The undefeated Oregon women look to ride the momentum of their six-game winning streak into the beginning of Pacific-10 Conference play.
The Ducks (6-0 overall) will host two national powerhouses ranked in the top 35, starting today with No. 18 Arizona State at 6:30 p.m. in the Student Tennis Center. Oregon will later compete against 34th-ranked Arizona at noon on Saturday.
The Ducks have so far dominated their opponents in both the doubles and singles play during the dual meet season. Five Ducks are currently holding perfect dual match singles records with senior Davina Mendiburu leading the way at 6-0. As a team, Oregon has lost only six matches this spring season in compiling a 32-4 singles record and a 16-2 record in doubles.
The women are starting to feel confident that they can make a big impact in a conference that has six teams in the top 20, including top-ranked Stanford.
“I think this program has come to the point where if we play well, we can beat every match we play,” Oregon head coach Nils Schyllander said.
However, this weekend will prove to be the toughest challenge at this point in the year.
Arizona State (2-0 overall), ranked as high as sixth in the country last year, is a very young team composed of six freshmen and is led by junior Joslynn Burkett, who is ranked 50th in the nation. The Sun Devils’ freshmen have a great deal of international experience, though, and have already proven themselves in their first year at the collegiate level.
Sun Devils head coach Sheila McInerney said her newcomers are not feeling any pressure to live up to their expectations and their ranking.
“I’m not sure (our freshmen) know what to expect so this will be a great test for us,” McInerney said. “We have a lot of respect for Oregon and are looking forward to the match. We know the Ducks will come out very aggressively and we will have to match their intensity.”
Schyllander said he is impressed by Arizona State’s first-year players.
“They are very accomplished players that I don’t think they’ve fallen off from where they were last year,” he said.
Arizona (2-1 overall) comes to Eugene after dropping seven places in the rankings from No. 27 to No. 34. As opposed to Arizona State, the Wildcats boast a lineup of experienced
third-year and fourth-year players, including juniors Dianne Hollands and Maja Mlakar, who are both ranked in the top 30 in the nation.
Revenge will be on the minds of the Wildcats after the Ducks pulled off a 4-3 upset victory last year when Oregon senior Courtney Nagle won her singles match that decided the dual contest tiebreaker. It turned out to be the first win ever in Tucson for the Oregon women’s tennis program.
“Arizona is a very experienced group that knows what it takes to win matches,” Schyllander said. “We upset Arizona last year so I know they’re going to be gunning for us.”