The effort was better, but the results were the same for the Oregon men’s tennis team.
The Ducks lost 7-0 to No. 3 UCLA and 4-3 to No. 10 USC over the weekend to fall to 0-6 in the Pacific-10 Conference.
Against the Bruins on Saturday, Oregon fell behind early by losing the doubles point and all six first sets in singles. Junior Oded Teig and freshman Sven Swinnen then fought back to force tie-breakers in their second sets and freshman Johan Paalberg won his second set.
But all three came up short, and Oregon lost every singles match.
“We were right there in three of the singles matches, and if a few things had gone differently, we could have won those matches,” Oregon head coach Chris Russell said. “We also should have won two of the doubles matches. We definitely had chances to pull off an upset today, but this UCLA team has been No. 1 in the country this year and is very tough.”
The Trojans, coming off wins over No. 6 Stanford and No. 17 California, came into Eugene on Friday as the hottest team in the Pac-10, but the Ducks played without intimidation.
Oregon’s top three players beat USC’s top three, but the Ducks lost the doubles point to lose the match.
“I’m very pleased with how our top guys came through against very tough opponents,” Russell said. “The Trojans are very hot right now, and we showed that we can play with them.”
Freshman Manuel Kost beat No. 110 Ryan Moore 7-5, 6-4 for his second career victory against a Pac-10 opponent.
Oregon’s Sven Swinnen (left), a native of Switzerland, rips a shot past a UCLA opponent Sunday.
“I just battled him, and I was serving well out there,” Kost said. “This win makes me feel more confident in my ability to play at this level.”
After losing the first set 6-1, Swinnen won 7-5 and 6-4 in the next two to beat No. 54 Nick Rainey. At No.1 singles, Teig beat No. 33 Andrew Park 6-2, 6-3.
“I played my best match of the year,” Teig said. “I was able to break his serves early and win my serves. I was hitting many good shots down the baselines and hitting deep balls that kept him away from the net.”
Junior Jason Menke lost his first set 6-3, but battled to a 6-0 win in the second set. But Damien Spizzo beat Menke 6-2 in the final set to give the Trojans the victory. Sophomore Chris King and Paalberg lost their matches in the fifth and sixth singles spots.
The Ducks, with no seniors, are 12-9 overall this season.
“For a young team like ours, learning is very important in every match that we play,” Russell said. “This weekend, I think the guys saw that they cannot only play with the best teams in the country, but that if they do the little things and play hard, they can beat them. This team is past the point of moral victories. They play to win every match.”
Sophomore Greg Dubourdieu left the team last week to go back to France and focus solely on education.
“Greg didn’t feel he was doing well enough in his major,” Russell said. “He felt thought that tennis was getting in the way, and so he chose to quit the team.”
Oregon has one final opportunity to win a Pac-10 match at the Washington Huskies on Saturday.
“We felt we should have beaten USC,” Menke said. “This weekend was a gauge for us to see what level we’re playing at right now and it’s pretty high. If we practice (this) week with intensity and play like we did this weekend, then we can pull of an upset up there.”
UO women
extend win streak to five
The Oregon women’s tennis team played well in Louisiana and increased its winning streak to five matches.
The No. 54 Ducks beat No. 44 Louisiana State and No. 56 Tulane to improve to 12-9 overall.
Against Tulane, Oregon won four out of six singles matches to win 4-3. The team lost two out of three doubles matches to lose the doubles point.
Freshman Daria Panova lost 6-1, 6-2 in her fifth match as a Duck. Junior Monika Gieczys lost 4-6, 6-3, 6-3 in the No. 2 spot for the only other loss of the day.
Senior Janice Nyland, senior Vickie Gunnarsson, sophomore Davina Mendiburu and sophomore Courtney Nagle all notched victories.
“We were really solid at the bottom of our singles lineup,” Oregon head coach Jack Griffin said. “We were extremely pleased with our level of play.”
Oregon beat LSU, 5-2, Saturday to begin the two-game road trip.
The Ducks struggled again in doubles, losing two of three, but won five singles matches.
“We came out fired up after losing the point in doubles,” assistant coach Nils Schyllander said. “We had a great match beating a very good LSU team on their home courts.”
Panova upset No. 65 Bruna Colosio at No. 1 singles to lead Oregon.
“This was a great win for Daria, over a three-time All-American,” Schyllander said.
The Ducks have two matches left this season. They will try to win their first Pac-10 match in two years at home against Washington and Washington State this weekend.
Peter Martini is a freelance
reporter for the Emerald.