It was supposed to be a day for a bounce back.
Oregon (5-4) hoped to regain its footing after a ranked loss and instead found itself on the wrong side of a close 5-2 matchup with Wisconsin (5-4) on Friday night.
Returning to Eugene after a 4-0 shutout loss to No. 25 San Diego, the Ducks had an opportunity to regroup and refresh against a .500 Wisconsin program, but poor doubles play dug a hole too big to overcome.
The crucial doubles point was snatched early by the Badgers as they swept the Ducks 2-0. Wisconsin took the first doubles set over Luke Vandecasteele and Jesper Klov-Nilsson 6-1 and then the second by beating Ivailo Keremedchiev and Yousseff Kadiri 6-4.
The No. 16 duo of Joshua Charlton and Quinn Vandecasteele led their match 5-4 when the Badgers clinched the doubles point. Their match was left unfinished.
Oregon never led by more than a single point in any of the three doubles matches.
“It’s hard to win four of the six singles matches,” Oregon coach Nils Schyllander said. “That point is monumental.”
A rally became the goal for the Ducks, but not the reality.
Going into singles play, Oregon needed to win more than half of the matches. A split or worse meant another loss to a Big-10 team. The Ducks 2-4 record in singles play sealed their fate.
Charlton’s singles match ended first with the No. 81 player in the nation defeating Wisconsin’s Jared Pratt 6-2 in both of the two sets Charlton used to put the Ducks on the board and tie the matchup at 1.
Moments later, the Badgers regained the lead with Wisconsin’s Daniel Nuzhny sweeping Kadiri in the No. 6 spot 2-6 and 4-6.
Wisconsin padded its lead with Sebastian Vile’s upset sweep of No. 124 Jesper Klov-Nilsson. Vile took both sets 6-4 to increase the Badger lead to 3-1 and put Wisconsin just a point away from a win.
With both Vandecasteele brothers and Keremedchiev playing in tie-breaking third sets, the Ducks needed to capture all three points to complete the comeback. Wisconsin’s Tim Dzhurinskiy put a stop to any aspirations of resurgence defeating Luke Vandecasteele in the third set to push the Badgers to a 4–2 lead, sealing the win.
The loss did not lack heart or energy. Quinn Vandecasteele rallied back from down one set to none. In a match that saw two of the three sets go to extra points, Vandecasteele fought back and defeated Lenard Soha 2-1.
“Energy is everything in a college match,” Schyllander said. “With the right energy you’re going to do good things.”
Even with the loss finalized, Oregon players lined up to watch Keremedchiev finish off his set — a hard fought loss — that would bring the final score to 5-2.
From start to finish, the Student Tennis Center was loud. Cheers and shouts from Oregon players and fans kept the Ducks within striking range of a comeback that fell just short.
Oregon will take on Denver (5-2) on Thursday in Eugene, looking to cut the losing streak at two before conference play starts early next month.
“We’ll be ready,” Schyllander said. “If this doesn’t get you ready, I don’t know what will.”
