Tennis
Sven Swinnen and Oded Teig may have slipped into the main draw at the Icy Hot/ITA All-American Championships, but when they got there, they hardly slipped at all.
Swinnen and Teig won their first round doubles match over Ryan Livesay and Dustin Taylor of Tulsa, 8-6 on Thursday in Chattanooga, Tenn. The tandem nearly turned around to upset the No. 8-seeded Carlos Lozano and Erik Nyman of BYU, but the Ducks lost 8-6, ending their tournament run.
“They’re making progress,” Oregon head coach Chris Russell said. “They rallied well today and played at a whole different level than yesterday.”
Teig and Swinnen were the victims of a stomach flu that affected the entire Oregon team Wednesday, and caused the Ducks to perform poorly that day. But Swinnen and Teig made the most of their “lucky loser” ticket into the main draw by performing well Thursday.
On the singles side of the draw, Oregon sophomore Manuel Kost lost his first-round match to Baylor’s Benjamin Becker, 5-7, 6-4, 6-2. Becker was the No. 3 seed in the tournament.
“It was very evident he’ll be at the level he needs to be to win this year,” Russell said of Kost.
The sophomore singles star will continue his tournament in the consolation rounds this weekend. He takes on No. 40 Carlos Palencia of California-Santa Barbara today.
Panova ends run
Daria Panova, the top player on the Oregon women’s tennis squad, ended her run at the Riviera/ITA All-American Championships with a loss to Harvard’s Eva Wang, 6-2, 6-2, on Thursday.
Panova beat No. 88 Emily Marker of Maryland earlier Thursday in Pacific Palisades, Calif., 7-6, 6-3.
Panova’s loss Thursday afternoon was her fifth match in three days.
“She was feeling the fatigue from all the sets she played earlier,” Oregon assistant coach Kathy Sell said. “Overall, though, it was a great trip and a great performance.”
Panova beat two ranked players in the tournament, including No. 32 Anne Nguyen of Georgia.
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