Southern California Road Swing On Tap for Ducks
02/26/15 | Men's Tennis
The No. 43 Oregon men's tennis team will look to build on their two-match win streak this weekend when they travel down to Southern California for a match at No. 53 Pepperdine at 1 p.m. on Saturday, Feb. 28 and then at UC Santa Barbara on Monday, March 2 at 2 p.m.
Pepperdine - Live Stats
Scouting the Waves and Gauchos
Pepperdine enters the weekend on a four-match win streak and an overall record of 5-3. After dropping three of their first four matches, the Waves have responded with four-consecutive 4-3 victories over Miami, San Diego State, UC Irvine and Loyola Marymount.
The Waves' top two players are sophomores Guilherme Hadich and Stefan Menichella, who both have spent time on courts one and two this spring season. Hadich has excelled at mostly the No. 2 position with a 5-2 duals singles record and Menichella – the No. 12 singles player in the ITA Southwest Region – has struggled to a 1-5 mark playing at mostly No. 1.
In doubles, the Waves have had the most success with Menichella and Tom Hill pairing together on court three for a 3-2 record in the spring season. As a team, Pepperdine has not excelled in doubles so far this season (7-14).
Saturday's meeting between the Ducks and Waves will be the first meeting between the schools in the Nils Schyllander coaching era (2007-present).
UC Santa Barbara comes into the match on Monday with a 3-6 record with six of their nine matches on the road. Three of the Gauchos six losses have come against teams in the top-40 of the ITA rankings.
In singles, the Gauchos' No. 1 and No. 2 players, senior Tobias Galskov (2-6 in duals) and Morgan Mays (3-6) have gotten off to a slow start this spring, but Galskov was an All-Big West first team selection last year in both singles and doubles.
Andrew Riminton and Morgan Mays lead the Gauchos in doubles with a 5-1 record. Just recently the No. 3 pair recorded victories in their matches against No. 7 California and San Francisco.
The Ducks took down UC Santa Barbara by a score of 6-1 last year in Eugene in what was Oregon's third match of the spring season.
Last Time Out
The Ducks tallied two decisive wins this past weekend when they dispatched Nebraska 7-0 on Friday evening and then Santa Clara 6-1 on Sunday morning at the Student Tennis Center. Oregon won the doubles point in both matches and they never looked back in either contest.
With his singles win against Nebraska, Daniel Sardu moved into sole possession of third place in UO history in career singles wins (70). On Sunday he recorded a doubles win on court three with Simon Stevens to move into fourth place in career doubles victories with 62.
Against Nebraska, five of Oregon's six singles wins ended in straight sets and the Ducks cruised to their fourth 7-0 win of the season.
The match against Santa Clara was almost the same story, but the Broncos were able to pick up a win on court four in singles to prevent the complete shutout. Stevens won his ninth singles match in a row; eight of his nine spring victories have come in straight sets. With the two wins on the weekend, the Ducks are still undefeated at the Student Tennis Center this season (7-0).
Freshmen Contributors
Freshmen Cormac Clissold and Stevens continue to be integral parts of Coach Schyllander's lineups, and for good reason. With Steven's winning streak and Clissold's four-match winning run of his own, the two first-year players are consistently contributing points in the latter part of the lineup.
Amos Wins
Jayson Amos has won seven out of his last ten matches and leads the Ducks with 15 (15-6) wins on the season. In doubles, he and Kevin Farin team up on court one and also lead UO with seven wins on the season (7-4).
Tough Luck On The Road
The Ducks are still searching for their first road win of the year, having lost their first three true road contests (0-3). UO's fortune on the road has not been helped by the quality of their away opponents (No. 7 North Carolina, No. 49 Indiana and No. 43 Louisville).
One-Two Punch
Oregon's No. 1 and 2 players – Farin and Daan Maasland – have combined for a 14-6 record in the top two singles spots in the dual season. The two juniors were both 2-0 this past weekend.
Players Mentioned
