For a split second during the Oregon women’s tennis team’s 4-3 loss to No. 4 California on Sunday, the Student Tennis Center was completely silent. But only for a split second.
Duck senior captain Monika Gieczys, ranked 89 nationally, battled No. 45 Christina Fusano from down 5-2 in the third and final set to force a tiebreaker that would decide the winner of the dual match between the Ducks and Golden Bears.
With the tiebreaker score 7-6 in Fusano’s favor, Gieczys watched her slicing forehand sail wide of the white line just before the short-lived silence.
As Gieczys sat physically and emotionally drained, face pressed in a towel, her teammates consoling her, the silence was replaced with applause.
The match started with the No. 37 Ducks losing the doubles point despite an 8-4 victory by No. 38 Courtney Nagle/Daria Panova over No. 11 Raquel Kops-Jones/Fusano.
The Golden Bears promptly took straight-set victories in the four and five singles matches, forcing the Ducks into a must-win situation in the remaining four matches.
No. 16 Panova ousted No. 13 Kops-Jones 6-4, 6-1 and freshman Anna Leksinska took a 6-4, 7-5 win from the sixth spot. No. 52 Nagle tied up the dual match with a 6-3, 5-7, 6-2 victory, setting the stage for Giezcys’ pivotal set.
The loss came on the heels of a 7-0 losing effort against No. 3 Stanford where the Ducks (9-5) were unable to win a set. The Cardinal has a squad that boasts the No. 1 doubles team in the nation as well as four singles players in the top 50.

Men also fall
The No. 65 men didn’t fare much better this weekend. The Ducks (7-3) lost to No. 10 Washington 6-1 on Friday and were unable to capitalize on a doubles point victory against No. 55 Purdue on Saturday as the Boilermakers won 5-2.
The lone point from Friday’s loss came when Washington’s Ari Strasberg retired with Duck junior Sven Swinnen leading 3-0 in the final set.
The loss snapped a six-game Duck winning streak, dating back to late January.