Oregon men’s tennis (3-2) dropped its first match at home in the final set of the final game for the final point of Friday’s matchup against Northwestern (9-2).

Northwestern senior Trice Pickens threw down his racket as his team erupted the court while Ducks fans and players dropped their heads, stunned by the Wildcats’ wild comeback. 

“It hurts now when you lose like this,” Oregon’s Luke Vandecasteele said. “But the close matches are always the most fun.”

From start to finish, this match seemed destined to come down to the third set of the sixth singles game, deadlocked in a 3-3 tie. In a match that lasted nearly three and a half hours, points were a scarcity but a treasured necessity.

Oregon opened the scoring, snatching the ice-breaking doubles point 2-1. No. 10 ranked duo Joshua Charlton and Quinn Vandecasteele dominated their match 6-2 to remain perfect together on the year and watched on as Ryoma Matsushita and Luke Vandecasteele took the 1-1 tiebreaking match 6-4.

“That was super crucial,” Vandecasteele said. “Doubles play is always crucial as a team. When you win close doubles matches like that it gives you a second wind for singles.”

This second wind was more than evident in Vandecasteele’s play as he swept his singles match, walking through both sets in 6-2 fashion and putting the Ducks ahead 2-0. 

His dominance was the only sure thing the Ducks had on the day as four of the remaining five singles matches came down to the third set.

“That’s what you hope for at the end of the day,” Vandecasteele said. “A good fight.”

Swedish sophomore Jesper Klov-Nilsson also snatched his match point in a third set fight with cheers and cries of “Suuuuuuuu” coming from the fans in attendance. His win was a crucial one as it put Oregon ahead of the Wildcats 3-2.

But the final point wasn’t meant to fall the Ducks way. Ivailo Keremedchiev took Pickens down to the wire in the final match but eventually fell in the third set by a score of 5-7. 

Oregon looks ahead to a matchup with No. 21 ranked Pepperdine on Sunday in Eugene. Pepperdine currently has four players ranked in the top 100 players in the nation. 

“Clearly they’re good,” Vandecasteele said. “But I think we play the way we did today and we give ourselves a shot.”