University of Oregon
Arizona
Ducks Tame Cats at Pac-12 Championships
04/20/16 | Men's Tennis
OJAI, Calif. – For the second time this year, the Oregon men's tennis team shut out Arizona, winning 4-0 Wednesday afternoon in the opening match of the Pac-12 Championship held at Libbey Park.
The victory put the Ducks at 18-6 on the season, making them the winningest team under 10th-year head coach Nils Schyllander. It's the most wins in a season since the 1994-95 squad went 28-9.
HOW IT HAPPENED: For the 16th straight match, Oregon captured the doubles point. Thomas Laurent and Cormac Clissold collected win their 14th consecutive victory as they downed Shoki Kasahara and Matt Dunn 6-3 at No. 3. Daan Maasland Simon Stevens then clinched the point when they came back to win 7-5 over Will Adkisson and Naoki Takeda. The Duck duo was down 3-1 before storming back to capture their 22nd win on the season. Their 22-6 overall record is good for the fourth-best season ever by a doubles pair.
In singles, Laurent made quick work of Jason Jaruvang on court three. The freshman blanked the Wildcat 6-0 in the opening set and then jumped out to a 3-0 lead in the second. Jaruvang was able to get on the board to make it 3-1 and then eventually 4-2, but Laurent closed it out, winning 6-2 to put the Ducks up 2-0 in the match.
Jayson Amos then collected his 26th singles win of the season as he dispatched Trent Botha at No. 4. Amos broke a 1-1 tie in the first set, winning five straight games to take the set 6-1. The second set was closer as Botha held a 3-2 advantage, but Amos turned it on, winning 6-4 to score the third Oregon point.
The match was clinched at No. 2 when Simon Stevens put away Will Kneale. The first set went back-and-forth with Stevens eventually winning 7-4 in the tie break to take the first set. The two were then tied at 1-all in the second set when Stevens won five straight to take it 6-1 and clinch the match for the Ducks.
QUOTES:
Nils Schyllander, Head Coach
On the match…
“We certainly didn't play our best tennis today, but we played hard and we managed to get a convincing win. We're very excited to play Stanford tomorrow. We had a battle with them two weeks ago and we're looking forward to getting another shot at them.”
On his team becoming the winningest squad under his tenure…
“These guys have done a great job from day one and they pay attention to the small details. They do the right things Monday through Thursday and it pays off when we're competing Friday through Sunday. The match today was a testament to that.”
UP NEXT: Oregon will face No. 4 seed Stanford tomorrow at 12 p.m. The Cardinal received a first-round bye and didn't compete today.
