March 7, 2008
Eugene, OR - After battling back and forth with the University of Oregon on Mar. 7, the Pacific men's tennis team could not hold on as they fell to the Ducks on the road by a score of 5-2. With the loss, the Tigers' overall record fell to 4-4 on the year, while the Ducks improved their record to 7-7 with the win.
Moritz Starke (Bamberg, Germany) and David Gonzalez (Guayaquil, Ecuador) started the afternoon by capturing the only doubles win for the Tigers as they defeated Marcos Verdasco and Geoff Embry 9-8 at the No. 1 doubles position. Although Starke and Gonzalez faired well against the Ducks top duo, Oregon would go on to capture the doubles point by winning at the No. 2 and No. 3 positions to put the Tigers in a corner early.
Later in Singles play, with the Tigers needing to take four of the six matches, Starke and Gonzalez got the Tigers rolling again with singles victories this time. Starke started strong for the Tigers by defeating Oregon's Verdasco at the No. 1 singles position 6-4, 6-2, while Gonzalez captured his win at the No. 3 spot against Cornelissen 6-4, 5-7, 6-2 to nab the Tigers' second victory.
Although the last two matches of the day were close, the Tigers were not able to capitalize as Oregon captured victories at the other four positions. At one point Artem Gramma (Krivoj Roj, Ukraine) and Renan Delsin (Santa Cruz da Conceicao, Brazil) were both tied 3-3 in the third sets of their matches, but unfortunately they were both defeated as the Tigers would finish the day with a 5-2 loss. "We played a great match and came up just a little short in the end," Said head coach Guido Baumann.
The Tigers will have a chance to rebound from the loss, as they will take the court against Washington in Seattle, Wash. on Mar. 9. Matches will start at 12:00 p.m.
2008 Men's Tennis Results
Oregon 5, Pacific 2
Doubles:
Oregon earns one team point
Moritz Starke / David Gonzalez (PAC) def. Marcos Verdasco/ Geoff Embry (ORE) 9-8 (1)
Alexander Cornelissen / Romeo Mortera (ORE) def. Artem Gramma / Renan Delsin (PAC) 8-6
Francisco Gallardo / Stephenn Wichert (ORE) def. Vegerd Veskimagi / Pedro Toledo (PAC) 8-4
Singles:
Pacific earns two team points
Moritz Starke (PAC) def. Marcos Verdasco (ORE) 6-4, 6-2
Francisco Gallardo (ORE) def. Artem Gramma (PAC) 4-6, 6-4, 4-6
David Gonzalez (PAC) def. Alexander Cornelissen (ORE) 6-4, 5-7, 6-2
Geoff Embry (ORE) def. Renan Delsin (PAC) 6-3, 4-6, 3-6
Romeo Mortera (ORE) def. Vegerd Veskimagi (PAC) 6-2, 6-1
Stephen Wichert (ORE) def. Chase Oliphant (PAC) 6-2, 6-2
