Ducks Hit the Road to Face Middle Tennessee and Minnesota

Saturday, February 18

Minneapolis, MN

1:00 PM

University of Oregon

Middle Tennessee

Photo by: Eric Evans/GoDucks.com

Ducks Hit the Road to Face Middle Tennessee and Minnesota

02/16/17 | Men's Tennis

Notes

OREGON MEN'S TENNIS LOOKS TO BUILD ON ITS 7-1 START THIS WEEKEND WITH A PAIR OF MATCHES IN MINNEAPOLIS, MINN.

By: Nate Krueger

MATCH #9
Oregon (7-1) vs. Middle Tennessee (4-5)
Saturday, Feb. 18 | 1:00 PM PT
Minneapolis, Minn.| Baseline Tennis Center
Live Results
Live Stream

MATCH #10
Oregon (7-1) at Minnesota (7-1)
Sunday, Feb. 19 | Time: 1:00 PM
Minneapolis, Minn.| Baseline Tennis Center
Live Results
Live Stream

WEEKLY INTERVIEWS

Jonas Piibor, Associate Head Coach

Akihiro Tanaka, Junior

WEEKLY NOTES

This Week
After winning four straight matches at home, the Ducks will hit the road this week for Minneapolis, Minn., for a pair of matches at the Baseline Tennis Center with Middle Tennessee (Sat., 1pm PT) and Minnesota (Sun., 1pm PT). Oregon is 7-1 to start the spring and has won its last four by a combined score of 23-2 since dropping a tight match to then-No. 9 Texas in the final of the Austin regional at the ITA Kick-Off Weekend on Jan. 29. The Ducks are 4-0 so far in the month of January.

What to Watch For
Live scoring for both matches will be available on the tennis schedule on GoDucks.com, as well as links to live streams for all six courts at the Baseline Tennis Center. Doubles will be played first, followed shortly by singles play on all six courts.

Ducks Claim Three Wins in Three Days
The Ducks continued their strong start to the 2017 season last week, improving to 7-1 with three home wins in a stretch of three days by a combined score of 16-2.

Thursday – Oregon 4, Fresno State 0
The Ducks took care of the Bulldogs handily to secure an important milestone for head coach Nils Schyllander, as the Ducks' leader won his 200th career game as a head coach. The Ducks jumped all over Fresno State to start the match, quickly winning the doubles point, and then took care of business in singles. Cormac Clissold, Jayson Amos and Thomas Laurent each won their singles matches to clinch the win and the milestone for Schyllander.

Friday – Oregon 7, Nebraska 0
The Ducks once again started well by winning the doubles point before putting on a dominant display of tennis in the singles portion. For the second time in three matches, the Ducks swept their opponent without dropping a single set. Jayson Amos won his 84th career singles match to move into a tie for second in UO history, and sits only six shy of the all-time record. The clean sweep marked the third-straight match the Ducks hadn't allowed their opponent to put a team point up on the scoreboard.

Saturday – Oregon 5, Iowa 2
Oregon completed an impressive three-day sweep with a 5-2 win over Iowa, winning their fourth straight match overall to move to 7-1. After winning the doubles point for the fifth match in a row, the Ducks and Hawkeyes moved into six very competitive singles matches. Simon Stevens gave the Ducks their second point with a 6-2, 6-3 lead over the 103rd-ranked player in the country, and Akihiro Tanaka brought the Ducks within a point of the win with a 6-3, 6-3 win at No. 4. After the Hawkeyes won a point on No. 5, No. 38 Thomas Laurent won the match for the Ducks, 3-6, 6-4, 6-1 at the No. 1 spot.

Laurent Continues Singles Dominance
Standout sophomore Thomas Laurent has been stellar in singles to start his collegiate career. After going 19-6 in singles as a freshman in 2016, Laurent is 17-2 this season and 7-0 in dual matches to put his career record at an astounding 36-8 (.818). Laurent has now won 11 straight matches, and is only four short of the program record for consecutive singles matches won of 15. Laurent is 7-0 at No. 1 singles this season, and is 11-0 in his career at the top spot.

Clissold and Laurent Shining in Doubles
Despite dropping a doubles match against Rice at the ITA Kick-Off Weekend, the duo of Thomas Laurent and Cormac Clissold has been as steady as they come since the two teamed up for the first time in 2016. The pair is now 26-3 (.897) all-time together, putting them in a tie for ninth on the Oregon all-time doubles list. The duo is 11-2 together this season and 6-1 in dual matches, and they set the program single-season record last year with 15 consecutive wins. The duo of Jayson Amos and Armando Soemarno is right behind with an all-time record of 23-4 (.852), putting them in a tie for 13th on the UO all-time list.

In the Rankings
In the latest ITA rankings released on Feb. 8, Thomas Laurent slots in at No. 38 in the singles rankings while Simon Stevens debuts at No. 124. In doubles, Laurent and Cormac Clissold make their first appearance in the rankings at No.33, while Jayson Amos and Simon Stevens slot at No. 47. Amos and Armando Soemarno also make the rankings at No. 51 after being tabbed at the No. 9-ranked pair in the preseason rankings.

Schyllander Earns Win No. 200
Nils Schyllander earned a milestone win last week with a 4-0 win over Fresno State on Thursday. The win marked the 200th of Schyllander's career, with all 200 coming at the University of Oregon. Now in his 11th season at the helm of the Oregon men's tennis program, 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 91-44 (.668), 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 in 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 moved into a tie for second last week on the Oregon all-time list with 84 career singles wins, only six behind former teammate Robin Cambier's school record of 90. Amos is also tied for eighth in UO history on the doubles career wins list with 60. 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, is 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 is in 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.