AUSTIN, Texas – Oregon dropped a close doubles point and battled all the way in singles before falling to No. 18 Michigan in the first round of the NCAA Tournament, 4-0, in a match that lasted over three hours Friday.
“Today was a tough battle,” said head coach Courtney Nagle. “Unfortunately, it wasn’t our day to come out on top. I’m proud of the way this team competed and the way we fought until the last point. We will be back.”
The Ducks finish the season at 15-9 after making their first appearance in the NCAA Tournament since 2018.
How It Happened: The Ducks took the doubles point down to the wire, but ultimately dropped the opening point. After Karin Young and Myah Petchey came back from down 4-3 to win 6-4 at No. 3, Lillian Mould and Ares Teixido Garcia fell in a tight match at No. 2, 7-5.
Sophie Luescher and Uxia Martinez Moral forced a tiebreaker at No. 1 after going down 6-5, but came up just short in a 7-6(5) loss to give Michigan the first point. UO led 5-3 at one point at both No. 1 and 2, but couldn’t hold on.
Luescher and Martinez Moral both dominated their opening sets in singles, but the Ducks lost the first set at the other four spots. After Teixido Garcia and Young dropped their matches at No. 3 and 4, the other two Ducks who dropped their first set both nearly forced a third before coming up short.
Petchey dropped her opening set at No. 2 singles, but battled back in set two to force a tiebreaker, while Mould also lost set one at No. 5 but responded by forcing a tiebreak set of her own. The Wolverines would clinch the match with a win at No. 2, as Petchey lost the tiebreaker to drop her match to No. 78 Jaedan Brown, 6-3, 7-6(4).
Mould’s match was abandoned at 2-6, 6-6(6-7) while Luescher and Martinez Moral were both in the third sets of their matches when it was clinched.
Notable: The Ducks finished the season 15-9 with a winning percentage of .625, the highest for a UO team since 2005 … Oregon dropped to 4-9 all-time in the NCAA Tournament.
#18 Michigan 4, Oregon 0
Doubles
1. Jaedan Brown/Julia Fliegner (MICH) def. Sophie…
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