Juliet Santitto shouted at herself in frustration in between points. The freshman was within striking distance of her singles opponent but continued to hit her forehand shots wide.
Missed routine shots were a theme in Oregon’s (5-2) 4-3 loss to the Sun Devils (4-2) on Friday.
The Ducks last played at home in a 4-3 defeat to then-No. 23 Texas Tech on Feb. 2. Head coach Courtney Nagle said after that loss that doubles were the number one thing she wanted the team to work on in its two weeks off.
Oregon got off to a hot start in doubles on Friday. Tilde Jagare and Santitto broke Arizona State’s serve twice to take a 4-0 advantage. The pair went on to win their match 6-2.
The Sun Devils tied doubles 1-1 shortly after the conclusion of the match on Court 3. The first team point came down to the match on Court 5.
Julia Visaya and Avery Jennings led 5-3 in their match but trailed 40-30 in their game. A point-winning backhand, followed by the doubles sealing deuce point energized the crowd in the Student Tennis Center and put the Ducks up 1-0.
“They played energetic and aggressive and took over the net,” Nagle said. “Our opponents played well. It’s great to get the doubles point against a good team going into the singles with that energy.”
Oregon’s frustration began to mount with the start of singles. The Ducks lost five of six opening sets, with Jagare’s match being the only positive.
Arizona State has historically been a difficult opponent for Oregon. The Ducks entered the day 3-25 all-time against their former conference foe and they last beat the Sun Devils at home in 2022.
Oregon couldn’t summon win number four on Friday.
Freshman Patsy Daughters played a tightly contested match against Patricija Spaka on Court 3. The two went to a decisive tiebreak in Set 1 — but Daughters ended up falling 7-4 and the Ducks were even further from a Friday victory.
“[The freshmen] are gaining experience and confidence just as they go,” head coach Courtney Nagle said. “I think they’re getting better every week and settling into those roles.”
Meanwhile, Santitto returned to the court following a break in between sets. She played completely different tennis in the second set. A quick and dominant 6-0 Set 2 kept Oregon’s hopes of a comeback alive.
“She did an excellent job of coming back and getting that second set pretty clean,” Nagle said. “You want to see them bounce back and be resilient, even if they have a tight first set, to be able to get back in the match.”
Both Santitto and Jagare ended up in decisive final sets — but Daughters trailed 5-2 in the second set and 40-0 on her serve. The Ducks stared at defeat and the final two matches were left unfinished.
The Ducks hit the road for the next few weeks of action. Next, they’ll head to California to face off against UC Davis on Feb. 21.
“We just need to compete every doubles match, every singles match, every single day that we step on the court with energy, with belief and with support from the teammates,” Nagle said. “I think if we’re able to execute those things in practice, it’ll look pretty good on the match days.”
