Rally Comes Up Short in Pac-12 Opener

Saturday, March 5

Eugene, OR

2:00 PM

University of Oregon

Washington

Photo by: Luke Domenick

03/05/22 | Men's Tennis

Box Score

Oregon suffered a 4-2 home loss to Washington on Saturday.

EUGENE, Ore. – The Oregon men's tennis team dropped its Pac-12 opener Saturday, a hard-fought 4-2 setback to Washington. The Ducks picked up wins from Ivailo Keremedchiev and Luke Vandecasteele on courts four and five, respectively. With the loss, Oregon falls to 6-5 overall with a 0-1 mark in conference play.

The doubles point was decided at the No. 2 spot in the lineup with both teams having picked up a win. In the top spot, the Ducks' No. 16-ranked duo of Joshua Charlton and Quinn Vandecasteele recorded a 6-3 victory to remain unbeaten in dual play. The Huskies had the first win of the day at No. 3 doubles.

Keremedchiev and doubles partner Youssef Kaidiri jumped out to a 5-2 lead on court two before the 36^th-ranked pair of Clement Chidekh and Nedim Suko responded to force a tiebreaker. The Ducks led 5-4 in the breaker but the Washington pair won the last three points to secure the result and give the visitors a 1-0 match lead.

After the Washington lead few to 2-0 with a straight-set win at No. 2 singles, Keremedchiev got Oregon on the board with a 6-1, 7-5 triumph in the fourth spot. When the Huskies took a 3-1 lead, the last three matches on court were all in a third set.

Luke Vandecasteele brought the Ducks to within a point with a 6-2, 3-6, 6-4 victory over Suko at the No. 5 spot in the singles lineup. At No. 1 singles, Charlton had taken the first set from Chidekh but the top-ranked player in the county won the second and from a 2-all point in the third, rattled off the final four games for the victory; a crowd-harassment point penalty decided an intense fifth game.

At the time of the clinching, the Ducks' Ryoma Matsushita was locked in a battle with Jack Pulliam. The two had traded sets and Pulliam led 4-3 in the third when the match was decided.

Washington 4, Oregon 2
Doubles
1. #16 Charlton/Q. Vandecasteele (UO) def. Davis/Wong (UW) – 6-3
2. #36 Chidekh/Suko (UW) def. Youssef Kaidiri/Ivailo Keremedchiev (UO) – 7-6(5)
3. Bouchelaghem/Lin (UW) def. Klov-Nilsson/L. Vandecasteele (UO) – 6-1
Order of Finish: 3, 1, 2

Singles
1. #1 Clement Chidekh (UW) def. #81 Joshua Charlton (UO) – 4-6, 6-4, 6-2
2. Jack Davis def. Quinn Vandecasteele (UO) – 6-0, 6-4
3. Han-Chih Lin (UW) def. #124 Jesper Klov-Nilsson (UO) – 7-5, 6-1
4. Ivailo Keremedchiev (UO) def. Cesar Bouchelaghem (UW) – 6-1, 7-5
5. Luke Vandecasteele (UO) def. Nedim Suko (UW) – 6-2, 3-6, 6-4
6. Ryoma Matsushita (UO) vs Jack Pulliam (UW) – 6-0, 5-7, 3-4 [unfinished]
Order of Finish: 2, 4, 3, 5, 1

The Ducks return to action Sunday, March 13, for a doubleheader against Portland and Montana State. First serve of the twin bill is scheduled for 11 a.m. (PT) at the UO Student Tennis Center.

For more news and information about Oregon men's tennis, follow @OregonMTennis on Instagram and Twitter.