No. 24 Women's Tennis Makes Postseason Push in Southern California This Weekend
Finally finished with a six-match stretch of top-25 teams ? 2-4 in that span ? the No. 24 University of Oregon women’s tennis team (13-6, 2-5) takes a break from Pacific-10 Conference play and travels to California to take on Long Beach State (Fri., 2 p.m.), San Diego (Sun., noon) and Pepperdine (Mon., 1:30 p.m.). The Ducks will attempt to repeat last year’s late-season heroics, having defeated all three teams slated for this weekend by a close score of 4-3. Also, for the first time in program history, UO boasts three players with national singles rankings.
Last Week ? The Ducks ended a six-match swing of top-25 opponents, going 2-4 in that span. UO lost two tough 5-2 matches to the L.A. schools. Daria Panova closed out her home career with a straight set win over No. 32 Daniel Bercek of UCLA.
Scouting Long Beach State ? Long Beach is 10-8 on the season and led by Nicole Bouffler who is 12-6 in dual play on the season.
Scouting San Diego ? The Toreros are 7-8 on the year and led by No. 30 Emily Muprhy who is 19-7.
Scouting Pepperdine ? The Waves are 10-6 and coming off of a tough 4-3 loss to No. 18 Harvard. Pepperdine is led by No. 55 Bianca Dulgheru (20-3 overall) and No. 59 Caroline Raba (13-6).
National Rankings ? The Ducks dropped two spots to No. 24. Stanford holds at No. 1, while USC (3), UCLA (11), Cal (20) and Washington (21) all reside in the top 25.
Individual Rankings ? For the first time in program history, three Ducks earned individual rankings last week according to ITA. Panova jumped up from not being ranked to No. 49, Dominika Dieskova moved up from No. 73 to No. 67, and senior Davina Mendiburu moved into the rankings (No. 81) for the first time in her career after defeating No. 28 (match-day rank) Theresa Logar of Stanford. The Ducks’ doubles team of Panova and Dieskova is ranked No. 45.
Links ? For up-to-date team, singles and doubles rankings, go to www.collegetennisonline.com.
