April 3, 1998
EUGENE, Ore.--Oregon's men's tennis team fought hard, but lacked execution in their match against the 25th-ranked Arizona State Sun Devils in their first of two home matches held in Eugene this weekend. The game results did not resemble the effort given by the team. Five out of six singles matches were carried into thirdsets, but the Ducks were unable to gain even one game point against Arizona State.
"I felt that we lacked execution in our game," said head coach Chris Russell. "Success is a choice, and it's up to the guys to make that choice."
After a phenomenal win against the No. 1 college tennis player in the country, all eyes were definitely upon Erwan Kergroach's court. Kergroach came out strong in the second match against Gustavo Marcaccio (ranked 50th in the country) with a 6-2 win that took them into a third set, which ended in the Sun Devil's favor, 3-6, 6-2, 6-4. Just when there didn't appeared to be a chance of a third set, Joaquin Hamdan battled out of a 3-1 deficit in the second set to win, but was unable to capture the final set, losing to Peter Dani, 6-7, 7-6, 6-4. Besides Kergroach and Hamdan's tight matches, there were other close matches including Guillermo Carter's loss to Alex Osterrieth and Carlos Navarro's loss to Ed Carter.
The highlight for Oregon occurred when Kergroach and Carter teamed to bring a doubles victory, continuing their winning streak to five straight wins. Together they defeated ASU's Ed Carter and Tim Hammond, 8-5.
Men's head coach Chris Russell was proud of the effort that they all put into their match against a ranked team, but still felt there plenty of room for improvement.
"We started with too much fear," commented Russell. "Arizona State simply out-fought us."
Team Score:
Arizona State 7, Oregon 0
Singles:
1. Gustavo Marcaccio (ASU) def. Erwan Kergroach (OR), 3-6, 6-2, 6-4 2. Alex Osterrieth (ASU) def. Guillermo Carter (OR), 2-6, 7-6, 2-6 3. Ed Carter (ASU) def. Carlos Navarro (OR), 7-6, 6-7, 6-4 4. Peter Dani (ASU) def. Joaquin Hamdan (OR), 6-7, 7-6, 6-4 5. Tim Hammond (ASU) def. Miguel Arriaga (OR), 6-3, 6-1 6. Casey Was (ASU) def. Jeff Thomsen (OR), 3-6, 7-5, 5-4(retired)
Doubles
1. Kergroach/Carter (OR) def. Carter/Hammond (ASU), 8-5 2. Osterrieth/Marcaccio (ASU) def. Hamdan/Navarro (OR), 8-3 3. Was/Dani (ASU) def. Cedric Van Haver/David Becker (OR), 8-3