Friday, November 3
Indian Wells, CA
All Day
University of Oregon
vs
ITA Fall Nationals
Laurent and The Ducks Enjoy Massive Success Friday
11/03/17 | Men's Tennis
The Oregon men's tennis team could not have asked for a better Friday as junior Thomas Laurent advanced to the ITA Fall National Championships semifinals, while the remaining four Ducks enjoyed a stellar opening day at the Gopher Invitational.
How It Happened: At the ITA Fall Nationals, Laurent opened the day defeating Aswin Lizen of Virginia, 6-4, 6-2, to head to the quarterfinals.
In his second match of the day, the French international faced Georgia Gwinnett's Kevin Konfederak in what would turn out to be an instant classic. After dropping the opening set, 6-3, Laurent evened the match winning the second set, 6-1.
In the third set, Laurent found himself one game away from elimination twice, but managed to rally and tie it up, 6-6, to send the match into yet another tiebreaker. Laurent and Konfederak traded points throughout the tiebreaker until Laurent finally managed to pull away and win the match, 3-6, 6-1, 7-6 (8-6).
At the Gopher Invitational, The Ducks were nearly perfect on the opening day of tournament play winning seven of their eight matches.
In the maroon draw, Senior Simon Stevens and sophomore Ty Gentry swept their Utah opponents 6-0 to open the day. The duo then split up to challenge the Ute's Slava Shainyan and Egbert Weverink individually.
Stevens downed Shainyan, 6-3, 6-4, while Gentry recorded a 6-1, 6-2 victory over Weverink.
The Duck duo teamed up once again for quarterfinal action to close out Friday's tournament play earning a 6-1 win over Notre Dame's Grayson Broadus and Richard Ciamarra.
In the gold draw, senior Akihiro Tanaka and junior Ethan Young-Smith paired up for similar results. After downing the Notre Dame pair of Nathan Griffin and Paul Gota in doubles play, 6-2, Tanaka and Young-Smith recorded singles wins over their Fighting Irish opponents, 6-4, 7-5 and 6-2, 6-4, respectively.
The Ducks only loss on the day came in the second round of doubles play as Tanaka and Young-Smith fell to Utah's Santiago Sierra and Chase Stoner, 6-3.
Quotable: Nils Schyllander, Head Coach
On Laurent's quarterfinal match…
"It's hard to put it into words, that was one of the best quality tennis matches I've seen at the collegiate level. it's a huge accomplishment for Thomas, and we can't wait to play in tomorrow's semifinals."
Thomas Laurent, junior
On his quarterfinal match against Kevin Konfederak...
"It was a tough match all the way up to the end. In the first set, I didn't know what to do. He's a really good player and I didn't know much about him being from another division. In the second set I came out strong and in the third set I tried to stay as calm as I could. He came back, again and again, even in the (tiebreak). I was able to finish and it was a great feeling."
Up Next: Laurent will face one of his toughest challenges yet taking on third-ranked Petros Chrysochos of Wake Forest in the fall nationals semifinals.
The remaining four Ducks will continue tournament play at the Minnesota Gopher Invitational at 6 a.m. PT Saturday.
How It Happened: At the ITA Fall Nationals, Laurent opened the day defeating Aswin Lizen of Virginia, 6-4, 6-2, to head to the quarterfinals.
In his second match of the day, the French international faced Georgia Gwinnett's Kevin Konfederak in what would turn out to be an instant classic. After dropping the opening set, 6-3, Laurent evened the match winning the second set, 6-1.
In the third set, Laurent found himself one game away from elimination twice, but managed to rally and tie it up, 6-6, to send the match into yet another tiebreaker. Laurent and Konfederak traded points throughout the tiebreaker until Laurent finally managed to pull away and win the match, 3-6, 6-1, 7-6 (8-6).
At the Gopher Invitational, The Ducks were nearly perfect on the opening day of tournament play winning seven of their eight matches.
In the maroon draw, Senior Simon Stevens and sophomore Ty Gentry swept their Utah opponents 6-0 to open the day. The duo then split up to challenge the Ute's Slava Shainyan and Egbert Weverink individually.
Stevens downed Shainyan, 6-3, 6-4, while Gentry recorded a 6-1, 6-2 victory over Weverink.
The Duck duo teamed up once again for quarterfinal action to close out Friday's tournament play earning a 6-1 win over Notre Dame's Grayson Broadus and Richard Ciamarra.
In the gold draw, senior Akihiro Tanaka and junior Ethan Young-Smith paired up for similar results. After downing the Notre Dame pair of Nathan Griffin and Paul Gota in doubles play, 6-2, Tanaka and Young-Smith recorded singles wins over their Fighting Irish opponents, 6-4, 7-5 and 6-2, 6-4, respectively.
The Ducks only loss on the day came in the second round of doubles play as Tanaka and Young-Smith fell to Utah's Santiago Sierra and Chase Stoner, 6-3.
Quotable: Nils Schyllander, Head Coach
On Laurent's quarterfinal match…
"It's hard to put it into words, that was one of the best quality tennis matches I've seen at the collegiate level. it's a huge accomplishment for Thomas, and we can't wait to play in tomorrow's semifinals."
Thomas Laurent, junior
On his quarterfinal match against Kevin Konfederak...
"It was a tough match all the way up to the end. In the first set, I didn't know what to do. He's a really good player and I didn't know much about him being from another division. In the second set I came out strong and in the third set I tried to stay as calm as I could. He came back, again and again, even in the (tiebreak). I was able to finish and it was a great feeling."
Up Next: Laurent will face one of his toughest challenges yet taking on third-ranked Petros Chrysochos of Wake Forest in the fall nationals semifinals.
The remaining four Ducks will continue tournament play at the Minnesota Gopher Invitational at 6 a.m. PT Saturday.
Players Mentioned
/ Men's Tennis
/ Men's Tennis
/ Men's Tennis
/ Men's Tennis
/ Men's Tennis
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