With his parents having flown in from Belgium for the weekend and watching from the sideline, 17-year-old Alex Cornelissen came up with two big wins for the Ducks (9-11 overall, 0-5 Pacific-10 Conference) against Stanford and California this weekend.
Playing No. 2 singles against the Cardinal on Friday, Cornelissen was the first Duck off the courts. His 6-1, 6-2 win over Stanford’s Richard Wire kept the Ducks in the match to the very end – even with Stanford up 3-2 late in the afternoon, the Ducks could have clinched the win if Geoff Embry and Francisco Gallardo had managed to close out their three-set nail-biters.
But Gallardo eventually succumbed 6-2, 2-6, 7-6 (5) to Jeff Zeller, and Embry subsequently lost 5-7, 6-2, 7-6 (4) to Eric McKean, which gave No. 60 Stanford (7-12 overall, 2-2 Pac-10) a 5-2 victory.
Saturday against the Golden Bears, Cornelissen once again came up with a big win. This time, he made quick work of California’s Tyler Browne, winning 6-3, 6-2.
The rest of the Ducks never managed to find their rhythm, and despite a late surge from Ric Mortera and a gritty three-set battle from Eric Pickard, Oregon lost 6-1 to 51st-ranked California.
Pickard managed to push things to a third set, but then struggled to hold off Kallim Stewart’s booming serve.
“His service game really came on in the third set,” Pickard said, “He started hitting some bombs going about 120 mph down the T, and I wasn’t able to get a good hold on a break. He started off serving in the third set, so I was always busy trying to catch up to him in holds.
“And every time he hit four aces, I’d be right back where I started.”
Oregon coach Nils Schyllander said that despite the defeat, he was proud of the way Oregon hung on until the end
“We gave a very good team all they could handle again,” Schyllander said. “We were in a position to win.
“At one point, Ric was up, Pick had just gone into the third set, Geoff (Embry) was up a break and then he went down with a injury. At that point, it felt like the momentum was going our way.”
Embry jammed his toe when he was up 2-1 in the second set. Schyllander said the team would know more about Embry’s injury by Monday.
Schyllander singled out Cornelissen for special mention.
“Alex played like an All-American this weekend,” Schyllander said. “For him to lose eight games total at No. 2 singles in a Pac-10 weekend against Stanford and Cal, it’s awesome. It’s great to see.
“He’s had some good wins and he deserves to be Pac-10 Player of the Week this week.”
Cornelissen credited his spirited play to some new drills that he’d worked on in practice over the last week.
“We did a lot of grinding sessions last week,” Cornelissen said, referring to a drill focused on maintaining long, deep rallies and sending returns deep beyond the service line. “Before, I’d try to make the point too fast.
“After all the grinding sessions, I (now) wait a little longer before I try to go from the shot.”
Oregon women’s tennis
Dominika Dieskova and Monica Hoz de Vila were the only two Ducks undefeated over the weekend as they led Oregon to a 4-3 win over San Diego on Saturday after the Ducks had lost 5-2 to San Diego State Friday.
Dieskova finally shook off a shoulder injury she suffered two weeks ago to beat the Aztecs’ Alesya Vidov 6-4, 6-2 on Friday, and then put together a 3-6, 7-5, 6-4 win over Monica Wiesener the following afternoon.
Hoz de Vila had similar success at the No. 4 singles position. She won 6-4, 7-6 (4) against Esther Cadua, and then pulled out an easy 6-1, 6-3 against San Diego’s Alexandra Demidova.
Hoz de Vila said the Ducks missed the presence of regular No. 6 singles player Claudia Hirt, who is out with an ankle sprain.
“It was a tough match because we didn’t have Claudia with us, so there was more pressure on everyone to do well” Hoz de Vila said. “It would definitely have made it easier to have her in the lineup, but Tina (Snodgrass) stepped up and fought well.”
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