Ducks Set to Face Oklahoma, Iowa
02/17/16 | Women's Tennis
EUGENE – The Oregon women's tennis team travels to Norman, Okla., this weekend for a road match at Oklahoma and a neutral-site contest against Iowa.
The Ducks will face the Sooners to open the weekend on Friday at 3 p.m. PT, before returning to the Headington Tennis Center on Saturday at 8 a.m. to take on the Hawkeyes.
ABOUT THE DUCKS
Oregon enters the weekend with a 3-2 record after splitting a pair of ranked road matches at No. 15 Baylor and No. 44 Houston earlier this month. The Ducks are ranked 46th in the latest ITA team rankings released Wednesday. Newcomers Shweta Sangwan and Kennan Johnson each made their first appearances in the ITA singles rankings last week, with Johnson coming in a No. 93 and Sangwan sitting at No. 97. Sangwan leads the Ducks in singles wins this season with a 13-5 record. The freshman has won three-straight matches competing in the No. 3 position, and 10 of her last 12 going back to the fall. Second-year head coach Alison Silverio and assistant coach Tony Giannoni return four players from the 2014-15 campaign, while having added five newcomers.
LAST TIME OUT
The Oregon women's tennis team picked up its third win of the season earlier this month, downing Houston, 5-2.
The 44th-ranked Cougars jumped ahead of the Ducks early, taking the doubles point with wins on the first two doubles courts, as the third was given to Oregon by forfeit. Oregon's Kennan Johnson and Christi Woodson fell to Maria Cardenas and Tina Rupert, 6-2, on No. 2. Houston clinched the point with a 6-3 win over Nia Rose and Alyssa Tobita in the top doubles spot.
The Ducks picked up a point right out of the gate in singles with Houston being unable to fill the No. 6 spot. From that point, Oregon won four of the remaining five matches to seal the victory. Marlou Kluiving was the first Duck to strike, tallying a straight-set 6-3, 6-1 win on No. 5 to give Oregon its first lead of the day. Woodson added to the deficit with a 6-2, 7-5 win over Cardenas in the fourth position.
Houston responded when 32nd-ranked Despoina Vogasari edged Rose, 7-6(2), 6-4, in the top singles spot, making it 3-2.
Shweta Sangwan captured the Ducks' third win of the season when she took down Rocio Martin, 6-2, 6-4, on No. 3. It was the freshman's second win of the weekend and 13th overall this season. Alyssa Tobita added to the margin on No. 2, finishing off Houston's Tina Rupert in a thrilling 12-10, third-set-deciding tiebreaker to win 6-2, 1-6, 7-6(10).
DUCKS IN THE RANKINGS
The Oregon women's tennis team moved up to No. 46 in the latest team rankings released by the Intercollegiate Tennis Association on Wednesday, while sophomore Kennan Johnson and freshman Shweta Sangwan made their first appearances of the season in the ITA singles rankings.
Newcomers Sangwan (No. 97) and Johnson (No. 93) make their first appearances in the ITA singles rankings this season after each have posted strong starts to their 2016 campaign.
Johnson has recorded a 10-3 overall mark in singles play so far this season, including a 3-0 record against ranked opponents. The Baton Rouge, La., native's last ranked win came in a 7-5, 7-5 triumph over then No. 104 Ilinca Stoica of Virginia Tech to help the Ducks take down the 30th-ranked Hokies, 4-1. Sangwan leads the Ducks in singles wins this season with a 13-5 record. The freshman has won three-straight matches competing in the No. 3 position, and 10 of her last 12 going back to the fall. Sangwan knocked off Houston's Rocio Martin, 6-2, 6-4, last Sunday to clinch Oregon's win over the 44th-ranked Cougars.
SCOPING OUT THE SOONERS
Oklahoma enters Friday's tilt with the Sooners at 3-3 overall after a pair of losses to SMU and North Texas on the road last weekend. In singles, the Sooners are led by No. 52 Lily Miyazaki and No. 105 Emma Devine. Head coach David Mullins is in his seventh season at the helm of the Oklahoma tennis program, and brought on first-year assistant coach Vincent Saia last offseason. The Sooners are ranked No. 53 in the latest ITA team rankings.
