The final weekend of the Oregon tennis regular season came to a close with the same results as many of the matches this year — solid play by the Ducks, who just barely fell short of victory.
The No. 65 men lost to No. 13 Washington, 4-3, on Saturday at home despite big victories in both doubles and singles play.
The Ducks managed only one victory in the three doubles matches on Senior Day, but the win came from the junior/senior duo of Sven Swinnen and Oded Teig against the No. 33-ranked team in the nation.
In singles, Duck sophomore Manuel Kost, ranked 63rd in the nation, toppled No. 10 Alex Vlaski in straight sets, making a case for a bid to the individual portion of the NCAA Tournament.
In his last home match as a Duck, Oregon career victories leader Oded Teig was unable to tally one more win despite taking the first set. Teig fell to No. 26 Matt Hanlin and ends his Oregon career with 69 singles victories, five more than second-place holder Lee Kirner.
Senior Jason Menke’s Oregon regular-season career also came to an end this weekend. Menke finished with 46 Duck wins.
The No. 38 women dropped two matches in San Diego, both by a score of 4-3.
On Friday, No. 25 San Diego State jumped out to a 1-0 lead after winning two of three doubles matches.
The Ducks bounced back by dominating the lower spots, taking straight-set victories with freshman Jamie Marshall at No. 4, freshman Julie Merle at No. 5 and sophomore Ester Bak at No. 6.
The Ducks were unable to get a single point from their top three singles players.
“It was a really tough loss for us,” head coach Nils Schyllander said. “We had our chances out there, but the double probably cost us. We felt like we played well enough to win.”
On Saturday, the Ducks lost their final regular-season match to No. 63 San Diego by a score of 4-3.
Senior captain Monika Geiczys came away with a straight-set victory in her final match, beating Tara Livesay, 7-5, 6-3.
Both the men and women will compete in the Pac-10 Championships this week beginning Thursday in Ojai, Calif.
Ryan Heath is a freelance writer
for the Emerald.