The Oregon men’s tennis team has established itself as a legitimate contender in the ITA in the last three years and aims to turn more heads in 2015. The Ducks have won 49 matches in that span — their most prolific stretch in nearly 20 years — and accumulated three straight 16-win season for the first time since 1979-1982.
Oregon prospered in its in 17-10 2014 season, advancing to its first Pac-12 Championship semifinal in program history. The Ducks defeated Washington for their first win in the conference tournament, and eliminated Stanford to reach the semifinals, just the second time in school history Oregon has taken down the Cardinal. UCLA, boasting two nationally ranked doubles teams and five nationally ranked singles players, swept Oregon in the semifinal and went on to win the Pac-12 title.
Oregon opened the season ranked No. 52 in ITA, but ascended to No. 24 on March 16, after winning 14 of its first 15 matches. The milestone marked the first time in school history in which the team reached a top 25 national ranking. The Ducks defeated their highest ranked opponent in school history against No. 15 Boise State, snapped their 18-match losing streak to Washington, and ended Drake’s 37-match home winning streak.
Oregon’s unexpected success qualified it for a birth in the NCAA Championship for the first time in 10 years, but the Cinderella story ended in the first round with a 4-2 loss to North Carolina State. Sophomore Daniel Sardu and freshman Jayson Amos earned the Ducks’ first ever points at the NCAA tournament. Nils Schyllander was named the Wilson/ITA Regional Coach of the Year in his eighth year as head coach of the men’s team.
Duplicating their decorated 2014 season will be a tall task, but the Ducks’ men’s tennis team is up for the challenge. Oregon will play without the program’s all-time winningest player, Robin Cambier, who graduated in 2014 after posting a 90-43 career singles record and 93-31 career record in doubles. Cormac Clissold of Ruse, New South Wales in Australia will join the Ducks for the spring season. The brother of Aaron Clissold, who played for the Ducks from 2009-2013, Cormac is ranked No. 90 in the Australian Men’s rankings and No. 711 in the Internal Tennis Federation rankings.
True freshman Simon Stevens from Charleroi, Belgium joined the team this fall and posted a 5-3 record in singles and went 4-2 in doubles. Stevens won his first collegiate singles match at the ITA All-American Championships and went 3-1 in doubles with junior Daan Maasland as together they reached the round of 16 at the ITA Northwest Regional Championships. Maasland claimed the flight one singles title at the PNW Intercollegiates this fall with a win over Washington standout Emmett Egger in the championship match.
“The team goal is to reach the Sweet 16 of the NCAA championship and to have a good season in the Pac-12, as well,” Maasland said. “It’s going to be really tough. We made it to the NCAA tournament last year, which was great, but now we want to take even two steps forward.”
Redshirt freshman Alex Marcinkowski finished 3-3 in singles and 1-2 in doubles alongside junior Brent Chin in his first fall season with the Ducks. Fellow redshirt freshman Blake Anthony, who was ranked as high at No. 142 nationally, posted a 3-3 singles record and 1-1 doubles record with Alberto Reyes.
In total, nine players and six letter winners return to build on the Ducks’ banner 2014 season. Oregon will play 11 home matches and 12 road matches this season including a road match against North Carolina, who finished No. 7 in ITA and reached the NCAA quarterfinals last season.
“The 2015 schedule is loaded with opportunities,” Schyllander told GoDucks.com. “The non-conference schedule is the toughest we have ever had, which should have us ready for conference play. As coaches we feel we have the depth to navigate through this challenging schedule and we cannot wait to get started.”
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