Ducks Knock Off No. 63 UC Irvine, 5-1

Saturday, February 23

Irvine, Calif.

1 p.m.

University of Oregon

UC Irvine

Photo by: GoDucks.com

02/23/08 | Men's Tennis

By: GoDucks.com

IRVINE, Calif. ? The Oregon men's tennis team picked up a win in southern California on Saturday afternoon, knocking off No. 63 UC Irvine, 5-1.

The Ducks improve to 6-4 on the year, while the Anteaters fall to 2-4.

“I think this was the best match we've played all season,” Director of Tennis Nils Schyllander said. “Everyone showed up today. It was just a great win”

Oregon got things started on the right foot by winning the doubles point. Stephen Wiechert and Francisco Gallardo, paired together at No. 3, got the first win of the day defeating Ajay Ahluwalia and Gautum Vaidyanthan, 8-3.

But at No.2 it was UC Irvine that saw success, as Victor Lamm and Khunpol Issara defeated Oregon's Alex Cornelissen and Mike Myrhed, 8-6. It was just the second loss of the year for the duo.

But Oregon's No.1 team of Geoff Embry and Marcos Verdasco was able to clinch the doubles point, posting an 8-6 win over Trevor Dobson and Alex Sundling.

“We played very good doubles tennis, something we had been emphasizing all week at practice,” Schyllander said. “We came out with a lot of energy from the start, and that carried us through the entire day.”

The Ducks showed success at the top of the lineup, as Verdasco (No. 1), Gallardo (No. 2) and Cornelissen (No.3) were all victorious.

Verdasco evened his singles record at 5-5 on the year with a 6-1, 6-3 win over Sundling at No. 1.

In the second slot, Gallardo knocked off Lamm in three sets, 7-6, 6-7, 10-1. Cornelissen, now 6-4 in 2008, defeated Dobson, 7-6, 7-6 in the third position.

Oregon's only loss came at No. 4, as Embry was defeated, 6-1, 6-2 by Issara.

Myrhed cleaned up in the sixth spot, with a 6-3, 6-4 victory over Ryan Mayer.

Due to rain in the area, the No. 5 match featuring Oregon's Romeo Mortera and UC Irvine's Stephen Stege was not finished.

Oregon will next play UC Santa Barbara at noon on Sunday.

Oregon 5, No. 63 UC Irvine 1
Doubles
1.Embry/Verdasco (ORE) def. Dobson/Sundling (UCI), 8-6
2. Issara/Lamm (UCI) def. Cornelissen/Myrhed (ORE), 8-6
3. Gallardo/Wiechert (ORE) def. Ahluwalia/Vaidyanthan.(UCI) 8-3

Singles
1. Marcos Verdasco (ORE) def. Alex Sundling (UCI), 6-1, 6-3
2. Francisco Gallardo (ORE) def. Victor Lamm (UCI) 7-6, 6-7, 10-1
3. Alex Cornelissen (ORE) def. Trevor Dobson (UCI), 7-6, 7-6
4. Khunpol Issara (UCI) def. Geoff Embry (ORE), 6-1, 6-2
5. Romeo Mortera (ORE) and Stephen Stege (UCI) ? Not finished due to weather
6. Mikael Myrhed (ORE) def. Ryan Mayer (UCI), 6-3, 6-4