They put up a fight, but in the end, the they were unable to come through.
The Oregon men’s tennis team faced No. 28 Washington in its last Pacific-10 conference match, needing a win to qualify a spot in the NCAA tournament. It was the fourth meeting between the two teams this season, with the Huskies prevailing twice before in Seattle.
The Ducks started out well in doubles play, but then the outdoor match was suspended by rain. When the match had been moved indoors to the Willow Creek Racquet Club, the momentum switched to the Huskies.
Washington went on to take the doubles portion of the contest by winning two of the three matches. Washington’s Nick Quatrochi and Ari Strasberg defeated the 39th-ranked team of senior Guillermo Carter and freshman Leslie Eisinga fell 8-6. Matt Hanlin and Mark Woolley put away senior Joaquin Hamdan and junior David Becker, 8-3.
“They were more ready in doubles, and they came out more fired up, with more intensity,” head coach Chris Russell said. “They just out-played us.”
Freshman Oded Teig and sophomore Thomas Schneiter won an inspired 9-7 doubles matches against Jeremy Berman and Andy Posavac.
The misfortune in doubles meant the Ducks would need to take four of the six singles matches to win. Oregon seemed well on its way after Hamdan and Teig dominated their opponents in straight sets to give Oregon a 2-1 lead.
Three other Ducks won or were leading in their opening sets, but were unable to prevail as the Huskies regained the lead, 3-2. Oregon’s top two players, Carter and Schneiter both lost tough matches against No. 89 Hanlin and Posavac, respectively.
The pressure then fell on freshman Jason Menke and Eisinga to win their matches. As the more experienced Husky opponents wore down the Oregon freshmen, hope for a victory slipped away. Junior Marius Lunde put away Eisinga in three sets, securing the Washington victory. Woolley, a senior, put the icing on the win by defeating Menke, 6-3, 6-4.
The Ducks fell to 2-5 in the Pac-10, tied with California and Arizona for fifth place. Oregon will now focus on a April 26 non-conference match at UC-Santa Barbara before the Pac-10 Individual Championships in Ojai, Calif.