Home sweet home. That expression has never rung more true than for the Oregon women’s tennis team.
One week after losing junior Davina Mendiburu for the season with a torn ACL and slipping from 34th to 46th in the nation, the Ducks have their home opener this weekend at the Student Tennis Center.
“I think the first road trip has prepared us mentally for the upcoming weekend,” head coach Nils Schyllander said. “We know what type of tennis we want to play and what we need to in order to do so.”
Last weekend, the Ducks lost to unranked Colorado but rebounded to defeat No. 45 Illinois 4-3, despite most of the team fighting a flu bug.
Health will be an important factor in this weekend’s matches, as the women are set to play both Portland and Idaho on Saturday, at 10 a.m. and 6 p.m., respectively.
“I think we have the mental toughness to play two matches and do it well,” Schyllander said. “But it is unfortunate that (Mendiburu) is hurt. It makes it harder to rotate to give some players a rest.”
The Ducks will be led by No. 28 Daria Panova as she looks to stay undefeated in the regular season. Senior Monika Gieczys, junior Courtney Nagle and freshman Jamie Marshall are all 1-1.
While the women are battling at home, the Oregon men’s tennis team will be competing in Provo, Utah, against Brigham Young and New Mexico State.
The No. 75 Ducks also welcome back their No. 1 singles player, Manuel Kost from an abdominal injury that kept him sidelined for most of January.
Without Kost, the Ducks went 1-1 to start the regular season with a dominating 7-0 victory over Idaho and a close 5-2 defeat at the hands of New Mexico.
“I’m expecting to see more competition like we saw on Sunday against New Mexico,” head coach Chris Russell said. “We are prepared for that kind of battle.”
On Saturday, the Ducks take on the BYU Cougars and the No. 7 doubles team of Carlos Lozano and Erik Nyman. Ducks Oded Teig and Sven Swinnen are used to facing ranked opponents, with victories against No. 59 Brent Salazar and Ryan Stotland of New Mexico in the regular season and a win over No. 2 Michael Calkins and Amer Delic of Illinois in the pre-season.
“I’m looking for us to stay within our game plan this weekend,” Russell said. “We seem to start out well, but we need to stick with the game plans longer.”
The Ducks play New Mexico State on Sunday. The women begin their home season at 10 a.m. Saturday at the Student Tennis Center, behind McArthur Court.
Ryan Heath is a freelance writer
for the Emerald.