After the Oregon women’s tennis team received a first-round bye in the Pac-12 Championships thanks to their fifth seed, they squeaked past No.4 UCLA to nail a victory of 4-3, earning a berth in the semifinal.

It marked the the first time the Ducks have downed the Bruins in program history. The last time UCLA played Oregon, the Ducks were beaten soundly 4-1.

This time, the storyline was reversed as the Ducks took the doubles point. The duo of Marlou Kluiving and Nia Rose were the first victors of the day with a score of 6-1. Although Shweta Sangwan and Julia Eshet were bested 6-3, the pair of Alyssa Tobita and Rifanty Kahfiani sealed the doubles victory on their court in 6-3.

The Bruins, however, threw a wrench into the works as they proceeded to take three consecutive victories in the singles over Tobita, Rose and Kluiving. Sangwan and Eshet followed up with victories on their courts to tie the score, which meant it all boiled down to Daniella Nasser’s court to determine who would progress to the semifinal.

After losing the first set, Nasser rallied in the final two sets to score narrow victories over her opponent (4-6, 6-4, 6-5) and sealed the deal by just a point.

“My team brought the energy and was loud when it came down to the last games at the end,” Nasser said in a news release. “It energized me, and reminded me that I had to do it for them. We have prepared all season, and it translated on the court today for everyone. We are excited to get after it tomorrow.”

Oregon will face No. 1 Stanford on Friday in the championship semifinal at 2 p.m. The Cardinal has remained unbeaten in the conference throughout the regular season. If the Ducks take down Stanford, which would be another first for the program, they will face either No. 6 USC or No. 2 California for the Pac-12 title.

Follow Romaine Soh on Twitter @mainetainpls

The post Oregon defeats UCLA for the first time in program history to progress to Pac-12 semifinal appeared first on Emerald Media.

Ever wonder what a day in the life of a Division I student-athlete looks like? Mitch Modin and his camera can show you.

A decathlete on the Oregon track and field team, Modin has posted video blogs – better known as vlogs – regularly for the past nine months detailing his day-to-day activities. Key elements of his vlogs are footage of him practicing the technical events of the decathlon, such as the hurdles and the pole vault, and filming the Oregon team at meets.

His decathlete background, along with being part of one of the nation’s most prestigious athletic programs, has drawn over 2,000 subscribers representing at least 50 countries to Modin’s channel, who take turns asking about the school and the program.

The idea of the vlogs was born when Modin’s roommate, Olympic hurdler Devon Allen, was recording his first U.S. Olympic Trials experience and convinced Modin, who was also competing in the trials, to do the same.

“It kinda seemed like something fun to do,” Modin said.

Although he initially set a goal to film vlogs for five consecutive days, Modin shelved the project before meeting his goal because he felt he was not producing interesting content. But last summer, Modin’s parents gifted him a Canon T5 DSLR for his birthday, which kickstarted his motivation to produce the vlogs. Since then, filming and editing the vlogs has become Modin’s creativity outlet.

“I really enjoy watching him exercise his hobby,” said Cole Walsh, an Oregon pole vaulter and Modin’s roommate. “He started off filming everything he did. But on our last trip, he only filmed essential parts to move along the narrative, like when he did a little clip of getting his ticket scanned rather than just filming maybe five hours of video and then trying to edit it down into a day. That’s something he’s improved on.”

Ever since Modin started vlogging, his friends have noticed him transform from a shy guy to an outgoing person. Last spring, he took on a leadership role in the team and sported a moustache and a beard that covered the entire perimeter of his face while competing at the NCAA outdoor championships. His enunciation has also improved since the beginning of the vlogs.

Although Modin feels more comfortable in front of a camera now, he still feels self-conscious talking to it in public, especially when people are walking towards him. Till today, he still has not entirely gotten over that feeling, so he chooses to focus on what the camera sees instead of what he sees.

“You just gotta get used to it and be that outgoing to not care about what other people think, which is a good way to live life,” Modin said.

