Ducks Drop Pac-12 Opener

Friday, March 9

Eugene, OR

5:00 PM

University of Oregon

UCLA

03/09/18 | Men's Tennis

Box Score: Oregon 1, UCLA 4

EUGENE, Ore. – The Oregon men's tennis dropped its first home match of the season Friday night, falling to No. 4 UCLA, 4-1, in its Pac-12 opener at the Student Tennis Center. The Ducks entered the night with a 10-game win streak at home.

How It Happened: The intensity of the match was evident from the start as all three doubles matches were closely contested. All three matches were tied at one point, with the No. 1 and No. 3 matches tied at 5-5 and the No. 2 battle at 4-4.

After having their six-game win streak snapped last weekend, the doubles squad of Cormac Clissold and Thomas Laurent improved to 8-3 in the spring with a 6-4 win in the No. 2 spot. The match was tied 4-4 before Clissold and Laurent took a 5-4 lead and then broke UCLA's serve for the victory.

Oregon had its opportunities to take the doubles point, but couldn't finish off the Bruins despite having the match point in the No. 1 doubles match. Each of the final matches went to tie-breakers and ultimately in favor of UCLA.

Trailing 3-0, the Ducks got on the board behind Clissold, who quickly took care of UCLA's Logan Staggs 6-4, 6-4. Staggs entered the match at No. 62 in the most recent ITA rankings, but Clissold made quick work of one of UCLA's three players in the top 65.

UCLA put the match away just minutes after Clissold's win, earning the match-clinching point in the top singles showdown that featured a pair of top 15 players in No. 3 Martin Redlicki (UCLA) and No. 13 Thomas Laurent of Oregon. Trailing 5-2 in the first set, Laurent rallied to force the tie-breaker before falling 7-6 (4) and 6-3.

Notable: Clissold picked up a singles and doubles win in the same match for the fifth time this season. His singles win was the 60^th of his career.

Up Next: Oregon will look to bounce back from its first home loss of the season when it hosts its second straight top 15 opponent in No. 13 USC on Saturday. Doubles action inside the Student Tennis Center will get underway at 1 p.m.