Men's Tennis Opens Spring Season With Home Doubleheader

EUGENE, Ore. - After an incredible 2017 season in which the Oregon men's tennis team reached back-to-back NCAA Championship Tournaments for the first time in program history and a No. 24 ranking to end the season, the Ducks' journey back to the NCAA tournament begins this Friday as UO plays host to both Idaho and Portland State in a season-opening doubleheader beginning at 10 a.m.

UO will take on Idaho in the first match of the day at 10 a.m., followed by Portland State at 3 p.m., marking the seventh straight season the Ducks will open the year with a home doubleheader. The men's tennis team has not lost a match on the opening day of dual play during the seven-year span.

HOW TO FOLLOW
Live results and a link to live video streams can be found on GoDucks.com. Live updates will be provided during Oregon's matches via Twitter on @OregonMTennis.

MEMORABLE FALL SETS HIGH BAR
Leading up to the spring season, the Ducks had a monumental fall recording multiple program firsts. Junior Thomas Laurent was at the forefront of most of UO's fall success kicking off the year advancing all the way to the ITA All-American Championship semifinals for the first time in program history. With his final four berth, Laurent earned an automatic bid into the ITA Fall Nationals. The French international continued his milestone fall season partnering with senior Cormac Clissold to win Oregon's first-ever ITA Northwest Regional Doubles Championship. In the same tournament, fellow senior Simon Stevens reached the singles quarterfinals.

UO capped off the fall season on a high note with four Ducks - Stevens, Akihiro Tanaka, Ethan Young-Smith, and Ty Gentry - sweeping the Minnesota Gopher Invitational titles. As a team, the four Ducks finished the tournament 23-1 overall in both singles and doubles play to take home both the maroon and gold draw championships.

Meanwhile at the ITA Fall National Championships, Laurent advanced to the singles semifinals yet again before falling to the No. 3 overall seed from Wake Forest. In the doubles bracket, Laurent and Clissold drew the second-seeded pair from Baylor in the opening round. The Duck duo ultimately fell to the 19th-ranked pair. UO finished the fall slate with a 46-36 singles record, marking the most singles victories during the fall tournament season since 2011.

IN THE RANKINGS
As a team, the Ducks will head into the spring season receiving votes in the ITA top-25. Oregon is the first team listed as receiving votes outside the top-25. Before moving from a top-75 to a top-25 list in 2017, Oregon's previous highest ranking entering the spring season was 44th in 2015.

HOME COURT ADVANTAGE
The Ducks will have the upper hand in the opening stretch of the spring season with five of their first seven matches played in Eugene. UO finished the 2017 spring season 10-1 at home, and have a combined 51-10 record over the last five years when playing at the Student Tennis Center. Oregon will have 14 home matches during the upcoming dual season, the most since 2013 when UO went 12-2 when playing in Eugene.

SPRING SCHEDULE
The 2018 men's tennis schedule is loaded with opportunities for quality wins with six opponents ranked or receiving votes in the Intercollegiate Tennis Association's top-25. After the Ducks' first three matches of the season, they will participate in the ITA kick-off weekend for the second straight season. Oregon will face Pac-12 rival Stanford followed by either California or Tulane at the weekend event in Berkely, Calif. All three of those teams are currently ranked in the nation's top-25.

THAT CERTAIN JE NE SAIS QUOI
French international Thomas Laurent enters the 2018 spring season as one of the highest ranked players in program history at sixth in the nation. Laurent is coming off a sophomore campaign in which he broke the single season wins record sporting a 30-7 overall record. He continued to build on his Oregon legacy this past fall reaching the semifinals of the ITA All-Americans and ITA Fall Nationals, both program firsts. Laurent finished the fall slate 8-2 overall in singles play with five wins over ranked opponents including a 5-7, 6-4, 6-0 win over ninth-ranked William Bushamuka of Kentucky in the opening round of the Fall National Championships. Heading into the dual season, Laurent has a 49-13 career singles record and needs only three wins to crack the top-15 all-time wins list at Oregon.

PARTNERS IN CRIME
Senior Cormac Clissold and junior Thomas Laurent look to cement their place as one of Oregon's elite doubles team's this upcoming season. As a pair, Clissold and Laurent are 47-9 all-time in doubles competition ranking them second on the UO all-time doubles wins list. They need only five wins during the upcoming season to tie the doubles pair of Robin Cambier and Jeff Mullen for the top spot. During the fall, the duo went 8-2 overall while winning Oregon's first-ever ITA Northwest Regional doubles title and an automatic bid to the Fall National Championships.

BREAKING DOWN THE ROSTER
This year's team returns all but two players from last season. The seven returning Ducks accounted for nearly 84 percent of UO's singles victories last season. The Ducks will also add two standout freshmen to the squad during the spring season in Japanese international Riki Oshima and Charles Roberts from Thailand.

Among the Ducks' returners are three seniors, Cormac Clissold, Simon Stevens and Akihiro Tanaka, who will lead the way for UO. Stevens is already tied for seventh on the UO all-time singles wins list with a career record of 64-29 heading into the spring slate. The Belgium international began the year with a runner-up finish in the doubles bracket of the Belgium F10 Futures Tournament over the summer. He continued his stellar play in the fall as one of two Ducks to finish the fall slate with a team-high 9-2 singles record.

The other Duck to finish 9-2? Sophomore Ty Gentry. The highly-touted five-star recruit from Washington finished his freshman season 11-10 in singles play, with the majority of his matches coming from the No. 6 spot. Gentry and Stevens partnered for an 8-1 doubles record this past fall and the maroon draw championship at the Minnesota Gopher Invite.

Not to be outdone, junior Ethan-Young Smith and Tanaka took home a championship title of their own in the gold draw of the Gopher Invitational.

Tanaka is 24-10 in his career at Oregon after finishing the 2017 season with a 16-8 singles record on his way to being named the 2017 ITA Northwest Rookie of the Year.

INTERVIEWS
Nils Schyllander, Head Coach

Cormac Clissold, Senior