Modin graduated with a General Social Sciences degree with a concentration in Applied Economics, Business and Society last winter, but the class that sparked his interest the most was professor Rebecca Force’s video production class in the journalism school. Despite not having the prerequisites, he emailed Force with his portfolio and begged her to let him into the class.

Taking the class made Modin realize that the journalism major would have been a good fit for him, particularly video production since his camera is always by his side. His recent vlogs have evolved to include more cinematic shots and cleaner transitions between his daily events to make for a smoother narrative.

Now that Modin is done with college, he has used the extra time freed up from classes to create more engaging content. Besides letting his teammates take over his camera sometimes, Modin also collaborated with Allen, who signed a professional contract with Nike last month, to showcase his shipment of Nike gear.

“Mitch wasn’t going to be home for another six hours, and I was like, ‘You know what, Mitch will probably want to put this on the vlog. I’m just gonna leave it and do the unboxing with him.’ And he was super excited about it,” Allen said.

Although Allen and Walsh have not noticed him do anything particularly wild while filming his vlogs, one thing that scares them is Modin talking to his camera while biking.

“He puts his camera on his bike and he’ll try to ride no-handed just to talk to the camera,” Allen said. “Not that it’s super hard, but it’s a little dangerous. He got Ashton Eaton in one of his earlier vlogs while riding our bikes and I was behind him and took his hand off the bike to turn the camera. He almost fell.”

Another highlight of Modin’s vlogs is Chloe, his 1-year-old Yorkie-Pomeranian-Papillon mixed dog. Besides Modin, Chloe is the second-most featured being on the vlogs.

“She’s just always smiling,” Modin said. “Well, she can’t really smile, but she can bounce around and be happy all the time.”

Though Allen acknowledges that Chloe is a hit, he envies how she is featured more often than him even though he tries to get included in the vlogs by taking the camera and filming cool shots. Allen’s takeovers, however, have only been included a handful of times while Chloe appears in almost every video.

Modin’s growing online presence has already led to fans recognizing him on the streets. As he was traveling to the Florida Relays, he met three fans at the Portland airport and included them in his vlog.

“It’s kinda sick that people watch the videos,” Modin said.

He ranks among the top million YouTube personalities, but his friends believe that he has what it takes to become a YouTube star.

“He’s the only person out there who’s really letting you look through this window into the life of a NCAA athlete,” Walsh said. “He really understands what we go through each day. That’s a unique element that no other channel has.”

Follow Romaine Soh on Twitter @mainetainpls

The post Mitch Modin’s vlogs offer a behind-the-scenes glimpse into the life of a Division I athlete appeared first on Emerald Media.

Oregon sophomore Ethan Young-Smith hasn’t been a consistent presence for the Ducks on the court this season. The last time he played was March 17 against Iowa. But he stepped up on Sunday afternoon against No. 15 Stanford to relieve teammate Simon Stevens due to injury.

Despite being thrown into the fire against an opponent the Ducks have only defeated twice before in program history, Young-Smith simply focused on his game.

“I had to focus on myself,” Young-Smith said. “I just had to get into that mindset that I know what I have to do to win.”

After he scored the match point to edge out Stanford 4-3, the Ducks rushed the court and pinned him on the ground in a group pile.

“Being the one to clinch it is unreal,” he said. “I never would have imagined myself out here with all these guys grinding away and getting the W.”

The win raised Oregon’s overall record to 17-5 and 3-3 in Pac-12 play and also ties Oregon’s highest-ranked win in program history when the Ducks defeated No.15 Boise State in 2014.

“It put us in a really good seed position for the NCAA Tournament,” Oregon head coach Nils Shyllander said. “We dealt with some adversity with Simon not being available today, but I think we responded well in the singles.”

This was the first time that a match was held outdoors instead of the Student Tennis Center, an indoor facility that usually comes in handy to counter Eugene’s cold, gloomy and rainy weather.

