The theme for the Oregon men’s tennis team this season has been to improve the doubles game because of the importance of winning the first team point.
But over the weekend, the doubles play proved to be a non-factor.
After losing the doubles point to Brigham Young on Friday, the Ducks rallied to win four of six singles matches and pulled off a 4-3 upset over the No. 58 Cougars.
On Sunday, the opposite happened in Oregon’s 4-3 loss to its rival, No. 21 Washington.
“It’s funny how that worked out this weekend,” said junior Jason Menke, who split his two doubles and two singles matches over the weekend. “But if we continue to play well in doubles, we’ll be in a position to beat some of the better teams in the country.”
The doubles team of junior Oded Tieg and freshman Sven Swinnen battled back from a 6-3 deficit to beat Matt Hanlin and Dillon Ruby of Washington 9-7.
After failing to convert on a triple-match point, Menke and sophomore Martin Pawlowski beat Washington’s Alex Vlaski and Christoph Palmanshofer in a tie-breaker, 9-8 (12-10).
Oregon lost its No. 3 doubles match but still took the doubles point and led the match 1-0. The Ducks needed only to split the six singles matches to beat the Huskies.
“Our strength is in our singles, but we knew this was a tough team to even get three wins against,” Oregon head coach Chris Russell said.
Oregon started off strong in singles and were up one set in three different matches, but being down one set in the other three gave the Ducks no room for error.
Tieg struggled throughout his match against No. 44 Hanlin and lost 6-2, 6-2.
“Oded had a chance to get into the match early and battled tough, and he has beaten this guy before,” Russell said. “But Hanlin was able to win those early games, and that gave him the momentum and confidence to put the match away.”
Menke started off slowly in his 7-5, 7-5 loss to Ari Strasberg, trailing 3-0 in each set.
“Having my serves broken early really hurts,” Menke said. “Before you know it, you’re down 3-0, and you have to battle to comeback the entire set.”
After winning his first set 7-6 (7-3), Pawlowski lost the final two sets 6-2, 6-4. The Ducks couldn’t afford even one blown lead, so this one was enough for Oregon to lose the match.
Against BYU, the Ducks started off slowly by losing two of three doubles matches, including an 8-0 route by No. 10 Carlos Lozano and Gert Vilms over Oregon’s Tieg and Swinnen.
Leading 8-7, Menke and Pawlowski had a chance to close out their doubles match against Nicolas Losee and Erik Nyman, but lost the match point, the game and the match.
“It’s pretty frustrating to lose this match after having chances to put it away,” Menke said. “We need to stay focused on our serves after we break theirs — that was hurting us out there.”
The Ducks then won four out of the six singles matches, including freshman Manuel Kost’s victory over Lozano 7-6 (7-2), 6-3. Kost’s performance was the story of the weekend. His two singles victories include beating No. 53 Vlaski of the Huskies 7-6 (7-3), 6-3.
“I stayed focused mentally and battled through the first set of both matches,” said Kost, the Ducks’ No. 2 singles player. “After that, I was able to gain confidence and play well enough to put the matches away. It feels good to get the wins because I know I’m good enough to beat players at that high level.”
Russell was impressed by Kost’s play and said the freshman may move up to No. 1.
“He has been playing very well against some really tough competition,” Russell said. “He’s now 4-0 this season, and he might get a shot at going No. 1.”
Oregon’s record is now 3-1 overall, with Pacific-10 Conference play starting in late March (Sunday’s match against Washington didn’t count as a conference match). The Ducks will face the Huskies again on April 20, in Seattle.
“Overall, I feel really good about our performance this weekend,” Russell said. “We’re starting to reach a point where we don’t settle for moral victories, which is important. We’re building confidence, and we believe we can compete with some of the better teams in the country.”