EUGENE, Ore. -- The Oregon men’s tennis team has a busy week
scheduled in Eugene, hosting UC Riverside on Tuesday at
6 p.m.
at the Student Tennis Center, before starting the Pac-10 season
with No. 9 USC on Friday at 1:30 p.m., and No. 6 UCLA on Saturday at 2 p.m.
FAN INFO
Live stats will be available on www.goducks.com .
QUICK HITS
Oregon (10-7) enters this Tuesday’s contest with UC Riverside on a
four-match winning streak. The Ducks have defeated Pacific, Nevada, Portland State and Portland over the last two weeks. Oregon’s last lost was a heartbreaking 4-3
decision to then No. 59 Denver on March 1. What has helped the Ducks over the
past two weeks is Oregon’s performances in doubles action.
The team has not lost the doubles point in its last four matches, while in
singles action, Geoff Embry (3-0), Romeo Mortera (4-0) and Stephen Wiechert
(3-0) have remained undefeated during that stretch.
GETTING TO KNOW UC RIVERSIDE
UC Riverside enters action against Oregon on Tuesday with a 4-8 record. The
Highlanders have dropped three of their last four, with the solo victory a 4-3 decision
over Montana State. UC Riverside’s three losses have
all come to ranked opponents, No. 58 UC Irvine, No. 69 UC Santa Barbara and No.
45 UAB. The Highlanders have struggled in doubles action putting together a
20-33 record, while Joe Cartledge and Hakop Tadevosian lead the team in singles
play with six victories apiece.
GETTING TO KNOW UCLA
The sixth-ranked UCLA Bruins have one more match with Loyola Marymount on
Tuesday before they head to Eugene. UCLA, currently 12-1 on the year
with its only loss to Virginia back on Feb. 16, has won the
doubles point in 11 of its 13 matches this season. The Bruins have three
players ranked in the top 50, No. 21 Mathieu Dehaine, No. 30 Harel Srugo and
No. 31 Holden Seguso.
GETTING TO KNOW USC
The ninth-ranked USC Trojans are likely to move up the rankings this week
after dispatching two top-10 teams last week. Winners of their last four duals,
No. 9 USC first knocked off No. 4 Texas last Thursday in Austin, pulling out four wins in singles
action after dropping the doubles. On Saturday, the Trojans traveled to No. 8
Tulsa and exited with a 6-1 victory, after winning the doubles point and five
singles matches.
NATIONAL RANKINGS
UC Riverside is not ranked on www.collegetennisonline.com, but the Ducks will have plenty
of top-notch competition with Pac-10 action right around the corner. Currently
the Pac-10 has seven teams receiving nation recognition, led by No. 6 UCLA, No.
9 USC, No. 11 Arizona State, No. 25 Washington, No. 30 Stanford, No. 40
California, and No. 51 Arizona. In addition, six players from the conference
are ranked in the nation’s top-50; No. 2 Alex Clayton (Stanford), No. 7 Robert
Farah (USC), No. 21 Mathieu Dehaine (UCLA), No. 30 Harel Srugo (UCLA), No. 31,
Holden Seguso (UCLA), No. 46 Kaes Van’t (USC). In doubles action, the Trojans
team of Van’t and Farah is the No. 2 team, while Srugo and Nick Meister of UCLA
are at No. 37.
RECENT ACTION
OREGON 5, PORTLAND 2
March 11 (Portland, Ore.)
Doubles
1. Cornelissen/Verdasco
(ORE) def. Zivkovic/Yemm (POR), 8-5
2. Embry/Mortera (ORE) def. Schleining/Thorp (POR), 8-2
3. Kincaid/Domoney (POR) def. Gallardo/Wiechert (ORE), 7-6 (7-5)
Singles
1. Joel Kincaid (POR) def. Marcos Verdasco (ORE), 6-3, 7-6
2. Filip Zivkovic (POR) def. Francisco Gallardo (ORE), 6-3, 6-4
3. Alex Cornelissen (ORE) def. Dillon Pottish (POR), 6-2, 6-2
4. Geoff Embry (ORE) def. Bryan Thorp (POR), 6-1, 1-6, 6-1
5. Romeo Mortera (ORE) def. Evan Schleining (POR), 6-4, 6-0
6. Stephen Wiechert (ORE) def. Renaldo Domoney (POR), 4-6, 7-6, 10-0
