The Oregon women’s and men’s tennis teams did not end the fall season of their year-long schedule the way they wanted to.
Junior Daria Panova, coming off her tournament victory at the ITA Regionals two weeks ago, advanced to play at the ITA National Intercollegiate Indoor Championships at Ann Arbor, Mich., during the weekend.
There were high expectations for Panova, who was ranked seventh nationally and seeded sixth in a field of 32. In the first round of the singles main draw, however, Panova was upset by Karin Coetzee of Wake Forest in straight sets, 7-5, 6-1. Coetzee is currently ranked No. 53 in the nation.
Panova found more success when she moved to the singles consolation bracket. The third-year Duck came from behind to defeat No. 15 Luana Magnani of USC after losing the first set, 2-6, 6-4, 6-1.
“I feel like when I’m on the court, everyone can beat me,” Panova said before the tournament. “It’s not that I’m stronger or faster, but I feel like I can fight until the end and I can fight harder than my opponent.”
Panova moved on to the semifinal round after beating Florida’s Jennifer Magley in a hard-fought match that ended 6-4, 7-5. Panova pressed on against Elizabeth Exon of Michigan in a straight set victory, 6-3, 6-4, despite a hometown crowd rooting for the Wolverine.
The run ended at the consolation finals when Panova was defeated by Shadisha Robinson of Georgia in a highly competitive match that was determined in the final set, 6-4, 4-6, 6-4.
On the doubles side, Oregon was represented by Panova and senior Courtney Nagle. The duo is ranked No. 13 nationally as a team. The two received one of four at-large bids to the national tournament and it marked the first time in Oregon women’s tennis history that a doubles team competed at the event.
In the first round, Nagle and Panova were forced to the consolation bracket when the No. 3-seeded team of Georgia’s Agata Cioroch and Robinson defeated the Duck duo, 8-5.
Nagle and Panova continued their struggles and lost in the consolation quarterfinal round to Marshall’s No. 41 team of Jessica Johnson and Ashley Croh, 8-6.

Men in L.A.
The men’s tennis team competed at the USC Intercollegiate tournament in Los Angeles, Calif., but did not fare as well as they had hoped. The Ducks featured five players in the singles draw and only two advanced to the next round.
Senior Chris King pulled off the only win in the singles draw for the Ducks on the first day when he defeated San Francisco’s Andrew Hogan, 6-1, 6-3. King, however, lost in the second round to Brian Swatt of San Diego in straight sets, 6-4, 6-4.
Junior Manuel Kost, ranked 31st nationally, earned a bye for the first round and defeated his second round opponent, Linas Cicenas of Loyola Marymount, 4-6, 6-3, 6-4. Kost struggled in the third round, though, and lost to UC Santa Barbara’s Alex Anselmb, 6-2, 6-2.
Two Oregon teams competed on the doubles side but neither could sustain a winning formula to succeed. They combined for only one win.
The Ducks doubles team of sophomore Arron Spencer and Kost learned that only doubles win when they handled San Diego’s Emil and Tom Novak, 8-5. USC’s No. 2 duo of Parker Collins and Daniel Langre defeated Spencer and Kost in the quarterfinals, 8-2.
Head coach Chris Russell saw that his young squad needed to continue developing and to gain as much experience as possible.
“We are doing well with the fundamentals,” Russell said. “Our execution needs to get better. We came down here to get some matches in, and we did that.”