The Oregon women’s tennis team’s hopes of a Senior Day upset came up short as the No. 49 Ducks (11-8, 4-5) fell 0-4 to the No. 26 University of Southern California (14-7, 5-3) on Sunday, April 16.
Ducks’ tennis fans entered the Student Tennis Center to an electric atmosphere of live music, crowded bleachers and The Oregon Duck mascot handing out Voodoo Doughnuts. Senior Day festivities were in full swing.
Before the match, Oregon seniors: Myah Petchey, Lillian Mould, Madisen Olsen and Misaki Kobayaski were honored for their hard work, dedication and performance as Oregon Ducks.
“It’s a special group of girls,” head coach Courtney Nagle said. “I think they’re going to be friends for life because of their time here and that’s always pretty cool to see, as well.”
Family, friends and former players celebrated the graduating seniors as they fiercely competed in their final home match.
To start off the day, both teams made notable adjustments to their doubles lineups based on player absences. Senior, Ares Teixido Garcia, was absent from the Student Tennis Center — she did not participate in the senior ceremony nor matchplay. Nagle offered no comment on the absence. Olsen subbed in for Garcia, as JoYee Chan’s doubles partner. The Duck duo bumped down to play No. 3 doubles and moved up Petchey and Karin Young to No. 2 doubles.
USC’s Snow Han was replaced by Grace Piper at No. 2 doubles. Han and her partner, Naomi Cheong are the 44th nationally ranked dual doubles team. Han last competed for the Trojans on April 1 against Pomona-Pitzer. It has not been stated why she remains out of the lineup.
Petchey and Young came ready to play on Court 2 against USC’s Cheong and Piper. The Ducks broke early and maintained a comfortable lead throughout the match. Petchey and Young picked up a 6-3 win, improving their season record to 5-3.
On Court 3, Olsen and Chan lost a tough let-winner off the serve of Nathalie Rodilosso. Rodilosso and Emma Charney fought off the Ducks 4-6.
The fate of the doubles point was up to Court 1, where No. 77 Sophie Luescher and Uxia Martinez Moral took on No. 17 Eryn Cayetano and Maddy Sieg (11-2). The USC pair currently sits at a season-high ITA doubles ranking. Play on Court 1 was momentarily suspended early in the first set when Sieg nailed her teammate in the head with a serve. The trainer checked out Cayetano and play quickly resumed. The games went back and forth between the two teams, but it ultimately came down to who could hold their serve. At 6-5, Cayetano held serve to clinch the doubles point victory for USC. Cayetano, the No. 44 nationally ranked senior, was precautionarily removed from the Trojans’ singles lineup due to the doubles incident.
“Unfortunately at No. 1 doubles, the team we were playing came up with some great shots at the right time,” Nagle said.
The Ducks were unable to bounce back as the match entered singles play. Along with a one-point advantage, the Trojans carried their momentum to singles.
Oregon bumped up their singles lineup to compensate for Garcia’s absence at the No. 2 position, moving Olsen (0-4) to No. 6 singles where she was swiftly defeated by Nathalie Rodilosso, 0-6, 0-6.
Following Rodilosso’s effortless win, the Trojans led the match 2-0. USC would shortly secure back-to-back matches on Courts 1 and 2.
On the top court, Luescher (4-9) lost to the No. 6 ITA-ranked Sieg, 2-6, 1-6. Luescher received treatment on her left ankle early in the second set, but she continued to run around the court for balls. The freshman from Greenwich, Connecticut, is on a 15-game singles winning streak, and she has an all-time record of 23-1. Sieg reached her highest career rank of No. 2 in November. Since the fall, she has slowly gone down in singles ranking, yet she has not fallen out of the top ten.
A 6-2, 6-0 victory for USC’s Charney over Petchey (2-7) on Court 2 sealed the win for the Trojans. Petchey tried to overpower Charney’s backhand rallies, rather than challenging her opponent with some shot variety.
Action on Court 3, 4 and 5 was suspended. Martinez Moral’s match (11-3) against Cheong was paused in the second set. Cheong led 6-4, 3-0 on Court 3.
Young’s tight battle against McKenna Koenig (21-11) was left unfinished at 7-5, 2-2. Young had claimed Oregon’s lone first set in singles and appeared to be on track for a second-set victory, as well.
At No. 5 singles, Chan (10-3) faced USC sophomore, Sloane Morra. Chan was down 4-6, 1-5 against the southern California native when the USC victory was called.
The Ducks will head down to Ojai, California, to compete in the Pac-12 Championships, April 26-29. Nagle shared that Oregon is still awaiting their opponent, as other Pac-12 teams have yet to complete conference play matches.
A successful run in the Pac-12 Championships could secure a bid in the NCAA tournament for the Oregon Ducks.
