University of Oregon
Ohio State
Ducks Take Down the Buckeyes, 4-3
03/04/12 | Women's Tennis
EUGENE, Ore. - The University of Oregon women's tennis team defeated Ohio State University, 4-3, on Sunday (Mar. 4) in front of a record crowd at the Student Tennis Center. The victory marks the fourth consecutive win for the Ducks since dropping to Stanford one month ago on Feb. 4.
"It's a great win for us today," said head coach Paul Reber. "I'm really proud of the way our girls prepared and competed. We targeted this as one of our bigger matches of the year and they were able to rise up to the occasion."
After dropping the doubles point to start the dual, Oregon (7-2) looked to their upperclassmen to steady the ship. Junior Julia Metzger and senior Trudie du Toit turned things around for the Ducks posting two quick singles wins. Metzger downed Ohio State's (5-7) Kara Cecil 6-1, 6-3 while du Toit defeated Kelsey Haviland 6-4, 6-2.
The 2-1 dual lead evaporated when Ohio State's Gabby Steele defeated Pascale Neubert 6-3, 6-1. The Buckeyes and Ducks proceeded to trade singles victories with Oregon's Rabea Stueckemann taking out Ohio State's Tiffany Dittmer 6-3, 3-6, 6-3 and the Buckeye's Kelsey Dieters beating the UO's Sofia Hager 7-6, 6-4.
With the dual tied at three with one match remaining, all focus shifted to court #2 and Patricia Skowronski. The junior from Braunschweig, Germany battled with Fidan Manashirova in a three-set, back and forth match. With the energy building in the crowd and the dual result on the line, Skowronski rattled off eight consecutive points to take an insurmountable lead over Manashirova. After breaking serve to get to 6-5, Skowronski held serve and took the final set 7-5 ultimately winning the match 4-6, 6-3, 7-5.
"A great job to Trudie (du Toit) and Julia (Metzger)," remark coach Reber. "They got us off to a quick start and also Patze (Skowronski) for clinching the match in a long three-setter."
The Ducks will have a week off before their next match at home against Eastern Washington on Mar. 11. Follow the Ducks all year long at GoDucks.com for the latest news, stats, rankings and updates.
Players Mentioned
