Saturday, February 10
Eugene, OR
3:00 PM
University of Oregon
4
vs
3
Northwestern
Ducks Upset No. 23 Northwestern 4-3 In Marathon Match
02/10/18 | Women's Tennis
EUGENE, Ore. – The Oregon women's tennis team outlasted No. 23 Northwestern, 4-3, in a marathon three and a half hour match Saturday afternoon.
Down 3-1, the Ducks rallied in singles play with junior Shweta Sangwan coming back from three games down to clinch the match victory in three sets.
How it Happened: The Ducks (5-2) faced stiff competition in doubles play to open the match, with Northwestern sporting the No. 1 and No. 12 ranked doubles pairs in the country. The Wildcats earned the doubles point with 6-1 and 6-4 wins at the No. 1 and No. 3 spots respectively.
Up 1-0, Oregon needed a spark heading into singles play.
Freshman Julia Lilien got the Ducks going early at the No. 5 spot recording a 6-1, 6-3 win to tie the match, 1-1.
Northwestern quickly retook the lead as No. 70 Maddie Lipp defeated Julia Eshet, 6-2, 6-2, at the No. 3 position with three matches being decided in first set tiebreakers
The Wildcats stretched their lead to 3-1 winning, 6-3, 6-4, at the No. 4 spot.
With the Ducks leading on the remaining three courts, thanks to Sangwan, Alyssa Tobita and Paiton Wagner all fighting to win their opening sets in tiebreakers, the match was still far from decided.
After dropping her second set, Tobita blew through No. 83 Lee Or in the final set to win, 7-6(1), 3-6, 6-0, and pull the Ducks within one, 3-2.
Down 5-4 in the second set, it looked as if Wagner would head into a third set as well, but the Cashmere, Wash., native flipped a switch and proceeded to win the next three straight games to win the match, 7-6(4), 7-5.
All knotted up 3-3, the match came down to Sangwan and Northwestern's Erin Larner who battled their way to a third set at the No. 2 position.
As the match approached the three hour mark, Larner was in full control in the final set leading 5-2 as the two players switched sides. Her back against the wall, Sangwan refused to go down without a fight, fending off five separate match points to tie the third set 5-5.
With the momentum swung in Sangwan's direction the junior was able to pull off the win, 7-6(5), 1-6, 7-5, to clinch the match victory for Oregon.
Notable: This is the first top 25 victory for the Ducks since UO upset No. 25 Washington in an eerily similar fashion, with Shweta Sangwan breaking a 3-3 tie with a three set victory … The singles win is Sangwan's third straight, putting her in a tie with Julia Eshet for a team-best 10-6 singles record this year … This is the second time this season the Ducks have won a match after losing the doubles point, rallying to defeat Rice, 4-2, earlier this year … Alyssa Tobita's three set match was her first of the spring season, and only the second three set win all year.
Quotable: Head Coach Alison Silverio
On the match coming down to Shweta Sangwan…
"Shweta is one of our hardest workers on the team. She's one that is putting in the extra work, she is not just checking off practice. She is coming out and intentionally working on parts of her game and she is about the process and developing. So when we are in these situations, for it to come down to her, it's poetic because she definitely deserves to be in that position. And I think as coaches it was just a great atmosphere to see her in and be able to capitalize on that opportunity."
On what she said to Sangwan when she trailed in the third set…
"The biggest thing in that moment is that it's about the courage and the grit and we talk about that a lot with our team. As far as the strategy goes, it was just about playing to Shweta's strengths and reminding her how strong her fitness is and really keeping the focus on Shweta."
Junior Shweta Sangwan
On her mindset during her singles match…
"Doubles didn't go our way, it wasn't very pretty, and I felt a little flustered going into singles. And then I was like 'you know what you have to go get this team, they are not going to hand anything to us.' …. I was just playing one point at a time … At the end of the day I think my fitness was better and all the credit goes to our fitness coach for that."
