The Oregon women’s tennis team narrowly missed out on team bid to the NCAA Division I Women’s Tennis Championships, according to Oregon coach Nils Schyllander.
“New Mexico was just one spot ahead of us. (The selection committee) cut things off right there,” Schyllander said. “New Mexico picked up a win against San Diego State in their conference finals, and I think that helped them get the bid over us.”
Nevertheless, Oregon will be represented at the national tournament in both the women’s singles and doubles categories.
Dominika Dieskova and Ceci Olivos, ranked 29th in the country, each won an at-large bid into the doubles tournament.
Dieskova, ranked 42nd in the country after going 30-11 in singles this season, also qualified for the singles tournament. This will be the junior’s second trip to the national championships. She last saw postseason singles play at the end of her freshman season.
Dieskova said that while she is definitely excited to have made the singles tournament, she’s more pumped up about having won a bid into the doubles tournament with Olivos.
“It’s very hard to get into the doubles (competition),” Dieskova said. “Ceci and I are just the second team in school history to do it because only the top 32 doubles teams in the entire country get a chance (to go to nationals).”
Daria Panova and Courtney Nagle were the first Oregon players ever to win a bid to play doubles at the national tournament. They reached the quarterfinals in the 2002-2003 season.
Missing out on a chance to go to nationals as a team was a big disappointment for the Ducks, who hold a 13-10 overall record this season.
“We were kind of expecting” to get a bid to nationals, freshman Carmen Seremeta said. “But now I’m looking at it as motivation for next year.
“We had a couple of matches this year where we were right there with the other team, but couldn’t quite close out. We’ll get them next year.”
No players from the Oregon men’s tennis team will move on to the postseason. Markus Schiller, the men’s best shot at the national tournament, finished his senior season ranked 101 in the country.
The women’s singles and doubles championship tournament will be held May 23-28 in Stanford, Calif.