The Cardinal took the early lead in doubles when they defeated duos of Jayson Amos and Ty Gentry, as well as Akihiro Tanaka and Armando Soemarno. Cormac Clissold and Thomas Laurent were the only Ducks pair to steal a doubles victory with a 6-4 win over No.81 Michael Genender and Sameer Kumar.

It was a constant back-and-forth battle in the singles as both teams fought for the match point. Clissold led Oregon’s attack as he closed out the first singles match to score the Duck’s first point. Amos then lost on his court, but Laurent and Tanaka both picked up wins against ranked singles players to gain a brief lead before Gentry’s loss tied both teams.

It all came down to Young-Smith’s court, who won a tiebreaker in the second set to force a third set. Despite the high-pressure situation, Schyllander trusted his charge to perform.

“I know when he’s got his teeth in the match, he usually comes out ahead,” Schyllander said. “He did a remarkable job. He didn’t make an unforced error in that whole third set.”

Last Friday, No.26 Laurent narrowly lost to the No.15 player in the nation. On Sunday, he was served with yet another ranked opponent, No.10 Tom Fawcett.

Laurent, however, took a page out of his opponent’s book by being in a position to take good shots and being more decisive about going for the ball. Rankings became irrelevant as Laurent won the match over two sets in 6-4 and 6-0.

“If you have the control at the beginning of the point, I feel that you will have more chance to conclude the point by being aggressive,” he said.

The sophomore now has 28 victories this season, a new single-seasons record, but he remains focused on the team’s performance.

“I’m very happy, but right now we’re focused on winning together,” Laurent said.

Oregon will play its final home game against Washington on April 22 before heading to the Pac-12 Championships in Ojai, California, the following week.

Follow Romaine Soh on Twitter @mainetainpls

The post Oregon upsets No. 15 Stanford 4-3 appeared first on Emerald Media.

When Marlou Kluiving entered the locker room to prepare for the final home game of her collegiate career, a note from teammate Julia Eshet, her fellow winningest doubles player this season, was taped to her locker.

She swung open her locker, and balloons of different colors along with green and yellow streamers came pouring out. Kluiving, who had earlier spoken to her mother on the phone and claimed she was fine, burst into tears.

“I told her the past week was tougher than today,” she said. “That was true until I opened my locker room and saw everything. I promised myself to keep that for after the match, but it happened sooner than expected.”

Although Oregon eventually lost by a point to No. 18 California on Saturday afternoon at the Oregon Tennis Center, Kluiving was unperturbed that she was unable to end the day with a win in the singles.

“We’re not done yet,” she said. “For me, it’s all about the team. I don’t care if I lose if everybody else gets the win. We were close today. It hurts, but it’s okay.”

Oregon kept the same doubles pairings from Friday’s match against Stanford, but came out with the win this time against Cal’s two ranked pairs. Kluiving and Nia Rose were trailing for the first half, but took control of the game after the third point and surged to a two-point victory of 6-4. Eshet and Sangwan had a hot streak of three sets that put them ahead of their rivals, then held on to secure the Ducks’ first point of the day.

The Ducks continued their scoring momentum into the singles with Alyssa Tobita trouncing No. 53 Maegan Manasse, one of Cal’s three ranked players, in two sets (6-0, 6-3). Cal finally began to find their groove when Kluiving and Rose were handed losses on their courts. Daniela Nasser disrupted Cal’s streak after scoring a win on her court that saw no points from her rival in the third set (3-6, 6-2, 6-0), but Cal’s top player, No.9 Karla Popovic quickly ended Sangwan’s attempt at a comeback (1-6, 7-5, 1-6) to tie Cal with Oregon 3-3.

Cal finally scored the match-winning point when Eshet fell to the Golden Bears’ third-ranked player, No. 98 Olivia Hauger in the third set (1-6, 7-5, 4-6).

