OREGON WOMEN’S TENNIS EARNS WEEKEND SPLIT AND FINISHES 4-1 ON HOMESTAND

A 6-1 win over Boise State and 3-4 loss to Fresno State capped off the Ducks’ remaining home non conference games.

BY BRADY RUTH • TWITTER @BRADYRUTH10

It was nearly perfect.

Oregon women’s tennis (6-3) had a great opportunity to build some serious momentum before conference play with a five match non-conference home stand. Two weekends ago, the Ducks played their final two matches of the aforementioned sequence as Boise State (6-3) and Fresno State (4-5) came to Eugene.

The Ducks entered the weekend on a three match win streak after collecting home victories over Portland on Feb. 4, Iowa on Feb. 10 and Saint Mary’s on Feb. 12. The weekend against the Broncos and Bulldogs provided the chance to remain undefeated at home in 2023.

It started off with the Ducks whooping the Broncos 6-1 last Friday. Oregon snagged the doubles point with set wins by Sophie Luescher and Uxia Martinez Moral 6-2 over Nicole Discenza and Lorelyz Marruffo and Jo-Yee Chan and Ares Teixido Garcia 6-2 over Joana Baptista and Holly Stewart.

In singles play, the Ducks were dominant again. Luescher had Oregon’s lone singles loss on the day to Boise State’s Pauline Ernstberger. But the rest of the Ducks were victorious on Friday. Tiexido Garcia picked up a two-set win over Marruffo; Karin Young defeated Stewart in three sets; Martinez Moral swept Baptista to earn her sixth singles win of 2023; Chan took down Discenza in two sets and Misaki Kobayashi shut down Shauna Heffernan for her second win of the season.

It was a great match for the Ducks and a huge first step in accomplishing their goal of a perfect weekend. But a stumble in doubles play against Fresno State put an end to Oregon’s four match winning streak.

Chan and Teixido Garcia improved to 7-0 together in 2023 with their doubles win. But Kobayashi and Martinez Moral lost 2-6 to Pang Jittakoat and Matilde Magrini, and Lillian Mould and Myah Petchey lost 2-6 to Carolina Piferi and Carlotta Nonnis Marzano.

After losing the doubles point, Oregon needed to win four of the six singles matches to beat the Bulldogs, but were only able to capture three.

Teixido Garcia, Martinez Moral and Chan all picked up wins over Fresno State opponents. Teixido Garcia used three sets to defeat Magrini, but Martinez Moral and Chan needed just two to take down Piferi and Mariya Vyshkina.

Unfortunately for the Ducks, Luescher’s rough weekend continued with a three set loss to Jittakoat. Young lost in three sets to Cristina Flaquer, and Kobayashi was swept by Nonnis Marzano. Had just one of Luescher or Young’s sets gone differently, the Ducks would have defeated the Bulldogs. Instead, the Ducks fell 3-4 to Fresno State and suffered their first home loss of 2023 snapping their win streak.

Regardless, Oregon has one more match to get back in its groove before conference play begins on March 3. The Ducks are set to play UC Santa Barbara (1-7) on Feb. 26 for their final non conference play winds down.

The Ducks will look to improve their records as Pac-12 play looms.

Currently, in singles play, Luescher is 2-3, Petchey is 0-3, Teixido Garcia is 7-2, Young is 3-3, Martinez Moral is 7-1, Kobayashi is 2-2 and Chan is 6-1.

Maybe the loss to Fresno State was just a bump in the road. Sunday’s match against the Gauchos will tell for sure. Either way, Pac-12 play is coming, and Oregon needs to be ready.