University of Oregon
UCSB
No. 69 Oregon Men?s Tennis Downs No. 62 UCSB, 4-3
02/11/12 | Men's Tennis
EUGENE, Ore. - The No. 69 University of Oregon men's tennis team welcomed their second ranked opponent to the Student Tennis Center Saturday, Feb 11 and for the second time were victorious. The Ducks (5-0) defeated the No. 62 UC Santa Barbara Gauchos, 4-3 in a competitive and energetic dual.
"Obviously I am really excited and I thought we came out with unbelievable energy in doubles and carried it over into singles," said men's head coach Nils Schyllander. "I'm super proud of the complete team effort both on and off the court."
The dual was close at every level starting with doubles where the Ducks were able to steal the point by sweeping all three matches. Led by the No. 1 doubles pairing of junior Jeff Mullen and sophomore Robin Cambier Oregon improved their team doubles record to 14-1 this spring. Mullen/Cambier handled the UCSB tandem of Mathieu Forget and Mbonisi Ndimande, 8-6.
The combination of sophomore Alex Rovello and senior Jose Izquierdo took down the Gaucho duo of Axel Bouillin and Greg Scott, 8-4. It was Rovello/Izquierdo's first appearance at No. 2 doubles this spring. Freshman Daniel Sardu and junior Aaron Clissold teamed up to defeat Benjamin Recknagel and Ziad Sultan, 8-3.
Oregon kept the momentum going into singles where Rovello set the tone with a dominating 6-0, 6-1 win over Recknagel. Rovello was recently recognized by the Pac-12 for his performance as Oregon's No. 1 singles player. That article can be found here. Mullen, competing at No. 2 singles for the first time this year, but dropped his match to Forget, 6-4, 7-5. The loss was the Oregon's first singles loss in dual play this spring and the first point conceded in a dual all year.
With the dual hanging in the balance at 2-1, the Ducks grinded out the next two points to clinch the match. Both Cambier and Sardu won second-set tiebreakers to avoid going to a third set. Cambier defeated Scott 6-2, 7-6 while Sardu clinched the dual against Bouillin 6-2, 7-6.
"It's always nice to see a freshman clinch it for us in Daniel (Sardu), he stepped up when we needed it," said Schyllander. "We lost to these guys 7-0 last time so it tells me we're on the right track and the kettle's boiling."
The Ducks went on to drop the next two matches in third sets. Izquierdo lost in a ten-point third-set tiebreak to Ndimande 7-6, 2-6, 10-1 while Clissold fell to Sultan 3-6, 6-2, 6-4.
The Oregon men's tennis team next appears on Friday, Feb. 17 when they face Eastern Washington at 10 a.m. at the Student Tennis Center on the campus. Follow the Ducks all year long at GoDucks.com for the latest news, notes, scores and recaps.
Oregon 4-3 UC Santa Barbara
SINGLES
No. 1 Alex Rovello (UO) def. Benjamin Recknagel (UCSB) 6-0, 6-1
No. 2 Mathieu Forget (UCSB) def. Jeff Mullen (UO) 6-4, 7-5
No. 3 Robin Cambier (UO) def. Greg Scott (UCSB) 6-2, 7-6
No. 4 Daniel Sardu (UO) def. Axel Bouillin (UCSB) 6-2, 7-6
No. 5 Mbonisi Ndimande (UCSB) def. Jose Izquierdo (UO) 7-6, 2-6, 10-1
No. 6 Ziad Sultan (UCSB) def. Aaron Clissold (UO) 3-6, 6-2, 6-4
Order of Finish: 1, 2, 3, 4*, 5, 6
DOUBLES
No. 1 Mullen/Cambier (UO) def. Forget/Ndimande (UCSB) 8-6
No. 2 Rovello/Izquierdo (UO) def. Bouillin/Scott (UCSB) 8-4
No. 3 Sardu/Clissold (UO) def. Recknagel/Sultan (UCSB) 8-3
Order of Finish: 3, 2*, 1
*indicates clinching match
Players Mentioned
