University of Oregon
Utah State
Ducks Outlast Utah State to Start Spring 2-0
01/22/17 | Men's Tennis
EUGENE, Ore. - Oregon men's tennis opened its 2017 spring season with a pair of wins after outlasting Utah State, 4-3, in the second match of a doubleheader on Sunday at the Student Tennis Center.
How it Happened: Oregon (2-0) faced off with Utah State (2-3) just a few hours after taking down Montana State, 5-0, in the morning, and the second match of the day for the Ducks began with tight doubles matches on all three courts. Jayson Amos and Armando Soemarno tried to fight back from a 4-1 deficit but ultimately fell to Utah State's Kai Wehnelt and Samuel Serrano, 6-3. Thomas Laurent and Cormac Clissold brought the Ducks back even for the doubles point with a 6-4 win over Jaime Barajas and Sergiu Bucur.
The doubles point came down to the match featuring Simon Stevens and freshman Ty Gentry playing against the Aggies' Jonas Maier and Jack Swindells. Stevens and Gentry jumped out to a 5-4 lead, but Maier and Swindells raced back to claim the next three games and win, 7-5, to take the point for Utah State.
In singles, Laurent completed an undefeated day with a 6-3, 6-3 win over Wehnelt to pull the match even, 1-1. Utah State jumped back into the match lead with a 6-1, 7-5 win by Maier over Gentry, but Tanaka brought the match back into a tie with a 6-3, 7-6 win over Serrano, outlasting him 7-4 in the tiebreak.
Clissold gave the Ducks a brief 3-2 lead with a 4-6, 6-4, 6-4 win over Bucur, but Utah State's Swindells pulled the Aggies back square by beating Stevens, 7-5, 7-6 (7-5). Tied at 3-3, the match came down to Amos and Barajas on court 3. Amos dropped the first set, but was able to rally back to win the second set and controlled the third from the start to give the Ducks the match win with a 4-6, 7-5, 6-2 victory.
Notable: With two doubles wins on the day, Clissold and Laurent improved to 22-2 all-time while playing together and 7-1 in 2016-17 … Laurent, the 33rd-ranked singles player in the country, improved to 12-2 in singles in 2016-17 with a pair of wins on the day, and 6-0 in his career when playing No. 1 singles … Amos ran his career win total in singles to 80 with a pair of wins in the doubleheader, putting him just four wins out of second place on the UO all-time list and only 10 off of the program record.
Quotable: Nils Schyllander, Head Coach
On the match...
"We definitely showed grit. It showed that it was our first day of competition, we definitely were rusty and we put ourselves in a hole, but good teams find their way out of those holes."
On coming back after dropping the doubles point...
"We just said we've been in this situation many times before. Two out of the last three opening weekends last year we were in that exact same position and we won both times and had a great season, so we just told them to trust the process, remember the positives, know you've been there and trust yourself."
Jayson Amos, Senior
On the match coming down to him...
"Those are the situations I want to be in, so no added pressure really. I tend to focus better in those situations and I enjoy having my teammates there supporting me, it's a really special thing. That's why we play college sports is for that atmosphere, and early in my second set I was hoping it comes down to me and I'll win it."
Up Next: The Ducks will now prepare to go to Austin, Texas, next weekend for the ITA Kick-Off Weekend. They will open the weekend against Rice on Saturday, with the time of the match to be announced.
Players Mentioned
