University of Oregon
Iowa
UO Hits the Road After Winning Two Straight at Home
02/16/15 | Women's Tennis
EUGENE – The Oregon women's tennis team handed Iowa its first loss of the season with a gritty 4-3 win over the Hawkeyes on Sunday at the UO Outdoor Tennis Courts.
How It Happened: Marlou Kluiving and Nicole Long made quick work of Anastasia Reimchen and Morven McCulloch, besting the Iowa pair 6-3. Shortly afterwards, Kadie Hueffner and Lina Åkesson fell to Katie Zordani and Zoe Douglas at No. 3 doubles 6-3 to set up the showdown at the No. 1 slot.
Trailing 5-2 when the K. Hueffner and Åkesson's match wrapped up, the freshmen sensation team of Nia Rose and Alyssa Tobita roared back to tie things up at 5-5 before pulling away with the 7-5 win to clinch the doubles point for Oregon (3-2).
Tobita gave Oregon the 2-0 edge over Iowa (4-1) after besting Reimchen 6-2, 6-1 at the No. 2 slot. After a long battle with McCulloch in the second set, Long was able to put the match away with the 6-2, 7-5 victory at No. 3 to push Oregon's lead to 3-0 over the Hawkeyes.
Iowa picked up its first point at the No. 5 singles slot when Ellen Silver defeated Åkesson 6-2, 6-2, but the Ducks still held a 3-1 advantage.
Again, the Ducks leaned on Kluiving down the stretch, and the sophomore answered the call with a 7-5, 6-4 match-clinching win over Zordani in the No. 4 position. Kluiving kept her dual play record unblemished with the win (5-0) and moved to 13-2 overall in singles play.
Oregon dropped its remaining two matches at the No. 1 and No. 6 singles position, but not without the fight as both matches went into the third set.
Quotable:
Alison Silverio – UO Head Coach
On the freshmen coming back to win the doubles point…
“That was huge for our freshman to be in that position and to embrace it to come back and get the W for us. That put us in a great momentum for the match, putting us up 1-0. We've been talking about that and working on that a lot in practice, in the adverse situations and situations where we're down or situations that are tight and we need tough it out and push through. I thought the freshmen did a great job of that today. The team being behind them and bringing that energy to push them to that doubles win was also great to see.”
On winning the doubles point with the singles matches split at 3-3…
“Certainly that doubles point was huge. Not too long ago we had a 4-3 match didn't go our way against Minnesota. Even though we lost, I felt like we learned so much from that match. We were put in a similar situation today, and today we came out with the W. Iowa is a great team and they battled hard in every single spot and we were a little tougher today.”
On the importance of Marlou…
“Lou has been solid. She's been solid on match day, but that's been coming from her preparation. Every single day she comes out consistent and ready to work. She's there mentally and there physically and we're starting to get there consistently as a team. We still have some work to do for sure, but the more we can come and prepare on a consistent basis, the better we're going to be on match day and Lou's a prime example of that.
On looking ahead for the next two road matches…
It's a huge opportunity for us to have two home wins in a row against two quality teams and then to be able to go on the road with that momentum. We've got UC Santa Barbara and Santa Clara who two very talented teams again, and we'll be on their home courts but we'll be ready.
Up Next: The Ducks now hit the road for a pair of matches in Santa Barbara, Calif. UO will first take on UC Santa Barbara (Feb. 20) before battling Santa Clara (Feb. 21) in a neutral site match. Both matches will be at noon.
Oregon 4, Iowa 3
Eugene, Ore.
UO Outdoor Tennis courts
February 15, 2015
Singles
1. Shelby Talcott (UI) def. Nia Rose (ORE) 6-2, 4-6, 6-3
2. Alyssa Tobita (ORE) def. Anastasia Reimchen (UI) 6-2, 6-1
3. Nicole Long (ORE) def. Morven McCulloch (UI) 6-2, 7-5
4. Marlou Kluiving (ORE) def. Katie Zordani (UI) 7-5, 6-4
5. Ellen Silver (UI) def. Lina Åkesson (ORE) 6-2, 6-3
6. Zoe Douglas (UI) def. Allie Hueffner (ORE) 4-6, 6-4, 6-3
Order of Finish: 2, 3, 5, 4, 6, 1
Doubles
1. Rose/Tobita (ORE) def. Talcott/Dohanics (UI) 7-5
2. Long/Kluiving (ORE) def. Reimchen/McCulloch (UI) 6-3
3. Zordani/Douglas (UI) def. K. Hueffner/Åkesson (ORE) 6-3
Order of Finish: 2, 3, 1
Players Mentioned
