University of Oregon
No. 6 UCLA
Ducks Fall to No. 6 UCLA in Pac-12 Opener
03/26/16 | Men's Tennis
EUGENE, Ore. – The 26th-ranked Oregon men's tennis team fell for the first time at home this season as No. 6 UCLA won 4-1 in the Pac-12 opener for both squads.
HOW IT HAPPENED: The Ducks (13-3) opened the match by doing something only the No. 1 team in the nation has been able to do and that's win the doubles point against UCLA (13-2). UO was down at all three spots before rallying and claiming wins at Nos. 2 and 3.
Daan Maasland and Simon Stevens moved to 14-2 in dual matches as they won 6-3 over Joseph Di Giulio and Karue Sell. The Bruin pair led 2-1 in the match before a huge ace from Stevens tied it up at 2-all.
From there, it was all Oregon as they won two more games to take the 4-2 lead. Di Giulio held serve to make it 4-3, but the Bruins wouldn't get any closer as Stevens held serve and then the Ducks broke Sell's serve to go up 5-3. Maasland then won the match on a forehand winner.
At No. 3, Cormac Clissold and Thomas Laurent won their ninth consecutive match as the duo fought back from a 3-1 early deficit against Gage Brymer and Austin Rapp.
The Ducks broke Rapp's serve and then Clissold held serve to tie it up at 3-all. They won back-to-back games to take a 5-3 lead before Rapp held serve to make it 5-4. Serving for the win, it was Laurent who won the final point as his backhand drop shot was out of reach for Rapp.
The doubles point marked the 10th match in a row that UO has secured the first point of the match.
In singles, the Ducks and Bruins were locked in several contested battles before UCLA earned wins at four spots to seal the victory. No. 9 Mackenzie McDonald tied the match up at 1-all as he won 6-3, 6-2 over No. 94 Daan Maasland at the top spot. The Bruins then grabbed the 2-1 lead behind a win from Joseph Di Giulio over Bart Sawicki at No. 6.
At No. 2, Thomas Laurent fell 6-3 to No. 49 Martin Redlicki in the first set before leading 4-3 in the second set. The two were matching each other point for point until Redlicki eventually held Laurent off to win the second set 6-4 and put UCLA up 3-1.
The final point came at No. 5 as Logan Staggs won 7-5, 6-2 over Cormac Clissold. In the remaining two matches that went unfinished, the Ducks had taken the first sets. At No. 3, Simon Stevens blanked No. 41 Gage Brymer 6-0 in the first set and the two were locked up at 5-all in the second. At No. 4, Jayson Amos won 7-5 in the first set over No. 98 Karue Sell and was down 5-4 in the second when the match was called.
UP NEXT: The Ducks will continue conference play when they host No. 8 USC on Sunday at 12 p.m. in the Student Tennis Center. The Trojans were upset by Washington Friday night.