Up Next: the Ducks will ride this momentum into Kansas as they take on the Jayhawks Friday, Feb. 16, at 1 p.m. PT.
Down 3-1, the Ducks rallied in singles play with junior Shweta Sangwan coming back from three games down to clinch the match victory in three sets.
How it Happened: The Ducks (5-2) faced stiff competition in doubles play to open the match, with Northwestern sporting the No. 1 and No. 12 ranked doubles pairs in the country. The Wildcats earned the doubles point with 6-1 and 6-4 wins at the No. 1 and No. 3 spots respectively.
Up 1-0, Oregon needed a spark heading into singles play.
Freshman Julia Lilien got the Ducks going early at the No. 5 spot recording a 6-1, 6-3 win to tie the match, 1-1.
Northwestern quickly retook the lead as No. 70 Maddie Lipp defeated Julia Eshet, 6-2, 6-2, at the No. 3 position with three matches being decided in first set tiebreakers
The Wildcats stretched their lead to 3-1 winning, 6-3, 6-4, at the No. 4 spot.
With the Ducks leading on the remaining three courts, thanks to Sangwan, Alyssa Tobita and Paiton Wagner all fighting to win their opening sets in tiebreakers, the match was still far from decided.
After dropping her second set, Tobita blew through No. 83 Lee Or in the final set to win, 7-6(1), 3-6, 6-0, and pull the Ducks within one, 3-2.
Down 5-4 in the second set, it looked as if Wagner would head into a third set as well, but the Cashmere, Wash., native flipped a switch and proceeded to win the next three straight games to win the match, 7-6(4), 7-5.
All knotted up 3-3, the match came down to Sangwan and Northwestern's Erin Larner who battled their way to a third set at the No. 2 position.
As the match approached the three hour mark, Larner was in full control in the final set leading 5-2 as the two players switched sides. Her back against the wall, Sangwan refused to go down without a fight, fending off five separate match points to tie the third set 5-5.
With the momentum swung in Sangwan's direction the junior was able to pull off the win, 7-6(5), 1-6, 7-5, to clinch the match victory for Oregon.
Notable: This is the first top 25 victory for the Ducks since UO upset No. 25 Washington in an eerily similar fashion, with Shweta Sangwan breaking a 3-3 tie with a three set victory … The singles win is Sangwan's third straight, putting her in a tie with Julia Eshet for a team-best 10-6 singles record this year … This is the second time this season the Ducks have won a match after losing the doubles point, rallying to defeat Rice, 4-2, earlier this year … Alyssa Tobita's three set match was her first of the spring season, and only the second three set win all year.
Quotable: Head Coach Alison Silverio
On the match coming down to Shweta Sangwan…
"Shweta is one of our hardest workers on the team. She's one that is putting in the extra work, she is not just checking off practice. She is coming out and intentionally working on parts of her game and she is about the process and developing. So when we are in these situations, for it to come down to her, it's poetic because she definitely deserves to be in that position. And I think as coaches it was just a great atmosphere to see her in and be able to capitalize on that opportunity."
On what she said to Sangwan when she trailed in the third set…
"The biggest thing in that moment is that it's about the courage and the grit and we talk about that a lot with our team. As far as the strategy goes, it was just about playing to Shweta's strengths and reminding her how strong her fitness is and really keeping the focus on Shweta."
Junior Shweta Sangwan
On her mindset during her singles match…
"Doubles didn't go our way, it wasn't very pretty, and I felt a little flustered going into singles. And then I was like 'you know what you have to go get this team, they are not going to hand anything to us.' …. I was just playing one point at a time … At the end of the day I think my fitness was better and all the credit goes to our fitness coach for that."
Up Next: the Ducks will ride this momentum into Kansas as they take on the Jayhawks Friday, Feb. 16, at 1 p.m. PT.
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Players Mentioned
/ Women's Tennis
/ Women's Tennis
/ Women's Tennis
/ Women's Tennis
/ Women's Tennis
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