University of Oregon
UC Santa Barbara
Laurent Eyes Record as No. 21 Ducks Head to UCSB
03/04/17 | Men's Tennis
THOMAS LAURENT WILL GO FOR A PROGRAM-RECORD 16TH CONSECUTIVE SINGLES WIN WHEN THE NO. 21 DUCKS FACE UCSB IN SANTA BARBARA ON SUNDAY AT 1 PM
MATCH #13
No. 21 Oregon (10-2) at UC Santa Barbara (5-2)
Sunday, March 5 | 1 p.m. PT
Santa Barbara, Calif. | UCSB Recreation Center Courts
WEEKLY INTERVIEWS
Sophomore Thomas Laurent
Freshman Ty Gentry
WEEKLY NOTES
This Week
The 21st-ranked Ducks head to UC Santa Barbara this weekend to face the Gauchos on Sunday at 1 p.m. Oregon will look to build on a terrific 10-2 start in non-conference play as the schedule begins to creep toward Pac-12 play. The Ducks will face a new challenge this weekend of playing outdoors for the first time this spring, competing on UCSB's Recreation Center Courts. Sophomore Thomas Laurent will try to make UO history on Sunday as he seeks his 16th consecutive singles win, which would break the program record.
What to Watch For
Live scoring for the match will be available on the tennis schedule on GoDucks.com. Doubles will be played first, followed shortly by singles play on all six courts.
Ducks Sweep BYU, No. 42 Drake at Home
Friday - No. 23 Oregon 7, BYU 0
Oregon continued to fare well in doubles, claiming the point for the eighth match in a row. All three pairs earned wins for the Ducks, with the duo of Jayson Amos and Armando Soemarno winning, 6-1, at No. 1, and Akihiro Tanaka and Simon Stevens also claiming a 6-1 victory at No. 3. Laurent and Clissold completed the doubles sweep with a 6-5 (9-7) win in a tight match on the second court.
Tanaka earned Oregon its second point to kick off singles, taking down BYU's Matthew Pearce, 6-3, 6-1, in his first match of the year playing at the No. 3 spot. Amos defeated Jeremy Bourgeois (BYU), 6-4, 6-3, for the third point, and freshman Ty Gentry won on No. 6 over Aidan Carrazedo (BYU), 6-4, 6-1, to clinch the win.
Clissold earned a 7-6, 3-2 win at No. 5 when BYU's John Pearce was forced to medically retire, and Laurent closed the match with his 14th win in a row, a 6-0, 5-7, 6-2 win over the Cougars' Keaton Cullimore.
Sunday - No. 23 Oregon 7, No. 42 Drake 0
Oregon jumped out to an early 1-0 lead after taking the doubles point for the ninth-straight match. The No. 39 ranked pair of Jayson Amos and Armando Soemarno improved to 25-4 all-time as a duo with a 6-2 victory at the top court, and Akihiro Tanaka and Simon Stevens followed up with a 6-2 victory of their own at No. 2 to secure the doubles point for the Ducks.
Laurent, the 36th-ranked singles player in the country, earned Oregon its second point to kick off singles play, taking down No. 55 Vinny Gillespie (Drake), 6-2, 6-3, for his record-tying 15th-straight singles win. Tanaka defeated Ben Stride (Drake), 6-1, 6-4, at No. 3 for the third point, and Stevens was victorious over Calum MacGeoch (Drake), 6-1, 7-5, to clinch the win for the Ducks on the second court.
Amos (5-7, 6-0, 6-1, No. 4), Cormac Clissold (7-5, 6-3, No. 5) and Ty Gentry (6-2, 6-4, No. 6) all picked up singles victories on the afternoon as well to complete the clean sweep and move Oregon's overall score in its last two matches to 14-0.
Laurent Eyes Oregon Record
Standout sophomore Thomas Laurent will try to break the Oregon record for consecutive singles wins on Sunday, having tied the program record of 15 last Sunday against No. 42 Drake. Laurent has been stellar in singles to start his collegiate career. After going 19-6 in singles as a freshman in 2016, Laurent is 21-2 this season and a perfect 11-0 in dual matches to put his career record at an astounding 40-8 (.833). Laurent is 11-0 at No. 1 singles this season, and 15-0 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 29-3 (.906) all-time together, putting them in a tie for seventh on the Oregon all-time doubles list. The duo is 14-2 together this season and 9-1 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 25-4 (.862), putting them in a tie for 11th on the UO all-time list.
In the Rankings
The Ducks have moved into the top 25 in the ITA team rankings, slotting in at No. 23 on February 21 before moving to No. 21 in the latest rankings (Feb. 28) after sweeping BYU and then-No. 42 Drake last weekend. Thomas Laurent moved up two spots to No. 36 in the singles rankings with his stellar play throughout the season. In doubles, Laurent and Cormac Clissold remained in the rankings at No. 47, while Jayson Amos and Armando Soemarno flew up 12 spots in the newest rankings to No. 39. Amos and Soemaerno were the ninth-ranked doubles pair in the preseason rankings.
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 second last week on the Oregon all-time list with 86 career singles wins, only four behind former teammate Robin Cambier's school record of 90. Amos is also sixth 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.
Schyllander Earns Win No. 200
Nils Schyllander reached a significant milestone with a 4-0 win over Fresno State on February 9. 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 and now sits at 205 career wins. Since the Pac-10 became the Pac-12 in 2011, Schyllander's teams have gone 94-45 (.670), 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.
Players Mentioned
