Oregon men’s tennis (10-10, 2-6 Big Ten) faced off against Wisconsin (9-8, 3-6 Big Ten) on a sunny spring day in Eugene in what became a nail-biting 4-3 victory.

The Ducks entered matchday on a streak of three-straight losses. The home side needed a victory in what was a difficult 1-6 start to conference play. The Badgers entered the match coming off a win against Purdue but were struggling on the road (2-4).

All three doubles matches were tightly contested. Members of the Oregon tennis squad sat on the bleachers on the right side to cheer on Lachlan Robertson and Cooper Errey, who held the advantage throughout the match.

After the Ducks were up 5-4 on all three courts, Lenn Luemkemann and Matthew Burton finished their match first in a 6-4 victory. With a 6-5 game advantage, Robertson’s forehand hit found the back left corner of the court to go up 15-0.

“It’s like [Robertson’s] flipped the switch the last month when he got the opportunity, when he started playing,” head coach Nils Schyllander said. “I think his mentality and mindset has changed in practice, where he’s playing a lot more free.”

The opposing Badgers duo then rattled off three-straight points to go up in the game, but once again, Robertson sliced the ball in play, this time to the back right corner. Oregon scored the final few rallies on Court 4 to win the doubles point and leave Vlad Breazu’s and Clement Lemire’s match unfinished.

“It makes the world of a difference,” Schyllander said. “We were down early, and we found a way there, too. We knew we had to win, get this conference win to stay in the hunt for postseason.”

Burton (6-3) and Breazu (6-2) each won the first set of their singles matches comfortably. The doubles point kept the Ducks in control of the day, despite being down on three of the six courts early in the singles matches.

The Badgers’ Sachiv Kumar tied the afternoon at 1-1 each after taking down Errey in straight sets (6-3, 6-0). Oregon found itself down in first sets 4-2 after Robertson fell 7-3 in a Set 1 tiebreak.

Burton hit a forehand down the left side to secure the match point against Tomas Zlatohlavek. He regained the Ducks’ lead with a straight-set victory (6-3, 6-3) but not for long. Lemire lost the second singles match of the afternoon for Oregon.

Trouble continued to mount for the Ducks when Breazu dropped his second set. Oregon needed to win two of the final three matches to secure the victory. Both Robertson and Luemkemann forced decisive third sets to keep the Ducks’ hopes alive entering the third hour of play.

Breazu held a 5-4 advantage in Set 3, but a long rally ended in a second straight game for Patrik Meszaros to put him one away from the match.  Breazu responded by forcing the tiebreak.

Robertson won his match moments before Meszaros’ 6-3 serve and sprinted to the gate outside Breazu’s court. The serve went past the back line as a double fault. Breazu collapsed to the ground and the team rushed the court in celebration of a narrow win.

“He’s got the heart of a lion. Cramping second set, and still found a way to grease that out,” Schyllander said. “It’s so good for our young guys to see that. To see one of the few upperclassmen we have actually laid on the line and and show that it’s never over.”

The Ducks stay home with their next match coming on Sunday at 10:00 a.m. against Nebraska (12-6, 5-3 Big Ten).