The senior Daniel Sardu has put his stamp on the men’s tennis program after setting records in four different areas.
Sardu from Sopra, Hungary ranks 10th in singles victories in one season with 22. From 2011 to 2013, Sardu and Aaron Clissold jumped Stewart Bartlett and Mark Evans for most doubles victories with 30 – which ranks them sixth. Sardu also holds the sixth spot with the most doubles victories in an individual career with 57. Before the 2015 season started, Sardu had the fourth most singles wins with 64.
“(Sardu) is a team guy,” head coach Nils Schyllander said. “He shows up and plays every team match and if you do that, the record are gonna take care of themselves along the way.”
For Sardu, getting into the record book doesn’t mean as much as success for the team.
“I had some big wins against Washington and Stanford last year which really helped me and the team,” Sardu said. “If you get those wins, then it gives you more confidence that you can win more matches against other teams.”
Daan Maasland, a three-year player with the team, remembers when he clinched the match against Stanford in their freshman year, giving Oregon its first win over the Cardinal in school history.
“Danny (Sardu) was still playing also and he ran over like two courts and joined the group who was celebrating, but his opponent was still serving,” Maasland said. “He was just happy that we won that he didnt even care about himself.”
On April 18, the Ducks had their senior day against Washington. Sardu and Joey Swaysland were the only seniors on the team. The team is full of youth.
For Maasland, playing in a rival match against Washington in the last match of the season meant he and the team wanted to put on a show.
“We had some very close losses on the road early,” Maasland said, “Of course it would have been nice to have won one even two out of those couples but it didn’t happen. So it was good that we stayed on and stayed positive.”
With the Ducks winning in the last Pac-12 match of the season 4-1, thier three wins in the Pac-12 gives them a conference record of 3-4 and fifth place finish. Oregon ended with an overall record of 14-8. The only other time the Ducks have been this successful in Pac-12 matches was in the 1999-2000 season.
“We didn’t have a great non-Pac-12 season,” Sardu said. “But we got three wins in the Pac-12 which is the most since I’ve been here, so overall the season is not over, but it’s been good. We are in a position to make the NCAA tournament and we have to go down to Ojai, California and win some matches.”
Follow Keoni Conlu on Twitter @kconlu13