Ducks Travel South for ITA Kick-Off Weekend

EUGENE, Ore. – The Oregon women's tennis team's spring season continues as it travels to Malibu, Calif., to compete at ITA Kick-Off Weekend on Saturday (1 p.m. PT).

Hosted by Pepperdine University, the two-day event will run from Saturday, Jan. 26 to Sunday, Jan. 27. The Ducks will face Denver on Saturday, then either No. 7 Pepperdine or UNLV on Sunday.

HOW TO FOLLOW
Updates during both matches will be provided on Twitter via @OregonWTennis and live streaming will be available on PepperdineWaves.com.

STARTING ON A HIGH NOTE
The Ducks opened the 2019 spring season Jan. 18 with a solid 5-2 win over Loyola Marymount.

Despite being forced to forfeit one doubles and one singles match, Oregon grinded out the victory to begin the season 1-0, a perfect start to head coach Courtney Nagle's career at Oregon.

After Paiton Wagner and Allison Mulville secured their doubles match with a 6-2 win, the doubles point came down to Shweta Sangwan and Rifanty Kahfiani's match. Sangwan and Kahfiani found themselves amidst a battle, but dug deep to claim a 7-6(3) win over their LMU opponents.

After securing the doubles point, UO moved onto singles where they continued to play well.

Kahfiani took control early on in her match and carried her momentum all the way through to win, 6-1, 6-0. Mulville also won in straight sets (6-2, 6-1) in her first collegiate victory.

In the clinching match for Oregon, Sangwan fought her way to a 6-2, 6-3 win. The senior's victory put the Ducks ahead 4-2.

Despite having the team victory secured, Wagner finished out her match and won in a three-set thriller ( 6-3, 3-6, 3-2(4)).

RECORD SETTING SANGWAN
Shweta Sangwan's 6-2, 6-3 win over Veronica Miroshnichenko of LMU last Friday was her 58th win in an Oregon uniform. This win moves her onto UO's career winning list, tying Kara Yoshida (1992-95) for the 10th most wins in program history.

Sangwan needs just one more win to tie Lindsay Bartlett (1981-84) for No. 9 on UO's career win list with 59. The senior is also seven wins behind head coach Courtney Nagle who currently has the 7th most career wins in UO history with 65.

Daniela Nasser is one career-win behind Sangwan and Yoshida, at 57 total wins.

IN THE RANKINGS
Senior Daniela Nasser came away from the fall season ranked as the No. 50 singles player in the nation by the Intercollegiate Tennis Association, the first time the senior has ever been nationally ranked. Fellow senior Shweta Sangwan entered spring season listed as the No. 81 singles player.

Nasser finished fall season with an impressive 10 wins, the best start of her collegiate career. The Tampa, Fla., native also beat three ranked opponents and won five of the six three-set thrillers she found herself in.

Sangwan also had some notable feats during the fall. Sangwan recorded seven wins over 10 matches, including a win over the No. 23 player in the nation, Lauren Proctor of Winthrop, in straight sets, 6-2, 6-4

HEAD COACH COURTNEY NAGLE
Oregon athletics director Rob Mullens announced Courtney Nagle as the the Ducks' women's tennis head coach on July 20, 2018. Nagle was a four-year letter winner at Oregon (2002-05) and a former volunteer assistant for the Ducks in 2005 and 2010. She spent the last four seasons as the top assistant for a highly successful North Carolina program, helping lead the Tar Heels to a 122-12 dual match record, three ACC titles and two Intercollegiate Tennis Association national championships. Long considered one of the top assistants in the nation, Nagle was named the assistant coach of the year in 2017 by the ITA.

UP NEXT
The Ducks return to Eugene where they will host Saint Mary's on Feb. 1 at 1 p.m. PT.