The fall season has finally reached its end, but the Oregon women’s tennis team is just getting started. Over the last three months, the roster, which is full of many new faces, competed in three tournaments: the Duck Invitational, the ITA Northwest Regionals and the San Diego State University Fall Classic. Returners re-adjusted to the familiar Division I athletics grind while newcomers adapted to the college-level tennis program. The entire team was getting acclimated to the intensive schedule and each other.
In early September, head coach Courtney Nagle and Oregon’s returning players welcomed four teammates to their lineup: Candela Aparisi from Valencia, Spain; Tilde Jagare from Gavle, Sweden; SEC transfers Nina Geissler (LSU) and Olivia Symons (Tennessee).
“The team clicked the first week we met each other,” Karin Young, a junior letterwinner, said. “There are a lot of different personalities on our team.”
The diversity of experience, age and nationality is something that junior Sophie Luescher believes will be beneficial to the team’s success this season. “It is good to get fresh inputs and new perspectives,” she said. “It is still a developing dynamic, but overall we have formed a strong foundational connection.”
The Oregon women’s team began its fall slate just weeks after many of the players settled into Eugene, making their fall season debut at the Duck Invitational from Oct. 6-8. Over the course of three days, Oregon competed against the University of Portland, Washington State University and Portland State University.
It was a prime weekend for players to reacclimate under the Eugene sun on a familiar outdoor court surface. Nagle tested out different doubles pairings and accommodated for multiple player illnesses, which kept Jagare and Symons for matchplay competition. Luescher went 3-0 in doubles, while partnered with three different teammates. In total, Oregon posted a 10-2 singles record, tallying 4-0 wins against both Portland and Portland State, while registering a combined 6-1 in doubles against its opponents.
After making their doubles debut at the Duck invite, Young and Aparisi continued to dominate down south at the ITA Northwest Regionals. The fresh pair, along with Oregon’s reigning No. 1 doubles team in Luescher and fifth-year Uxia Martinez Moral, made an impressive run to the quarterfinals. However, both teams suffered a similar fate and were ousted by ranked California duos, California Berkeley and Stanford University, respectively.
Just as the team dynamic began to gel and players were preparing for the SDSU Fall Classic, a core member of the Oregon roster unexpectedly hit the transfer portal. It was not a player, but instead associate head coach Elizabeth Lumpkin Robinson.
“I figured she might want to leave at one point to become a head coach,” Luescher said. “However, I did not expect her departure to happen now, especially in the middle of the fall season. I think a lot of the team was surprised.”
Following a six-year stint with the Ducks, Lumpkin Robinson accepted a head coach position at the University of Illinois at Chicago. The former WTA pro and NCAA champion announced her job acceptance on Nov. 1.
The four-time Illinois high school state champion will take her tennis talent back to the Windy City. In an interview posted by the UIC women’s tennis team on Instagram, Lumpkin Robinson said she looks forward to joining the UIC coaching staff, experiencing the Chicago culture and introducing her children to a new home.
“We all miss her, especially her positivity, but we remain focused on our tennis and becoming better individually and as a team,” Luescher said.
Despite the distraction of Lumpkin Robinson’s sudden departure, the Ducks managed to finish their season strong with three players advancing to the singles finals of the SDSU Fall Classic. Jagare completed an undefeated weekend in singles, securing her first collegiate wins. Luescher also played in the final of her singles bracket Sunday, but lost to University of Colorado’s Aya El Sayed, 6-2, 6-4. Young similarly faced defeat in the finals against Colorado State’s Victoria Erechtchenko in a tough three-set battle. UO finished a combined 29-15 in singles action for the fall season.
Despite only having two coaching eyes on the players during practice, Luescher said the team is still working hard towards its ultimate goal of a bid to the NCAA tournament. Young agreed, and confirmed that the team is capable of achieving this goal, even if they do so with only one coach.
“I am excited to see how this team will perform in-season; I hope we will continue to grow, get to know each other and make it to the tournament,” Young said.
