Joey Swaysland was distraught, his head hanging low. With a 3-3 tie against Stanford, Swaysland had an opportunity to finish off his third set and win the match for the Oregon men’s tennis team.
Instead, his opponent David Hsu, put together three strong rallies and came back to win the decisive set 6-4. No. 38 Stanford escaped with a 4-3 win over the no. 51 Ducks.
“He made a couple of key errors, but you also have to give credit to Stanford for battling back when they were down and out,” head coach Nils Schyllander said.
The loss kept Oregon winless in the Pac-12 with an 0-3 record, while Stanford moved to 3-0.
“I know we’re good enough to win these matches,” Schyllander said. “We’ve got to grow from it, move forward and finish next time.”
Daan Maasland came up with another big win in an upset over Stanford freshman Tom Fawcett, the No. 43-ranked college player in the nation. Maasland won in three sets, highlighted by a dominant 6-1 win in the first.
“Of course after this home match I feel pretty bad because of the close loss, but after my own match I felt good,” Maasland said.
In only his second collegiate tournament, Fawcett won the ITA Northwest Regional Championship in October 2014. Maasland acknowledged afterwards that Fawcett’s serve was the strongest he has faced so far this season.
“That’s a very strong serve,” Maasland said. “There were games that I barely touched the ball, but I had to stay tough and focus.”
With the win, Maasland improved his dual singles record to 13-5 on the season.
Simon Stevens defeated Stanford’s David Wilczynski in three sets to tie the match 3-3. Stevens’ victory over Wilczynski was another bright spot for the Ducks as he extended his singles winning streak to 12 matches. The freshman remains undefeated this spring in singles matches.
“He plays to win,” Schyllander said. “That’s how you win the close matches. He doesn’t wait for his opponent to give it to him, and he’s just tough mentally when it comes down to it.”
Daniel Sardu hung tough with no. 95-ranked John Morrissey, but ultimately lost in straight sets 6-4, 6-4.
The Ducks will get another chance to get their first conference win tomorrow afternoon against no. 33 Cal.
Follow Will Denner on Twitter @will_denner