University of Oregon
Texas
Ducks Fall to No. 9 Texas Despite Gritty Effort
01/29/17 | Men's Tennis
AUSTIN, Texas - The Oregon men's tennis team took No. 9 Texas down to the wire in the regional final of the ITA Kick-Off Weekend, but ultimately fell, 4-2, on Sunday afternoon at the Weller Indoor Tennis Center.
How it Happened: After fighting from behind to win their last two matches, the Ducks (4-1) got off to a better start against the ninth-ranked Longhorns (6-1) by winning the doubles point. Jayson Amos and Armando Soemarno got things going quickly for the Ducks against Christian Sigsgaard and Julian Zlobinsky (UT), cruising to a 6-2 win behind a tremendous showing by Soemarno, and Cormac Clissold and Thomas Laurent won the point for Oregon with a 6-3 victory over the No. 38-ranked duo of Harrison Scott and Yuya Ito (UT).
The Longhorns took control early in singles, earning set-one wins on four of the six courts. The 36th-ranked Ito evened the match for Texas, 1-1, with a 6-2, 6-0 win over Tanaka, and No. 47 Scott beat Amos, 6-1, 6-2, on No. 3 to put the Longhorns ahead, 2-1. Texas extended its lead to 3-1 with a 6-4, 6-4 win by Rodrigo Banzer over Clissold, but Ethan Young-Smith pulled the Ducks back within one, 3-2, with a 7-6, 6-4 win over Zlobinsky.
In a ranked match-up at the top spot, No. 33 Laurent battled with No. 6 Sigsgaard in a back-and-forth match. After a gritty effort to force a third set, Laurent rallied all the way back from a 5-2 deficit to take a 6-5 lead, but the Longhorns' George Goldhoff pulled out a tough win against Stevens at No. 2 in three sets, 5-7, 6-3, 6-4, to win the match for Texas.
What it Means: The Ducks fall one step short of reaching the ITA National Team Indoor Championships for the first time in program history, but showed impressive grit and composure against the No. 9 Longhorns. Oregon hung with top-10 Texas after beating a Rice team that was receiving votes in the latest ITA top-25 on Saturday. Laurent continued an impressive start to his spring and was a game away from defeating No. 6 Sigsgaard when the Longhorns clinched the match.
Quotable: Head Coach Nils Schyllander
"Doubles play today was as good as we have every played; the energy was unbelievable. We had talked about it and the boys took it to heart. There were some great efforts out there in singles. Thomas played like a man possessed against one of the absolute best players in the nation. I was also very pleased with how Ethan was competing throughout his entire match; it was very encouraging to see him close out his opponent in straight sets."
Notable: Laurent and Clissold rebounded from their first doubles loss of 2017 yesterday to improve to 23-3 all-time together … Stevens and Tanaka led Colin Markes/George Goldhoff (UT), 5-4, on No. 2 doubles when the point was clinched for the Ducks.
Up Next: The Ducks will return home this week to face Cal Poly on Saturday at 11 a.m. at the Student Tennis Center.
Players Mentioned
