The Oregon women’s tennis team (5-0) won 5-2 against the Washington Huskies (1-3) on Friday, but Anna Leksinska sustained a concussion during her singles match and did not play against Washington State the following day.
The senior captain hit her head against a metal beam at the side of the court as she was chasing down a ball during her match against Washington’s Melinda Wong.
“Anna hurt herself, but didn’t realize what exactly it was at the time, so she just continued the match. She lost the first set, but really picked it up and played well in the second and third,” Oregon coach Nils Schyllander said.
Leksinska shook off the immediate effects of her concussion and finished the match strong, defeating Wong 1-6, 6-0, 6-2.
The rest of the team also came through against Washington. Senior Dominika Dieskova extended her personal record against the Huskies’ Dinka Hadzic to 4-0 when she pulled out a three-set victory, winning 6-1, 4-6, 6-1.
The match against Hadzic marked the first time this season that Dieskova had been forced to a third set by any opponent.
“She was a much better player than the players I’ve played in the matches before this weekend,” Dieskova said. “I started very well, but lost some momentum in the second set. But I picked it up in the third, and didn’t give her a chance at all. I played very aggressively, and I think that was the key.”
Freshmen Ana Cecilia Olivos and Claudia Hirt won their matches in the No. 4 and No. 6 singles slots to give the Ducks two more points. Oregon also swept the Huskies in the doubles category.
On Saturday, the Ducks dominated the Cougars (4-3) and won 5-2 without Leksinska.
“Anna woke up with a headache, and we rested her for the match against Washington State because we didn’t want to take any chances,” Schyllander said.
Leksinska is currently listed as probable for next weekend’s match against Colorado, pending a review with the team’s trainer on Monday afternoon.
Because of Leksinska’s injury, junior Monica Hoz de Vila broke into the Ducks’ starting lineup for the first time this year.
Hoz de Vila paired up with Leksinska’s regular doubles partner, Hirt, to play No. 2 doubles. The pair defeated Washington State’s Ekaterina Burduli and Aleksandra Cekic, 8-5.
“I’ve played doubles with Claudia in practice before, so we kinda knew how to play together,” Hoz de Vila said. “I wasn’t nervous at all. I was just excited to get to play, and there was so much energy. It was fun.”
The Ducks swept the Cougars in doubles, while Dieskova, Hirt, Olivos and Carmen Seremeta contributed four more singles wins to Oregon’s tally.
“The energy was awesome, and I think this was the most complete match we’ve played so far,” Schyllander said.
Hirt played in place of Leksinska at the No. 5 singles position and won 6-3, 6-1.
In her first singles match of the year, Hoz de Vila pushed the Cougars’ Bianca Selaru at No. 6 singles to three sets before losing 6-4, 4-6, 1-0 (10-5) in the tie-break.
“I think Monica handled the situation very well,” said Dieskova. “I’m very proud of her; she did an awesome job of stepping up to play.”
Hoz de Vila said it wasn’t always easy to step into the lineup cold.
“It’s a little harder because you don’t have much match rhythm to go with,” she said. “But regardless of whoever plays or doesn’t play, everybody’s always ready with the mindset that we have to come out and compete.”
At the other end of the country in Lafayette, La., the Oregon men’s tennis team (5-1) was unexpectedly shut out 7-0 by the red-hot Louisiana-Lafayette Ragin’ Cajuns (4-1).
Playing outdoors and in extremely windy conditions, the Ragin’ Cajuns put an end to the Ducks’ 5-0 undefeated streak.
“We came out and had opportunities, but we just couldn’t capitalize. It could have been a 4-3 loss,” Oregon men’s coach Kevin Kowalik said.
The Ducks played two very close doubles matches, with seniors Arron Spencer and Markus Schiller losing a tight 8-6 pro sets match to Evghenii Corduneanu and Amanjot Singh.
The doubles team of freshmen Mike Myrhed and Gustavo Loza also lost a hard-fought 8-5 battle to Louisiana-Lafayette’s Matthieu Truong and Dusan Tabak.
In singles, Myrhed, at the No. 4 spot, came the closest to getting a win for the Ducks. Myrhed lost the first set 6-4, but came back to take the second 6-3 before losing 10-8 in the third-set tiebreaker.
“I have to give Louisiana-Lafayette credit for playing very well,” Kowalik said. “But from the coach’s standpoint, what we realized was that these guys weren’t necessarily more talented. They were just more able to handle the shots that we were throwing at them.
“We just have to raise the level of our game to meet that challenge, and work on certain things to get better.”