A solid trifecta of doubles wins set the standard for the Ducks in Oregon’s 5-2 victory over Boise State on Saturday.
“Against Boise State in the past, we’ve had some tough matches,” Oregon coach Paul Reber said. “We had a 4-3 match last year that came down to the last match. I have to give our kids credit; they came ready to play, ready for a tough match, and it all started in doubles.
“You look down and it’s 3-3 on all the courts, but we battled and hung in there and good things happen when you look to stay in there and battle hard.”
Oregon’s doubles teams found themselves neck-and-neck with the Broncos for the first half hour of the match. Then, the surge began when No. 1 doubles pair Dominika Dieskova and Ceci Olivos rallied from a 1-3 deficit to win four out of the next five games and take a slim 5-4 lead over the Broncos’ Laura Baum and Jana Mackova.
At number three doubles, Monica Hoz de Vila and Anna Powaska were slowly pulling away from Bianca Jochimsen and Tiffany Coll. Hoz de Vila and Powaska broke the Broncos’ serve and Boise State never quite managed to chip into the Ducks’ 5-3 lead.
As the pairings of Dieskova and Olivos, and Hoz de Vila and Powaska finished off their opponents by identical 8-5 scorelines, Claudia Hirt and Carmen Seremeta struggled to close out a tight match on the middle court.
Oregon’s number two doubles pair had clawed its way back from a 4-7 deficit to tie things up at 7-7.
In the seven-point tiebreaker that ensued, smart net play from the Ducks, a couple of big serves from Hirt, and a booming overhead smash from Seremeta finally sewed things up for the Ducks, 8-7 (7-3).
The doubles sweep was only the beginning.
In singles, Hoz de Vila made quick work of Boise State’s Coll as she rolled to a 6-1, 6-2 victory. Oregon’s next win came from Olivos’ 6-4, 6-2 defeat of Stacey Housley, and the Ducks wrapped up the essential fourth point with a 6-3, 7-5 win from Hirt, who favored her left hip and looked to be in some discomfort as she limped off the court.
“It’s my left hip flexor, my right shoulder, and my head,” Hirt said. “I don’t know what’s wrong with me. The shoulder problem I had last year. I can go through that. It’s just very tired and it hurts. But the hip, I don’t know what’s wrong.”
Another Duck who was under the weather last week was Dieskova, who squeezed out a 7-6, 6-2 win over Jochimsen while battling the nagging effects of a sinus infection that had been bothering her all week.
“I just felt kinda dizzy after long points, but when I’m on the court I’m not really thinking about it,” Dieskova said.
The Oregon men’s tennis team had a disappointing weekend in Boise, Ida. The Duck men lost by the same 6-1 scoreline to both Utah and the University of Pennsylvania on Saturday and Sunday. On both days, freshman Geoff Embry was the only Duck who managed to secure a win.
Embry beat Utah’s Timmy Allin 6-2, 7-6, and defeated Penn’s Adam Schwartz 6-2, 6-4 the next day.
[email protected]