The Oregon women’s tennis team took to the UO Outdoor Tennis Courts on Friday and brought home its first home win of the year over the Montana Grizzlies, 5-2.
Nia Rose and Alyssa Tobita won 6-1 in the No. 1 doubles spot, setting the Ducks off in an early lead. Though Oregon’s No. 2 duo of Marlou Kluivig and Nicole Long fell 6-4, Kadie Hueffner and Lina Åkesson were able to fight back to win 7-6 (3) to secure the doubles point for Oregon.

In singles play, Kluiving handled Montana’s Hannah Sulz at singles No. 4,  6-0, 6-2 and gave the Ducks a 2-0 lead. Following her singles win today, Kluiving now leads the team at 12-2 in singles and 4-0 in dual action.

“I started off well and playing the way I want to play,” said Kluiving. “I gained a lot of confidence that things were working out well and going pretty fast. By gaining more confidence I was able to do more; and for me it worked out well.”

The Grizzlies soon tied things up at 2-2, winning the No. 6 and No. 2 singles matches.

It was Nicole Long who bumped Oregon up to a 3-2 lead when she defeated Laurence Pelchat 6-2, 7-6 (6). Rose was also challenged in her second set, but managed to win the tiebreaker and clinch the match for Oregon with her 6-3, 7-6 (4) win at No. 1 singles.
Following two disappointing losses in their last appearances at home, the Ducks returned to practice focusing on the core elements of the game in order to improve for both of their matches this weekend.
“Our last couple of matches have felt like we came out and we were giving some free points away quickly with unforced errors,” said head coach Alison Silverio. “This last week we’ve really taken control in practice in getting back to our foundations and fundamentals of working the point and playing more within what we know we can do well.”
The Ducks will return to the Oregon Student Tennis Center on Sunday, Feb. 15 at 12 p.m. to host the Iowa Hawkeyes.
Follow Sarah Scrivens on Twitter @sarahescrivens