Men's Tennis Begins 2015 Slate with Seattle U and Eastern Washington

The Ducks will kick off the spring portion of the 2014-15 season this Saturday with two matches at the Student Tennis Center. The first will be against Seattle U at 10 a.m., and the second will be against Eastern Washington at 3 p.m. Live stats will be available on GoDucks.com.

SCOUTING THE REDHAWKS
Seattle U finished last season third in the WAC with a 10-14 record during the dual season. The 10 wins were the highest total for the Redhawks since the 2009-10 season when they had seven.

The Redhawks return three starters from a team that got bounced from the WAC tournament in the first round. Junior Ian Clare played primarily on court three and four and finished the year with a 15-14 record in singles play.

Connor Leahy – a sophomore – spent most of the spring playing at the No. 6 position. Leahy put together a 12-6 record during the spring in singles, and a 7-13 mark in doubles.

The last Redhawk who returns is Riley Newman. The senior finished last season 14-14 in singles and played on courts No. 3, 4 and 5 for Seattle U.

During this past fall season, Leahy led the Redhawks with a 7-3 record in tournaments. Clare wasn't far behind at 7-5.

SCOUTING THE EAGLES
Eastern Washington finished last season with a 9-13 record and placed seventh in the Big Sky Conference. The Eagles narrowly missed out on a bid for the conference championship for the first time since the 2011 season.

The Eagles, however, return all six players in their lineup and just recently added one of the top players in Serbia, Vuk Vuckovic. Their No. 1 singles player from last year, Robert Dula, played all 22 of his matches on court one and finished with a 13-9 record. The sophomore also nabbed First Team All-Big Sky honors.

Other top singles players from last year include Stefan Farrar (8-12), Eduardo Bringold (8-12) and Wacil Bendjelti (8-13).

Eastern Washington also brings back their top doubles team – Luke Thompson and Dula – who finished last year 5-4 at No. 1 doubles including a three-match winning streak to close out the season.

BUILDING A CULTURE
Coming off a 17-10 season last year that included their first appearance in the NCAA Tournament for the first time in 10 years, the Ducks are now 50-25 (66.7% winning percentage) in their last three years. That three-year winning percentage is tied for the second-best winning percentage of such length in school history.

The Ducks return eight players and lose just two from last year's squad. In order of class, here is how this year's well-balanced roster looks:

Freshmen
Cormac Clissold | Just arrived on campus this week.
Simon Stevens | Fall: 5-3 in singles and 4-2 in doubles.
Blake Anthony (RS) | Fall: 3-3 in singles and 1-1 in doubles.
Alex Marcinkowski (RS) | Fall: 3-3 in singles and 1-2 in doubles.

Sophomores
Jayson Amos | Fall: 8-3 in singles and 1-2 in doubles…Last year: 24-5 in singles (second-most in program history, most ever by a freshman) and 16-12 in doubles.
Alberto Reyes | Fall: 1-3 in singles and 1-1 in doubles.

Juniors
Brent Chin | Fall: 0-3 in singles and 1-2 in doubles…Last year: 6-3 in singles and 0-3 in doubles.
Kevin Farin | Fall: 4-2 in singles and 1-3 in doubles…Last year: 18-13 in singles and 24-7 in doubles (second-most winning doubles season in program history).
Daan Maasland | Fall: 5-2 in singles and 4-3 in doubles…Last year: 14-6 in singles and 12-6 in doubles.

Seniors
Daniel Sardu | Fall: 6-2 in singles and 2-2 in doubles…Last year: 17-10 in singles (64-31 career singles mark, tied for fourth in school history).
Joey Swaysland | Fall: 3-4 in singles and 2-2 in doubles…Last year: 11-12 in singles and 15-9 in doubles.

NATIONALLY RANKED
Oregon is ranked No. 44 in the first national team rankings that were released on Jan. 6. UO entered last season at No. 52 and concluded the year at No. 43.

SUCCESS IN SEASON OPENERS
The Ducks have won their last 11 season openers, including a decisive 7-0 sweep of Portland State last year to open the 2013-14 season. Oregon has not dropped a singles or doubles match in a season-opener since 2011, but the Ducks still defeated Eastern Washington 6-1 in that overall match.

SCHYLLANDER PLAN
Since head coach Nils Schyllander took over the program in 2007 the Ducks have put together a 103-89 record. Four of his last five years have produced winning seasons, and last year Schyllander was given the Wilson/ITA Northwest Region Coach of the Year honors.

PAIR OF FALL TITLES
The Ducks won two singles tournament titles this past fall at the Larry Easley Memorial Classic and the Pacific Northwest Intercollegiate. Daniel Sardu knocked off then-No.123 Ace Matias of UNLV to claim the flight one singles title at the Larry Easley Memorial Classic, and Daan Maasland won the Pacific Northwest Intercollegiate flight one singles title.

As a whole, Oregon finished the fall season 38-29 in singles and 9-10 in doubles. Jayson Amos led the Ducks with an 8-3 record, Sardu was 6-2, both Simon Stevens and Maasland were 5-3, and Kevin Farin was 4-2.

The team of Maasland and Joey Swaysland led the Ducks in doubles with a 3-1 record.

TOUGH SPRING SLATE
Out of the Ducks' 16 nonconference opponents, nine are ranked in the top 70 of the ITA's national team rankings; No. 6 North Carolina, No. 33 Boise State, No. 36 Alabama, No. 38 Virginia Tech, No. 39 Louisville, No. 53 Pepperdine, No. 56 Santa Clara, No. 65 Indiana and No. 68 Nevada.

Once conference play begins, the Ducks will be tasked with an extremely difficult Pac-12 schedule. Six of Oregon's seven Pac-12 opponents received national rankings; No. 1 USC, No. 4 UCLA, No. 15 California, No. 30 Stanford, No. 59 Utah and No. 64 Washington.

ONE MORE PLAYER
UO welcomed one more player to its roster earlier this week when Australian native Cormac Clissold joined the Ducks all the way from Ruse, New South Wales. Clissold enrolled in classes for the winter term and will be eligible to play right away. His brother, Aaron, played for the Ducks from 2009-13.

SARDU RECORD WATCH
Senior Daniel Sardu currently has 64 career singles wins and is tied for fourth on the school's all-time list.

1. Robin Cambier (2010-14) – 90-43
2. Sven Swinner (2001-05) – 84-37
3. Odeg Teig (1999-03) – 69-53
T4. Daniel Sardu (2011-15) – 64-31
T4. Lee Kirner (1990-94) – 64-62-1