University of Oregon
Middle Tennessee
Ducks Make it Five Straight With Win Over MTSU
02/18/17 | Men's Tennis
OREGON IMPROVES TO 8-1 WITH 4-0 WIN OVER MIDDLE TENNESSEE STATE, WILL FACE 8-1 MINNESOTA TOMORROW AT 11 AM PT
MINNEAPOLIS - The Oregon men's tennis team won its fifth match in a row and improved to 8-1 on Saturday afternoon with a 4-0 win over Middle Tennessee State at the Baseline Tennis Center.
How it Happened: The Ducks (8-1) continued their hot play in doubles to start the day, claiming the doubles point for the sixth straight match to take an early 1-0 lead. The 33rd-ranked duo of Cormac Clissold and Thomas Laurent improved to an astounding 27-3 all-time together with a 6-3 win at No. 2, and Simon Stevens and Akihiro Tanaka sealed the point with a 6-3 win on the third court.
Laurent, the 38th-ranked singles player in the country, carried the momentum from the doubles win onto the top singles court and defeated MTSU's Gonzalo Morell Raschiatore, 6-0, 6-3, to win his 12th-straight match and improve to 12-0 in his career at No. 1 singles.
Tanaka, a junior transfer from Asia University in Tokyo, moved to 7-1 in dual-match singles this season with a 6-1, 6-4 victory over Luis Morillo Diaz (MTSU), and freshman Ty Gentry sealed the match with a 6-0, 6-4 win at the No. 6 spot over Max Rauch of MTSU (4-7).
What it Means: The Ducks have now won five straight matches by a margin of 27-2, coming away with commanding victories in each match. Oregon is now 5-0 in the month of February.
Notable: Oregon held leads in all three remaining singles matches when the match was clinched … Laurent and Clissold are now alone in ninth all-time with 27 doubles wins together … Laurent improved to 18-2 this season in singles and 37-8 in his career in addition to being unbeaten at the top singles spot. His 12-match winning streak is now three shy of teammate Simon Stevens' (2015) and Robin Cambier's (2012) program record of 15.
Up Next - The Ducks will remain in Minneapolis to face the Minnesota Golden Gophers (8-1) tomorrow at 11 a.m. PT at the Baseline Tennis Center. Links for live results and live streams are available on the men's tennis schedule on GoDucks.com.
Players Mentioned
