Ducks Head South to Fresno
EUGENE, Ore. --The University of Oregon men’s tennis team takes its 3-2 record to Fresno, Calif. this weekend for their first road matches of the season. The Ducks will play both matches in Fresno, Calif. They face Hawaii Saturday, Feb. 9, at 2 p.m., and the Bulldogs on Sunday, Feb. 10, at 11 a.m.
FAN INFO
Results will be available on www.goducks.com as soon as they are available. There will not be live stats for road matches.
QUICK HITS
After a 3-0 start, Oregon’s record has fallen to 3-2 after a 5-2 loss to Cal Poly last Saturday and a 4-3 loss to Sacramento State the previous weekend.
The losses were the first back-to-back nonconference losses at home for the Ducks since the 2003-2004 season, when they lost to Georgia Tech and Minnesota.
The Ducks lost at No. 4 and No. 6 in singles play last Saturday, but on the season hold a 12-3 record at spots 4-6, while their record at the top three positions is 7-8.
Of the six singles matches last week against Cal Poly, three went to a decisive third set, with Oregon losing two of them. Oregon’s record in three set matches on the season is 2-4.
After finishing a combined 23-46 last season in doubles action, Oregon has a 12-3 doubles record so far in 2008. Oregon has swept the doubles point three times, and won it in four of five matches, with the lone loss coming against Cal Poly.
The doubles pairing of Marcos Verdasco and Francisco Gallardo improved their record to 4-1 at the No. 1 spot with their victory over Cal Poly’s Joel Akerberg and Blake Wardman. They are the only Oregon pairing to compete in every match, and the only Oregon pairing to compete at the No. 1 spot.
Last spring, Oregon did not play at home for eight straight matches to start the season, with its first road match coming February 16th against Pacific.
GETTING TO KNOW HAWAII
Hawaii holds a 1-3 record on the season. In their last outing, Jan. 20 against Santa Barbara, they picked up a 4-3 victory for their first win of the spring. Both freshman Dennis Lajola and junior Sascha Heinemann have been named WAC men’s tennis players of the week this season for the Rainbow Warriors. This is also the first road trip of the season for Hawaii, as they will play No. 40 Stanford on Feb. 6, No. 74 Fresno State on Feb. 8, and then face Oregon on Feb. 9. The match against Fresno State will open the WAC season for both teams.
GETTING TO KNOW FRESNO STATE
This weekend will be Fresno State’s second homestand of the spring at the Spalding G. Wathen Tennis Center, as they played their last three matches on the road and compiled a 2-2 overall record. Last Saturday, Feb. 2, their match at San Diego State was postponed due to rain. The Bulldogs opened the season at home against Oregon’s opponent of last week, Cal Poly, and won 5-2.
NATIONAL RANKINGS
Fresno State is currently ranked as the No. 74 team in the nation, while Hawaii is unranked. Individually, Fresno State junior Rudolf Siwy earned a No. 92 ranking in the ITA Preseason rankings. Currently six teams from the Pacific-10 conference are ranked; No. 6 USC, No. 8 UCLA, No. 28 Cal, No. 38 Washington, No. 40 Stanford and No. 44 Arizona State.
In addition there are eight singles players from the Pac-10 currently ranked; No. 2 Alex Clayton (Stanford), No. 9 Robert Farah (USC), No. 37 Claudio Christen (Arizona), No. 38 Haythem Abid (UCLA), No. 41 Ted Kelly (Stanford), No. 43 Gary Sacks (USC), No. 75 Richard Wire (Stanford), No. 96 Matt Bruch (Stanford). In doubles, Kae Van’t and Farah from USC are ranked second nationally, while Bruna Alcala and Claudio Christen from Arizona are ranked seventh.
RECENT ACTION
Cal Poly 5, Oregon 2 Student Tennis Center (Eugene, Ore.)
Feb. 2, 2008
Singles
1. Marcos Verdasco (UO) def. Joel Akerberg (Cal Poly) 6-4, 7-5
2. Andrew Gerst (Cal Poly) def. Geoff Embry (UO) 6-4, 5-7, 6-4
3. Darryn Young (Cal Poly) def. Francisco Gallardo (UO) 6-3, 6-4
4. Robert Foy (Cal Poly) def. Alexander Cornelissen (UO) 6-2, 2-6, 7-5
5. Romeo Mortera (UO) def. Blake Wardman (Cal Poly) 6-1, 4-6, 6-1
6. Drew Jacobs (Cal Poly) def. Stephen Wiechert (UO) 7-6, 7-6 (7-3)
Order of Finish: 3, 1, 5, 4, 6, 2
Doubles
1. Gallardo/Verdasco (UO) def. Akerberg/Wardman (Cal Poly) 8-4
2. Foy/Young (Cal Poly) def. Embry/Mortera (UO) 8-4
3. Nick Berger/Gerst (Cal Poly) def. Cornelissen/Wiechert (UO) 8-3
Order of Finish: 2, 3, 1
LOOKING AHEAD
Up next for the Ducks will be a trip to Albuquerque, N.M., where Northern Arizona and No. 55 New Mexico await (Feb. 15-16).
Oregon will end its nearly-month long road trip in southern California, at UC Irvine (Feb. 23) and UC Santa Barbara (Feb. 24).
The Ducks return to the Student Tennis Center for their Pac-10 opener on Friday, Feb. 29, hosting the University of Washington.
