Utah State and Boise State on Tap for UO
03/12/15 | Men's Tennis
The Oregon men's tennis team will embark on their fourth road trip of the spring season this weekend when they face off with Utah State on Saturday, March 14 and then Boise State on Sunday, March 15. Both matches will take place in Boise, Idaho, at the Appleton Tennis Center at noon (PT).
Scouting the Aggies and Broncos
Utah State enters Saturday's match with a 13-4 record, but the Aggies have dropped two of their last three matches. Their record this season is a drastic improvement, however, from last year's 9-16 record that saw them get bounced in the quarterfinals of the Mountain West Tournament.
The Aggies are buoyed by freshman Jaime Barajas and his 20-5 record, including an 11-3 record in duals playing primarily on court five. Dennis Baumgartner – a sophomore – also has an 11-3 record in duals via action at the No. 2 singles position.
Karan Salwan and Sebastian Schneider are two other Utah State players who have found the win column in singles play during the spring (both with 10-3 records). The top doubles team is Baumgartner and Marcus Fritz, who have 9-6 record in duals play.
The Broncos come into the weekend with a No. 74 ranking and an overall record of 5-9. Boise State entered the spring season ranked No. 32, but has since fallen 42 spots. Nevertheless, the Broncos are still coming off a 28-5 record last year and three-consecutive Mountain West Championships.
Senior Garrett Patton and junior Thomas Tenreiro have played primarily on courts one and two, compiling a combined 3-8 record on court one and a 6-4 record on court two. Brian Foley has the most spring singles wins with seven (7-5) and Abe Hewko is close behind with six (6-5).
Hewko and freshman Lewis Roskilly have carried the Broncos in doubles play, stacking up a 9-1 record at the No. 2 position.
Last Time Out
The Ducks traveled down to Southern California and squared off with Pepperdine on February 28, and the Waves were able to come back from a 3-0 deficit to edge Oregon for the 4-3 win.
UO won the doubles point behind victories from Cormac Clissold and Daan Maasland at the No. 2 spot (6-3) and Simon Stevens and Daniel Sardu on court three (6-4).
The Ducks quickly made it a 3-0 lead after Stevens recorded the only straight-set win of the day for any team with his 7-6 (8-6), 6-1 result on court four, and Sardu came back from one set down to nip Pepperdine's Rakshay Thakkar 4-6, 6-3, 6-4 at No. 3 singles.
Pepperdine surged back into the match and claimed the next four singles points for the overall win. All of the final four singles matches made it to three sets, but the Ducks could not pull through. Jayson Amos came the closest with a 7-5 defeat in the third set.
Oregon was slated to play UC Santa Barbara two days later, but rain kept the match from happening due to the Gauchos' outdoor courts.
Rematch
Oregon took on Boise State last year in the Student Tennis Center in what was arguably the Ducks' most successful weekend in program history. The Ducks began the weekend by defeating Washington (4-1) for the first time in 10 years on a Friday, and then followed it up with a 5-2 win over the No. 15 Broncos in a match that turned out to be the highest ranked team UO has ever defeated.
Streaking Stevens
The freshman's win streak in singles now stands at 10. He is 15-3 on the year and 8-2 in doubles matches this spring. His only two losses in doubles came to ranked teams – No. 7 North Carolina and No. 43 Louisville.
Doubles Streak Snapped
With the loss at Pepperdine, the Ducks are now 8-1 in matches after winning the doubles point. The doubles point had dictated the course of their 13 previous matches.
Sardu Strong
The senior has moved to the No. 3 position in singles the last four matches (3-1) and is right behind Stevens for the second-best singles record on the team in dual play at 8-1.
Pac-12 On Horizon
After the two-match road trip this weekend and a home match against Pacific on Monday, March 23, the Ducks will begin Pac-12 play. As it stands right now, USC (No. 5 in the ITA) leads the conference at 11-2, California is in second at 8-3 (No. 26) and the Ducks are tied with Washington (No. 59) at 8-4.
UCLA is No. 14 in the country at 7-5, Stanford is No. 40 at 6-4, Utah is 8-5 and Arizona is 6-8.