“This is what college tennis is all about, coming down to the last match and both teams putting their hearts and souls into every single point,” Oregon head coach Alison Silverio said. “Really proud of how our girls had the courage to do the right things in the pressure moments. We did a great job of finishing volleys at the net. When we were up in the score and had an opportunity to close it out, we did it on both courts.”

Before the match started, Kluiving and fellow senior Paloma Gomez were honored and adorned with aprons covered with handwritten notes from their teammates. Though Gomez has only played twice this season, she still cheers for them from the sidelines as loud as she can.

“If what it takes to win is me not playing and being there for my teammates, I’m going to be wherever I needed,” she said. “If I’m needed to play, I’m gonna fight as hard as I can, but I’m also gonna fight for them on the side.”

Oregon’s matches may attract a small handful of people – around 20 people besides athletes fill the bleachers almost every game – but two elderly women, Sue and Kelly, known affectionately as the “Daisy Ducks,” make up a big part of the Oregon experience. They show up to every game dressed in Oregon gear, respond to the team’s group cheers and blow a Duck whistle to celebrate each point.

“Other people might think, ‘who is this lady sounding this Duck horn?’” Gomez said. “But to us, it’s being home. It’s part of the home atmosphere for sure.”

The Ducks will play their second last regular-season match against Utah in Salt Lake City, UT on Friday at 12:30 p.m. before kicking off their Pac-12 campaign on April 26 in Ojai, CA.

Follow Romaine Soh on Twitter @mainetainpls

The post Oregon narrowly loses to Cal 4-3 in final home match appeared first on Emerald Media.

The Ducks women’s tennis team may be entering the final stretch of home games, but its rivals aren’t about to let them capitalize on home-field advantage.

The No. 10 Stanford Cardinal, who has only lost once this season, extended their win streak to 11 after taking down the Ducks 7-0 Friday afternoon at the Oregon Student Tennis Center. Oregon is now 11-8 overall and 4-3 in Pac-12 play.

With just three regular season matches remaining before the Pac-12 Championships, opportunities for practice are winding down. Both teams agreed beforehand that all the singles matches would be played until the very end despite the score.

With players returning from injury, Oregon was spoilt for choice with lots of shuffling.

Alyssa Tobita paired up with Rifanty Kahfiani, who is two weeks back in action after a severe ankle sprain. Marlou Kluiving battled alongside Nia Rose, and Shweta Sangwan teamed up with Julia Eshet for the first time.

Though the Cardinal eventually took the doubles point, the Ducks always kept it close, finishing within two points of their rivals on two of the courts. Sangwan and Eshet were tied before their matches were left unfinished.

“I think the energy we had out there for doubles was great,” Oregon head coach Alison Silverio said. “Shweta and Julia were in the middle court, so they have a leadership role with the two end courts where they’re spreading the energy out. They’d say, ‘Let’s go Ducks!’ I think that permeated throughout all three doubles.”

Stanford exacted its dominance in the singles category by sweeping all six matches. It was a hard ask from the beginning: Stanford’s entire singles lineup is ranked nationally, with its top player Melissa Lord (No. 19) and its sixth player, Emily Arbuthnott at No. 103. None of Oregon’s singles players are ranked.

Despite that, Tobita and Sangwan were able to drag it out to a full three sets on their respective courts before their opponents clinched victories. Kluiving was never less than two points away from Arbuthnott before falling in the second set.

Oregon’s match against Stanford was pegged as a BEOREGON match, a movement that encourages all student-athletes to be their authentic selves.

“We have Ducks from all over the place,” Juwaan Williams, a football player, said before the match. “We like to keep it inclusive so we can keep going for it and the national championships.”

The tennis team is the smallest on the athletic roster with just nine players, but the Ducks are well represented, boasting three international players and representing four different states in the U.S.

“You have to learn how to work together no matter where you’re from, really embrace your differences and move forward together,” Silverio said. “We might have varying backgrounds on our team, which means we’re gonna have varying opinions about things.

“I think our team does a great job of being one unit and being a family.”

