A 2-0 start to the season was on the line. Oregon’s Jayson Amos was on court No. 3 with the dual tied at 3-3.
He lost the first set 6-4 but fought in the second to take it 7-5. The third set started tied at 2, but Amos pulled away and won 6-2. The Ducks won the dual.
“Those are the situations that I want to be in, so no added pressure really,” Amos said. “I tend to focus better. I enjoy having my teammates supporting me. It’s a really special thing.”
The Ducks defeated the Utah State Aggies 4-3 with Amos’ win. It was their second match of a doubleheader. Earlier in the day, they defeated Montana State 5-0.
It was a tough battle for the doubles point. On the first doubles court, Utah State’s Kai Wenhelt and Samuel Serrano controlled the match, eventually defeating Amos and Armando Soemarno, 6-3. Oregon answered with a victory on court No. 3. Cormac Clissold and Thomas Laurent defeated Utah State’s Jamie Barajas and Sergiu Bucur, 6-4.
The doubles point came down to the result on court No. 2. For Oregon, it was freshman Ty Gentry and junior Simon Stevens, and for Utah State it was Jonas Maier and Jack Swindells. The Ducks were close to sending it to a tiebreaker, but the Aggies narrowly edged out the hosts with a 7-5 victory.
The Aggies took a 1-0 dual lead.
“I just said, ‘We’ve been in this situation many times before,’ ” head coach Nils Schyllander said. “Remember the positives. Know you’ve been there and trust yourself.”
Oregon’s No. 33-ranked Laurent defeated Wenhelt 6-3, 6-3 on court No. 1 to give Oregon its first point. On court six, Utah State’s Bocur defeated Gentry 6-1, 7-5 to extend Utah State’s overall lead to 2-1.
The dual continued to go back and forth.
Oregon’s Akihiro Tanaka came back from down 5-1 in the second set to win court four 6-3, 7-6 (7-4). He defeated Utah State’s Bucur. After losing in the first set 6-4, Oregon’s Clissold went to 2-0 to grab the victory on court five.
“[Tanaka] was a stud in tonight’s singles matches,” Schyllander said.
Two matches were left and Oregon need a victory on just one of them for a win.
On court two, Utah State’s Swindells was leading Stevens. It was close, with Stevens battling the entire way, but Swindells eventually won 7-5, 7-6 (7-5).
Only Amos was left. He gave Oregon its final point for the 4-3 victory.
“I’m ready to go home and sit down on the couch for a couple of hours. That took a couple years of my life,” Schyllander said.
Oregon’s next match is against Rice in the ITA kick-off weekend on Jan. 28.
Follow Jack Butler on twitter @Butler917