By Mario Nordi

EUGENE, Ore. – The Ducks originally had the rivalry matchup against the University of Washington scheduled for an outdoor bout, but the weather had a change of mind and moved the match indoors. Oregon practiced throughout the week outdoors in preparation for their first outdoor match at home, yet the move inside had no effect on the Ducks” performance. Oregon started off hot with a sweep in Doubles play earning the team the respective point. The No. 54 ranked Oregon duo of Mathew Burton and Quinn Vandecasteele handed UW’s No. 59 ranked Cesar Bouchelaghem and Dzianis Zharyn a (6-4) loss in their set. Then to close out doubles UO’s Vlad Breazu and Avi Shugar took a swift (6-4) win over UW’s Heman Nama and Ivan Sodan.

When it came to singles play things got tense with UW on the verge of a comeback with the Huskies’ Dzianis Zharyn defeating UO’s David Cierny in only two sets (6-4),(6-1) and UW’s Nedim Suko taking down UO’s Mathew Burton in a three-set thriller (6-2),(1-6),(6-4). But wins from UO’s Ray Lo and Lenn Leumkemann set up Oregon’s Breazu for the win. Breazu closed out his singles match in the third set, winning (6-4) marking a sweep on the season against the Huskies for the Ducks.

Post match Oregon Head Coach, Nils Schyllander, said, “Knowing that Vlad is there (mentally) in the third set, he’s going to get the job done.”

The Ducks will have a “day off and a lot of us ice baths,” said Schyllander as Oregon prepares to take on the Arizona schools next weekend to close out their five-match homestead and an end regular season play. Starting with Arizona State on Friday, April 19 and The University of Arizona on Sunday, April 21

Audio Story by Jason Hardrict