Getting Back To Basics

EUGENE, Ore. - After opening Pac-12 play this past weekend, the Oregon men's tennis team will take a brief respite from conference play opening a three-match home stand against Santa Clara Thursday. The Ducks will look to break out of their current four-match losing skid and get back on track during the home stretch before finishing out the conference season.

MATCH 16: No. 47 OREGON (9-6, 0-2) vs. SANTA CLARA (8-3)
Thursday, March 15 | 5 p.m.
Eugene, Ore. | Student Tennis Center
Live Stats: GoDucks.com
Live Video: GoDucks.com

WEEKLY NOTES
LAST TIME OUT
UO opened conference play this past weekend hosting two of the Pac-12's top teams in No. 4 UCLA and No. 13 USC. The Ducks grinded it out in both matches putting both squads on their toes, despite what the final scores show.

In their opening match against UCLA, the Ducks picked up a win at the No. 2 spot in doubles play but could not clinch the point, falling in tiebreaker sets at the remaining two positions. In singles play, two quick victories by the Bruins put UO against the wall down 3-0. Cormac Clissold managed to get UO on the board at the No. 4 spot, but No. 3 ranked Martin Redlicki closed it out defeating Thomas Laurent, 7-6(4), 6-3, to give the Bruins the victory with UO making a late charge on the final two courts.

It was a similar result for UO the next day against USC as the Trojans opened the match by winning the doubles point. USC took a 2-0 lead in singles play, but wins from Akihiro Tanaka as well as an incredible turnaround three-set win from Ty Gentry tied the match at 2-2. With the remaining three courts all vying for the lead in third sets, USC and the Ducks traded points with wins at the No. 2 and No. 4 spots, respectively. The match came down to freshman Riki Oshima, who nearly had the match won at the No. 6 spot but fell in a tiebreaker set to send the match into a third set. The Japanese international led 3-2 in the final set, but USC's Jack Jaede won the next four straight games to win the set and the match for the Trojans.

BY A NOSE
The scores for the Ducks' last four losses do not tell the whole story of those matches. Despite walking away with the loss, Oregon has been right on the cusp of winning each time, with three of the four losses decided in either a third set or extra game played. Throughout the four match stretch, six matches have gone into a third set, as well as the doubles points against Iowa and UCLA coming down to tiebreaker sets.

It started at Cornell, with the Ducks winning the doubles point. UO had the advantage, 1-0, heading into singles play, but three quick wins by the Big Red had the Ducks playing from behind 3-2. With Ty Gentry on the verge of winning at the No. 5 spot, Ethan Young-Smith attempted to close his match out in a third set at No. 6. The Bend, Ore., native, could not hold off Cornell's Joseph McAllister though falling in three sets.

The next day against Iowa, the Ducks battled in doubles play winning at the No. 1 spot, but falling in tiebreakers sets on the remaining two courts. Looking to rally in singles play, the Ducks answered each Hawkeye win with one of their own, but Iowa remained one step in front of UO. As Akihiro Tanaka headed into a third set with Oregon trailing 3-2, Riki Oshima tied his second set at 5-5 hoping to send his match at the No. 6 spot into a third set. Oshima would end up falling, 6-3, 7-5.

IN THE RANKINGS
Despite its two losses, the Ducks remained in the top 50 in the latest Intercollegiate Tennis Association's team rankings, dropping to No. 47.

Only the team rankings were updated this past week, so individually, Thomas Laurent kept his hold on the No. 13 spot. He is currently 9-3 this spring season, having dropped his last two matches to ranked opponents, and 17-5 overall. Laurent has played every match this season at the No. 1 spot.

Laurent and Cormac Clissold also remained 21st in the country. The duo split the Pac-12 opening weekend, winning at the No. 2 spot against UCLA before falling to their USC counterparts. As a pair, the two are 8-4 this spring and 16-6 overall. Laurent and Clissold sit just two wins behind Robin Cambier's and Jeff Mullen's all-time career doubles wins record, with a record of 54-11. Their .809 winning percentage is currently the second-highest career doubles winning percentage in UO history.

RETURN OF THE 'MAC
After snapping his 11 match win streak and picking up back-to-back losses against Cornell and Iowa, senior Cormac Clissold bounced back in a big way this past weekend. The New South Wales, Australia native, was the only Duck to record singles wins against both UCLA and USC. He defeated the Bruins No. 62 Logan Staggs, 6-4, 6-4, to record his first career victory over a ranked opponent. He followed that win up with a big three-set win at the No. 4 spot against USC to keep the Ducks upset bid alive and tie the match 3-3. With his two wins, Clissold leapfrogged Alex Rovello for 10th on the UO all-time wins list. Clissold and doubles partner Thomas Laurent also recorded the weekend split recording a 6-4 win against their UCLA opponents. The lone victory was enough to give Clissold sole possession of second on the UO all-time individual doubles wins list.

RANKING AMONG SOME OF THE BEST
The Ducks last five matches have all been against teams currently ranked in the Intercollegiate Tennis Association's top 50. The five-match stretch opened with Utah State who entered this week's latest rankings at No. 46. Cornell and Iowa have slowly climbed the ranks in the past weeks sitting at No. 41 and No. 40, respectively. With the Ducks playing No. 4 UCLA and No. 13 USC extremely close, UO has shown they can battle with some of the nation's top teams. The previous tests will come in handy as four of the Ducks' final nine opponenets are currently ranked in the top 50, including No. 2 Stanford.

PARTNERS IN CRIME
Senior Cormac Clissold and junior Thomas Laurent are within spitting distance of the top spot on the UO all-time doubles list. As a pair, Clissold and Laurent are 55-13 all-time, ranking them second. They need just two more wins this season to tie the doubles pair of Robin Cambier and Jeff Mullen for the No. 1 spot. So far this year, the two Ducks are 16-6 overall, 8-4 during the spring season. They also won Oregon's first-ever ITA Northwest Regional doubles title earning an automatic bid to the Fall National Championships.

STEVENS, CLISSOLD CONTINUE TO CLIMB
In their final seasons at Oregon, seniors Simon Stevens and Cormac Clissold have clawed 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 on the all-time singles wins list thanks to a 14-8 record this season. Currently, Stevens has a 69-35 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, who started the year just outside UO's top 15, has climbed all the way up to 10th. The Australian international has a 61-28 career record at UO, passing his brother Aaron Clissold, as well as Alex Cornelissen, who sits at 12th.

Both Clissold and Stevens are already among Oregon's top five most successful doubles players as well, ranking second and tied for fourth, respectively. Individually, they are right behind one another with Clissold accumulating 76 doubles wins during his career and Stevens logging 71 wins.

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 eighth on the UO all-time singles wins list with a 66-18 career record. His astonishing .786 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 all-time list.

GRAB YOUR BROOMS
So far this season, the Ducks have recorded seven victories without conceding a single point. UO's single-match dominance has slowly risen since the 2010 season. In 2010, Oregon recorded three match sweeps with that number continually rising each season since, culminating in 10 perfect wins last year. With half the season still to play, UO has the opportunity to surpass that mark and raise the bar even higher.

LOOKING AHEAD
Following the Ducks midweek match against the Broncos, UO will host both Drake and UC Santa Barbara next Saturday, March 24, and Monday, March 26.