The EWU men’s tennis team competed in Eugene, Oregon, on Jan. 10 and 11, where they fell to the University of Oregon, 7-0, and Seattle University, 5-2.

“We still have some work to do where we are executing when we need to,” head coach Steve Clark told goeags.com. “We had plenty of opportunities. Executing the bigger points is what we need.”

Redshirt junior Eduardo Martinez spoke on how high the level was competitively and how it surprised the team.

“The competition was pretty high,” said Martinez. “I think that was a reality check for everyone on how the competition is and how all of the teams are improving, so everyone has to step up their game.”

The Eagles competed against 44th ranked Oregon on Jan. 10 where they stayed competitive in both singles and doubles, but could not get any victories. Junior Luke Thompson and sophomore Wacil Bendjelti competed in a close doubles match against Oregon’s freshman Cormac Clissold and senior Daniel Sardu. At the end, Thompson and Bendjelti could not hold on and fell 7-6 (3).

Junior Eduardo Bringold was another Eagle to compete in a close match that day. However, the result was still the same for Eastern as Bringold lost his singles match, (7-5, 6-3) against Clissold.

“I think we could have beaten [Oregon],” said Martinez. “But the score doesn’t show how we played. I think we were nervous, we were kind of scared. I think we could do a better job.”

On Jan. 11 against Seattle, sophomore Robert Dula defeated Seattle’s junior William Topp in a singles match, 7-6, (7-5) and 6-0. In another three-set match Bringold defeated Seattle’s Connor Leahy, 6-1, 1-6, 6-3.

Bendjelti fell to Seattle’s junior Ian Clare, 6-2, 2-6, 1-0, (10-8). Freshman Vuk Vuckovic made his debut over the weekend. Sophomore Robert Dula competed with Vuckovic in a doubles match where the duo defeated Seattle’s doubles team of sophomore Connor Leahy and sophomore John Stormans, (6-1).

Redshirt sophomore Rendell Burghart and Bendjelti fell to Seattle’s doubles duo junior Ian Clare and freshman Matt Alderson, 7-5.

“We didn’t have a lot of time to prepare. We had a week, so that was kind of rough,” said Martinez. “Coach told us that he had teams that probably were in the same level as us that have beaten teams as big as Oregon, we only need to work on some stuff on the court.”

Clark said that there were positives that came out of the team’s first two competitions.

Clark told goeags.com, “On the good side, Vuk and Robert won the terminator point in doubles,” said Clark. “Eduardo showed guts by winning the terminator point in singles despite his injured back. Finally, Dula was able to earn a double-win point in both singles and doubles.”

The University of Oregon improves to 2-0, Seattle University improves to 1-1 and EWU falls to 0-2 for the season.

The Eagles will compete against Utah State University in Spokane, Washington, on Jan. 17.