Duck Tennis and Beach Volleyball Begin Fall Competition

Duck Invitational

Oregon’s women's tennis team got off to a strong start to their Fall season. Portland State, Portland, and Washington State came to Eugene for three days of competition over the weekend. The Ducks finished 10-2 against the field in singles and 6-1 in doubles.

Competition began Friday with Oregon defeating UP in a pair of doubles matches 6-4 and 6-3. In the second round of doubles competition, the Ducks faced a tougher test in Washington State. Oregon’s pairing of Uxia Martinez Moral and Sophia Luescher needed to rally from a 1-4 deficit, but won 5 straight games to take their match 6-4. The Cougars’ team of Hania Abouelsaad and Martina Markova had better fortune, taking their match with the Ducks’ Karin Young and Candela Aparisi 6 games to 4. In singles play, the Ducks defeated three of their four PSU opponents in straight sets. The only drama came between Martinez Moral and the Vikings’ Elizabeth Strongina, who split their first two sets. But Martinez Moral took the tie-breaking 3rd set 10 games to 6 to complete Oregon’s sweep of Portland State in singles play.

Spencer Gray, GoDucks.com

The Ducks continued to dominate the Vikings on Saturday in doubles play, winning all three matches. Washington State continued to provide stiff competition in singles play as the Ducks and Cougars split their four matches two apiece. Luescher dropped her first set 2-6, but rallied to win the next two 6-2 and 10-7 to take the match from WSU’s Yura Nakagawa. Aparisi lost in straight sets 7-5 and 7-6. Young took a victory for the Ducks in a dominant performance, 6-1 and 6-2. Marinez Moral lost her first set to WSU’s Fifa Kumhom 7-5, though she was leading the second set 1-3 before being forced to retire from the match.

Nina Geissler stepped in for Martinez Moral in singles play against Portland on Sunday and helped the Ducks to sweep their four opponents, all in straight sets. The biggest performance for Oregon came from Luescher who went 3-0 in singles play and 3-0 in doubles while playing with three different partners. Young also went 3-0 in singles play.

Next up for Oregon tennis is the ITA Northwest Regional Tournament at Stanford beginning this Thursday, October 12.

Alki Pairs

Oregon women’s beach volleyball put aside their campaign for equal treatment from the university over the weekend to concentrate on competition in Seattle. The Alki Pairs tournament was organized into Gold, Silver, and Bronze divisions. Each day of competition began with pool play, with four teams playing one match against all three of their opponents. The teams were then organized into playoff brackets by pool results, with top teams from pool play placed in the A bracket, the next highest finishers in the B bracket, and so on. Each day would see independent results, with its own champion crowned.

Luke Domineck, GoDucks.com

In the Bronze C bracket, the Ducks’ Kendall Clark and Macy Furtwangler defeated their opponents from host Washington. All of Oregon’s Silver division pairs were eliminated in the semifinals of their respective brackets. In the Gold Division Bella Gamache and Alina Valenti finished runner up in the C bracket, losing in straight sets to Rorianna Chartier and Lily Patock from Boise State.

Oregon fared somewhat better on Sunday with an all Duck final in the Bronze B bracket where Josie Griffiths and Skylar Kelly took the final from Halli Fields and Lolo Folau. Landree Coats and Natasha George won the Silver D bracket by defeating Boise State’s Sharli O’Neil and Addison Wolden. The Gold C bracket saw another Ducks victory in an all Oregon final as Jensen Kaelin and Ashley Schroeder got the win over Bella Gamache and Alina Valenti, who ended as Gold C bracket runners up two days in a row.

Next up for beach volleyball is the Tall Trees Classic in Boise Idaho on October 21 and 22.