The Ducks hit the court again on Saturday afternoon at 12 p.m. to host Cal in their final home game at the Oregon Student Tennis Center. Seniors Kluiving and Paloma Gomez will be honored.

Follow Romaine Soh on Twitter @mainetainpls

The post Oregon overpowered by Pac-12 leader Stanford, 7-0 appeared first on Emerald Media.

Rifanty Kahfiani jumped through hoops to become a starter on the Oregon women’s tennis team.

The 18-year-old freshman from Jakarta, Indonesia took the TOEFL test, an English language test, seven times before she met the target score to get accepted into and play tennis for Oregon.

When she finally got here, she played five matches and went 5-2 in doubles and singles before suffering a severe ankle sprain that confined her to a scooter and crutches for a month. With two other Ducks out with injuries as well, the team had to rely on just six players to get them through the next six weeks of competition.

During spring break, Kahfiani marked her return to the court to face Fresno State in singles.

“I’m very excited to play as best as I can,” Kahfiani said.

Although her match went unfinished – the Ducks won 4-1 before she could conclude her match – the team is just happy to have her back.

“Before, we had just six players, but to know that now there are so many more options, it’s kinda crazy,” her teammate Alyssa Tobita said.

English is still new for Kahfiani. She struggled to keep up in her math class because she had to decipher the instructor’s unfamiliar accent while learning new concepts.

“I know that Math 95 (Intermediate Algebra) is not that hard, but the language makes it harder for me,” she said. “I got frustrated the first week. But when I kept doing it, it’s fine.”

It has been just 3 months since Kahfiani landed on U.S. soil, but her teammates marvel at the progress she has made learning English.

“When we have team meetings, the coaches sometimes say words that she won’t understand,” Tobita said. “But after the meeting, she’ll come to me and ask what the word meant. It’s crazy that she can remember the words and take that all in.”

Kahfiani started learning English in elementary school but was only limited to simple things such as numbers. While playing on the International Tennis Federation (ITF) circuit, she had to travel a lot, which forced Kahfiani to hone her English skills.

“Honestly, I’m not that good at English, but I got better when I was traveling,” she said. “I have to speak English with everyone, so that made me better.”

Kahfiani’s route to Oregon seemed destined with the connections forged throughout her tennis career. She befriended Shweta Sangwan, a sophomore on the Oregon team, from playing on the ITF circuit and is practically family with the two Indonesian brothers on the men’s tennis team at Oregon, Armando and Fabian Soemarno.

Until last April, the 18-year-old didn’t even know about the University of Oregon until two Indonesian tennis players for the Ducks convinced her to apply and linked her up with the coach.

Oregon head coach Alison Silverio capitalized on these connections to convince Kahfiani to pack her bags and move to a foreign land almost 8,000 miles from home.

“We had a nice connection with the two brothers that were already playing here, so that’s how Rifanty and I started communicating,” Silverio said. “She seemed like a very positive, very respectful young lady when I first talked with her. It was a very great start to our relationship.”

While Kahfiani’s teammates help her out with English, she also teaches them about the Indonesian culture, particularly language. Tobita uses the little Indonesian she has picked up from her to establish personal rapport during matches.

“[The team] calls me Tobi, so she’ll be like, ‘ayo Tobi,’ which means ‘let’s go Tobi.’ So I’ll say ‘ayo Fa,’ which is ‘let’s go Rifa,’ ” Tobita said. “I love saying that a lot during matches. It makes me feel connected just to her than just saying, ‘let’s go Ducks’ all the time, especially when she’s watching from the back of my court.”

One of the Indonesian phrases that the team, including the coaches, has picked up is ‘ayam goreng,’ Indonesian for fried chicken. Whenever Kahfiani misses an easy ball or falls, she utters that phrase, and the team can’t get enough of it.

“She missed a couple balls in a row and she said ‘fried chicken,’ but in Indonesian,” Silverio said. “And I went, ‘Rifa! You just said fried chicken.’ And she said with a smile, ‘Yes coach. Yes, I did.’ That put a smile on her face and it made me and the other girls laugh. She’s a fun girl to be around.”

