University of Oregon
UC Santa Barbara
Clissold, Laurent Break Doubles Record As UO Downs UCSB 6-1
03/26/18 | Men's Tennis
EUGENE, Ore. – The Oregon men's tennis team closed out the weekend defeating UC Santa Barbara 6-1 Monday afternoon to record its third straight victory.
"Santa Barbara is a very solid, talented team and they are well coached," said head coach Nils Schyllander. "Last year it was 4-3 and we had to win in a tiebreaker in the third set, so for us to get up 4-0 was, I wouldn't say surprising, but it was a relief because I know how talented they are."
How it Happened: The pace of the match was set early as the Ducks (13-5, 0-2) and Gauchos looked evenly matched in doubles play.
Neither team gained the edge in the early portion of the match with all three courts locked at scores of 5-4.
Cormac Clissold and Thomas Laurent were able to get the upper hand first, defeating UCSB's Simon Freund and Joseph Rotheram, 6-4. With the win, Clissold and Laurent passed Robin Cambier and Jeff Mullen for the most wins by a doubles pair in UO history. The duo is now 58-13 all-time as a pair with at least six matches left to play this season.
With their win today, Cormac Clissold and Thomas Laurent now hold the record for all-time wins as a doubles pair with a career record of 58-13. #GoDucks pic.twitter.com/fa39InWZcf
— Oregon Men's Tennis (@OregonMTennis) March 26, 2018
Armando Soemarno and Charles Roberts clinched the point for Oregon shortly afterwards by a similar 6-4 score to give UO the 1-0 lead heading into singles play.
The back-and-forth play carried over into singles play as the two teams continued to battle at five of the six spots.
Senior Akihiro Tanaka was the only Duck to appear unfazed by his UCSB opponent, shutting out Freund, 6-0, 6-0, at the No. 3 spot.
Leading 2-0, freshman Riki Oshima put Oregon on the brink of the match victory recording a 6-3, 6-1 win at the No. 6 spot.
That would be the last straight set match of the day as the remaining four courts went into a third set with UO leading 3-0.
Clissold was able to close the book on a UCSB comeback, defeating the Gaucho's Anders Holm, 6-1, 2-6, 6-1.
With the match victory secured, both teams decided to play out the remaining matches with the Ducks winning two of the final three matches for the final score of 6-1.
Notable: Tanaka's shutout win marked the first of his career at UO and only the second clean sweep of the year for the Ducks.
Quotable: Head coach Nils Schyllander
On the Ducks performance this weekend…
"I think we really showed up, we were backed into a corner, and I think the boys responded very well. I think it was two very decisive wins this weekend and now we need to re-focus for the biggest match of the year."
On Clissold and Laurent becoming the all-time winningest doubles pair…
"They complement each other really well, and they've also played three seasons together, which helps. They have been a consistent mainstay in the lineup together, anytime you put them out on the court you know what you're going to get and they are rock solid."
Senior Cormac Clissold
On breaking the all-time doubles win record…
"Obviously yeah it feels good, but we both know the job's not done yet. We've got the rest of the season to go, and then hopefully postseason, we're going to try and go as far as we can as a team. Obviously it's a good accomplishment for Tom and I to get, but it's more about the whole team so hopefully we can go as far as we can into the season and then the postseason."
Up Next: The Ducks head right back into Pac-12 play traveling to Washington this Saturday to take on the Huskies at 2 p.m. PT.
Players Mentioned
