The Oregon Ducks earned their first conference win of the season on Friday, defeating the Arizona Wildcats 5-2.  Both teams were winless in the Pac-10, and the Ducks came into the match hunting for their first victory.

The Ducks started the match with the losses of their No. 1 and No. 3 doubles teams, the only win coming from the No. 2 team of Marcos Verdasco and Francisco Gallardo.

The singles matches did not begin well for the Ducks, who lost five of their six first sets. Senior Eric Pickard was the only Duck to defeat an opponent in straight sets, cruising to the Ducks' first singles victory, 6-2, 7-6(5), while Oregon's No. 3 Ric Mortera fell to Jason Labrosse 6-1, 6-4.

Despite dropping their first sets, the Ducks rallied, staging a convincing comeback and winning four of four second sets to force the extra sets. No. 6 Mike Myrhed and No. 1 Verdasco earned the Ducks their second and third singles victories by defeating their opponents 2-6, 6-3, 6-4.

Leading 3-2 overall, the Ducks needed only one more singles win to clinch the match. The responsibility fell onto No. 2 Alex Cornelissen and No. 4 Geoff Embry, who were simultaneously battling out third sets on neighboring courts. Cornelissen, who had earned the Ducks' only victory against the University of California last week, found himself even with Alcala in the third set tiebreak.

"It was 5-all," Cornelissen said, "so I was really shaking. I didn't know what to expect. But then he gave me one point, so I was like 'yeah, this could be it.' And then he gave me the next point. I was so happy for the team."

Cornelissen's 2-6, 6-4, 7-6(5) victory clinched the winning point of the match, eliminating the pressure for Embry, who eventually won his third set tiebreak, defeating Hezi 2-6, 7-5, 7-6(3).

"I feel like finally, I'm finding my game," Cornelissen said of his victory.  "All the practice, all the running we've been doing is finally paying off."

The Ducks have two more conference matches against the Arizona State Sun Devils and the Washington Huskies before the Pac-10 Championships on April 26.

"We hope that we can do the same as today," Cornelissen said. "Everybody's here, supporting each other, and we have a good shot."

Unfortunately Sunday wasn't as good a day for the Ducks. Arizona State took advantage of the double's point to build momentum into single's play and pulled away from Oregon 5-2.

Oregon's number one doubles unit of Marcos Verdasco and Fracisco Gallardo posted an 8-3 victory, but Geoff Embry and Alexander Cornelissen, fell 8-4.

In the third and deciding match Ric Mortera and Mike Myrhead battled to 8-8 but lost in the tiebreaker 15-13.

Embry and Cornelissen were the only Ducks able to gain points in singles play as all of Oregon's higher seeds fell to the visitors from Tempe. Oregon's record fell to 10-12 on the season.