A 6-1 match may not sound close, but the Oregon women’s tennis team’s effort Sunday against No. 5 California was one of its best against a ranked opponent in recent years.
The Ducks were trailing Cal 3-1 when junior Vickie Gunnarson and sophomore Jeanette Mattsson pushed their opponents into the third set of their matches in singles play.
That was after Oregon came within two points of capturing the doubles point prior to singles play.
“The score sometimes doesn’t indicate how close the match was,” Oregon head coach Jack Griffin said. “We were extremely competitive today.”
While the Oregon men’s tennis team picked up it’s first win of the season on Saturday in Bloomington, Minn., the women gave the Golden Bears everything they had.
But tennis doesn’t give points for second place. Although Oregon pushed Cal’s top two singles players to the third set and top doubles teams into overtime, the Ducks only managed one win.
Freshman Davina Mendibru, who joined the team early in January, routed the Golden Bears’ Lisa Swierniak, 6-2, 6-4.
“Davina’s adapted really well to our program,” Griffin said. ” She brings in a lot of experience having played tournaments in France.”
Mattsson faced a challenge playing at the No. 1 spot against No. 38 Raquel Kops-Jones. Mattsson dropped the first set 6-1, but battled back in the second and third sets before finally falling.
“Jeanette has probably shown the most improvement of anyone on the team,” Griffin said. “We’re really pleased with what we’ve seen in her.”
Gunnarsson pushed Sekita Grant to the brink, but was unable to pull out the win. Fusano won by a score of 6-2, 4-6, 6-0.
In doubles play, the team of sophomore Monika Geiczys and freshman Courtney Nagle came within a point of beating Cal’s No. 17 Nicole Havlicek and Jieun Jacobs, 9-8.
Junior Janice Nyland and Mendibru played well against Christina Fusano and Catherine Lynch, but came up short, 9-7.
“Cal won’t give you anything,” Griffin said. “But we are starting to push these teams.”
Meanwhile, the Duck men defeated North Carolina State 5-2 in the consolation game of the Foster Klima Ice Volleys.
“We competed well today,” Oregon men’s coach Chris Russell said. “We played hard and made some progress from yesterday’s matches. We’re just trying to get a little better each day.”
Oregon got off to a good start with superior doubles play against the Wolfpack. The team of sophomore Oded Teig and freshman Greg Dubourdieu led the way with a rout of John Davis and Reinaldo Valor, 8-2.
Freshmen Buck Mink and Martin Pawlowski came up with big wins in singles play. Mink defeated North Carolina State’s Michael Carducci, 6-2, 6-2 while Pawlowksi earned a three-set win over Valor.
Veteran David Becker disposed of Ryan Boward 7-6, 6-4 to clinch the win for Oregon. Sophomore Jason Menke iced the win with a 7-5, 6-1 win over Brad Kilgore.
Oregon evened its season record after dropping Friday’s first round match against Indiana State. The Ducks return home next weekend for Pacific-10 Conference matches against Stanford and California.
Tennis makes progress against ranked foes
Daily Emerald
January 21, 2001
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