Ducks Continue Pac-12 Play with Stanford and Cal
04/01/15 | Men's Tennis
The Ducks will hold a pair of Pac-12 matches this weekend at the Student Tennis Center when they take on No. 38 Stanford at 3 p.m. on Friday, April 3, and then No. 33 California on Saturday, April 4 at 1 p.m. No. 51 Oregon (11-6, 0-2) will be taking on a pair of teams that are currently in a four-way log jam for first place in the conference.
Scouting the Cardinal
Stanford enters the weekend with a 10-4 record – 2-0 in Pac-12 play, most recently defeating Utah 6-1 and Arizona 7-0 at home last Friday and Saturday. All four of the Cardinal's losses have come to opponents ranked in the top 45 of the ITA's team rankings –No. 45 South Carolina, No. 16 Florida, No. 15 UCLA and No. 7 USC.
They are led by Tom Fawcett, a freshman who is the 43rd-ranked singles player in the country and the owner of an overall record of 22-6. He is 10-2 in duals playing on primarily court one, and the Winnetka, Ill., native is also currently riding a four-match winning streak.
Senior John Morrissey checks in as the 95th-ranked player thanks to a 10-3 mark in duals and a five-match winning streak. Morissey and teammate Robert Stineman play together and make up the No. 40 doubles team in the ITA.
Fawcett and teammate Maciek Romanowicz compete on court two and lead the Cardinal with an overall 13-3 record including a 6-2 mark in duals.
Scouting the Bears
California entered the spring season ranked No. 15, but a challenging slate of non-conference opponents saw the Bears drop down the polls to No. 33. Now, Cal is 14-5 and 2-0 in conference thanks to a 4-0 win over Arizona and a 7-0 result over Utah at home last weekend, bringing the Bears' overall win streak to five.
Andre Goransson, the No. 56 player in the nation, plays solely on court one and is one of three Bears to have 20 singles wins on the season (21-8). The sophomore is 9-3 in duals and also makes up the 65th-ranked doubles team with Oskar Wikberg. The two are 6-4 playing on court two, with an overall record of 12-5.
Filip Bergevi enters the week as the 100th-ranked singles player courtesy of a 8-3 record in duals playing almost exclusively on court two. Both Bergevi and Goransson are sophomores from Sweden.
Last Time Out
The Ducks opened the Pac-12 season on the road at No. 15 UCLA and No. 7 USC, and UO dropped both of those matches by scores of 7-0 and 6-1, respectively. The two losses drop the Ducks to 0-2 in Pac-12 play.
The Bruins were able to claim the doubles point and three singles wins in straight sets, but Oregon battled for the last three points on courts 3-5. Jayson Amos dropped a 5-7, 6-0, 1-0 (12-10) decision on court three, Cormac Clissold lost a heartbreaker of a match 3-6, 7-5, 1-0 (10-8) at No. 4 and Joey Swaysland fell 6-7 (0), 7-6 (6), 1-0 (10-1) on court five.
In the USC match, Daan Maasland was able to record the Ducks' lone point of the weekend thanks to a straight-set 7-6 (3), 6-3 win over 114th-ranked Eric Johnson. The win marks the highest ranked singles player any Duck has defeated this season. The previous high was when Daniel Sardu eliminated the then 123rd-ranked player in Ace Matias from UNLV in the championship match in the Larry Easley Memorial Classic during the fall season.
History with Stanford and Cal
The Ducks earned a trip to the NCAA Tournament last year in part because of a late season victory over Stanford in the Pac-12 Tournament. The 4-2 win in the quarterfinals gave Oregon their 17th win of the season. Two years ago in 2013, UO took down Stanford (4-3) in their only other win over the Cardinal in school history (2-27 all-time record).
Since Nils Schyllander took over in 2007, the Ducks have not defeated California. The Ducks came the closest in 2013, but ultimately fell in a 4-3 loss at home at the Student Tennis Center.
Doubles Point, Variety of Teams
The Ducks are 10-1 when winning the doubles point this season. In total, Oregon has seen 15 different doubles teams take the court on the year, with 11 of those being seen during the spring season. UO's best position has been court three, where they are 8-4 in duals.
Closing In On 20 Wins
The Ducks have two players that are within striking distance of the 20-win mark. The first, Jayson Amos, currently has an 18-9 record on the year including a 10-6 record in the spring season. As a freshman, Amos went 24-5 last season. The Mission Viejo, Calif., native will be hard pressed to match that mark from last year, but the 20-win plateau is definitely within reach.
Daan Maasland is very close himself at 17-7. The junior already has surpassed his win total from last season (14), but he, too, will need an exceptional effort to match his 23-9 record from his freshman season.
Perfect at Home
Oregon will welcome the Bay Area schools to the Student Tennis Center this weekend with an unblemished 8-0 home record. The Ducks carried a 9-0 home record into conference play last year, but were undone by the likes of UCLA and USC in the opening weekend.
Pac-12 Overview
After one weekend of Pac-12 play, there are four teams who are 2-0, and four who are 0-2. All of the teams who are winless played their opening weekend matches on the road.
Players Mentioned
