The No. 72 Oregon men’s tennis team is ready to face the elements.
For the first time this season, the Ducks will play outdoors when they travel to New Mexico, beginning with a match today against New Mexico State.
“We’ve been working this week on preparing for the elements,” head coach Chris Russell said. “They need to practice battling the wind, the sun and other things you don’t get indoors.”
New Mexico State, which leads the Sun Belt Conference with a 2-0 conference record, is 7-2 overall this season, including victories over No. 59 Yale and No. 71 Arkansas.
Oregon will play No. 65 Texas-Arlington on Saturday and No. 73 New Mexico on Sunday. Texas-Arlington is 4-4 this season, but winless against ranked teams. New Mexico is 5-4 with wins over No. 69 Boise State and Arkansas.
“All three teams are about at our level,” Russell said. “We need to play very well to beat any one of those teams.”
The Ducks are 6-2 this season, and are 1-2 against ranked opponents, beating No. 63 Brigham Young. Oregon’s matches on the road have been tight, beating Portland 4-3, and losing to No. 69 Boise State 4-3.
Sophomore Chris King is undefeated (5-0) in singles this season at the fifth and sixth spots in the lineup. Freshman Manuel Kost is 6-2 at the No. 1 and No. 2 spots.
The next home match for the Ducks is on March 8 against Sacramento State. After that match, Oregon will travel to California to play UC-Santa Barbara, Santa Clara, Pacific, Stanford and California.
The Ducks will return home on April 5 for weekend matches against Arizona State and Arizona.
“Our schedule is now progressively getting tougher,” Russell said. “And most of them will be on the road and outdoors. It will prepare us for what we’ll face during the (Pacific-10 Conference) schedule.”

Women travel

to No. 3 Stanford
The Oregon women’s tennis team will continue its Pac-10 schedule as it travels to the Bay Area.
The No. 59 Ducks play No. 3 Stanford today in Palo Alto, Calif. The Cardinal are 8-1 overall (1-0 Pac-10).
Stanford’s only loss came against Georgia, which is the top-ranked team in the country. In Pac-10 play, the Cardinal dominated No. 14 California, 7-0 last Saturday in Berkeley, Calif.
No. 9 Lauren Barnikow leads a Stanford lineup with eight players ranked in the top 132.
Oregon will play California on Sunday. The Golden Bears are 5-1, including victories over No. 67 Loyola Marymount and No. 30 Pepperdine.
The Ducks will try to rebound after losses last weekend to Washington and Washington State. Oregon’s record is 7-5 (0-4 Pac-10).