EYEING THE HAWKEYES
Winners of six in a row, the Iowa Hawkeyes are hot coming into this Saturday's match with the Ducks. Iowa is coming off a double-header sweep of Missouri-Kansas City and Illinois State. Anastasia Reimchen competes primarily in the No. 1 spot for the Hawkeyes, posting a 4-1 mark in singles so far this season. Iowa hasn't lost a doubles match so far this spring, posting a combined 15-0 record in dual action. The Hawkeyes are led by head coach seventh-year Katie Dougherty and second-year assistant coach Denise Dy.
STRENGTH OF SCHEDULE
The Ducks will be well-tested heading into Pac-12 play in March, with eight of their 12 non-conference opponents appearing in the latest ITA team rankings. Texas Tech, Baylor and Long Beach State each currently hold top-40 rankings, with Texas Tech sitting at the highest position at the poll at No. 10. The road doesn't get any easier for the Ducks come conference play, with the Pac-12 looking to be one of the strongest conferences in the country once again. Nine teams in the conference hold national rankings with California (No. 1), USC (No. 11), and Stanford (No. 13) currently in the top 15.
SPOILS OF YOUTH
For the first time since the 2009-10 season, the Oregon women's tennis team will not have a “Senior Day” in 2016. This year's Oregon roster includes two juniors, three sophomores and four freshmen, but no seniors.
FROM FAR AND WIDE
The 2016 Oregon women's tennis roster is made up of players from all corners of the country and globe. The Ducks hail from five different states (California, Florida, Louisiana, New Mexico, and New York) and three different countries (India, Netherlands and the United States).
ROAD WARRIORS
The Ducks will spend much of the season on the road, with 10 of their 12 non-conference dual matches away from home. Oregon will host Boise State on March 5 for its only remaining non-conference home match.
YOUNG GUNS
The 2015-16 Oregon women's tennis roster features five newcomers, including four freshmen. The Ducks' new additions have started the season strong, combining for a 38-22 record through the fall and early spring. Junior Marlou Kluiving, and Oregon newcomers Shweta Sangwan and Kennan Johnson are already on their way to a stellar campaign, having already reached the 10-win mark this season.
POWERHOUSE PAIR
Oregon's duo of Nia Rose and Alyssa Tobita was a force to be reckoned with at the No. 1 position last season. The two compiled a 25-10 doubles record during the 2014-15 season. Their 25 wins surpassed the former Duck pair of Dominika Dieskova and Daria Panova (23-12) for the No. 2 spot on the all-time doubles single-season wins list. Rose and Tobita served up the 2016 season with a 2-1 weekend at the Long Beach Invitational, and were victorious yet again in the Ducks' home opener against Idaho, shutting out the Vandals' No. 1 doubles team, 6-0. The tandem is off to a 3-2 start to their sophomore season.
NO SOPHOMORE SLUMP
Marlou Kluiving had a monstrous sophomore campaign in 2015, owning a 23-9 overall record in singles play. The 23 wins tied her with Katie Glyn and Pavlina Smatova for seventh on the all-time single-season singles wins list. After an 11-7 start to her junior season, Kluiving is currently Oregon's active leader in singles wins with 38.
SILVERIO INKS FIVE-STAR JULIA ESHET
Oregon women's tennis head coach Alison Silverio announced the signing of five-star recruit Julia Eshet in November. A native of Hollywood, Fla., Eshet is ranked No. 5 in the state of Florida, No. 9 in the southeast region and No. 35 nationally, according to TennisRecruiting.net.
With a 25-8 overall record on the junior circuit, Eshet is 9-1 against four-star recruits, 7-4 against fellow five-star recruits and 2-2 against blue-chip recruits. In March, Eshet defeated top-seeded Tiffany Huber, 6-3, 6-0, in the finals of the Biscayne Tennis Open to take home the singles title. A week earlier, she tallied two straight-set wins to reach the finals at the Tier One Tennis Spring L6 Championships.
In the last year, Eshet has also earned singles titles at the USTA Florida Junior State Championships, the Holiday Level 6 Championships and the Broward Turkey Bowl.
Players Mentioned
