The Duck women fell 4-3 to both No. 22 Michigan and Sacramento State over the weekend, but found bright sparks in their solid doubles play and in the increasing mental fortitude of sophomore Carmen Seremeta, who engineered her second and third three-set comeback singles wins of the year.
The Ducks’ doubles teams went undefeated over the weekend, with No. 1 doubles duo Dominika Dieskova and Ceci Olivos rallying to turn a 4-7 deficit to an 8-7 win over Michigan’s Chisako Sugiyama and Kara Delicata.
In singles, Seremeta and Claudia Hirt were the only Ducks who managed to clinch wins. But Seremeta struggled mightily in the first set of her No. 3 singles match against the Wolverines’ Elizabeth Exon.
Exon gamely returned everything Seremeta threw at her, and at times seemed to overwhelm the Ducks’ Cupertino, Calif. native with carefully placed winners and a solid service game.
Seremeta lost the first set 6-0. And in the break between matches, she went to the bathroom to try and compose herself.
“She’s a really good player; she was really quick, and I was making too many unforced errors in the first set,” Seremeta said. “So (between sets) I went to the bathroom to regroup and just think about what I can do differently to play smarter. I basically made it my goal to reduce my unforced errors.”
The player that emerged from the bathroom after the break took Exon by surprise. Seremeta stormed back to take the second set 6-2, and eventually won 10-7 in a third set that was decided by a tiebreaker because the Wolverines had already won the match.
“Losing in the first set motivates me,” Seremeta said. “Then I can come out and win the second set and hopefully win the third. It’s bad. I make it harder for myself than it really should be.”
On Sunday, Seremeta once again clawed back from a one-set deficit after she dropped a close first set 6-7 to Sacramento State’s Aileen Tsan.
“Of course it was intentional,” Seremeta joked afterward, “I mean to always lose the first set.”
Just like she had the day before, Seremeta re-centered herself in the bathroom in between the first and second sets. Then she came out and won the second set 6-2 before wrapping up the match with a 6-3 third set victory.
“I got motivated at the end of the first set,” Seremeta said. “I get a little bit angry and that makes me play better. Usually I come out and I decide that I’m going to dictate the points, and any nerves I have – well I’ve already lost the first set, so they’re gone and I can just focus on making my shots.”
Despite success at doubles and Seremeta’s singles heroics, Monica Hoz de Vila won the only other singles point for the Ducks, and Oregon (4-2 overall) lost 4-3 to Sacramento State.
The Oregon men were more fortunate over the weekend and freshman Alex Cornelissen put together his own three-set comeback when he beat Sacramento State’s Gabe Laredo 3-6, 6-3, 6-3 en route to the Ducks’ 5-2 win over the Hornets.
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