Men's Tennis To Start Pac-10 Play
WHAT’S UP
Pac-10 - The Pac-10 once again looks to be the strongest conference in the country, with five teams in the top 25...three of which are in the top 10.
Top 10 - Junior Sven Swinnen has already crept into the top 10 all-time wins list at Oregon with 50. With the remainder of this year and all of next, Swinnen is poised to leave Oregon as the all-time leader. (Oded Teig, 69 wins 1999-03.)
Huge Wins - Manuel Kost showed why he was an NCAA Qualifier and named team MVP last season. The junior has wins against No. 33-ranked (match day rank) William Barker of Rice and No. 6-ranked Alex Vlaski of Washington.
Swiss Army - The Switzerland connection of Manuel Kost, Sven Swinnen, and Thomas Bieri have combined for an outstanding 25-8 dual singles record.
Last Week - The Ducks had the week off to prepare for Portland and the start of Pac-10 conference play.
Coach Russell on Last Week - “Portland will be ready to play, having recently knocked off a good Yale team. It is a rivalry that our guys need to be ready for, as the Pilots will be hungry on their own courts. Against Cal and Stanford, our guys will be prepared, having had the past two weeks to build up their fitness levels. They are both great opportunities for us to duplicate the type of effort we had versus Washington.”
This Week's Scouting Report - Portland - The Pilots are 5-5 overall on the season and compete in the West Coast Conference. UP is led by Roman Borvanov who is 4-5 in duals at the No. 1 position and 8-7 overall. James Redpath and Thabani Sithole are 7-2 in doubles at the No. 3 position. The Ducks defeated the Pilots, 7-0, last season.
#29 Cal - The Bears (4-7, 0-0) have endured a brutal schedule featuring seven teams currently in the top 25. Cal is led by No. 16-ranked Conor Niland and No. 84-ranked Wayne Wong. The Ducks were defeated by the Bears, 6-1, last season.
#10 Stanford - The Cardinal is 8-2, 0-0 on the season and open up conference play against No. 22 Washington before battling the Ducks. Stanford has impressive wins against No. 17 Vanderbilt, No. 29 Cal, and No. 24 Arizona. No. 23-ranked Sam Warburg leads the charge with a 5-0 dual record at the No. 1 position and 4-0 at the No. 2 spot. Swarburg and Carter Morris are ranked the No. 36 doubles squad in the country (5-1 duals). Oregon was defeated by Stanford, 6-1, last season. The match will have live scoring on www.gostanford.com
