And so it begins. The roller coaster of traveling and tournaments that is the tennis pre-season has come to a close, and now the Oregon men’s and women’s teams kick off the regular season with two matches each this weekend.
The men will be at home against Idaho on Saturday and No. 59 New Mexico on Sunday. And the women travel to Colorado for a match against the Buffaloes on Friday and No. 45 Illinois on Saturday.
“Historically, we’ve played well against both Idaho and New Mexico,” men’s head coach Chris Russell said. “We should take care of business.”
Unfortunately, they may have to take care of business without No. 63 Manuel Kost, who is listed as day-to-day with an abdominal strain. The Ducks will look to senior Oded Teig and sophomore Sven Swinnen to step up in Kost’s absence.
“The complexion of our team really changes when Manuel isn’t in the lineup,” Russell said. “But we’re not worried.”
The men are coming off of a weekend in Hawaii where they played three top-25 teams and are looking forward to beginning the regular season at home.
“Throughout the year, we play so many good teams,” Russell said. “It just comes down to who cares the most that day.”
The women are looking to roll with the momentum they gained last weekend at the Pac-10 Indoor Championships. Duck sophomore Daria Panova, No. 28 in the nation, won the tournament that featured top players in the Pac-10 and the NCAA.
“It was a great weekend for the Ducks,” head coach Nils Schyllander said. “We played at a very high level throughout the weekend.”
The Ducks will be facing two teams that have already gotten their seasons underway. Illinois is 1-1 after beating Florida A&M and falling to No. 24 Miami last weekend. And Colorado is 1-0 after squeaking by Denver, 4-3.
The women play at noon on Friday and 6 p.m. on Saturday and the men play at noon on Saturday and 11 a.m. Sunday. Both of the men’s matches will be held at the Student Tennis Center.
Ryan Heath is a freelance writer for the Emerald.