Ducks Tennis Closes Out Fall Competition

Both Oregon tennis teams finished their fall seasons the first week in November. Men’s ITA Northwest Super Regional singles champion Quinn Vandecasteele started the week off on Wednesday November 3 at the ITA National Championships. Unfortunately his run in the championship bracket ended in the initial round of 32, losing in straight sets to Micah Braswell of UT Austin. Braswell went on to win the championship without losing a single set during the tournament.

In the consolation bracket Vandecasteele defeated his first opponent, Jean-Baptiste Badon from Glendale Community College of California, in straight sets. Vandecasteele’s tournament ended in the consolation quarterfinals, losing in straight sets to Colton Smith of the University of Arizona.

The rest of the men of Oregon hit the courts on Thursday November 4 at the Jack Kramer Invitational in Rolling Hills Estates, CA. The Ducks entered four singles players in the field of 32. Lachlan Robertson and Avi Shugar were eliminated from the main bracket in round 1. Neither won their consolation matches.

Lenn Luemkemann defeated Colter Smith of Cal Poly in the opening round but fell to Karl Kazuma Lee of USC in straight sets after. He did finish his tournament with a victory in consolation play against Lucca Liu of UC Santa Barbara. Zian Vanderstappen beat UC Berkeley’s Alexander Aney but lost in the round of 16 to UCLA’s Emon Van Loben Sels and did not play any consolation matches.

In doubles play Robertson partnered with Luemkemann and Vanderstappen with Shugar. Neither neither duo advanced in doubles play, eliminated by pairs from Cal Poly and UC San Diego, respectively.

GoDucks.com, “Ducks Wrap Up SDSU Fall Classic Sunday”

Women’s tennis finished their fall season at the SDSU Fall Classic in San Diego, CA. The non-elimination tournament was divided into Red, Black and White brackets for both singles and doubles play. The Ducks’ No. 56 ranked duo of Sophie Luescher and Uxia Martinez Moral struggled to live up their billing, notching a single win over a pair from conference rival Colorado on Sunday to finish 1-2 through three days of competition. The Oregon pairs of Jo-Yee Chan and Nina Geissler as well as Karin Young and Tilde Jagare also won a single match each throughout the competition.

In contrast to earlier performances in the fall, singles play is where Oregon shined. Juniors Young and Luescher looked to go undefeated after victories on Friday and Saturday, but each lost their final matches to opponents from CU Boulder. The star of the weekend for the Ducks was Tilde Jagare. The Swedish freshman swept through her competition in the White bracket to finish 3-0. As team, the Ducks finished 12-6 singles play.

Tennis will be back in action in the new year. The men host the University of the Pacific on January 21st and the women travel to Iowa on February 23.