All the Oregon women’s tennis team can do now is wait.
The No. 37 Ducks played well at the Pacific-10 Conference Championships during the weekend and now wait to see who they will face in the regional round of the NCAA Tournament.
Freshman Daria Panova, ranked No. 108 in the country, continued her impressive play for Oregon by advancing to the quarterfinals of the Pac-10 Championships in Ojai, Calif.
Panova struggled early, but defeated No. 68 Mhairi Brown of Arizona State, 2-6, 7-5, 7-5 in the first round. She quickly disposed of Washington State’s Lorena Arias, 6-2, 6-2 in the second round.
“It was a strong showing for her today,” Oregon head coach Jack Griffin said Thursday after the matches.
Panova lost 6-3, 7-5 to No. 7 Jewel Peterson of USC in the quarterfinals.
Peterson knocked off another Duck, No. 107 senior Janice Nyland, in the first round, 6-4, 6-0. Senior Vickie Gunnarsson and junior Monika Gieczys also lost first round matches for the Ducks in the main draw.
In the invitational draw, freshman Ester Bak lost 6-1, 6-1 in the first round. Sophomore Courtney Nagle took Erin Hoe of Washington to a third set before losing, 4-6, 7-5, 6-2.
Sophomore Davina Mendiburu beat Rio del Rosario of California, 6-3, 6-2 for the only first round victory for Oregon in the invitational draw. She lost to Megan Yeats of Arizona State, 6-1, 6-4 in the second round.
Nyland, Bak and Gunnarsson picked up consolation victories for the Ducks.
The team will find out where they play next on Thursday, when the NCAA announces the field of 64. Stanford won the NCAA championship last season.
The Ducks have been playing well since spring break, winning six out of seven matches, including wins over No. 49 Louisiana State, No. 34 Florida International and No. 21 Washington.
“It was a busy month for us and we were a little worn out,” Griffin said. “We fought hard this week and our focus is on the NCAA team championships.”

Men end season,

but ‘should be ranked’
The Oregon men’s tennis team’s season ended on a positive note last weekend at the Pac-10 Championships.
After struggling in the first round, the Ducks picked up consolation wins that could help the team’s confidence going into the offseason.
Sophomore Chris King and freshmen Johan Paalberg, Sven Swinnen and No. 101 Manuel Kost won for an Oregon team that finished 12-10 (0-7 Pac-10) this season.
“It was a nice way for us to end the season,” head coach Chris Russell said.
Junior Oded Teig, sophomore Martin Pawlowski, Kost and Swinnen lost first round matches in the main draw.
Junior Jason Menke, freshman Kyle Halberg and King lost in the first round of the invitational draw. Paalberg lost, 6-2, 6-1 in the second round to Ruben Torres of USC after advancing by a forfeit.
“We’ve been more competitive this year,” Russell said after the first day’s results. “It was a disappointing day. I know we have a lot more in us than what we showed today.”
On March 20, Oregon was 11-2, with impressive wins against No. 70 Brigham Young, No. 63 New Mexico and No. 74 UC-Santa Barbara.
Since then, the team lost eight out of nine matches, including the last seven in the Pac-10 and dropped out of the national rankings and contention for the NCAA Tournament.
All eight of the losses came against top-65 teams, including six top-34 teams.
“It’s unfortunate, the way the Pac-10 scheduling goes, that we play the tougher part of our schedule at the end of the season,” Oregon assistant coach Matt Shaine said. “There is no question that our team should be ranked.”