Oregon men’s tennis couldn’t quite hit the jackpot.
On Sunday, the Ducks wrapped up play at the Easley Memorial Classic in Las Vegas empty-handed in both singles and doubles play.
“Obviously we would like to put a few more wins on the board, but we didn’t,” associate head coach Jonas Piibor said in a news release.
In the flight 1 singles bracket, junior Simon Stevens fell in the semifinals to Portland’s Mathieu Garcia, 6-4, 7-5. Stevens had an encouraging start to the weekend, defeating Lucas Taylor (3-6, 6-3, 6-2) and UCLA’s Austin Rapp in the quarterfinals, 6-2, 4-6, 6-4.
In the flight 2 singles bracket, freshman Ty Gentry and sophomore Ethan Young-Smith came away victorious in their first round matches, with Gentry defeating Valentin Lang (GCU) 7-6(10), 6-2 and Young-Smith dominating UNLV’s Peter Horvath 6-0, 6-0. In the quarterfinals, both Gentry and Young-Smith were defeated by Portland’s Pierre Garcia and Carlos Donat, respectively.
Young-Smith and Gentry teamed up for doubles play but couldn’t go any further, losing 8-3 to Joesph Di Guilio and Austin Rapp (UCLA) in the quarterfinals. Stevens, along with Akihiro Tanaka, made up the other Oregon doubles team but didn’t have any more luck. Having match point multiple times throughout their quarterfinals match, Stevens and Tanaka couldn’t break through, dropping a tough 8-7(4) match to Portland.
“The guys got to play many matches this weekend, which is essential for their continued development,” said Piibor.
The Ducks will return home to host the Duck Invitational next weekend.
“Obviously we would like to put a few more wins on the board,” said Piibor. “We need to be a little tougher at times when there is an opportunity in front of us.”
Follow Cole Kundich on Twitter @ckundich