Looking Back: A Foundation Set

Building a national title contender is not easy. It takes time. It's not just about reaching the mountaintop and winning an NCAA championship, but consistently staying near the summit.

For head coach Nils Schyllander and the Oregon men's tennis team, that consistency has formed a strong foundation over the past three seasons.

The Ducks head into this year's offseason coming off their third straight trip to the NCAA Tournament, the fourth in the last five years, recording opening round victories each time to mark the program's first-ever wins in the tournament. Since taking over the helm of the men's tennis team full-time in 2007, and the addition of associate head coach Jonas Piibor in 2008, Schyllander has guided the Ducks to four of its seven all-time appearances in the NCAA Tournament.

And this year was no different as the Ducks earned a berth in dramatic fashion.

After a dominant non-conference slate that saw UO go 9-2 with seven shutout victories, the Ducks saw a quartet of tight matches slip through their fingers, first falling to Cornell and Iowa by duplicate 4-2 scores. UO then opened conference play against the eventual Pac-12 champions, No. 4 UCLA, falling 4-1 before its upset bid over No. 13 USC came up just short, 4-3.

Following a three-match non-conference stretch to regroup, Oregon closed out the regular season on a tear, going 7-2 in the final half of the year and recording four victories against ranked conference foes.

The Ducks finished the regular season with the program's first win over California, defeating the Golden Bears 4-2 in Berkeley to clinch the No. 4 overall seed in the Pac-12 Tournament. Facing Cal once again in the tournament opener, UO recorded its second victory in less than a week over the Golden Bears, 4-3, before running into No. 2 UCLA in the semifinals.

The late surge pushed UO over the edge, earning an at-large bid into the TCU regional of the NCAA Tournament.

Despite a dominant 4-0 win over No. 27 Dartmouth in the opening round, the Ducks came up short in the second round against No. 8 TCU, falling to a top 15 opponent for the third straight season.

But looking at those results tells very little of the renaissance the Oregon men's tennis program has had of late.

Since the 2013-14 season, the Ducks have reached multiple milestones on their way back to the national stage.

That initial squad, led by senior Robin Cambier and an up-and-coming freshman named Jayson Amos, took UO to its first NCAA Tournament since 2004. Along the way, they recorded the Ducks' first-ever win in the Pac-12 Tournament, finishing the year with a 17-10 record to mark the first time since 1980-82 that UO has posted three consecutive 16-win seasons.

Following a 2014-15 season that saw UO drop below the 16-win mark and miss the NCAA Tournament, the Ducks bounced right back with three straight 18-win seasons to accompany return trips to the postseason.

It was in 2016 when the Ducks won their first NCAA Tournament match. That was also the inauguration of a tremendous class for the Ducks that has paid dividends for UO over the past few seasons.

This included then-senior Daan Maasland and junior Amos, along with a crop of young talent in sophomores Cormac Clissold and Simon Stevens as well as freshmen Thomas Laurent and Ethan Young-Smith. All five Ducks recorded 15 or more singles victories that year and have not slowed down since.

While those six players proceeded to re-write the UO record books in the past few seasons, Schyllander and Piibor have continued to add playmakers to bolster the Ducks' lineup.

The addition of junior transfer Akihiro Tanaka and five-star recruit Ty Gentry last season shored up UO's singles play. Tanaka was named the ITA Northwest Region Rookie of the Year in 2017 after finishing the season 16-8 overall, and went on to record a 17-15 singles record this past season.

Meanwhile, Gentry flipped a switch this past season after going 11-10 his freshman year. The Olympia, Wash., native revamped his game utilizing a powerful serve to help him go 25-6 in singles play this year, second only to Laurent's 26-7 record.

Gentry was also a huge part of UO's doubles strength this season. The upstart duo of Stevens and Gentry proved to be a dominant piece in the doubles lineup after pairing only six times in 2017. Stevens and Gentry locked down the No. 3 position for UO, exploding for a team-high 24-10 doubles record.

They were one of two Duck doubles teams, along with Clissold and Laurent, to record 20-plus wins on the year.

Clissold and Laurent secured their place among UO's all-time best doubles pairs this year, winning Oregon's first ITA Northwest Regional Doubles Championship in October. A dynamic duo since the 2015-16 season, the two also became UO's all-time winningest doubles pair following the Ducks' win over UC Santa Barbara. As a pair, Clissold and Laurent finished their time together with a 62-17 career doubles record.

Rounding out Oregon's doubles lineup this season was the newly formed pair of sophomore Armando Soemarno and freshman Charles Roberts.

Since the addition of Soemarno in 2015, the Ducks have had a consistent doubles-specific threat on their roster. Originally from Jakarta, Indonesia, Soemarno has played less than 10 singles matches so far in his career, but maintains a 44-18 doubles record while partnering with multiple Ducks.

This season, Soemarno took another doubles-specific player under his wing in Roberts. He and the 6-foot-7 freshman made waves immediately for UO, mounting a five-game come-from-behind win to clinch the doubles point in UO's season-opener against Idaho. Despite dealing with injury issues midway through the season, the duo finished the year 12-6 as a pair, going 7-4 at the No. 1 spot.

Looking ahead, Oregon will continue to build on its success next season by using the same formula of leaning on yet another standout senior class, while fostering a large group of emerging underclassmen.

Including Roberts' breakout doubles performance this past season, fellow freshman Riki Oshima was a staple for UO at the No. 6 position. The Toyama, Japan, native finished the year 11-8 in singles play, including a six-match winning streak in which he helped UO clinch ranked victories over then No. 49 Washington and No. 35 Utah.

Roberts and Oshima will help usher in a loaded 2018-19 class that includes highly sought after commitments from Australia and France as well as a four-star recruit from Connecticut.

Heading to Eugene from Traralgon, Victoria, Australia, Joshua Charlton is ranked among the top 100 recruits from Australia. Charlton is a Grade 1 ITF Qualifier, recording 10 wins against top 150 ITF juniors while winning back-to-back 18-under doubles championships at the 2016 and 2017 December Showdown in Melbourne.

Charlton will be joined by French standout Emmanuel Coste. Originally from Aix-en-Provence, Coste is ranked among the top 200 junior players in the world, and one of the top 10 juniors out of France. Sporting a 34-22 junior singles record, he has reached three ITF tournament singles finals, winning the Dijon Lac Kir ITF Juniors tournament, while being invited to play in the 2017 Junior French Open.

Rounding out the Ducks' incoming freshman class is Evan Felcher, who is the No. 1 recruit out of Connecticut and fifth overall out of the New England area. In his first season at Staples High School, Felcher jumped to the No. 1 spot, going on to win the Connecticut High School State Open Championship and garnering 2017 High School All-America and CHSCA Player of the Year honors.

With the addition of these three new recruits, backed by veterans such as Laurent, Gentry and Soemarno, the Ducks look to have solidified their spot as a collegiate tennis powerhouse for years to come.