On Saturday, Oregon recorded their first ever win over Cal to close out the regular season.
The Ducks didn’t wait long to get win number two. Facing the Golden Bears on Thursday, Oregon pulled out a 4-3 win to advance to the semifinals of the Pac-12 Tournament.
Unlike their match on Saturday, the Ducks jumped out to the early 1-0 lead by winning the doubles point. Armando Soemarno and Charles Roberts came away with a 6-2 win, before Simon Stevens and Ty Gentry clinched the point with a 6-4 win out of the No. 2 spot.
The doubles point turned out to be the difference maker, with the Ducks and Golden Bears splitting its six singles matches.
The Ducks’ Cormac Clissold defeated Jacob Brumm on Saturday, but Brumm got back at the Australian, pulling out a 6-3, 6-3 win to even the match at one.
Akihiro Tanaka put the Ducks up 2-1 with a 6-3, 7-6 win over Ben Draper. Cal evened the match at two thanks to a 1-6, 6-3, 6-4 win for the Golden Bears’ Bjorn Hoffman over freshman Riki Oshima.
Stevens and Gentry won together in doubles, but had mixed results in singles. Stevens defeated JT Nishimura for the second consecutive match, 6-2, 3-6, 6-1 to put Oregon up 3-2. But, Cal evened the match at three when Paul Barretto defeated Gentry in three sets, 6-3, 2-6, 6-4.
It all came down to the No. 1 match, with the Ducks’ No. 22 Thomas Laurent against No. 54 Billy Griffith. It took three sets, but the Oregon junior pulled out the 6-3, 6-7, 6-3 win to clinch the match for the Ducks.
Oregon faces UCLA on Friday at 1 p.m. in the Pac-12 semifinals.
Follow Cole Kundich on Twitter @ckundich