Ducks Close Out Regular Season In Historic Fashion

Saturday, April 21

Berkeley, CA

1:00 PM

University of Oregon

California

Ducks Close Out Regular Season In Historic Fashion

04/21/18 | Men's Tennis

Match Results: Oregon 4, Cal 2

BERKELEY, Calif. - With high stakes on the line, the Oregon men's tennis team came into Saturday's match at Cal looking to avenge a gut-wrenching 4-3 loss to the Golden Bears earlier this season. After an inauspicious start to the match, the Ducks managed to rally from behind and defeat Cal 4-2 to exorcise their demons and record the program's first win against the Golden Bears.

"After a lackluster performance in doubles, the boys showed up and played our best singles of the year from top to bottom," said head coach Nils Schyllander. "We could not have picked a better time for a complete team effort."

With the win the Ducks close out the regular season 16-8 overall and 4-4 in the Pac-12, finishing fourth in the conference standings to secure a first round bye in the Pac-12 Tournament next week.

How it Happened: California gained the early upper hand over the Ducks securing the doubles point following wins at the No. 2 and No. 3 positions.

In singles play, Cal extended its lead as Jack Molloy downed senior Akihiro Tanaka, 6-1, 6-1, at the No. 3 spot.

Tanaka was the only Duck to not win his opening set against the Golden Bears as Thomas Laurent's 7-6(2) tiebreaker win over No. 58 Billy Griffith at the No. 1 spot gave UO the advantage on all five remaining courts.

And the Ducks did not let up from there as senior Simon Stevens snapped his four-match losing streak with a big 6-3, 6-3 win over J.T. Nishimura at the No. 2 position to get UO on the board, 2-1.

Sophomore Ty Gentry followed suit shortly afterwards, winning his second set tiebreaker to defeat Ben Draper, 6-2, 7-6(2), and put the teams on level terms.

After senior Cormac Clissold gave the Ducks the lead following a 6-3, 6-4 win at the No. 5 spot, it became a race between Laurent and freshman Riki Oshima to see who would clinch the match first.

Both remaining matches needed extra games in the second set to decide the winner, and while Oshima was locked with Cal's Jacob Brumm 6-6, Laurent managed to pull away to defeat Griffith, 7-6(2), 7-5, and secure the match victory.

Notable: Before today's match, the Ducks were 0-35 against Cal ... After defeating No. 58 Griffith, Laurent has now won 10 matches this year against ranked opponents ... Laurent and Gentry both finish the regular season with a team-high 24 singles wins, placing them in a tie for fourth on the UO single-season list.

Quotable: Head Coach Nils Schyllander
On Closing out the regular season strong...
"I'm very proud of how this team has come together since March and put together a string of great performances. There is still a lot of tennis to be played."

Up Next: The Ducks turn their attention to the Pac-12 Tournament which begins next Wednesday, April 25, in Ojai, Calif. After securing the No. 4 seed, UO will have a first round bye, facing the winner of the No. 5 seed vs the No. 8 seed match Thursday, April 26.