Tennis Squeaks By 49ers
04/16/04 | Women's Tennis
LONG BEACH, Calif. ? The Oregon women's tennis team defied all odds in its dramatic, 4-3, victory over Long Beach State, despite losing the doubles point. The win marked the Ducks (15-8, 2-6) best record since the Pac-10 merged into a nine-team conference (1997-98) and their best record since 1992-93 (24-5).
Last season the Ducks were plagued by close losses, going 3-7 in 4-3 matches. This season, Oregon is winning those matches, having chalked up its fourth, 4-3, victory of the season.
The Ducks, however, struggled at the start after being swept by the 49ers in doubles play. Sophomore Anna Leksinska and Dominika Dieskova lost for only the second time in nine matches, losing, 8-4, to Long Beach State's Kelly Chan and Alanah Carroll.
In singles, the Ducks won four of six matches, led by No. 68-ranked Dieskova, who won her 19th match of the year, defeating Chan, 6-4, 6-2, at the No. 2 position.
Having struggled all season with injuries, senior Courtney Nagle won her first match since February, defeating Carroll, 6-2, 6-1. Nagle is now third on the Oregon career wins list with 62.
Davina Mendiburu and Ester Bak anchored the bottom half of the Duck lineup with wins the No. 4 and No. 6 positions. Mendiburu pushed her dual mark to 13-10 win a 6-4, 6-4 victory over Emmanuelle Tabatruong, while Bak clinched the match for Oregon, taking down Claudia Argumedo, 6-4, 5-4 (ret.).
"I give a lot of credit to Long Beach, they played really hard," Oregon head coach Nils Schyllander said. "We were down early but we battled back and won the match on a day where we didn't play our best tennis."
Oregon finishes the regular season tomorrow (Sat., April 17, Noon) when it takes on No. 36 Pepperdine.
Oregon 4, Long Beach State 3
Long Beach, Calif.
April 16
DOUBLES
1. Bouffler/Rocha (LBSU) def. (43) Panova/Nagle (UO) 8-5
2. Carroll/Chan (LBSU) def. Dieskova/Leksinska (UO) 8-4
3. Tabatruong/Katayama (LBSU) def. Bak/Mendiburu (UO) 8-6
SINGLES
1. Nicole Bouffler (LBSU) def. (7) Daria Panova (UO) 6-3, 6-3
2. (68) Dominika Dieskova (UO) def. Kelly Chan (LBSU), 6-4, 6-2
3. Courtney Nagle (UO) def. Alanah Carroll (LBSU), 6-2, 6-1
4. Davina Mendiburu (UO) def. Emmanuelle Tabatruong (LBSU), 6-4, 6-3
5. Sandra Rocha (LBSU) def. Anna Leksinska (UO) 6-1, 7-5
6. Ester Bak (UO) def. Claudia Argumedo (LBSU) 6-4, 5-4 (ret.)
Players Mentioned
