Ducks Sweep Past Idaho and Seattle U

Sunday, January 20

Eugene, OR

10:00 AM

University of Oregon

Idaho

Photo by: Samuel Marshall

01/20/19 | Men's Tennis

Oregon 7, Idaho 0 Oregon 7, Seattle U 0

By: Zach Lawson

EUGENE, Ore. – The University of Oregon men's tennis team won 17 of 18 matches Sunday on its way to a pair of season-opening sweeps at the Student Tennis Center. The Ducks opened the day with a sweep of Idaho which doubled as career win No. 175 for head coach Nils Schyllander. Oregon (2-0) wrapped its day with a 7-0 triumph over Seattle U.

"I think (the team) is ready to go," Schyllander said following Sunday's matches. "We're deep and we got to play a lot of players today which was great. I think they all did well and did what they were supposed to do. They were two pretty quick matches so we didn't put too much mileage on our bodies before we head down to Stanford next week."

Individually, senior Thomas Laurent is now tied for third on the program's all-time singles wins list and tied for fifth on the UO doubles list. The Montpellier, France, native went 2-0 in singles play Sunday and picked up a doubles win with Emmanuel Coste against Seattle U.

Oregon 7, Idaho 0

The Ducks won two of three doubles matches to take the opening point. With a win already in the books from Joshua Charlton and Ty Gentry, the No. 38-ranked duo of Armando Soemarno and Charles Roberts clinched the doubles point with a 6-4 win at the top spot in the lineup.

Oregon continued to roll in single play with no player allowing more than one game to his opponent in the first set. At the top of the Ducks' singles lineup, Laurent and Coste were the first two Ducks off the court for the early 3-0 match lead. Laurent and Coste are ranked No. 5 and 99, respectively, in the ITA pre-spring rankings.

Charlton clinched the match with his 6-1, 6-1 win at the fifth spot. After wins by Gentry and Riki Oshima, the home team secured the 7-0 sweep with a win by Roberts in the No. 6 spot. The sophomore closed the match with an ace.

Oregon 7, Seattle U 0

Once again, the Ducks made quick work of their opponents in doubles play to secure the 1-0 match lead. Charlton and Gentry registered a 6-0 win at No. 3 doubles to get things going. As they did in the morning match, Soemarno and Roberts clinched the doubles point with a victory in the first position. The Ducks' duo is now 9-1 this season.

Oshima posted a double bagel—6-0, 6-0—to give Oregon its first singles point against Seattle. The Ducks led 3-0 after a straight-set win by Charlton and senior Ethan Young-Smith finished off the win in the No. 6 spot with a 6-1, 6-1 victory.

With the victory in hand, play continued on the other courts which results in wins for Laurent, Coste and freshman Evan Felcher in his first-career dual appearance.

"It's the first couple of matches so you have to get used to hitting against different people who aren't your teammates," Laurent said. "When you have a team of 10 players, you get a lot of different styles so we mix it up all the time and are good at identifying our opponent's games."

Up Next
The Ducks travel to Palo Alto, Calif., for the ITA Kick-Off Weekend (Jan. 26-27) hosted by Stanford. In its opener, Oregon will take on Minnesota and then play either Stanford or UCF to close out the weekend. The team's next home match is Feb. 1 against San Diego.

For more information about Oregon men's tennis, follow @OregonMTennis on Instagram and Twitter.