The No. 44 ranked Oregon men’s tennis team dropped its second straight to No. 43 Louisville 4-2 in a nail-biter at Bass-Rudd Tennis Center in Louisville, KY on Sunday morning.
The Ducks went winless this weekend after coming up empty in their match on Friday against No. 49 Indiana by the score 4-2. Oregon is now 6-3 on the season and 0-3 on the road.
It was a particularly tough weekend for Oregon’s top player Kevin Farin, who has done well to hold his ground against brutal competition this season. After falling 7-6 (4), 6-4 to Indiana’s All-Big Ten player Sam Monette on Friday, he was tasked with taking on Louisville’s Sebastian Stiefelmeyer, the No. 1 ranked singles player in the country.
Stiefelmeyer and Van Damrongsri rolled over Farin and Jayson Amos 6-2 on court one, while Alex Gornet Jeffrey Brown handled the freshmen Cormac Clissold and Simon Stevens on court three to secure the doubles point.
Stevens, who occupied the No. 5 slot for the Ducks this weekend, has been on a tear in singles play thus far in his rookie season. After coming from behind to topple the Hoosiers’ Stefan Lugonjic 6-7 (5-7), 6-2, 6-2 on Friday, Stevens hammered Damrongsri in straight sets 6-3, 6-4 to tie the match at 1-1. Stevens improves to 12-3 on the season in singles compared to 8-4 in doubles.
Louisville took back the lead for good when Gornet defeated Daniel Sardu 6-2, 7-6 (3), giving the Cardinals a 2-1 lead.
Farin gave Stiefelmeyer a run for his money, but the nation’s top singles player ground out a 6-4, 7-6 (10-8) victory to cushion Louisville’s lead 3-1.
Jayson Amos dug deep and came away with a statement win in three sets over Michael Lippens 4-6, 6-3, 7-6 (7-5) with the game on the line to keep the Ducks’ hopes alive and bring the score to 3-2. His 14 singles wins are the most by a Duck this season.
Maasland won his first set versus Albert Wagner but was unable to hang on as Wagner came back to claim 6-7 (5), 6-3, 7-5 victory on court two to seal the match 4-2 for the Cardinals. Cormac Clissold’s 6-2, 6-7 (5), 6-6 bout with Luis Elizondo ended unfinished.
The Ducks’ top three players in the lineup, Farin, Maasland and Sardu, returned home with zero victories in singles or doubles this weekend.
Oregon looks to rebound against Nebraska at 5 p.m. at the Student Tennis Center in Eugene on Friday, Feb 20. The same weekend, the Ducks will battle Santa Clara at 11 a.m. on Sunday.
Follow Kenny Jacoby on Twitter @kennyjacoby