The Oregon women’s tennis team has become accustomed to fast starts over the past three seasons.
Last year, the Ducks won their first nine dual matches and in 2002, they jumped out to a 10-3 record.
This season, the Oregon women (7-0 overall) remain undefeated after triumphing over Texas Tech, 7-0, on Friday and San Diego State, 4-3, on Sunday.
“I really feel good about where the team is at right now,” Oregon head coach Nils Schyllander said. “On any given night, someone on this team steps up.”
The Ducks showed no signs of letting up after continuing their impressive performances in doubles and singles matches. For the season, the team has combined for a
19-2 record in doubles and a 34-8 record in singles.
Three Ducks already hold six singles wins,
including seniors Daria Panova and Davina Mendiburu, and sophomore Dominika Dieskova.
Panova, who dropped from her No. 8 preseason ranking to No. 31, had an easy weekend after dominating Texas Tech’s Tara Browning, 6-2, 6-1, on Friday. The 22-year-old also
defeated San Diego State’s Dita Hauerlandova in straight sets, 6-2, 6-0, Sunday.
“I just tried to play my game,” said Panova, who improved her singles record to 6-0. “In the second set, I just tried to finish first.”
Mendiburu also added two victories to her career total and moved into third place on Oregon’s all-time career wins list with 66. She passed former teammate Courtney Nagle, who finished her career last season with 65 wins and is now a student assistant coach.
In addition, Dieskova continued her stellar play, racking up two more singles wins over the weekend. On Sunday, the 20-year-old clinched the dual-match victory with her win over San Diego State’s Aleysa Vidov, 6-0, 6-3.
“I played very well (Sunday),” Dieskova said. “I just played aggressive, and I came to the net. I didn’t give (my opponent) a chance to play her game style.”
However, the question surrounding the Oregon women is whether they can carry over their great play into the start of the Pacific-10 Conference schedule in two weeks against the Arizona schools.
The Ducks have not fared well in the past in Pac-10 play, compiling a 2-6 record last season and a 3-7 record in 2002.
The team, though, remains confident and upbeat about how they’ve played and prepared for each match.
“We are pretty ready every match,” Dieskova said. “We give a good energy and we get off to good starts. Every match we’ve won, we’ve won very fast.”
Schyllander has credited the top half of the lineup — consisting of Panova, Mendiburu and Dieskova — for taking care of business, combining to win 18 of 20 singles matches.
“Everybody’s played pretty well,” Schyllander said. “I think at the one, two and three positions, it’s been exceptional. There were no mistakes from them all weekend.”
The Oregon women look to once again defend their home court this week against Washington State at 1:30 p.m.
Friday and Washington at noon on Saturday. All matches are held at the Student Tennis Center.

Alex Tam is a freelance reporter for the Daily Emerald