The Oregon women’s tennis team (8-9, 1-7 Big Ten) went to battle for a full three and a half hours against the Purdue Boilermakers (10-4, 4-3 Big Ten) before falling short, 4-3 in the final tie-breaker round.
The Ducks came out on top 2-1 in an unevenly matched doubles round. Neither team led by more than two sets in any of the matches and they all ended with the same score of 6-4.
Tilde Jagare and Juliet Santitto were in a tight battle the whole way through. Neither side led by more than one set until near the end when the Ducks took a 5-3 lead. That was the turning point as Oregon led the rest of the way, winning it 6-4.
Bridget Mihulka and Karin Young fell behind 2-0 early. They answered by winning the following two sets, but Purdue moved back ahead. The Boilermakers maintained their momentum for the entire set and never allowed the Ducks to take a lead. Purdue won the set 6-4.
Candela Aparisi and Marjorie Souza had the advantage from the beginning. Purdue kept it close, but Oregon maintained the advantage down the stretch to secure the 6-4 win.
Entering the singles, the Ducks began to struggle more.
Souza faced a tight battle at the beginning, but her opponent ultimately took over and easily secured a 6-2 win in her first singles match. Souza continued to struggle in her second match, falling behind 5-0 before winning another set. She started to come back, but it was too late and she was defeated 6-3.
Jagare faced an early 3-0 deficit, and could not match her opponent in her opening singles round. Jagare lost 6-2. She fell behind again in the second round, could not keep up and lost 6-3.
Aparisi was outmatched tremendously from the start. Her opponent won four sets before she won her first. She did a nice job battling back, but just didn’t have enough and was defeated 6-3. Aparisi took an early 2-0 lead in the second round, but her opponent responded well and moved ahead to win the round 6-3.
Patsy Daughters struggled a bit and trailed 3-1 early, but she came back to tie it before moving ahead for the 6-4 win. She took the early 3-0 lead in the second round. Her opponent threatened a comeback, but Daughters was ready, winning the second round 6-2.
Santitto faced an evenly matched opponent and neither one of them led by more than a set before her opponent moved ahead 7-5 to secure the first round. She took a 4-0 lead to open the second round and maintained the lead all the way through to win 6-3 and force a third round. The final round was very tight, but Santitto capitalized in the final set for the 6-4 win to even up the match at 3.
Young faced an evenly matched opponent, but ultimately won the first round 6-4. She struggled a lot more in the second round and lost 6-2. Young rebounded to open the third round, taking a 3-1 lead but her opponent came right back. The two of them finished the third round even at 6 with the result of the match depending on their final tie-breaker round. Young took the 3-0 lead, but her opponent answered and tied it at 5 before securing the match with an 8-6 win.
The Ducks look ahead to Saturday’s clash against the rival Washington Huskies in Seattle.
