Laurent And Duck Doubles Teams Earn Semifinal Berths

Saturday, October 7

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Laurent And Duck Doubles Teams Earn Semifinal Berths

10/07/17 | Men's Tennis

Junior Thomas Laurent's historic run at the ITA All-Americans continued Saturday while the remaining Ducks booked semifinal trips of their own at the Boise State Fall Classic.

By: Nathan Bryant

EUGENE, Ore. – Junior Thomas Laurent's historic run continued at the ITA All-American Championships Saturday as he booked a trip to the semifinals, while both Duck doubles teams earned semifinal berths as well at the Boise State Fall Classic.

ITA All-Americans: Laurent was tested early Saturday morning in his opening match against No. 13 Constantin Schmitz in the round of 16. The French international fell behind early dropping the first set 2-6, but flipped the switch to take 12 of the final 14 points and win the match in three sets 2-6, 6-1, 6-1.

In the quarterfinal match, Laurent squared off against No. 33 Eduardo Mena from Tennessee Tech making quick work of the junior Golden Eagle 6-0, 6-2 to book his ticket to the final four.

Semifinal bound! Laurent makes quick work of Mena 6-0, 6-2 to book a final four match against #24 Martin Redlicki of UCLA Sunday. #GoDucks pic.twitter.com/8FNNBwQ2MS
— Oregon Men's Tennis (@OregonMTennis) October 7, 2017

"Tom competed with a purpose today," said head coach Nils Schyllander. "He played within himself all day long and did not give an inch. We really look forward to tomorrow's all Pac-12 matchup."

What it Means: With his wins today, Laurent receives an automatic bid to the ITA Fall Nationals in California later this month. Laurent also cracks the top-15 career wins list at Oregon with his career singles record of 53-13 putting him at 15^th all-time.

Boise State Fall Classic: The Oregon men's tennis doubles teams took the spotlight today in Boise as both teams advanced to the semifinals Sunday.

The No. 1 seed team of Ty Gentry and Simon Stevens opened the day with an 8-2 victory over the team from Seattle before downing David Felix and Peter Trhac of Idaho State 8-5 to move into the final four.

Senior Cormac Clissold along with junior Armando Soemarno had a tougher journey to the semifinals Saturday after winning 8-6 over Abilene Christian's Henry Adams and Bradley Gleason. The Duck duo outlasted Lucas Coutinho and Esteban Santibanez of Idaho 9-7 in the quarterfinals to join their teammates in the final four.

The Ducks were not as fortunate in singles play, dropping all four quarterfinal matches. Gentry fell to Gonzaga's Vincent Rettke 1-6, 4-6 while junior Ethan Young-Smith dropped his match against Idaho's Mark Kovacs 3-6, 4-6.

Stevens and Clissold had similar results in their quarterfinal matches pushing their opponents to the limit and forcing a hard fought third set, but both seniors ultimately fell by scores of 3-6, 7-6, 9-11 and 3-6, 6-2, 9-11 respectively.

"We did a solid job in doubles today," said associate head coach Jonas Piibor. "In singles, as a program, we expect more from the guys. Our mental and physical effort was not where it needed to be. We got outworked and the results showed that. I fully expect the guys to respond, and come out with the effort that we expect as a program in tomorrow's matches."

Up Next: Laurent will square off against UCLA's Martin Redlicki in an all-Pac-12 semifinal Sunday morning.

In Boise, Gentry and Stevens will face Abilene Christian's Paul Domanski and Hunter Holman one one side of the semifinal bracket. On the other side Clissold and Stevens will look to make an all-Duck final taking on Marc Kovacs and Carlos Longhi Neto of Idaho.