The No. 36 Oregon women’s tennis team doesn’t believe in moral victories. But after coming within two tie-breaker points of beating No. 4 California last weekend, the Ducks know they can play with the best. And they will this weekend.
The women take on No. 8 UCLA (8-5 overall) at noon on Friday in a match that is scheduled to be played on the outdoor 15th Street Courts, but will most likely be held inside the Student Tennis Center.
Duck sophomore Daria Panova, ranked No. 16 nationally, looks to improve on her 11-3 record when she faces No. 7 Sara Walker of UCLA.
“We try to do what we’ve been doing all year,” Oregon head coach Nils Schyllander said. “We don’t worry about the rankings and who we play.”
Saturday, the Oregon women host No. 2 USC (11-1) in another Pacific-10 Conference matchup that features nationally ranked athletes. No. 4 Jewel Peterson and No. 32 Luana Magnani lead the Trojans as they attempt to continue their six-game winning streak.
In doubles, the No. 38 duo of Panova/Courtney Nagle will take on No. 20 Peterson/Tiffany Brymer of USC. Panova/Nagle are coming off an 8-4 victory over No. 11 Raquel Kops-Jones/Christina Fusano of California.
The Ducks (9-5) look to gain back some momentum at home, where they were 6-1 until last weekend’s losses to the Bay Area teams.

Men head to Texas
The No. 64 men moved up a spot in the rankings this week despite losing matches on the road to No. 10 Washington and No. 55 Purdue over the weekend.
“We didn’t play with hunger and desire last weekend,” head coach Chris Russell said. “We need to play with the edge that we had at home.”
The Ducks (7-3) look to return to the form that earned them a 2-0 record on the road before last weekend as they head to Texas to take on No. 35 Rice on Friday and No. 11 Texas A&M on Saturday.
Led by No. 79 Oded Teig, the Ducks will face their toughest non-conference opponents of the dual match season.
“We’re looking for the guys to improve,” Russell said. “And do a better job of responding to adversity.”
Rice’s Robert Searle and William Barker, both from Solihull, England and ranked in the top 35, lead the 7-1 Owls as they try to rebound from a 4-3 loss to then No. 13 Minnesota.
The Duck duo of Teig/Sven Swinnen, No. 15 nationally, will look to improve their record of 8-2 against No. 3 Lester Cook/Ante Matijevic of Texas A&M.
The Ducks faced the Aggies earlier this year in a pre-season contest in Hawaii that didn’t count toward their records and Texas A&M won, 6-1.