Ducks Open Pac-10 Play Against the Best
This Week: The No. 26 Ducks (8-2, 0-0 Pac-10) open Pac-10 play in the toughest way possible, by facing the sixth-ranked California Golden Bears (9-3, 0-0) and the fourth-ranked Stanford Cardinal (9-1, 0-0).
Lucky 13: Following their win over the No. 48 Boise State Broncos last weekend, the fourth win in a row for the Ducks, Oregon jumped 13 spots in the FILA Collegiate rankings. They moved up from 39th to 26th.
Scouting California: The Golden Bears feature four players ranked in the top-75, including No. 4 ranked Susie Babos, No. 16 ranked Nina Henkel, No. 25 Zsuzsanna Fodor, and No. 73 Stephanie Kusano.
Ducks vs. Bears: Last year, the Ducks opened the match with the doubles point victory, but could not sustain the momentum as Dominika Dieskova was the only Duck to win a singles match. Her match was a big personal victory as she defeated the No. 10 player in the nation, Suzi Fodor.
Scouting Stanford: While their 89 straight dual match winning streak may have come to an end earlier this season when Georgia Tech defeated the Cardinal in the finals of the USTA Indoor Championships, Stanford is still considered a major contender for the national title. Having already defeated six conference opponents in non-conference matches, the Cardinal are looking to ride that wave of success that has carried them to three straight national titles. The Cardinal are led by junior Celia Durkin, who is ranked No. 8 and sophomore Jessica Nguyen comes in at No. 9. Four other players are ranked in the top-80: senior Theresa Logar (14), senior Anne Yelsey (26), junior Whitney Deason (29) and freshman Lindsay Burdette (75).
Ducks vs. Cardinal: In last year’s meeting, Dieskova was again the only Duck to pick up a victory but it was again a huge one for her as she dealt the two-time defending national champion, Amber Liu, a crushing 6-2, 6-2 defeat.
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