Losing is never fun. But at least on Saturday it was to No. 14 Oklahoma State (2-0) and not the other OSU.
Oregon women’s tennis (2-1) suffered its first loss of the season 4-0 to the Cowgirls in the first round of the Intercollegiate Tennis Association Kickoff Weekend on Saturday in Stillwater, Oklahoma.
Jo-Yee Chan had the Ducks’ lone singles set win on a day that Oregon is hoping to soon forget. Doubles play put Oklahoma State ahead early; singles play was the nail in the coffin.
All three of the Ducks’ duos led their doubles matches, but none could hold on to capture wins. Sophie Luescher and Uxia Martinez Moral led Lucia Peyre and Ayumi Miyamoto 1-0 early but were the first to fall 3-6. Karin Young and Myah Petchey led Sofia Rojas and Raquel Gonzalez 3-2 but also fell 3-6 as the Cowgirls clinched the doubles point and jumped to a 1-0 lead.
Chan and Ares Teixido Garcia’s match was left unfinished with Kristina Novak and Alana Wolfberg ahead 5-3, and the Ducks had also blown a 3-1 lead in that match too.
Oklahoma State exploded out the gate in singles play. Each Cowgirl jumped ahead to a multi-point lead in their sets, and the Ducks were unable to overcome early deficits in their first singles sets.
Oregon put up more of a fight in the following sets, but the starpower of a loaded OSU lineup overpowered the Ducks and shut out Oregon in singles play to win the match 4-0.
OSU’s Miyamoto dominated Martinez Moral. Miyamoto swept Martinez Moral 0-6 and 4-6 to bring the Cowgirls lead to 2-0.
Teixido Garcia was dealt a rough draw with Gonzalez – ITA’s No. 72 player in the country. Gonzalez won the first set 1-6 and the second set 3-6 to bring Oklahoma State to the verge of victory.
The final blow came from Peyre over Young. In the No. 4 spot, Peyre swept Young with 6-0 and 6-4 wins to finalize Oregon’s first loss of the new season.
Petchey and Chan were both holding their own against ranked opponents when the match was called. Petchey was battling No. 108 Wolfberg, and had just narrowly lost her first set 6-7 in a tie breaking set. Chan, Oregon’s only freshman, was the only Duck to win a set on Saturday. She won her second set over No. 121 Gonzalez and was fighting in the third when the match ended. Chan, Petchey and Luescher’s sets were all unfinished. Luescher was tied 1-1 in her second set after losing the first to Novak 5-7.
It was an unfortunate start to the ITA Kickoff Weekend for the Ducks, but not an unfamiliar one. Oregon lost 2-4 to Tulsa and 1-4 to Charlotte in last year’s ITA Kickoff Weekend. The Ducks will have a chance to still leave Stillwater with a win as they play Kansas (1-1) on Sunday. The time is yet to be announced.
