The Oregon men find themselves in a similar situation competition-wise as the women, entering the Pac-10 Tournament, also held in Ojai. UCLA, the fifth-ranked team in the nation and the Pac-10 regular season champion, is one of three Pac-10 schools in the top-10 nationally along with No. 8 Stanford and No. 9 USC.
The Oregon men (9-15, 0-7) struggled throughout the Pacific-10 Conference regular season, and have not won a match since they faced San Francisco on March 28. Juniors Alex Cornelissen and Marcos Verdasco will lead the way for the Ducks in doubles play, and will likely play at the No. 1 and No. 2 singles spots as well.
The duo have been two of the more consistent players on the Ducks roster, and will surely have their work cut out for them this weekend. USC’s Robert Farah (No. 7 in the nation in singles play) and Steve Johnson enter the tournament as the second-ranked doubles tandem in the nation, while Cal’s Geoff Chizever and Pedro Zerbini come in at No. 18.
For freshmen Sho Higuchi, Jose’ Izquierdo and Ayrton Wibowo, this weekend will be their first experience at the Pac-10s. Men’s singles play begins this morning at Libby Park, while doubles begins tomorrow. The finals for both men and women will be Sunday morning.
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