Ducks Head to Texas for ITA Kick-Off Weekend

THIS WEEK
Oregon (2-0) vs. Rice (4-1)
Saturday, Jan. 28 | Time: TBD
Austin, Texas | Weller Indoor Tennis Center
Live Results

Oregon (2-0) vs. #9 Texas (4-1) OR Drake (2-0)
Sunday, Jan. 29 | Time: TBD
Austin, Texas | Weller Indoor Tennis Center
Live Results

INTERVIEWS

Head Coach Nils Schyllander

Junior Cormac Clissold

WEEKLY NOTES

Coming Up This Week
After opening the spring season with a pair of wins last weekend, the Ducks head to Austin, Texas, one of 15 regional sites, for the ITA Kick-Off Weekend. Oregon will take on Rice in its opening-round match, and will face either No. 9 Texas or Drake should the Ducks advance to the regional's championship match. Rice (4-1) is receiving votes in the latest ITA top-25 team rankings, and is coming off wins against UT Arlington and Prairie View A&M If the Ducks are able to come away with two wins, they would advance to next month's ITA Division I National Team Indoor Championships in Virginia.

What to Watch For
The Ducks look to continue a strong start to the spring after defeating Montana State and Utah State in a doubleheader at home last weekend. Oregon carried its strong play from the fall into the spring, and was able to bust off some of the rust from winter break before the Kick-Off weekend. The matches from Austin will not have video available, but links to live results will be available on the tennis schedule on goducks.com.

Ducks Open 2017 With Doubleheader Sweep
Oregon enjoyed a solid start to its spring last weekend, defeating Montana State, 5-0, before taking down Utah State, 4-3, to open 2017 with a doubleheader sweep.

Oregon 5, Montana State 0
The Ducks jumped all over the Bobcats from the start, racing out in front early to claim the doubles point. Akihiro Tanaka made his Oregon dual match debut with a convincing 6-1, 6-1 win at the No. 4 spot, and Ethan Young-Smith dominated on No. 6 with a 6-0, 6-1 win. Thomas Laurent clinched the match on the top court with a 6-4, 6-1 win, and Jayson Amos added on with a 6-3, 6-0 win at No. 3.

Oregon 4, Utah State 3
After dropping two tight matches in doubles to lose the initial point, the Ducks fought back in singles. Laurent completed an undefeated day with a 6-3, 6-3 win at the top spot to get the Ducks on the board, and Tanaka evened the match again later, 2-2, with a 6-3, 7-6 (4) win at No. 5. Cormac Clissold gave the Ducks their third point with a 4-6, 6-4, 6-4 win at No. 4, and Amos secured the win for Oregon with a dramatic 4-6, 7-5, 6-2 victory.

Ducks in the Rankings
Senior Jayson Amos and junior Simon Stevens remain ranked 30th in the nation on ITA's most recent rankings after reaching the doubles finals of the ITA Northwest Regional Championships in the fall. Amos and sophomore Armando Soemarno were ranked No. 9 in the country on ITA's preseason rankings in September, though Soemarno was unable to compete in the fall due to injury. Sophomore Thomas Laurent sits at No. 33 in the singles rankings after opening at No. 105 on the preseason list. Laurent reached the singles main draw of the ITA All-American Championships and won the singles draw of the Duck Invitational in the fall.

Spring Schedule
The 2017 dual match schedule will provide plenty of opportunities to add quality wins to its resume. Protecting home court will be crucial for the Ducks as they play 11 of their 19 matches in Eugene. Oregon will have a chance to prove itself against quality opponents such as Utah State, Nebraska and Minnesota before getting into Pac-12 play. Four Pac-12 schools are ranked in ITA's latest top-25, with three in the top 10 led by No. 4 California.

Building Blocks of Success
Now in his his 11th season at the helm of the Oregon men's tennis program, Nils Schyllander has elevated the Ducks to a new level of success. Since the Pac-10 became the Pac-12 in 2011, Schyllander's teams have gone 86-43 (.663), and have won at least 15 matches each season since 2012. The Ducks took fifth in the Pac-12 last year for the second straight year, and earned an at-large berth to the NCAA Tournament for the second time in three seasons. Oregon now looks to build on last year's first-ever NCAA Tournament win as it returns six of its seven top contributors from last season's team..

Amos Enters Final Year With Records in Sight
In his final season with the Ducks, senior Jayson Amos has enjoyed a rapid rise in the Oregon record book. Amos is third on the Oregon all-time list with 80 career singles wins, only 10 behind former teammate Robin Cambier's school record of 90. Amos is also 10th in UO history on the doubles career wins list with 56. The native of Mission Viejo, Calif., is also one of only two players in UO history to have three straight seasons of at least 22 singles wins, joining Cambier, and fell just one singles win short of the all-time single-season record with a 28-6 mark last year.

Breaking Down the Roster
This year's squad features a mix of seasoned veterans and talented newcomers. Jayson Amos returns for his senior season to lead the squad, along with juniors Cormac Clissold and Simon Stevens. Clissold and Stevens each earned double-digit singles wins for the Ducks last year, and Stevens tied the program record for consecutive singles wins (15) as a freshman in 2015 while Clissold and sophomore Thomas Laurent set the program record with 15 straight doubles wins last year.

Laurent, a sophomore, will be a big piece for the Ducks in both singles and doubles. The Ducks also return two more experienced sophomores in Ethan Young-Smith and Armando Soemarno. Young-Smith went 21-13 in singles as a freshman in 2016, and Soemarno teamed up with Amos to go 18-3 overall and get as high as No. 9 in the ITA doubles rankings.

Three newcomers join the Oregon squad in 2016-17: freshmen Ty Gentry and Fabian Soemarno and junior transfer Akihiro Tanaka. Gentry enters his first collegiate dual match season as a five-star recruit out of Tumwater High School in Washington, and Soemarno joins his brother, Fabian, with hopes of cracking the Oregon lineup as a freshman. Tanaka comes to Oregon out of Asia University in Tokyo, Japan, as a highly-regarded tranfer.