Men's Tennis Setting New Standards Entering Start of Pac-12 Play
03/25/16 | Men's Tennis, @GoDucksMoseley
by Rob Moseley
Editor, GoDucks.com
This weekend, the Oregon men's tennis team faces two immense challenges.
On Friday at 5 p.m. in the UO Student Tennis Center, the Ducks will host UCLA, the nation's sixth-ranked team and a considerable threat to win the program's 17th national title later this spring. On Sunday at noon, Oregon hosts No. 8 Southern California, winners of 21 NCAA Championships overall, and five of the last seven.
Winning even one of the two matches would be a considerable task. And yet, if his 26th-ranked Ducks come away from this weekend with a victory or even two, UO coach Nils Schyllander won't be shocked.
Beating the Bruins or Trojans would rank up there with Oregon's first ever win over Stanford, in 2013, or its first defeat of UW in 10 years, in 2014. But the circumstances are different for a UO program that believes it's ready to take the turn from rising upstart to contender.
“They believe they can play with anyone now,” Schyllander said. “I don't know; in the past we may have been playing the other jersey a little too much. But now we believe. … There's no moral victories anymore.”
Schyllander, in his 10th season at the helm, says a cultural change has occurred for UO men's tennis, fueled by those defining victories over the Cardinal and Huskies. Schyllander and associate head coach Jonas Piibor have been able to lure more talent to Eugene, and develop them into a team that this spring features an experienced group of diverse leaders.
“It's been a long process,” Schyllander said. “But we've been bringing character into the program, and that's paying off.”
Oregon enters this opening weekend of Pac-12 play at 13-2, one win shy of the best start in school history set in 2014, the first UO men's team since 2004 to make the NCAA Tournament. After going 7-9 against top-75 teams last season, the Ducks are 6-2 already this spring; the losses were at No. 4 Baylor on Jan. 24, and this past Tuesday at No. 44 Drake, in a 4-3 thriller.
The 2014 team used its strong start to fuel a run to the postseason. Though this season's start is a game behind the 14-1 pace set in 2014, Schyllander considers the current group more battle-tested due to a tougher schedule.
“We scheduled tough on purpose,” said Schyllander, whose team has been ranked as high as No. 20 this season, a program record. “Because we knew we were going to be pretty good if we were healthy.”
Oregon's No. 1 singles player is Daan Maasland, a senior from The Netherlands who is assembling one of the best resumes in program history. Maasland has 76 career singles victory, with a chance to pass Sven Swinnen (84, 2001-05) for second. He's been ranked as high as No. 49 this season, the best for a singles player during Schyllander's tenure.
Maasland also has been on the court for 66 doubles victories, third-most all-time for the Ducks. Those doubles wins are a particular point of pride for Schyllander, who puts immense value in that element of play.
Dual matches begin with three doubles matches, with a single point in the team score at stake. Those three matches combined are worth the same as just one of the six singles matches that follow — and yet the entire dual could hinge on the doubles point.
Lose it, and your team must win four of six singles matches. That's no easy task, particularly given scoring changes like “no-ad scoring” made in recent years to shorten the length of duals, in the process reducing the margin for error.
And, Schyllander said, winning the doubles point “gives you momentum, absolutely. You can relax a little bit just knowing you need to win three out of six, instead of four.”
So far this season Oregon's doubles record is 30-7 in dual matches. The Ducks won the doubles point for the ninth straight match Tuesday at Drake.
Oregon's top pairing is junior Jayson Amos and freshman Armando Soemarno, who are ranked 20th in the country. They've gone 7-1 in the No. 1 doubles position this spring.
“They just complement each other really well,” Schyllander said. “Because Jayson is really powerful, and Armando is one of the quickest doubles players I've seen in my career.”
Amos, who has 66 singles wins in his career, also is a key to Oregon's leadership core. He sets a tone with the consistency of his work ethic, Schyllander said, while sophomore Simon Stevens complements Amos by being a vocal, energetic presence on match day.
Add all that up, and the Ducks have hit on a formula that has them primed for another run to the postseason this spring. They'd give themselves a boost with an impressive showing this weekend against UCLA and USC, matches in which moral victories won't be enough for Schyllander and his Ducks given their strong play of late.
“To do is a different thing,” Schyllander said. “But you give yourself a chance if you believe you can win every time you take the court.”
