SCOUTING THE HUSKIES
Washington enters play with an 8-2 overall record. The Huskies had a week off from competition after beating Saint Mary’s 6-1 and San Diego State 7-0 on Feb. 10-11.
Kenadi Hance has paced Washington this season in singles play with a 9-1 record through the first 10 matches. Alexis Prokopuik ranks second on the squad with an 8-1 mark, while Stacey Fung, Miki Kobayashi and Katarina Kopcalic each have seven singles wins.
The Huskies have fielded 13 different doubles teams during the spring. The duo of Prokopuik and Hance hold the best record in doubles play with a 3-1 mark.
SCOUTING THE DUCKS
Oregon enters play this weekend with a 3-4 overall record after dropping its most recent contests at Baylor (4-3) and at TCU (4-1). The Ducks will meet UC Santa Barbara on Friday, before welcoming Houston to Eugene on Sunday.
Senior Marlou Kluving leads the Ducks with a 4-1 record through the team’s first seven matches. Oregon has also picked up three singles wins from Rifanty Kahfiani and Alyssa Tobita. Oregon’s duo of Marlou Kluving and Julia Eshet lead the Ducks in doubles play with a 4-2 overall record.
Doubles play began with the Cougars forfeiting number 3 doubles due to an injured player. At the number 2 doubles position, Lauren Alter and Sveva Mazzari dropped their match 6-2 to Stacey Fung and Kenadi Hance to claim the doubles point for Washington. At the number 1 doubles position, Tsveta Dimitrova and Ana Glumac kept it close for the Cougars by forcing the match to a tiebreaker at 5-5 with Nour Abbes and Miki Kobayashi, however the Huskies won the tie break 7-2.
Singles play began with the Cougars again having to forfeit a match at the number 6 singles position to give the Huskies a 2-0 lead. Hance was the first to strike for Washington with a 6-1, 6-0 win over Glumac at the number 5 singles position. Courts 3 and Court 4 were the next to finish almost simultaneously with Kobayashi defeating Alter 6-1, 6-2 at the number 3 position to seal the match at 4-0, while Alexis Prokopuik defeated Constandena Nicolaou at number 4 with a score of 6-0, 6-2 to put the Huskies up 5-0.
When play was halted, Dimitrova led 6-5 over Fung, while Abbes led Mazzari 6-4, 3-1 at the conclusion of the match.
Again, Houston began play with a forfeit of No. 3 doubles due to an injured player. At the No. 2 doubles position, Oregon’s team of Marlou Kluiving and Julia Eshet clinched the doubles point with a 6-2 victory over Lauren Alter and Sveva Mazzari. Tsveta Dimitrova and Ana Glumac were again locked in a battle at the No. 1 doubles position, forcing the match to a tiebreaker at 5-5 with Alyssa Tobita and Shweta Sangwan. However, the Ducks’ duo claimed the tie break 7-4.
Singles play began with the Cougars again forfeiting a match at the No. 6 singles position to give the Ducks a 2-0 lead. At the No. 4 singles position, Kluving and Constandena Nicolaou’s match was the first to finish, with Kluving defeating Nicolaou 6-2, 6-1, to make the score 3-0, Oregon.
The Ducks wrapped the match with a win at the No. 3 singles position, when Eshet defeated Alter in straight sets. Eshet won the first set 6-1, and edged out Alter in the second set 7-5 for Oregon’s fourth point. When play was halted, Dimitrova led Nia Rose 6-4, 4-5 at the No. 1 position, while Mazzari trailed 6-3, 4-2 to Sangwan and Glumac trailed Daniela Nasser 7-5, 2-2 at the No. 5 singles.
Season is starting to unravel a bit. We lost our best player to a grad transfer to Kansas and now we’re back to having injuries causing forfeits like we did last year.
Hopefully, the team can push through and at least win a couple of points on this road trip.