Laurent Clinches Down To The Wire Thriller At Utah

Saturday, April 14

Salt Lake City, UT

11:00 AM

University of Oregon

Utah

Laurent Clinches Down To The Wire Thriller At Utah

04/14/18 | Men's Tennis

Match Results: Oregon 4, Utah 3

SALT LAKE CITY, Utah – Junior Thomas Laurent fought off Utah's Dan Little in three sets to close out a down to the wire 4-3 victory for the Oregon men's tennis team at Utah Saturday afternoon.

"The boys came through huge today," said head coach Nils Schyllander. "Clinching the doubles point in a tiebreak, plus closing out the singles portion in a third set. This was a must win and the lads delivered."

How it Happened: The fight to win the doubles point proved to be indicative of how the remainder of the match would go between the Ducks (15-7, 3-3) and the Utes.

After senior Akihiro Tanaka and freshman Charles Roberts fell at the No. 3 spot, 6-2, the veteran pair of Simon Stevens and Ty Gentry tied it up with a 6-3 win from the No. 2 position.

With one doubles win each, it came down to UO's all-time winningest doubles pair, Cormac Clissold and Thomas Laurent, at the No. 1 spot. Clissold and Laurent battled Utah's pair of Egbert Weverink and Joe Woolley in a back-and-forth match that would eventually head into a tiebreaker set. The Duck duo pulled off the win in the extra set, 7-6(3), to clinch the doubles point for Oregon.

That point proved to be vital for UO in singles play.

Both teams looked evenly matched as the Ducks and Utes each won three opening sets.

Utah climbed in front following back-to-back wins at the No. 2 and No. 4 positions to take a 2-1 lead over UO.

With Laurent and Akihiro Tanaka heading into a third set at the No. 1 and No. 3 spots, respectively, Gentry and freshman Riki Oshima attempted to prevent the same fates for themselves, locked in second set tiebreakers.

Gentry was able to hold off Utah's Randy Cory in his extra set, 6-3, 7-6(2), to tie the match 2-2.

After Utah's Russell Benkaim survived five match points, Oshima finally put him away in the second set tiebreaker, 6-3, 7-6(6), giving UO a 3-2 edge.

The Utes answered shortly afterwards as Weverink defeated Tanaka in a third set tiebreaker, the seventh tiebreaker set of the match, to put the match decision on Laurent's shoulders at the No. 1 spot.

After being pushed into a third set by Dan Little, Laurent blew through his Utah counterpart in the final set, 6-1, to record the win and clinch the 4-3 victory.

Notable: With their doubles wins today the pairs of Clissold and Laurent along with Stevens and Gentry move into fourth and seventh, respectively, on the UO single-season wins list … Oshima has now won six straight singles matches, improving to 11-5 on the year … The Ducks are 2-2 this season in matches that come down to the final point.

Quotable: Head coach Nils Schyllander
On Gentry and Oshima's singles wins…
"For Ty and Riki to win in straight sets, playing with determination and poise, it took a lot of pressure off the rest of the team."

On Laurent's play…
"Tom came up huge in that third set and was rock solid. Lots of good performances across the board."

Up Next: The Ducks close out the regular season in California, taking on No. 4 Stanford Friday, April 20, at 2 p.m., before their season finale at Cal Saturday, April 21.