The entire weekend had come down to this. The Oregon men’s tennis team (5-4) was up 3-2 in its Sunday match against No. 63 Fresno State (7-3), and two Ducks were left on the court.
Playing No. 1 singles, senior Thomas Bieri had come back after losing the first set 6-3 to push 66th-ranked Jakub Cech to a third set, which turned out to be a nail-biter. Up 40-0 at 6-5 in the third set, Bieri looked poised to take the match.
Cech worked his way back and forced Bieri to deuce eight times before breaking through and tying up the score 6-6. The match went into a tiebreak.
Not far away, freshman Fernando Freitas at the No. 6 singles spot was fighting a tight duel against the Bulldogs’ Jordi Ballester, a rowdy, energetic player who kept high-fiving his teammates and jumping up and down yelling after almost every point.
Freitas had won the first set 6-4, but dropped the second 3-6. The score had gone back and forth throughout the third, but eventually Ballester forced it into a tiebreak.
Both Freitas and Bieri seemed to wither in their tiebreak sets. Down 0-4, Bieri called an injury timeout.
At 2-6 in the first-to-7 tiebreak, the match seemed to be slipping away from Freitas while Ballester and his teammates were getting louder and more pumped up with every point.
“It was a tough match. He was trying to upset me the entire game, and I guess I let it happen a little bit,” Freitas said.
“Yes Ballester was rowdy, maybe a little bit over the top you could say,” Oregon men’s coach Kevin Kowalik said. “But he was excited, and trying to get pumped up. Both guys weren’t playing that well and they were both trying to find ways to win points. And that guy’s way was to get really excited.”
Ballester’s ‘in-your-face’ brand of excitement eventually got the better of Freitas. At 6-3 and locked in a tense rally, Ballester broke through and grabbed the last point to win the match. His teammates rushed the court, screaming, and Freitas hurled his racket into the ground in frustration. Freitas received a code violation for unsportsmanlike conduct.
“Since Fernando’s match was already over when the code violation was issued, the point penalty went to the highest court being played at the time,” Kowalik said.
That meant that Bieri, who had just resumed play after his injury timeout, and was trying to dig himself out of a 5-0 tiebreak hole, suddenly found himself down 6-0 and one point from defeat.
Cech swiftly finished the job, ending the tiebreak at 7-0, finishing off the Ducks, 4-3.
“Cech played very well in the tiebreak, and to be honest, I think he played better than I did in the third set,” Bieri said. “I was mostly just reacting instead of acting. He dominated me. I managed to stay in and I tried to do the right thing, but he came up with a better answer.”
Freitas was also aware of the significance of his own actions in Oregon’s defeat.
“I shouldn’t have thrown my racket at the end,” Freitas said. “I never thought it would affect Thomas’ match. I actually thought he’d already won, but I shouldn’t have done it, and I’m sorry I did it.”
The Ducks had taken the doubles point and two more early wins from Markus Schiller and Gustavo Loza.
“Everything was looking good early on, but that’s why you continue to play to see who can come out on top, and Fresno State did that tonight,” Kowalik said. “Guys grow up a lot faster in matches like these, even if we end up losing. I think this weekend’s matches were the two best matches that we’ve played so far.”
The Ducks had previously lost 6-1 to Washington on Friday.
The Oregon women’s tennis team (9-1) also tasted defeat over the weekend when Long Beach State handed the Ducks their first loss of the season on Friday afternoon.
Freshmen Claudia Hirt and Ceci Olivos were the only two Duck women able to clinch wins against the 49ers. Hirt defeated Rachael Porsz 7-5, 6-4, while Olivos made quick work of Sandra Rocha, winning 6-4, 6-2.
Dominika Dieskova, ranked 44th, was also beaten for the first time this season when she fell 1-6, 7-6, 6-2 to unranked Hannah Grady.
“She came up with some huge serves in the second set and it was very hard to break her. I think I played well, I just couldn’t break her, and that put more pressure on my serve,” Dieskova said. “It’s the first match I’ve lost so far, and you win some, you lose some. But I did my best. She just came out strong in the second and third sets and didn’t miss many balls. I have to give her credit for that.”
The Ducks rebounded on Sunday to come up with two wins against Denver and Eastern Washington.
After having lost the doubles point, the Ducks rallied in singles to come up with a 4-3 victory over the Pioneers.
Olivos, Dieskova, Monica Hoz de Vila and Carmen Seremeta all came off the court triumphant.
“The match was closer than it needed to be. But I was really pleased with the way we played the singles. We went and got it at the end instead of waiting for them to give it to us,” Oregon women’s coach Nils Schyllander said.
Later that day, the Ducks also demolished the Eagles, winning 6-1.