Oregon men’s tennis got back to its winning ways at home on Saturday, defeating Santa Clara 6-1. The Ducks excelled at both singles and doubles play, earning yet another comprehensive win in spring season.

In doubles, however, Oregon got off to a rocky start. After winning the first game, Riki Oshima and Emmanuel Coste lost six games in a row and were defeated by Santiago Hinojosa and Jesus Tapiador Barajas to put the Ducks behind early.

But once again, No. 8 Ty Gentry and Joshua Charlton anchored the Ducks as they defeated No. 52 Arthur Neuhaus and Vasileios Iliopoulos 6-3. Charlton and Gentry have been the lynchpin of Oregon’s doubles attack and they once again stepped up on Saturday. To secure the doubles point, Charles Roberts and Brandon Lam defeated Mann Shah and Nick Cmager. 

“We’re both big guys, we love to hit the ball big, we love to serve big. We feed off each other’s energy,” Lam said.

In singles play, freshman Jesper Klov-Nilsson was electric, winning one of the most dominant matches of the year. He defeated Hinojosa 6-0, 6-0 in both sets. 

“In the beginning there was some tight games, but I won a lot of games. It was pretty easy,” Nilsson said. 

“He’s been solid, he’s been a really tough out. He’s so fit and he can run forever,” 

head coach Nils Schyllander said. 
While Nilsson wrapped up ahead of schedule, elsewhere the Ducks and Broncos dueled it out. Oshima battled Shah and won in two sets winning 6-3, 6-2. No. 14 Charlton handled Neuhaus in two sets, winning 6-2, 6-3.

But the Ducks suffered some reversals of fortune as well. Freshman Luke Vandecaastle had a rough outing losing to Iliopoulos in two sets. 
Although Oregon had already clinched a team victory, the last two matches of the afternoon were exciting — both won in tiebreakers that finished within seconds of each other. Coste lost his opening set to Barajas 6-3. But he battled back, taking the second set 6-2. Ultimately Coste was able to secure the point with 7-6 tiebreaker. Lam took on Cmager and like Coste lost his opening set 6-2. But he dominated his second set 6-1 and like Coste clinched the point with a 7-6 victory in tiebreakers.

“Coste lost 7-6 in the third against Georgia Tech last week. For him to have taken two tiebreaker losses within one week would have been tough on him mentally,” Schyllander said. 

Both Oregon and Santa Clara engaged in trash talking throughout the match. But this reached a boiling point in the final two matches.

“It’s college tennis, it’s fun. It makes me play better. It’s a very enjoyable environment,” Lam said. 

Oregon will take on Drake University on Sunday.