The University men’s tennis team is coming off of a strong three-game homestand and will look to take some of that momentum into its tough road trip through California this week.
After more than three weeks off in between matches, the Duck men matched up with the Portland Pilots. Though Oregon was a bit uneasy at first, it rebounded quickly and managed to win five singles matches to bring its record to 8-8 on the year.
“It was good,” Oregon head coach Nils Schyllander said of getting back to action. “We picked up a couple strong wins. It was a real good week for us.”
Freshman Sho Higuchi and juniors Ric Mortera and Marcos Verdasco each tallied a win in the singles column for the Ducks. Verdasco and his partner, junior Alexander Cornelissen, got the only doubles win for Oregon in a 9-7 victory over Portland’s Zivkovic and Schleining.
Two days later Oregon faced No. 20 Arizona in its first Pacific-10 Conference match of the year. But the Wildcats proved too much to handle and improved their overall record to 16-1 with their 7-0 win over the Ducks.
Verdasco and Cornelissen teamed up again in No. 1 doubles to get the Ducks’ lone win of the day in an 8-3 victory over Arizona’s Francois VanderMerwe and Pat Metham.
“(Verdasco and Cornelissen) are playing as good as anyone in the country right now,” Schyllander continued. “They are just returning so well.”
The following afternoon Oregon was able to bounce back strong against a much weaker San Francisco opponent. Cornelissen, Higuchi and senior Mike Myrhed each earned singles victories, while Verdasco and Cornelissen improved their season doubles record to 11-7 on the year.
With a 9-9 record overall, the Ducks now face a tough road trip this week when they match up with Cal Poly, No. 3 UCLA and No. 6 USC on consecutive days.
Women lose matches to ranked Alabama, LSU squads
The University women’s tennis team has also been in action this past week. It first traveled to Tuscaloosa, Ala., to take on the University of Alabama, then to Baton Rouge, La., to match up with Louisiana State.
No. 16 Alabama began the day by winning all three doubles matches followed by four wins in singles competition. Oregon managed to get a pair of wins from two freshmen – Madelie Janse van Rensburg at No. 3 singles (6-2, 6-2) and Trudie du Toit at No. 5 singles (6-4, 7-6 (7-2)). The loss dropped Oregon to 7-8 on the year.
A few days later Oregon matched up with the No. 21 LSU Tigers. After a three-hour rain delay the teams began with singles play. LSU proved to be too much for the Ducks to handle, taking the first five singles matches before du Toit earned Oregon its only win of the day in the No. 6 singles match. Because of the rain delay, the doubles portion of the day was canceled.
“We really wanted to get some good competition outside of the Pac-10,” said Oregon head coach Paul Reber.
The Ducks were then scheduled for their third and final match of the spring break road trip against Tulane in New Orleans. But after a morning full of rain and travel obligations in the afternoon, the Ducks were forced to cancel the match.
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