The Oregon women’s tennis team’s run at the NCAA championships ended Saturday when the Ducks fell in the second round to No. 1 Stanford, 4-0, in Stanford, Calif.
Defending national champion Cardinal continued its undefeated season, winning all 23 of its matches. Oregon (17-8 overall) finished with its second straight 17-win season.
“Overall, it was a fantastic season, and these players have nothing to be ashamed of,” Oregon head coach Nils Schyllander said.
The Cardinal captured the doubles point and took a 1-0 lead with doubles victories at the No. 1 and No. 3 positions. The
36th-ranked duo Amber Liu and Anne Yesley defeated Oregon’s doubles team Daria Panova and Dominika Dieskova, 8-5, at the top spot.
At the No. 3 doubles slot, Oregon’s Davina Mendiburu and Ester Bak lost to Stanford’s Joanna Kao and Theresa Logar, 8-4.
“I thought we played solid doubles, but Stanford grabbed the point, and the momentum was in their favor,” Schyllander said.
In singles action, Jamie Marshall, Anna Leksinska and Bak were defeated in each of their matches to give Stanford the 4-0 victory.
Panova, Dieskova and Mendiburu did not finish their singles matches because Stanford had already clinched the victory.
The Ducks advanced to the second round after defeating Fresno State, 4-2, on Friday. The win ended Fresno State’s eight-match winning streak. Marshall led Oregon with a victory in both her doubles and
singles matches.
Marshall and Leksinska teamed up to defeat the Bulldogs’ Lucia Tallo and Jacqui Haskett, 8-4, at the No. 2 position. Marshall was then victorious against Courtney Jantz in straight sets, 6-4, 6-1.
“We’ve had a lot of players step up for us this year, and (Friday) it was Jamie Marshall,” Schyllander said. “She played outstanding tennis.”
It was a bittersweet ending for two Oregon seniors, Mendiburu and Bak. Mendiburu finished her career ranked second on the all-time career singles wins list with 73 victories. Bak is sixth with 60 career victories.
Panova, the third Oregon senior, moves on to her third consecutive NCAA Individual Championships, which begins May 22 in Athens, Ga. In last season’s event, Panova’s title bid was cut short when she fell to Middle Tennessee State’s Manon Kruse in three sets, 3-6, 6-4 and 6-1, in the first round.
Panova, a native of Moscow, Russia, sits first on Oregon’s all-time career wins list with 92. She is also a three-time Pacific-10 Conference champion and a two-time All-American honoree.