They, whoever “they” are, always say, “better late than never.” The University of Idaho men’s tennis team must have never heard this.
The start of the No. 73 Oregon men’s tennis match versus unranked Idaho was delayed three hours because the Vandals were late. The Ducks proceeded to pound them 7-0 without losing a single set.
“It was important to get this win right out of the gate,” head coach Chris Russell said. “I think the guys got the nerves out today.”
If the Ducks were nervous, no one could tell. The match began with the doubles teams dominating in victories of 8-4, 8-2 and 8-1.
“It’s big to get the doubles point at the beginning of the match,” Russell said. “It gave us a lot of momentum.”
That momentum carried the singles players to six victories in straight sets. Oded Teig won 6-4, 6-2 against Idaho’s number one player, Brad Lum-Tucker, and Sven Swinnen beat their number two 6-1, 6-0. Chris King won 6-4, 6-0 and Jason Menke beat his opponent 6-0, 6-2. Freshmen Thomas Bieri and Arron Spencer, both playing in their first official matches, ousted their opponents 6-0, 6-1 and 6-4, 6-1 respectively.
“We’re just trying to stay consistent and play like we practice,” Russell said. “We are going to have to step it up as the season progresses.”
The Ducks ended up splitting the weekend after a 5-2 loss to New Mexico on Sunday. Spencer and Bieri earned the sole points with victories in three sets.
The women were not as lucky this weekend. No. 34 Oregon fell to Colorado 4-3 on Friday. Along with the match, the Ducks lost junior Davina Mendiburu to a knee injury.
“It was a tough loss for us, especially the way we lost,” head coach Nils Schyllander said.
The Ducks stepped up Saturday to take a 4-3 victory over No. 45 Illinois. The women won the doubles point and took the match with wins from No. 28 Daria Panova, Courtney Nagle and Monika Gieczys.
“It was a good match and these are the matches we need to win,” Schyllander said. “I think they played like they had something to prove today.”
Next weekend the men travel to Provo, Utah, to take on Brigham Young University and New Mexico State while the women are at home against Portland and Idaho.