Home Finale, Senior Day on Tap for UO Men's Tennis
04/17/15 | Men's Tennis
The No. 52 Oregon men's tennis team will play their final home match of the spring season this Saturday when they take on No. 56 Washington on the outdoor courts at the Student Tennis Center at 2 p.m. The rivalry will be the last match in Eugene for Duck seniors Daniel Sardu and Joey Swaysland.
There will be a small recognition for the seniors between doubles and singles play, and there will be free pizza for the first 100 fans. The match will determine who finishes the regular season in fifth place in the Pac-12.
Scouting the Huskies
The Huskies are 12-9 on the year with a 2-4 record in the Pac-12. Similar to UO, Washington grabbed their first two wins of the conference season this past weekend with a 4-1 win at Utah and then a 4-0 victory at Arizona.
Also alike to the Ducks, Washington was unable to get past Indiana (4-3 loss) at home and Pepperdine (5-2 loss) on the road, but they beat Seattle (two 7-0 wins) and Eastern Washington (7-0) with the same ease that UO did in the early goings of the season.
The Huskies' highest ranked player – 101-ranked Mitch Stewart – is 9-8 in singles play on the season, but he is recently coming off a straight-set 6-2, 7-5 victory over Cal's No. 56 Andre Goransson two weeks ago. Jake Douglas has UW's best singles record at 20-4 playing on courts 1-4, and Gal Hakak has made large contributions as well with a 13-6 singles record in duals.
The Huskies are led in doubles by the 48th-ranked team of Emmett Egger and Jeff Hawke, who are an astounding 12-4 in duals play. As a team, UW is 25-26 in doubles during the spring season.
Last Time Out
The Ducks (13-8, 2-4) picked up their first Pac-12 sweep since 2012 – their first Pac-12 road sweep in head coach Nils Schyllander's tenure (2007) – when they knocked off Arizona 4-1 and then Utah 4-0 in Tucson, Ariz., and Salt Lake City, respectively.
Oregon jumped off to a quick start in both matches by winning the doubles point and never looked back. In the Arizona match, Daan Maasland made it a 2-0 lead for UO with 6-1, 6-1 win over the Wildcats' David Mushayev.
Joey Swaysland recorded another straight-set win for the Green and Yellow after taking down Jose Zamorano 6-4, 6-1, putting the match at 3-0 in Oregon's advantage. Arizona picked up a point on court two before Cormac Clissold shut the door on the day thanks to a 7-5, 6-2 win over Trevor James.
The Ducks swept the Utes two days later behind singles victories from Swaysland, Maasland and Jayson Amos, all of which came in straight sets. The sweep was the first for UO on the season since March 23 when they shut down Pacific at home by a score of 7-0.
Senior Day
The Ducks' two graduating seniors – Daniel Sardu and Joey Swaysland – will be honored in between singles and doubles play during Saturday's match.
Sardu, a native of Sopron, Hungary, has accumulated a 74-37 singles record and a 68-42 doubles mark in four years at Oregon. He will finish his career with the third-most singles wins and the second-most doubles wins in school history.
He earned a career-high 22 singles wins in his freshman season, and a career-high 22 doubles victories as a sophomore. His 22 singles wins ties for the 10th-most single season wins in school history. Playing with Cormac Clissold's older brother, Aaron, from 2011-13, Sardu put together a 30-16 record, good for the sixth-most career team doubles victories in UO history.
Swaysland transferred to Oregon after two years at Texas and immediately began making an impact for the Ducks. He played on courts 4-6 as a junior last year and put together an 11-13 record in singles. He excelled in doubles, ending the year with a 15-9 mark.
In total, the Wagga Wagga, Australia, native is 26-27 in singles and 29-17 in his entire college career.
Rivalry Match
After a 10-year drought where the Ducks went winless against their rivals, UO not only snapped the streak, but won 2-of-3 matches last season against Washington. They officially got off the snide on February 28 when they handled the Huskies to a tune of 4-1, and then later ended the Huskies' season on April 23 with a 4-2 victory in the opening round of the Pac-12 Championships.
Almost Postseason
After the match against Washington, the Ducks will begin gearing up towards the Pac-12 Championships in Ojai, Calif., from April 22-26. If UO is to win, they will lock up the 5-seed and face the 8-seed which will either be Utah or Arizona. If the Ducks are to win their opening round match, they will go on to play the 4-seed, which will in all likelihood be California.
20-Win Ducks
Maasland (20-8) and Amos (21-9) both have 20 singles wins on the year. They are both chasing the marks they set as freshman, with Maasland setting the bar with a 23-9 record – the fourth-most wins in a single season – and Amos bettering him by one with a 24-5 mark – the second-most wins in a single season.
Streak is Still Alive
Despite not recording a win in this past weekend's matches against Arizona and Utah, the freshman is still maintaining an incredible 13-match winning streak. He is the only player in the Pac-12 who is still undefeated in duals play with at least 10 wins.
Players Mentioned