Even when Kahfiani was going through rehabilitation, she continued to contribute to the team by supporting them from the sidelines.

“[Rifa and the athletic trainer] would be on the side of the court doing their exercises and she would always feed in positive energy,” Silverio said. “That’s the kind of student-athlete you want on your team. When things aren’t great for them, everything’s not going their way, they’re still going to find a way to give back to the team.”

Kahfiani has just embarked on her college journey, but she already has options laid out in her future. She harbors dreams of pursuing a professional tennis career, becoming an athletic trainer or opening a restaurant boasting healthy food.

She’s on track to go down any of those paths. She’s on the varsity tennis team, pursuing a human physiology degree and her cauliflower pizza and pasta are some of the dishes her teammates have enjoyed.

“I typically don’t like people helping me when I’m cooking, with the exception of Rifa,” Nia Rose, a junior on the team, said. “I trust her to cook anything.”

https://www.instagram.com/p/BR-ErBuF0St/?taken-by=rifantyyy

Follow Romaine Soh on Twitter @mainetainpls

The post New language and new culture no problem for Rifanty Kahfiani appeared first on Emerald Media.

Less than 24 hours after suffering a sound defeat at Arizona State, the Oregon women’s tennis team made its way to Tucson, Arizona, to edge out a 4-3 win against Arizona on Saturday afternoon at the LaNelle Robson Tennis Center.

The Ducks shuffled their doubles teams, which saw Marlou Kluiving pairing with Alyssa Tobita to score the first win of the day. However, the Wildcats overcame the two other duos of Shweta Sangwan and Rifanty Kahfiani, Nia Rose and Janvhi Clark to score the first point of the day.

Arizona proceeded to score its second point in the singles as Tobita fell to No. 119 Paris Corley.

From then on, Oregon launched its comeback as Kluiving, Daniela Nasser and Julia Eshet won their matches to gain a brief 3-2 advantage over Arizona. Arizona, however, drew even with No. 29 Lauren Marker emerging victorious over Sangwan.

It all came down to a tiebreaker on Rose’s court, from which she eventually emerged as the victor, pulling out a 7-6 win. The Ducks are 11-7 overall and 4-2 in conference play.

“It was a great team effort today,” Oregon head coach Alison Silverio said in a press release. “We fought and stayed together. Moving forward, we will be focusing on a full commitment to the process and the team.”

Oregon will host Stanford on Friday afternoon at the Oregon Student Tennis Center at 1:30 p.m.

Follow Romaine Soh on Twitter @mainetainpls

The post Oregon wins nail biter against Arizona 4-3 appeared first on Emerald Media.

The Oregon sprints crew continued to impress on the final day of the Florida Relays in Gainesville, Florida, as the women set two collegiate records in the relays.

The quartet of Makenzie Dunmore, Hannah Cunliffe, Deajah Stevens and Ariana Washington, running the relay together for the first time, won the 4×100-meter relay in 42.34 seconds. Besides beating the Tumbleweed Track Club relay team that consisted of Olympic medalists Tianna Bartoletta and Dafne Schippers, they also rewrote both the school and collegiate records. Texas A&M set the previous NCAA record of 42.36 seconds in 2009.

The same four returned two hours later to propel to the top of the Oregon and NCAA all-time list in the 4×200-meter relay, finishing second in 1:28.78, just .01 seconds behind the same Tumbleweed relay team they had defeated earlier.

Including the indoor DMR and 60 meters, the Oregon women have set four collegiate records this season.

Dunmore returned to lead the team of Hannah Waller, Elexis Guster and Raevyn Rogers to win the Tom Jones College 4×400 in 3:26.07, the second-fastest time in school history.

On the men’s side, the quartet of Damarcus Simpson, Kyree King, Julius Shellmire and Marcus Chambers finished third in a time of 39.39 seconds, the second-fastest time in Oregon history. The same four later finished seventh among a field of mostly professionals in the 4×200 relay.

