing growing pains, but in the Oregon tennis teams’ cases, the exact opposite is happening.
The Oregon men and their five freshmen won their fifth match in six tries this weekend, bringing their season record to one game above the .500 mark at 7-6.
The veteran women’s squad however, dropped two matches in Fresno, Calif. this weekend, leaving head coach Jack Griffin looking for answers.
On the men’s side, Duck freshmen went 4-2 in singles play to lead Oregon over Portland and Santa Clara by identical scores of 6-1.
Newcomer Buck Mink led the way with two straight-set wins over Portland’s Jeff Nunnenkamp and Santa Clara’s Victory Camargo.
“Buck has been on fire the last few weeks,” Oregon men’s coach Chris Russell said. “He is one of the guys on the team who plays solidly. We know what he’s going to do on the court.”
Mink also teamed with sophomore Jason Menke for two dominating doubles victories against the Pilots and Bronco’s.
Fellow freshman Martin Pawlowski came through at the No. 2 singles position despite battling the flu. The Norrkoping, Sweden, native picked up his first back-to-back singles victories of the season.
“Martin was a big factor all weekend,” Russell said. “Not having him fully healthy and battling through his matches was phenomenal for us.”
The Ducks’ veterans also performed well this weekend. Sophomore Oded Teig added to his team-leading wins mark (18) with victories over aces Peter Malacek of Portland and Ryan Livesay of Santa Clara. Menke moved one match above the .500 mark with two singles victories.
The men close out their home schedule on Saturday against Portland State.
The Duck women have as many returning players as the men have rookies, but are amidst a five-match losing streak at the mid-season mark. Oregon lost a narrow 4-3 decision to Loyola Marymount on Saturday before falling to No. 30 Fresno State 4-2 on Sunday.
Oddly enough, the Ducks’ two freshman have been the most reliable lately. Freshman Courtney Nagle picked up singles wins in each of Oregon’s losses this weekend, bringing her win total to 10.
Fellow freshman Davina Mendiburu earned Oregon’s second point against Fresno State, defeating the Bulldogs’ Courtney Jantz, 6-3, 6-2.
On Saturday, the Ducks came within a point of defeating Loyola Marymount, but were edged in a crucial three-set singles match at the No. 2 position. Oregon capitalized on winning the doubles point with wins by Mendiburu and junior Janice Nyland, 8-5 and junior Adeline Arnaud and sophomore Jeanette Mattsson, 8-6.
In singles, only Mendiburu and Nyland were able to win.
On Sunday, rain put an end to any Oregon comeback hopes against Fresno State. The Bulldogs led 3-1 when an unexpected storm hit, canceling the final three matches.
Junior transfer Vickie Gunnarson fought Fresno State’s Simone Jardim to the third set, but because Jardim led 2-1, she was awarded the win. No. 48 ranked Leisl Fitchbauer needed only one point to defeat Mattsson at the No. 2 spot.
Oregon drops to 3-5 on the season and heads to Washington next weekend for Pacific-10 Conference matches against Washington and Washington State.