University of Oregon
No. 46 Louisville
Ducks Take Down No. 46 Louisville
02/07/16 | Men's Tennis
EUGENE, Ore. -- The 42nd-ranked Oregon men's tennis team notched another convincing win over a ranked opponent as they downed No. 46 Louisville, 6-1, Sunday afternoon at the Student Tennis Center. The Ducks are now 8-1 on the season and a perfect 5-0 when competing at home.
HOW IT HAPPENED: In doubles, Daan Maasland Simon Stevens got things going for Oregon right away, winning 6-2 at No. 2 over Christian Haushammer and Chris Morin-Kougoucheff.
The Cardinals (3-5) and Ducks were then locked in a battle at both No. 1 and 3. Cormac Clissold and Thomas Laurent held a 4-2 advantage at No. 3 over Courtney Lock and Shane Donohue before the Cardinal duo won two straight to tie it up at 4-all. From there the Ducks broke Louisville's serve and went up 5-4. Clissold then delivered an ace down the center to clinch the first point of the match in UO's favor.
At No. 1, Jayson Amos and Armando Soemarno spent the early part of the match trailing No. 57 pair Alex Gornet and Jeff Brown before storming back to claim four straight games and take the 5-4 lead. Gornet and Brown tied it up at 5-all and then 6-all forcing the tiebreak. The match was suspended with the Ducks leading 2-1 in the breaker.
In singles, Thomas Laurent never trailed at No. 2 to Jeff Brown, winning 6-2, 6-1 to put the Ducks up 2-0 in the match. That lead quickly ballooned to 3-0 when Jayson Amos downed Brandon Lancaster 6-2, 6-1 at No. 4. Simon Stevens clinched it when put away Chris Morin-Kougoucheff 6-0, 6-3 at No. 3.
With the overall match already decided, Cormac Clissold and Daan Maasland each won their matches to score the fifth and sixth points respectively. Clissold took his first set 6-3 at No. 5 over Courtney Lock. Lock then won the opening game of the second set, but Clissold wouldn't drop another, taking the set 6-1.
Maasland took on No. 108 Alex Gornet at No. 1 and after the two were tied at 2-all in the first set, Maasland won back-to-back games to go up 4-2 and then eventually took the set 6-3. In the second set, Gornet was up 4-3 before Maasland won three straight games, clinching the win when Gornet sent the service receive long. The win marks the second straight weekend that Maasland has taken down an ITA ranked opponent.
The Cardinals then picked up their lone point of the day at No. 6. Ethan Young-Smith won the first set in a 7-4 tiebreak. Louisville's George Hedley then won the second set 6-4 to force the third set breaker. After being down, 2-0, Young-Smith rattled off four straight points to take the 4-2 lead. Hedley then went on a run of his own, scoring five straight to take an 8-4 advantage. Young-Smith was able to win back-to-back points to cut it to 8-6, but Hedley scored the last two to take it 10-6.
NOTABLE: The Ducks have now secured wins over No. 54 UC Santa Barbara, No. 56 Old Dominion, No. 52 Denver and No. 46 Louisville in the first four weeks of the season. UO is currently riding a six-match home winning streak dating back to April of last year. Over the past two seasons, the Ducks are 14-2 when competing at home.
QUOTE:
Head Coach Nils Schyllander:
"We played with some unbelievable energy today. I love this group and every time we have a big match, they show up and just outfight the opposition."
UP NEXT: The Ducks will hit the road for one match this week. UO will travel to Loyola Marymount for a 1 p.m. start time on Friday. After that, UO will play its next nine matches at home.
Players Mentioned