Shot putters Sebastian Barajas and Ronna Stone both scored PRs, throwing 54 ft 1 in and 47-9 respectively.

Oregon won a total of eight events at both the Florida Relays and the Stanford Invitational this weekend and also set three school records and two collegiate records.

“It was great to have a part of our team come down to Gainesville and then be able to send the other half to Stanford where we got a lot of good times,” Oregon head coach Robert Johnson said. “It’s amazing to get one collegiate record, but to get two in one day is pretty amazing and a special accomplishment for our girls. Overall, a lot of lifetime bests and wins and we’re happy with how we opened outdoors.”

The team will next compete at the Mt. SAC Relays (April 12-15) in Torrance, California, the Bryan Clay Invitational (April 13) in Azusa, California, and the Beach Invitational (April 13-15) in Long Beach, California.

Follow Romaine Soh on Twitter @mainetainpls

The post Oregon closes out season opener with two collegiate records appeared first on Emerald Media.

After reducing Fresno State’s two-year home winning streak to zero last Wednesday, Oregon was handed a 4-1 loss by Arizona State on Friday afternoon at the Whiteman Tennis Center in Tempe, Arizona.

Though Oregon ranked four positions above the No. 42 ASU, the latter possessed three ranked singles players – No. 63 Sammi Hampton, No. 65 Kassidy Jump and No. 90 Kelley Anderson — that proved to be the Ducks’ undoing.

Even the Ducks’ two ranked pairs of No. 48 Shweta Sangwan and Alyssa Tobita and No. 66 Marlou Kluiving and Julia Eshet were unable to hold the Sun Devils off. Sangwan and Tobita were unable to finish their match, and Kluiving and Eshet were unable to score a point as they fell 6-0 to Anderson and Savannah Slaysman.

Oregon freshman Rifanty Kahfiani made her first appearance in the doubles with Nia Rose after an injury set her back for the past two months, but the duo fell to Hampton and Jump, awarding ASU the first point of the match.

The Sun Devils’ three ranked singles players went on to blitz in the singles category, with each of them pulling out a win on their respective courts to give ASU the win of the day. Kluiving was the only Duck to score in the singles.

“Arizona State did a better job with the intangibles today,” Oregon head coach Alison Silverio said in a press release. “We are grateful for an opportunity to go out and compete tomorrow.”

Oregon will wrap up its road trip with a match against Arizona in Tucson, AZ, on Saturday at noon.

Follow Romaine Soh on Twitter @mainetainpls

The post Oregon overpowered by Arizona State’s offense, goes down 4-1 appeared first on Emerald Media.

Fresno State had been undefeated on its home ground the past 25 months and 18 matches.

That staggering statistic, however, did not daunt Oregon from trouncing the Bulldogs 4-1 on Wednesday afternoon at the Spalding G. Wathen Tennis Center in Fresno, California.

Fresno State scored its lone point in doubles when it took down the pairs of Janvhi Clark and Nia Rose, 6-3, and Marlou Kluiving and Julia Eshet, 6-4. Alyssa Tobita and Shweta Sangwan’s match went unfinished.

In singles, the Ducks struck back as Tobita tied the match with the Ducks’ first singles win of the day. Kluiving and Rose backed her up by winning their matches in the first two sets, and Eshet scored the match point by winning in her third set.

After missing out the action for two months due to a severe ankle sprain, freshman Rifanty Kahfiani returned to the court for some singles action against the Bulldogs, though her match was unfinished.

This win brings Oregon to 10-6 overall. The Ducks will end their road trip this weekend after taking on both Arizona schools, starting with Arizona State at Tempe, Arizona, on March 31 at the ASU Whiteman Tennis Center.

Follow Romaine Soh on Twitter @mainetainpls

The post Oregon tennis ends Fresno State’s home winning streak appeared first on Emerald Media.