The main championship draw of the Pacific-10 Conference men’s singles tennis tournament proved to be too much for the Ducks on the first day of tournament play.
Alex Cornelissen and Geoff Embry both fell in straight sets to Washington’s Andy Kuharskzy and UCS’s Dejan Cvetkovic. Marco Verdasco suffered a close 7-6 (2), 6-4 defeat to UCLA’s Jeremy Drean, while Ric Mortera managed to push California’s Pierre Mouillon to three sets before conceding defeat 2-6, 6-4, 6-3.
But the men in the invitational draw did a little better on Thursday. Motivated by a desire to hold off the end of his Oregon singles career for just one more match, senior Eric Pickard came up with a big 7-6 (6), 6-3 win against UCS’s Whit Livingston.
“I’d actually played him before and lost to him two years ago,” Pickard said. “He’s got a big serve and we had a real close one.”
With that win, Pickard advanced to the round of 16, where he eventually lost 7-6, 6-2 to Washington’s Derek Drabble.
“In the second set, I got broke one game I shouldn’t have gotten broke at, and things kinda happened from there,” Pickard said. “He’s a good player; worse could happen. I could have preferred to win. That’s the way things go sometimes. This is my last trip; I’m not gonna cry over it.”
Oregon freshman Francisco Gallardo also worked his way into the round of 16 after a 2-6, 6-3, 6-4 comeback win over Washington’s David Chu. Gallardo then lost 6-4, 6-4 to California’s Daniel Sebascan.
The Oregon women also ran into trouble in first round play. In the main championship draw, seniors Dominika Dieskova and Monica Hoz de Vila played their last singles matches as Ducks when they lost 6-0, 7-6 (1) and 6-2, 6-4 to Stanford’s Jessica Nguyen and Theresa Logar, respectively.
In the invitational draw, sophomore walk-on Tina Snodgrass lost 6-0, 6-0 to Arizona State’s Laila Abdala. Conversely, Anna Powaska found luck on her side when she advanced to the round of 16 after Washington State’s Anastesia Opata retired with an injury in the second set of their opening round match.
Both Oregon men and women will play doubles tomorrow.
– Stefanie Loh