Oregon men’s tennis was defeated by the Arizona Wildcats 5-2 on Sunday.
Oregon’s Brandon Lam and Luke Vandecasteele secured the Ducks’ first win of the day, squeezing out a 6-4 victory over the Wildcats’ Carlos Hassey and Alejandro Reguant.
Arizona responded swiftly, dominating the remainder of the doubles matches and tallying two 7-5 wins. After taking the doubles point, Arizona jumped out to an early one-point lead over the Ducks.
Hassey gave Arizona its first singles victory of the day, winning both of the first two sets 6-2 over Oregon’s Jesper Klov-Nilsson. 2-0 Wildcats.
Clawing back from a two-point deficit, the Ducks turned to veteran strength to keep their winning hopes alive. With senior Emmanuel Coste and highly-ranked junior Joshua Charlton both leading in their first sets, things were beginning to look up. Freshman Quinn Vandecasteele claimed an early lead as well, winning his first set 7-5.
Arizona continued to keep the Ducks at bay with another singles victory from Filip Malbasic, who won the first two sets over Oregon’s Lam by scores of 6-4 and 7-5, respectively, to make it 3-0 Wildcats.
Charlton was able to hang on in the second set, taking down Reguant 7-6, 6-4 and giving the Ducks their first singles victory of the afternoon. 3-1 Wildcats.
As was the case throughout the afternoon, the Wildcats widened the gap with a Nick Lagaev win just as Oregon began to come back. Lagaev took both the first and third sets over Oregon’s Luke Vandecasteele, advancing the Wildcats to a 4-1 lead and clinching the win.
Despite a valiant effort from Arizona’s Jonas Ziverts, Coste was able to hang on in the third set, securing the victory 7-5 and bringing the Ducks within two of the Wildcats.
Quinn Vandecasteele was unable to ward off a comeback from Gustaf Strom, dropping the second and third sets and bringing up a 5-2 Wildcats final score.
The loss marks the Ducks’ second straight in-conference loss.
Ducks men’s tennis looks to rebound next Friday as they host Cal Poly back in Eugene.
