Cal shows promise with strong performances against Oregon, Pepperdine
David McAllister/Staff
With the Pac-12 Championships roughly two weeks away, Cal women’s tennis is approaching the most important stages of its season. The Bears’ recent victory over Oregon and strong performance in defeat against then-No. 7 Pepperdine indicate they are hitting their stride at precisely the right moment.
On Friday, Cal began its weekend on a high note with a narrow 4-3 team win over Oregon in Eugene. After Hannah Viller Moeller and Anna Bright’s 6-4 victory over the Ducks’ Lillian Mould and Janice Tjen clinched the doubles point for the Bears, the blue and gold were unable to pull away from the Ducks for much of singles play.
Apr 8, 2021
The redemptive power of athletics was on full display for the Oregon women s tennis team last week.
As crushing as defeat can be, it provides an opportunity to learn and to grow. To bounce back. As they headed to Washington this week for the final weekend of the regular season, few appreciate that better than the members of the UO women s tennis program, and in particular freshman Uxia Martinez Moral.
Oregon headed north this week fresh off an unprecedented win over Stanford, in which Martinez provided the point that clinched the victory. Just two days earlier, she had the chance to do the same against California, and came up short.
No. 46 Oregon vs. No. 25 Stanford
The Ducks are coming off of a weekend split at home against the LA Schools, beating USC last Friday, 5-2, before falling to a top-10 UCLA team on Sunday, 4-1. The loss to UCLA snapped a four-match conference winning streak - which was Oregon s longest stretch in conference play since at least 1999. Oregon also moved into the ITA Team Rankings at No. 46 following last weekend s matches, marking the first time the Ducks have been ranked since the end of the 2018 season.
True freshman Janice Tjen also cracked the ITA Singles Rankings for the first time this season, checking in at No. 121 after earning a ranked win by beating No. 91 Eryn Cayetano of USC last week. She is 12-2 on the season at the No. 1 singles spot and has lost just six sets all season in singles play. Uxia Martinez Moral also picked up her 12th singles win of the season last week, moving to 12-3 on the year while Julia Eshet continued her strong play at the No. 6 singles spot by del
The Ducks split their conference-opening weekend in Arizona, picking up a thrilling 4-3 win over the Wildcats on Sunday after dropping Friday s match at No. 24 Arizona State, 4-0. Sunday s match came down to No. 3 and 4 singles, as Oregon was down 3-2 with both of those matches headed to a third set. Rifanty Kahfiani tied things up with a 6-4, 4-6, 6-3 win at No. 3 singles, before Uxia Martinez Moral clinched the victory by winning 7-6(2), 4-6, 6-3 at the No. 4 spot.
Oregon also won the doubles point in the victory over Arizona, with Janice Tjen and Lillian Mould winning 6-2 at the No. 2 spot and Julia Eshet and Allison Mulville also claiming a 6-2 victory at No. 3 doubles. Tjen put up the Ducks second point of the match with a 6-2, 6-1 win at No. 1 singles. The win was a big-time bounce back for the Ducks after Friday s loss in which they lost the doubles point for the first time this year while dropping the first three singles matches to finish.