Ducks Set for Pac-12 Championships in Ojai
04/19/16 | Women's Tennis
EUGENE – The Oregon women's tennis team heads to Ojai, Calif., this week for the 2016 Pac-12 Championship at the Ojai Valley Athletic Club. Unlike other conferences, the Pac-12 does not have a team tournament for women's tennis, so players will compete individually in singles and doubles for the Pac-12 crown.
Competition is set to get underway on Thursday and run through Sunday. Sunday's singles and doubles finals will be aired live on Pac-12 Network.
ABOUT THE DUCKS
The Ducks wrapped up the regular season with an 11-11 record and a 3-7 mark in Pac-12 play. Oregon is coming off a tough road trip last weekend in which the team dropped a pair of 5-2 matches to No. 66 Long Beach State and Loyola Marymount. The Ducks are positioned at No. 55 in the latest ITA team rankings released on Tuesday. Freshman Shweta Sangwan and sophomore Alyssa Tobita lead the Ducks in singles wins this season with a 21 wins apiece. Tobita has been a force this spring, recording a 16-4 record during dual play. In doubles, Tobita and sophomore Nia Rose have teamed up to 12 matches this season competing predominately in the No. 2 spot, making them the second-winningest tandem in program history less than two seasons into their collegiate careers. Head coach Alison Silverio and assistant coach Tony Giannoni lead the Ducks in their second season at the helm of the Oregon women's tennis program.
LAST TIME OUT
The Oregon women's tennis team fell, 5-2, to Loyola Marymount Sunday afternoon in its regular season finale at the LMU Tennis Center.
Once again, Oregon was forced to forfeit matches at No. 3 and No. 6 singles due to injury, putting the Ducks in a 1-0 hole to start the match while forcing the team to win on both of the top two doubles courts in order to capture the doubles point.
Oregon's Marlou Kluiving and Shweta Sangwan came up short, 6-2, on No. 2 to the doubles point to the Lions. Coming off a ranked win on the top doubles court on Friday, sophomores Nia Rose and Alyssa Tobita did not finish their match,
In singles, LMU extended its lead to 3-0 after Paloma Gomez fell, 6-1, 6-3, to Tatijana Sheikhan in the No. 5 spot.
The Ducks got on the board when Alyssa Tobita earned a 6-1, 7-6(5) decision over Andrea Crespo on No. 2 for her 21st victory of the season. The sophomore moved to an impressive 16-3 mark in dual action on the year.
The Ducks wouldn't be able to add another win before the Lions clinched the match with a Jessica Perez 6-4, 5-7, 6-1 win over Rose in the top singles spot.
After the match was clinched, Marlou Kluiving won her second of the weekend with a 2-6, 6-3, 6-4 triumph over Anna Romeka on No. 4. Kluiving is now 19-12 overall on the season, and boasts a team-leading 46 singles wins for her career.
The Lions would take the final win of the day as freshman Shweta Sangwan fell in three sets, 6-4, 3-6, 6-3.
DYNAMIC DUO
Nia Rose and Alyssa Tobita's win on in the Ducks' match against Arizona gave them 35 as a tandem for their careers, giving the Duck duo sole possession of second in the program record book for career doubles wins. Rose and Tobita currently sit 14 wins behind program leaders Dieskova and Olivos (51, 2005-07) for first place. The two sophomores are 12-5 overall this season (10-4 in dual action) to follow up a 25-10 mark together as freshmen. Rose and Tobita picked up their second ranked win of the season on Friday against Long Beach State, in a 6-4 victory over No. 37 Laura Eales and Hayley Thompson to move into the ITA doubles rankings at No. 81 this week.
SPOILS OF YOUTH
In previous seasons, the Oregon women's tennis team would have honored its seniors on the final home weekend of the season. For the first time since the 2009-10 season, however, the Ducks did not have a “Senior Day” in 2016. This year's Oregon roster includes two juniors, two sophomores and two 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 (Florida, Hawaii, New Mexico, and New York) and three different countries (India, Netherlands and the United States).
ROAD WARRIORS
The Ducks has spent much of the 2016 season on the road, with 10 of their 12 non-conference dual matches away from home. Oregon wrapped up its non-conference slate this weekend with a weekend stint at Long Beach State and Loyola Marymount.
20-WIN DUCKS
Sophomore Alyssa Tobita and Freshman Shweta Sangwan have been consistent for the Ducks this season, racking up 21 wins each during the 2016 campaign. It marks Tobita's second straight 20-win season after posting a 20-14 overall mark as a freshman.
ALL SHE DOES IS WIN
Sophomore Alyssa Tobita has been on fire since the start of dual action in January. Tobita has posted an impressive 16-4 mark in dual matches so far this spring. The Mililani, Hawaii, native is 21-8 overall in singles this season, and made her first appearance of the season in the ITA singles rankings last month at No. 124.
TOBITA NAMED PAC-12 PLAYER OF THE WEEK
Oregon women's tennis sophomore Alyssa Tobita was named the Pac-12 Women's Tennis Player of the Week for action during the week of March 7-13, the conference announced last month. Tobita came up big for the Ducks, picking up two match-clinching singles victories to extend the Ducks' win streak to eight with wins over Pac-12 foes 49th-ranked Washington and 69th-ranked Washington State. The Mililani, Hawaii, native tallied a 6-4, 5-7, 6-4 win over 105th-ranked Stacey Fung to push the Ducks past the Huskies on Sunday. Her 6-4, 6-2 win over Barbora Michalkova of Washington State clinched the win over the Cougars Friday. Tobita also picked up a pair of triumphs in doubles with partner Nia Rose.
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
