Ducks Return Home, Face Wolf Pack
01/28/15 | Men's Tennis
Coming off a resounding 4-0 victory against No. 36 Alabama last weekend in Chapel Hill, N.C., the No. 43 Ducks (4-1) will look for continued improvement this weekend when they welcome No. 66 Nevada to the Student Tennis Center for two matches. The first match against the Wolf Pack will take place at 5 p.m. on Friday, Jan. 30 and the second will be the following day on Saturday, Jan. 31 at 3 p.m.
Live stats for the matches can be found on the men's tennis page on GoDucks.com on the day of the match.
SCOUTING THE WOLF PACK
Nevada has yet to play a match during the spring season, but they are ranked No. 66 in the ITA team rankings for good reason. The Wolf Pack finished last season with a 19-5 record and earned the No. 4 seed in the Mountain West Tournament before falling to Boise State in the semifinals 4-0.
In the fall, Andrew Poustie, Robert Margitfalvi and Moez Chargui all recorded seven singles wins and led Nevada to a fall singles record of 41-27. Chargui played primarily No. 2 and Poustie saw most of his time at No. 4 singles last year during the spring season.
Both Poustie and Chargui are ranked in the top 15 of the ITA Mountain Region Singles Rankings. Poustie comes into the year at No. 13, and Chargui enters at No. 7.
Only two doubles teams on Nevada finished the fall with winning records, but one team excelled above the rest. Poustie and Fernando Sunago finished the fall with a 9-3 record, tripling the next-best doubles team's win total. The pair of Chargui and Mile Cilic was the other team to finish with a winning record (3-1).
LAST TIME OUT
The Ducks ran into some adversity, but dealt with it effectively last weekend in their trip to North Carolina that was a part of the ITA Men's Kick-Off Weekend. UO dropped their opening match to host No. 7 North Carolina by a score of 4-0.
UO dropped the doubles point and they were unable to reclaim the momentum. The Tar Heels won on courts six, two and three in singles to earn the decisive win.
Oregon came out the following day and rebounded by taking down No. 36 Alabama with an emphatic 4-0 win.
With the doubles point already in hand, the Ducks earned victories at the No. 1-3 singles positions to come away with the positive result. Kevin Farin won 6-2, 6-4 on court one, Daan Maasland crushed Stuart Kenyon 6-1, 6-0 and Jayson Amos edged the 10th-ranked singles player in the ITA Southern Region by a count of 6-3, 7-6 (5).
PREVIOUSLY AGAINST THE WOLF PACK
Oregon last played Nevada two years ago on February 3, 2013 and the Ducks won that match 5-2. Maasland was playing at No. 4 singles and he won 6-2, 6-1, and Daniel Sardu was playing on court five and he dropped a three-set tiebreaker 6-3, 5-7, 10-8.
HOME TURF
Even though the Ducks are only five matches into the season, they have shown that they excel in the Student Tennis Center (3-0). UO was 10-3 at home last season.
BIG WINS
In winning efforts, Oregon has shown the ability to win by large margins. In their four wins this season, the Ducks have a won by a 24-1 combined margin of victory.
FRESHMAN DOUBLES
Although the doubles combinations are still fluent at this point in the season, freshmen Cormac Clissold and Simon Stevens have played their last three doubles matches together and they currently have a 1-1 record, with one match that went unfinished.
SARDU RECORD WATCH
With his doubles win this past weekend, Sardu is now tied for fifth place in career individual doubles victories at Oregon with 60. He also currently has 67 career singles wins and is two wins away from tying Odeg Teig (1999-2003, 69-53) for third place in school history.
DAUNTING STRETCH
Out of the Ducks' 16 nonconference opponents, nine are ranked in the top 70 of the ITA's national team rankings. With Nevada ranked at No. 66, UO is likely in the midst of a six-match streak where they will play six ranked teams in a row. Four of those six matches are at neutral sites or on the road.
Players Mentioned
