The Washington men's tennis team heads to Oregon this weekend for its final dual match of the season. This will be the 120th time that the two teams have played, with the UW coming out victorious 112 times — including once this season when they defeated Oregon 7-0 at home.

The match this weekend will be on familiar territory for UW associate head coach Chris Russell, who was the coach at Oregon for nine years before coming to Washington.

"There's a fair bit of nostalgia," Russell said. "I have a lot of good memories there."

Russell's current team is having a very successful season, with the Huskies (15-6, 3-3 Pac-10) currently in a three-way tie for third in the conference behind USC and UCLA — who are both unbeaten in conference play. The UW lost to both teams three weeks ago in California to Cal, then lost to Cal at home before getting its first Pac-10 wins with victories over Stanford, Arizona State and Arizona.

"We played all right at UCLA despite losing," Russell said. "At USC, we could have played better, although, of course they played great. Cal was a heartbreaker: We were playing at home. We were in a position to win, but we let it get away. We've stepped it up since then though, and we've been playing some decisive tennis."

Going on the road this weekend will be an added challenge for the Huskies. All but one of the men's losses this season have come in away matches against ranked opponents.

"We need to prove ourselves on the road," coach Matt Anger said.

Three players who will be key in providing leadership as the Huskies finish out their season are seniors Alex Slovic, Daniel Chu and Michael Ricks. All are heading into the final dual match of their college careers, and all have been valuable contributors to the team this season. Slovic in particular has been making his presence known over the past few weeks. He has twice been named Pac-10 Player of the Week and is coming into the Oregon match with four-straight singles victories, including three overranked opponents. Slovic, who is fourth on the Husky career singles win list with 92 victories, is currently No. 74 in the nation after struggling with injuries early in the season.

"We won matches earlier in the season without Slovic at his best, and now that he's healthy, he gives us that much more confidence," Russell said. "It's an exciting time for us — we're starting to play better as a team. Adding everything together, we have some great chances to be successful."

Reach reporter Risa Pavia at sports@thedaily.washington.edu.