Arizona Defeats Oregon, Makes First Pac-12 Championship Final

OJAI, Calif. – For the first time in program history, Arizona Men’s Tennis will play in the Pac-12 Championship final after a 4-1 semifinal take down over #61 Oregon Friday evening. 

The Wildcats were met with an aggressive battle right off the bat in doubles competition, dropping the doubles point to the Ducks with defeats on courts one and two. Arizona’s Gustaf Strom and Sasha Rozin started the day off strong with a 6-2 take down over Avi Shugar and Vlad Breazu before Oregon’s Lenn Luemkemann and Ray Lo got the win over Herman Hoeyeraal and Eric Padgham (6-4). The doubles point came down to a breaker on court one, where #31 Colton Smith and Jay Friend ultimately lost to #46 Quinn Vandecasteele and Matthew Burton 7-6(2). 

Now down 0-1, Arizona battled back in singles competition with two swift straight-set wins from Hoeyeraal and #34 Friend. Hoeyeraal shut it down on court four, 6-1, 6-1 over Burton, followed by Friend on two with a 6-1, 6-2 victory over David Cierny. Finishing next was #20 Smith on court one, who went 6-4, 6-3 over #90 Vandecasteele and put the score at 3-1. Clinching the match for Arizona was Casper Christensen on five, taking down Luemkemann 6-4, 6-2. 

Arizona will go on to face #20 Stanford in the championship final at 5:00 p.m. MST in Ojai. The match will be broadcast on Pac-12 Network.

Results 

#11 Arizona 4, #61 Oregon 1

Doubles Competition 

Order of finish: 3, 2, 1

1. #46 Quinn Vandecasteele/Matthew Burton def. #31 Colton Smith/Jay Friend 7-6 (2)

2. Lenn Luemkemann/Ray Lo def. Herman Hoeyeraal/Eric Padgham 6-4

3. Sasha Rozin/Gustaf Strom def. Avi Shugar/Vlad Breazu 6-2

Singles Competition 

Order of finish: 4, 2, 1, 5

1. #20 Colton Smith def. #90 Quinn Vandecasteele 6-4, 6-3

2. #34 Jay Friend def. David Cierny 6-1, 6-2

3. Gustaf Strom vs. Vlad Breazu 6-2, 4-5, unfinished

4. Herman Hoeyeraal def. Matthew Burton 6-1, 6-1

5. Casper Christensen def. Lenn Luemkemann 6-2, 6-4

6. Nick Lagaev vs. Ray Lo 6-4, 5-2