Washington associate head coach Chris Russell arrived in Eugene on Saturday for the first time since vacating the Oregon men’s tennis team’s head coach position last September — a month before fall season began — a
decision that shocked many of his players.
Russell, who coached the Ducks for nine seasons, maintains it was the right decision for him and his family. However,
he added that it was still difficult
to leave behind a team he took
to the NCAA Championships
last season.
“It’s a good situation for my family,” Russell said. “That’s what the whole move was all about. With my wife’s family
up there, it was the right thing
to do.”
After Saturday’s match, in which the 11th-ranked Huskies defeated Oregon, 6-1, Russell walked over to each of his former players to hug them and wish them well. For two Ducks,
seniors Sven Swinnen and Manuel Kost, the match was the last they would play at home in their college careers.
“You ask people around the country about Oregon tennis, and they know Sven and Manu at this point,” Russell said. “As far as what they’ve meant to the program, to the success of the program, they have been the foundation. Without those two guys, we wouldn’t have been able to recruit the other guys. It’ll be tough to see them go.”
Swinnen, 24, has had his finest season at Oregon, ranked No. 14 in the nation with a 16-4 dual
singles record. Kost has also
been a staple of the men’s program with 54 career singles victories that ranks him seventh in Oregon history.
However, Swinnen and Kost endured defeats in each of their singles matches. Swinnen fell to the Huskies’ Alex Vlaski in three sets, 6-2, 2-6, 6-3. Kost then lost his match to the nations 57th-ranked player Christoph Palmanshofer in straight sets, 6-2, 6-4.
Swinnen nearly pulled out a victory after taking his match to a third set, but two break points by Vlaski in the final frame sealed the win.

“It was a close match, but I had a little bit of a slow start in the first set, then I came back strong in the second,” Swinnen said. “Then in the third set, he broke me, and he served it out.”
While Swinnen was upset with the loss in his final home game, he emphasized overall enjoyment throughout his career at Oregon.
“It’s been a great four years here, and there was an awesome crowd here,” he said. “We played great doubles, but it was too bad we couldn’t win in singles.”
The Ducks took the doubles point to take an early 1-0 lead, but the Huskies came back to win all six singles matches.
Oregon head coach Kevin Kowalik said he was proud of
the way his team competed,
despite struggling through the season with an 8-15 overall record and 1-6 in Pacific-10
Conference play.
“They were just better than
us; that was the bottom line,” Kowalik said. “We came out with a lot of energy and won the
doubles point, which is what
we always need. For us to be this close and push them to this limit, it’s good for us even though
we lost.”
Saturday’s contest was also the most heavily attended of the
season by fans for both teams. It helped create a “hostile” and “loud” environment, Russell said.
“Our guys did a very good job of staying focused,” Russell said of his Huskies. “It was a tough environment. It was hostile, and you could feel the energy, and I thought we responded well.”
When asked about the future of the program he helped build for nearly a decade, Russell said he has nothing but positive
feelings for the Ducks and
their coach.
“As tough as it was to leave here and to leave these guys, they’re in good hands,” he said. “The program is going in the
right direction.”
The Oregon men now prepare for the Pac-10 Championships, which begin Thursday in
Ojai, Calif.