Ducks Hit the Road to Face Baylor, Houston
02/04/16 | Women's Tennis
EUGENE – The Oregon women's tennis team heads back to Texas this weekend for a pair of road tests against No. 15 Baylor and No. 44 Houston.
The Ducks will open the weekend Friday in Waco, Texas, with a showdown against the Bears at 3 p.m. PT, before traveling south to Houston for Sunday's match with the Cougars at 10 a.m. PT.
ABOUT THE DUCKS
Oregon enters the weekend with a 2-1 record after splitting top-30 matches in its first weekend of dual action and knocking off Idaho at home last Saturday. The Ducks are looking to build on their momentum and add to their resumé when they head south to Texas for another pair of ranked road matches. The Ducks are ranked 51st in the latest ITA team rankings, their highest standing in the poll in nearly six years. 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 was triumphant in its first home match of the season last Saturday, defeating Idaho 6-1 at the Student Tennis Center.
The Ducks jumped out to an early lead, earning victories on doubles courts one and two to take the doubles point. Nia Rose and Alyssa Tobita set the tone for the match with a 6-0 shutout over Claire Yang and Belen Barcenilla in the top doubles spot. Soon after, Marlou Kluiving and Shweta Sangwan finished off Idaho's Rita Bermudez and Maria Tavares 6-1.
Much like in doubles, Tobita and Rose were the first players off the court in singles. Both posted straight-set victories to quickly give the Ducks a 3-0 lead and put the Vandals' backs against the wall. Tobita was the first to strike, handing Tavares a 6-2, 6-1 loss on No. 2, just seconds before Rose defeated Barcenilla 6-1, 6-2 in the No. 1 spot.
A late addition to the Duck singles lineup, Daniela Nasser clinched the win for Oregon with a 6-0, 6-1 drubbing of Idaho's Lucia Badillos on court six. The win was her fifth-straight singles victory going back to the fall tournament season. Kluiving and Sangwan added to Oregon's lead with straight-set triumphs of their own. Kluiving downed Idaho's Celine Koets 6-4, 6-2 in the fifth singles spot, and Sangwan knocked off Ana Batiri 6-1, 6-2 on No. 3.
DUCKS IN THE RANKINGS
The Oregon women's tennis team moved up nine spots to No. 51 in the latest set of team rankings released by the Intercollegiate Tennis Association last week. The ranking is the Ducks' highest team ranking since being slotted at No. 46 on March 3, 2009.
Freshman Shweta Sangwan and sophomore Kennan Johnson sit in a three-way tie for No. 59 in the ITA doubles rankings after going 4-1 as a tandem in the fall and advancing to the semifinals of the doubles main draw at the Jack Kramer Invitational in November. Johnson makes her second appearance in the poll after coming in at No. 56 in the ITA preseason doubles rankings with teammate Marlou Kluiving. The selection marks Sangwan's first time in the rankings.
Sangwan and Johnson are ranked No. 6 in the regional doubles rankings. Johnson is ranked No. 18 in the region in singles.
SCOPING OUT THE BEARS
No. 15 Baylor enters Friday's tilt against the Ducks with a 3-2 overall record. The Bears are coming off a pair of home losses to 48th-ranked Tulsa and 9th-ranked Texas A&M last weekend. Baylor's roster features the 12th-ranked doubles tandem of Blair Shankle and Kiah Generette who have tallied a 5-1 record when competing together. Generette leads the Bears in singles as well with a 2-1 record in dual action competing in the No. 1 spot. Baylor is led by 14th-year head coach Joey Scrivano, sixth-year associate head coach Alison Ojeda and first-year assistant coach Emily Newton.
CASING THE COOGS
Houston enters Sunday's matchup as the 44th-ranked team in the nation. The Cougars are still searching for their first win this season after suffering losses at Wisconsin and DePaul last weekend. No. 34 Despoina Vogasari heads up the Houston tennis roster, coming in at No. 34 in the ITA singles rankings with a 12-6 overall mark this season. The Cougars are led by first-year head coach Courtney Steinbock and first-year assistant coach Jason Potthoff.
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, Oklahoma, Baylor and Long Beach State each currently hold top-40 rankings, with Baylor sitting at the highest position at the poll at No. 15. 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 USC (No. 4), California (No. 6) and Stanford (No. 8) currently in the top 10.
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. Two Oregon newcomers (freshman Shweta Sangwan and sophomore 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 last weekend against Idaho, shutting out the Vandals' No. 1 doubles team, 6-0, to move to 3-1 as a tandem.
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 four wins in the fall and five wins so far this spring, Kluiving is currently Oregon's active leader in singles wins with 36.
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.
LOOKING FORWARD
After the Ducks' wind up their Texas road trip this weekend, the team gets a week off before heading to Norman, Okla., to face No. 37 Oklahoma on Feb. 19 and Iowa in a neutral site match on Feb. 20.
Players Mentioned
