The No. 53-ranked Oregon women’s tennis team (8-3) came up with two 4-3 victories in Iowa over the weekend. On Friday, Karin Young closed out the Ducks’ road win against future Big Ten-foe, No. 60 University of Iowa (5-6). The winning spirit stayed with the Ducks on Sunday, at the Hawkeye Tennis and Recreation Complex, when the team outlasted Iowa State (2-5) in a furious fight to the finish.
The Ducks debuted new duos in doubles and swept the Hawkeyes 6-1 on Courts 1 and 2. Tilde Jagare and Uxia Martinez Moral took hold of the reins at the No. 1 spot, while Jo-Yee Chan and Sophie Luescher overcame Barbora Pokorna and Pia Kranholdt on Court 2. The match on Court 3 went unfinished where Oregon’s Young and Candela Aparisi were leading 5-1.
Following a trend for the women’s team this season, the doubles pairings continue to change. In the first three matches of 2024, Luescher and Martinez Moral picked up where they left off last season at the No. 1 doubles spot. In 2022-2023, the duo played all but one match together, going 11-12 overall. However, the tandem has only played together for five of the team’s 11 matches this dual season.
Luescher has since played with graduate-transfer Nina Geissler, freshman Jagare, and is now partnered with sophomore Chan. The switch-ups are a strategic effort by the Oregon coaches to put out their best pairs while also adapting the doubles assignments based on player injury and general compatibility.
“At the end of the day, we are just looking to get three solid teams working together,” head coach Courtney Nagle said.
Claiming her second victory of the day with a straight-set singles win on Court 4, Martinez Moral put the Ducks up with an early 2-0 lead. However, the Hawkeyes responded, topping Oregon on Courts 1, 2 and 6. The No. 110-ranked Daianne Hayashida defeated Luescher 6-2, 7-6 (8) on the first court.
Geissler, who remained out of the doubles lineup likely due to her persistent-injury recovery plan, found her way back into the starting singles roster. After a three-match hiatus, the transfer reclaimed her No. 2 spot, but fell short to Marisa Schmidt 6-3, 6-3. On Court 6, Iowa’s Vipasha Mehra battled all the way back to force — and win — a tiebreaker against Oregon’s first-year Aparisi, putting the Hawkeyes in contention to win the match.
At the No. 5 singles position, Young held serve to clinch the duel for the Ducks, 4-6, 6-3, 7-5. The three-set win snapped Iowa’s four-match winning streak.
“I am proud of the way the team competed today to earn back-to-back wins on the road against future Big Ten opponents,” Nagle said. “This team has really shown a lot of growth since the start of the season and we are looking forward to another battle on Sunday.”
A Sunday-showdown it was. In a similar clinching style, the Ducks secured a victory that came down to the wire.
To start the day, the Ducks earned the doubles point for the ninth time this season when Chan and Luescher won 6-3 on Court 2. Iowa State was limited to five healthy players due to Juliette Nask’s injury. Therefore, the Cyclones handed the Ducks a 2-0 lead, with a doubles point and No. 6 singles forfeit-win.
On Court 5, Young extended the lead to three with a dominant 6-0, 6-0 win, improving her team-best singles record to 8-1 this spring.
The Ducks continued to be tested despite being just one match from a blanking victory.
Chan lost in straight sets to Ashlee Narker 6-4, 6-3, which gave Iowa State its first point of the day. On the top court, Luescher hung with Anna Supapitch Kuearum, forcing the first set to a tiebreak. However, the Swiss junior lost her steam and could not get a game in the second set, losing 7-6 (3), 6-0.
These two singles wins would cut Iowa State’s deficit to one as the score was 3-2 heading to the last two matches.
Geissler, still working to get back into her matchplay rhythm, dropped a tight 7-6 (4), 6-3 battle to Isabella Dunlap. The loss tied the matchup to 3-3 and turned all eyes to Court 4, where Martinez Moral was in the midst of working her way back from an early 5-7 first-set drawback.
The experienced Spanaird settled into her groove in the second set, easing past Gala Arangio 6-1 and sending the Cyclone to a decisive third set. On serve with a triple-match point, Martinez Moral rallied past Arangio 6-3 in the third and clinched the win for Oregon.
Her victory earned her a “Clinch Cam” feature on the popular tennis Instagram account @crackedraquets. Martinez Moral waved her opponent goodbye on the court, tossed her racquet on the ground and ran to her teammates for an exuberant embrace.
Oregon will have to keep the energy up and confidence high as it heads into conference competition this coming weekend and look to extend its four-match winning streak.
The Ducks begin Pac-12 play at the No. 64 University of Colorado Boulder (9-1) on Friday, and the No. 50 University of Utah (5-3) on Sunday — both first serves are scheduled for 10 a.m.
