Huskies Suffer 4-3 Loss to Ducks

Saturday, March 31

Seattle, WA

2:00 PM

University of Washington

Oregon

Photo by: Red Box Pictures

March 31, 2018 | Men's Tennis

SEATTLE – In the second close match of the week, No. 49 Washington men's tennis came up short again, falling to No. 45 Oregon 4-3 at the Bill Quillian Tennis Stadium on Saturday.

The fate of the conference win came down to court six where Alexis Alvarez was battling with Riki Oshima from Oregon in a third set. Alvarez went up 4-3, but Oshima won the next three games to take the set and match for the Ducks.

"I thought our guys played hard and we gave ourselves opportunities, but then we didn't take advantage of all of the opportunities," Washington head coach Matt Anger said. "In the end, we have to tip our cap to Oregon to hang in there, but I certainly think we were outplayed in the end."

The Dawgs (10-9, 0-3 Pac-12) battled tough in doubles, but the Ducks (13-6, 1-2 Pac-12) came away with the point after winning on courts one and two. At No. 1 doubles, Kawika Lam and Enzo Sommer played Oregon's No. 36 doubles duo of Thomas Laurent and Cormac Clissold. The set was close, but the Ducks pulled away for the 6-4 win. On court two, Piers Foley and Mitch Stewart struggled, falling 6-1.

In singles, the two teams seemed evenly matched. Most sets were close and there were three matches that went to a third set. Ultimately, Oregon came away with three of the singles points to win the dual-match.

Sommer was the first to finish. At No. 3 singles, he went back and forth with his opponent in the first set, ultimately pulling it out 7-5. In the second set, he got in a groove, picking up the set 6-2. Similar to Sommer's match, Jake Douglas had a close first set on court two, going to a tiebreaker. Douglas took the tiebreaker, 7-2, and dominated the second set 6-1.

Oregon took the singles point on court one in a close match between Mitch Stewart and the Ducks' No. 14 Thomas Laurent. The Huskies answered back with a big three-set win from freshman Jack Davis at No. 5 singles. He struggled in the first set but bounced back to cruise in the second and third sets, taking the match 2-6, 6-1, 6-2.

The tide started to tip in Oregon's favor as it came down to the final two matches on courts four and six. Amit Batta had match point at No. 4 singles, up 5-4, but the Ducks' Cormac Clissold fought to force a tiebreaker, which he won. Batta lost the third set, 6-1. Alvarez was also ahead in his second set, but like his teammate, he lost in the tiebreaker to go to a third set.

Washington's final two home matches are next weekend against Arizona and Arizona State.

RESULTS
#45 Oregon - 4
#49 Washington - 3

Doubles (Order of finish: 2, 1)
1) #36 Laurent/Clissold (UO) def. Lam/Sommer (UW) 6-4
2) Gentry/Stevens (UO) def. Foley/Stewart (UW) 6-1
3) Davis/Douglas (UW) vs. Tanaka/Roberts (UO) 5-3 DNF

Singles (Order of finish: 3, 2, 1, 5, 4, 6)
1) #14 Thomas Laurent (UO) def. #80 Mitch Stewart (UW) 6-4, 7-5
2) #82 Jake Douglas (UW) def. Simon Stevens (UO) 7-6(2), 6-1
3) Enzo Sommer (UW) def. Akihiro Tanaka (UO) 7-5, 6-2
4) Cormac Clissold (UO) def. Amit Batta (UW) 4-6, 7-6(5), 6-1
5) Jack Davis (UW) def. Ty Gentry (UO) 2-6, 6-1, 6-2
6) Riki Oshima (UO) def. Alexis Alvarez (UW) 4-6, 7-6(4), 6-4