Ducks Close Out Home Stand Against The Panthers Friday

EUGENE, Ore. - The Oregon men's tennis team closes out its three-match home stand to open the year this Friday against Georgia State at 5 p.m. The Ducks will look to start the season 3-0 for the eighth straight year.

Friday's match marks the first meeting between UO and the Panthers. Georgia State is currently 2-1 with wins over Mercer and North Florida.

DUCKS OPEN SEASON WITH BACK-TO-BACK SWEEPS
The men's tennis team opened the year with duplicate 7-0 victories over Idaho and Portland State in its season-opening doubleheader last Friday. UO went undefeated in singles play with its only loss coming in doubles play against Idaho. The Ducks were able to win the doubles point against Idaho thanks to an incredible come-from-behind victory from the pair of junior Armando Soemarno and freshman Charles Roberts to help Oregon secure the point and maintain a perfect start to the season.

FRESHMEN MAKE THEIR MARK
Oregon's two new additions this spring, Riki Oshima and Charles Roberts, made an immediate impact during the Ducks' season-opener. Roberts and partner Armando Soemarno single-handedly secured the doubles points for UO against Idaho, rallying from three games down to win the match 7-5. The pair finished the day 2-0 in doubles play following their 6-2 win at the No. 1 spot against Portland State's Tommy Edwards and Avery West.

Oshima started his Oregon career perfect, going 2-0 in singles play, while partnering with senior Akihiro Tanaka for a 6-1 doubles win at the No. 2 spot against Portland State. In singles play, the Japanese international was a force to be reckoned with sweeping Idaho's Bence Da Re 6-0, 6-0 in his first-ever match. He followed that stellar performance with a 6-1, 6-0 victory at the No. 4 spot against his Portland State counterpart. All-in-all, Oshima lost only two games across all three of his matches last Friday.

YOU ALWAYS REMEMBER YOUR FIRST
Including the two new freshmen, five Ducks recorded career-first wins during UO's doubleheader last Friday. Senior Simon Stevens played his first-ever match at the No. 1 spot against Portland State's Nathan Boniel. Stevens was pushed to the brink, but managed to survive, 6-2, 6-7, 11-9, to pick up the win. Fellow senior Cormac Clissold earned his first career match at the No. 3 spot against Portland State, downing Avery West, 6-3, 6-4, to record the victory. Finally, sophomore Ty Gentry recorded back-to-back wins at the No. 5 spot. Despite starting two matches at the No. 5 position last season, Gentry did not record a win with his match against Montana State going unfinished and dropping his singles match against Stanford.

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. With two matches already played, Oregon will have 12 more home matches during the upcoming dual season, the most since 2013 when UO went 12-2 when playing in Eugene.

IN THE RANKINGS
As a team, the Ducks continued to be the first team receiving votes just outside the Intercollegiate Tennis Association's 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.

Individually, junior Thomas Laurent remains one of the top singles players in the country, ranked No. 6. He picked up a win at the No. 1 spot in his only match against Idaho last Friday.In doubles play, despite their loss to open the year, Laurent and partner Cormac Clissold are still the 17th-ranked doubles pair in the nation.

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.

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 47-10 all-time in doubles competition ranking them second on the UO all-time doubles wins list. They need only 10 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.

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.

INTERVIEWS
Associate Head Coach Jonas Piibor

Freshman Charles Roberts

UP NEXT
Following Friday's match, The Ducks will head to Berkeley to participate in the ITA Kick-Off Weekend. UO will take on Stanford Sunday, Jan. 28, at 1:00 p.m., followed by either California or Tulane on Monday.