Home Unbeaten Streak On The Line As Ducks Host Doubleheader

EUGENE, Ore. - The Oregon men's tennis will host its second doubleheader of the season this Saturday taking on Northern Arizona and Gonzaga at 10 a.m., and 4 p.m., respectively. The Ducks are coming off their third straight win, defeating San Diego State, 6-1, this past Saturday.

MATCH 9: OREGON (6-2) vs. NORTHERN ARIZONA (1-4)
Saturday, Feb. 24 | 10 a.m.
Eugene, Ore. | Student Tennis Center
Live Stats: GoDucks.com
Live Video: GoDucks.com

MATCH 10: OREGON (6-2) vs. GONZAGA (6-0)
Saturday, Feb. 24 | 4 p.m.
Eugene, Ore. | Student Tennis Center
Live Stats: GoDucks.com
Live Video: GoDucks.com

INTERVIEWS
Associate Head Coach Jonas Piibor

Senior Cormac Clissold

WEEKLY NOTES
LAST TIME OUT
Playing on UNLV's Fertitta Tennis Complex, Oregon picked up a big 6-1 victory against San Diego State. Both Thomas Laurent and Akihiro Tanaka won their singles matches 6-0, 6-3 at the No. 1 and No. 3 spots, respectively. The win snapped a three-match losing streak for Tanaka and put him back on the plus side with a 4-3 singles record this spring. Ty Gentry and Cormac Clissold continued their winning ways with singles victories as well, while freshman Riki Oshima grinded out a 7-6(3), 1-6, 1-0(9) victory at the No. 5 for marking his first three-set win of the year.

Oregon was scheduled to close out the weekend against UNLV, but was forced to cancel the match due to severe winds.

ALL GOOD THINGS MUST COME TO AN END...
As they say in Vegas, the house always wins, and despite the Ducks walking away with the match victory against San Diego State, the doubles pair of Simon Stevens and Ty Gentry recorded their first loss of the spring season. Heading into Saturday's match, Stevens and Gentry had won their last 10 straight doubles matches, just five shy of Cormac Clissold and Thomas Laurent's winning streak last season. Their last loss came in early October during the championship match of the Boise State Fall Classic. Both of their losses have been close battles falling 6-4 in their last outing, and 8-6 this past fall. Despite the loss, Stevens and Gentry remain UO's winningest pair this year with a 14-2 record. With 15 guaranteed matches left this season, the pair can challenge Robin Cambier's and Jeff Mullen's single-season record of 29 doubles wins set in 2012.

...OR DO THEY?
As one streak ends, two more continue as senior Cormac Clissold and sophomore Ty Gentry each recorded their ninth straight singles victories this past weekend. The two Ducks are undefeated in dual play with duplicate 5-0 singles records. The single-season consecutive singles match winning streak currently sits at 18, set by Thomas Laurent last season. Overall, Gentry is one of two Ducks with 14 singles wins this year, sporting a 14-2 record while Clissold is close behind at 11-2.

PROTECT THIS HOUSE
With the Ducks powering through to a 5-2 win over Wisconsin in their last home match, UO is currently 5-0 at home. Wisconsin's two singles wins are the only points UO has given up at home all season. Oregon did not concede a single point in its first four home matches, opening the year with back-to-back 7-0 sweeps over Idaho and Portland State. The Ducks followed that up with 4-0 wins over Georgia State and Pepperdine. After adding a match against Utah State this coming Wednesday afternoon, 15 of the Ducks 25 matches this season will be played at home. Last season, the Ducks finished the year 10-1 at home, and have a combined 51-10 record over the last five years when playing at the Student Tennis Center.

STEVENS, CLISSOLD CLIMB ALL-TIME LISTS
In their final seasons at Oregon, seniors Simon Stevens and Cormac Clissold have climbed their way up the UO record books. Tied for 15th at the start of the 2017-18 season, Stevens has lept into a tie for sixth with a team-high 14-5 record this season. Stevens has a 69-32 career singles record, placing him in a tie with Oded Teig. The Belgium international needs just six more wins to crack the top five on UO's all-time career singles wins list.

Clissold started the year just outside UO's top 15, but has clawed his way up thanks to an 11-2 singles record so far this season. Currently, he is 13th with a career record of 57-26. With one win this weekend, Cormac will tie his brother Aaron Clissold, as well as Alex Cornelissen, for 11th.

Both Clissold and Stevens are already among Oregon's top five most successful doubles players, ranking tied for third and fifth, respectively. Individually, they are right behind one another with Clissold accumulating 71 doubles wins during his career and Stevens logging 69 wins.

IN THE RANKINGS
Thomas Laurent and Cormac Clissold jumped up one spot in the latest Intercollegiate Tennis Association rankings. The duo is ranked 16th in the country with an 11-4 record this season, 3-2 in dual play. Laurent and Clissold sit just seven wins behind Robin Cambier's and Jeff Mullen's all-time career doubles wins record, with a record of 50-11. Their .852 winning percentage is currently the highest career doubles winning percentage in UO history.

Individually, Laurent remained one of the top 20 players in the country, dropping one spot to No. 13. He is currently 5-1 this spring season, 13-3 overall, playing every match at the No. 1 spot.

THAT CERTAIN JE NE SAIS QUOI
French international Thomas Laurent entered 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 with 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.

Midway through his junior season, Laurent is ninth on the UO all-time singles wins list with a 62-16 career record. His astonishing .795 winning percentage is currently the best career winning percentage in program history. The only other Duck with a .700 or better win percentage is Jayson Amos, whose career singles record of 93-34 (.732) ranks first on the UO career singles wins list.

FRESHMEN MAKING THEIR MARK
Oregon's two new additions this spring, Riki Oshima and Charles Roberts, have made an immediate impact for the Ducks this season. Roberts and partner Armando Soemarno single-handedly secured the doubles points for UO in its season opener against Idaho, rallying from three games down to win the match, 7-5. So far this season, the pair is 6-2 overall, while sporting a 4-1 record at the No. 1 doubles position.

Currently 4-3 on the year in singles play, Oshima started the year 2-0 dropping only one game throughout his first two career matches. 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. In the Ducks most recent outing, Oshima grinded out a 7-6(3), 1-6, 1-0(9) victory over SDSU's R. Gonzalez Almazan to get back above .500 on the year. Oshima has also partnered with senior Akihiro Tanaka for a 6-1 doubles win at the No. 2 spot against Portland State.

UP NEXT
Following this weekend's matches, The Ducks will remain at home after adding a midweek match against Utah State Wednesday, Feb. 28, at 4:30 p.m. PT.