The Oregon women’s tennis team begins its Pacific-10 Conference season this weekend with matches against No. 16 Arizona in Tucson on Friday and No. 8 Arizona State in Tempe on Saturday.
The men will be looking to avenge a close 4-3 loss from a year ago when they host No. 75 Boise State on Saturday.
The Ducks took the Broncos down to the wire last year, but fell in the last set of the last match in Boise.
“It was a painful loss last year,” head coach Chris Russell said. “We think things will be different now that we have the home court advantage.”
The Ducks are coming off a big 7-0 victory over Portland that boosted them from No. 72 to No. 69 in the nation. Despite recent successes and a solid 4-1 start, the Ducks are not looking past a Bronco team that boasts the No. 86 player in the nation in Guillaume Bouvier.
The Oregon doubles team of Oded Teig and Sven Swinnen will be looking to improve on its 4-1 record against No. 42 Bouvier and Marcus Berntson.
“Boise State is a well-coached team,” Russell said. “We just need to keep doing what we’ve been practicing.”
The No. 51 women will be taking on their toughest competition so far this year just a few a days after dropping two spots in the national rankings. The Ducks dropped despite winning four matches last weekend, two against ranked opponents.
Oregon sophomore and No. 28 Daria Panova will be facing Arizona’s No. 31 Maja Mlakar and No. 21 Adria Engel of Arizona State as she attempts to remain undefeated in singles play.
Arizona also features two more players in the top 70 as well as the No. 25 doubles team in Mlakar and Debbie Larocque. Arizona State sends out No. 39 Dora Krstulovic and No. 109 Mhairi Brown with Engel and two doubles teams in the top 40.
Taking on ranked opponents on the road could serve to be a major distraction, but head coach Nils Schyllander thinks the Ducks are up to the challenge.
“We’re not worried about what they’re doing,” Schyllander said. “We’re just focusing on what we need to do.”
The Ducks’ focuses at the moment are extending their seven-game winning streak and earning their first Pac-10 victory of the young season.
“We feel confident,” Schyllander said. “We are playing good tennis right now.”
The women begin play at 1:30 p.m. on Friday in Tucson and noon on Saturday in Tempe.
“They have good teams,” Schyllander said. “But we can play with the best.”
Then men take on Boise State at noon on Saturday at the Student Tennis Center. For fans who worry about the start time conflicting with lunch, free pizza will be provided.