The Oregon women’s tennis team played host to its first of three Big Ten opponents this season, and was able to get a statement win behind a gutsy singles performance by junior Carmen Seremeta.
On Sunday, the No. 51 Ducks (5-2) hosted No. 43 Purdue and looked to be in good position to win the doubles point and take control of the match early, but unforced errors by Oregon allowed the Boilermakers to regroup from a rough start and take a 1-0 lead heading into singles play.
“We started off doubles play very well on a couple of the courts, but we had some kids get tight and nervous,” Oregon women’s coach Paul Reber said. “You can’t play against a good team and be afraid to go out and win. We got a lead and started playing not to lose. We needed to go out and finish it, and we didn’t. If you lose and you go down swinging, you have no regrets. If you lose and play tentative, you’re not going to feel good about it. After doubles I just told them that they needed to play to win.”
Oregon freshmen singles players No. 5 Stephanie Macfarlane and No. 6 Siobhan Cavan battled back from the team’s letdown in doubles to quickly win their singles matches, giving the Ducks a 2-1 lead.
“We felt like if Macfarlane and Cavan could get off the court quickly with wins it would let everyone know that ‘Hey, we’re right there in this match’ and that would make a big difference in the rest of singles play,” said Reber.
That sentiment proved to be true as No. 4 Ana Cecilia Olivos pulled out a win in her singles match shortly thereafter, and No. 3 Seremeta used her team’s momentum to overcome a one-set deficit.
“After losing the first set 0-6, I came into the second set just focused on keeping the ball in play,” said Seremeta. “In the second set I told myself to make her work for every point. If I lose I lose, but at least by putting the ball in play I’m not giving her the match.”
Seremeta forced a third set and won it 7-5, giving Oregon its second-consecutive match victory, with a final of 4-3.
Next up for the Ducks is a four-match road swing against Big Ten foes Michigan (Feb. 22) and Ohio State (Feb. 24) before beginning Pac-10 play at Washington State and Washington the following weekend.
But before the Ducks look too far ahead, they plan to savor this hard-fought victory.
“This is a really good win,” said Seremeta. “Purdue is a tough team and they were ranked ahead of us, so getting the win definitely gives us momentum going into a long road trip.”
Men go 1-1 in the Southwest
The Oregon men split the weekend’s road trip, sweeping Northern Arizona before losing to No. 49 New Mexico.
On Friday the Ducks (5-4) defeated Northern Arizona, starting off strong by winning all three doubles matches before heading into singles play.
In singles, Oregon won its six matches in straight sets, led by No. 1 Marcos Verdasco, who won 6-4, 6-2. Geoff Embry struggled early in the No. 3 spot, but with clutch performances late in each set he battled through an inconsistent serve to get the win 7-6, 7-5.
“I think Geoff struggled a little bit, and he probably made it closer than he should have,” said Oregon men’s coach Nils Schyllander. “He didn’t serve it as well as he needed to do, but good for him to pull out the win while not playing his best tennis, because a lot of times you gain a lot of confidence by doing that.”
Oregon tried to carry Friday’s momentum-building win into Saturday’s match against New Mexico, but lost 6-1.
“We knew that New Mexico was a very good team, especially playing at altitude in New Mexico,” said Schyllander. “We knew it was going to be tough. We did not serve well, and we hit way too many second serves, which is tough at a higher altitude because it’s so fast there. I feel like we can beat a team like New Mexico, but we have to play and serve much better than we did.”
The Ducks will look to get back on track this weekend against UC-Irvine and UC-Santa Barbara, both likely NCAA-tournament-bound teams, on Feb. 23 and 24, respectively.