Men's Tennis Looks To Bounce Back Against Pepperdine Sunday

EUGENE, Ore. - The Oregon men's tennis team returns to Eugene this Sunday to take on Pepperdine at 1 p.m. The Ducks look to bounce back after dropping two hard-fought matches at the ITA Kick-Off tournament against top-ranked Stanford and California. Four of the Ducks next six matches will take place in the Student Tennis Center.

MATCH #6 - Oregon (3-2) vs. Pepperdine (1-2)
Sunday, Feb. 4 | 1 p.m.
Eugene, Ore. | Student Tennis Center
Live Stats: goducks.com
Live Video: goducks.com

INTERVIEWS
Head Coach Nils Schyllander

Sophomore Ty Gentry

NOTES
DUCKS GO DOWN SWINGING VS. #19 CAL
Oregon played one of the wildest matches of the year so far this past Monday against No. 19 California. After securing the doubles point, the Ducks and Bears traded points in singles play. Five of the six singles matches were decided in tiebreaker third sets. With Cal ahead 3-2, the match came down to seniors Cormac Clissold and Akihiro Tanaka at the No. 5 and No. 3 positions, respectively. Clissold was able to tie the match, 3-3, after getting the upper hand in a marathon three-set match, 7-6(5), 3-6, 7-6(4). With Tanaka rallying to force a third set, all eyes were on him and opponent Jack Molloy. The two traded games until Molloy had a 5-4 edge. Tanaka was one step away from sending the match into an extra game, but Molloy was able to hold off the senior to record a 6-3, 5-7, 6-4 victory and clinch the match, 4-3, for Cal.

THE STEVENS-GENTRY CONNECTION
With most people's attention on the potential record-breaking duo of Cormac Clissold and Thomas Laurent, the recent dominance of doubles partners Simon Stevens and Ty Gentry has, for the most part, flown under the radar. Coming into the season, the two had only paired six times in 2016-17 for a 3-3 record. The two finished the spring season 1-2, with Stevens playing the majority of his doubles matches with Akihiro Tanaka.

At the start of the 2017 fall season, the smart money was on Stevens and Tanaka to continue their pairing from last year. But with Tanaka opening the year at the ITA All-Americans, and Stevens playing in the Boise State Invitational, Gentry stepped up to pair with the Belgium international. The duo immediately turned heads, advancing to the finals of the tournament before dropping a close match, 8-6, in the finals. The pair reunited at the Gopher Invitational eventually taking home the maroon draw championship in UO's final tournament of the fall.

Five matches into the spring season, the pair is still a force to be reckoned with, leading the team with an undefeated 4-0 doubles record. Overall, Stevens and Gentry are 12-1 this year, having won nine matches in a row. With the majority of the season still to play, the Duck pair could challenge Clissold and Laurent's single-season record of 15 consecutive wins. They also need just eight more wins to crack the top 15 on the career doubles wins list.

FRESHMEN MAKING THEIR MARK
Oregon's two new additions this spring, Riki Oshima and Charles Roberts, have made an immediate impact during the opening stretch of the 2018 spring season. Roberts and partner Armando Soemarno single-handedly secured the doubles points for UO in its season opener against Idaho, rallying from three games down to win the match, 7-5. The pair finished the day 2-0 in doubles play following their 6-2 win at the No. 1 spot against Portland State's Tommy Edwards and Avery West. So far this season, the duo is one of UO's team leaders with a 4-1 doubles record.

After starting his Oregon career perfect, going 2-0 in singles play, Oshima has dropped his last two matches while playing against top-ranked squads Stanford and California. Oshima has also partnered with senior Akihiro Tanaka for a 6-1 doubles win at the No. 2 spot against Portland State. In singles play, the Japanese international was a force to be reckoned with in his first two appearances of the season, sweeping Idaho's Bence Da Re, 6-0, 6-0, in his first-ever match. He followed that stellar performance with a 6-1, 6-0 victory at the No. 4 spot against his Portland State counterpart. All-in-all, Oshima lost only two games across all three of his matches during UO's season-opening doubleheader.

HOME COURT ADVANTAGE
The Ducks will have the upper hand in the opening stretch of the spring season with five of their first seven matches played in Eugene. UO finished the 2017 spring season 10-1 at home, and have a combined 51-10 record over the last five years when playing at the Student Tennis Center. With three matches already played, Oregon will have 11 more home matches during the upcoming dual season, the most since 2013 when UO went 12-2 when playing in Eugene. The Ducks are currently 3-0 when playing at home.

SCOUTING REPORT
The Waves head to Eugene in the midst of a seven-match road trip to open the season. Pepperdine is 1-2 on the year having picked up its first win of the season, 4-2, in its most recent match against South Alabama. Before facing the Ducks, Pepperdine will play Washington Friday, Feb. 2.

IN THE RANKINGS
As a team, the Ducks continue to be the first team receiving votes just outside the Intercollegiate Tennis Association's top-25. Before moving from a top 75 to a top 25 list in 2017, Oregon's previous highest ranking entering the spring season was 44th in 2015.

Individually, junior Thomas Laurent remains one of the top singles players in the country, ranked No. 6. He is currently 2-1 at the No. 1 spot so far this season. In doubles play, despite their 1-2 record, Laurent and partner Cormac Clissold are still the 17th-ranked doubles pair in the nation. They picked up their first win of the season against Georgia State downing the 56th-ranked duo of Kevin Huynh and Giles Hussey, 6-2.

LAURENT NAMED PAC-12 PLAYER OF THE WEEK
Thomas Laurent was named the first Pac-12 Player of the Week for the 2018 spring season, the conference announced Tuesday , Jan. 23. Laurent, the No. 6 ranked player in the nation, was dominant in the Ducks outing against Georgia State, defeating Andrei Andrukhou, 6-0, 6-2, at the No. 1 position. The French international dropped only four games throughout his first six sets played. In doubles play, Laurent and partner senior Cormac Clissold recorded their first win of the season against the Panthers. The duo came up big at the No. 2 position against the 56th-ranked pair of Kevin Huynh and Giles Hussey, 6-2. This is Laurent's second career Pac-12 Player of the Week award.

THAT CERTAIN JE NE SAIS QUOI
French international Thomas Laurent entered the 2018 spring season as one of the highest ranked players in program history at sixth in the nation. Laurent is coming off a sophomore campaign in which he broke the single-season wins record with a 30-7 overall record. He continued to build on his Oregon legacy this past fall, reaching the semifinals of the ITA All-Americans and ITA Fall Nationals, both program firsts. Laurent finished the fall slate 8-2 overall in singles play with five wins over ranked opponents, including a 5-7, 6-4, 6-0 win over ninth-ranked William Bushamuka of Kentucky in the opening round of the Fall National Championships.

Midway through his junior season, Laurent is already 10th on the UO all-time singles wins list with a 59-16 career record. His astonishing .787 winning percentage is currently the best career winning percentage in program history. The only other Duck with a .700 or better win percentage is Jayson Amos, whose career singles record of 93-34 (.732) ranks first on the UO career singles wins list.

DUCKS PERFECT IN FIRST THREE MATCHES
The Ducks continued their terrific start to the 2018 spring season by defeating Georgia State, 4-0, last week. The win marks the third straight match in which UO did not concede a point. After clinching the doubles point, Oregon rattled off three quick wins at the No. 1, No. 2 and No. 3 positions to clinch the match victory and improve to 3-0 on the year. This is the first time since the 2012 spring season that the Ducks have started a season with three straight sweeps.

UP NEXT
Following Sunday's match, the Ducks host Big Ten foe Wisconsin Friday, Feb. 9, at 4 p.m.