Ducks Set to Host Top-Ranked LA Teams
EUGENE – After splitting another road trip, this time in Pac-12 play, the Oregon women’s tennis team will have no rest as they prepare to host top-ranked USC and No. 4 UCLA this weekend at the Student Tennis Center.
MOVIN’ ON UP
The Ducks are once again ranked this week in the Intercollegiate Tennis Association polls, checking in at No. 56. The four-spot jump for Oregon came after the then-No. 60 Ducks upset No. 56 Colorado, 4-3. The last time the Ducks were ranked for four-consecutive weeks was back in 2009 when UO was ranked for nine-straight weeks (Jan. 29-March 24). This is the highest ranking Oregon has received since March 2013 (#55).
POWERHOUSE PAIR
Oregon’s freshmen pair of Nia Rose and Alyssa Tobita has been a force to be reckoned with for UO at the No. 1 position. The two have compiled a 22-6 doubles record with eight matches remaining in the season along with the Pac-12 Tournament. Their 22 wins so far ties them for third all-time in a single-season at Oregon. Rose and Tobita are just two wins short of overtaking the former UO pair of Dominika Dieskova and Daria Panova (23-12) for No. 2 spot on the all-time doubles single-season wins list.
WOMEN OF TROY
First up on the slate for Oregon will be top-ranked USC at 1:30 p.m. on Friday, March 27. The Women of Troy enter the matchup 14-2 and 3-0 in Pac-12 play. USC’s two losses have come at the hands of then-No. 10 Virginia (4-2) at the ITA National Team Indoor Championships and followed by a loss to then-No. 11 UCLA (4-3) in a non-conference crosstown battle.
All six players for USC are ranked in the top-75 by the ITA with No. 11 Giuliana Olmos leading the Women of Troy with a 28-8 record. No. 65 Gabby Smith, who has bounced around in the No. 2-5 spot all season is the other player with 20 wins and 10 losses on the year. No. 49 Zoë Scandalis sports a 19-10 record while No. 64 Meredith Xepoleas and No. 73 Madison Westby both have 17 wins. Zoë Katz and Garbiella DiSimone rounds out the double-digit singles win list for USC with 13 and 12 wins, respectively.
In doubles action, the Trojans have three pairs ranked by the ITA. Scandalis and Olmos are 15th in the nation with 12 wins while Katz and Santamaria are ranked 19th with an 8-1 record. Katz is also ranked with another teammate in DeSimone as the two come in at No. 30 in the doubles rankings with a 6-1 record. Smith and Westby, who predominantly play at the No. 3 slot, are 10-6 on the year and currently ride a four-match winning streak.
LOOKING AHEAD AT THE BRUINS
The defending national champions, UCLA Bruins, are set to face off against the Ducks of Oregon at 11:30 a.m. (PT) on Saturday, March 28. The fourth-ranked Bruins come in with a 12-3 record and 2-1 mark in Pac-12 Play. UCLA boasts six players with double-digit wins in singles action, while 5-of-6 players are ranked in the top-100 according to the ITA.
The nation’s top-ranked player, Robin Anderson, boasts a 13-1 record in singles action and 8-1 at the No. 1 position. Anderson is also 10-1 against ranked opponent. Kyle McPhillips, the No. 29 player in the country who plays mostly at the No. 3 spot, leads UCLA with a 19-8 overall record and 9-4 in dual play. Chanelle Van Nguyen, who is 13th in the country in singles, is 12-7 on the year with five of her seven losses coming from the dual season. Jennifer Brady (#46), Catherine Harris (#53) and Katilin Ray (#105) rounds out the list of ranked singles players for the fourth-ranked Bruins.
Like their crosstown rivals, the Bruins also have three highly ranked doubles teams. The one stark difference is that UCLA has the No. 1 doubles team of Harrison and McPhillips who are 17-5 on the year and 9-3 in dual play. The duo of Brady and Anderson are 23rd in the nation and rocks a 4-0 record, all of which have come in dual play. The other ranked doubles couple for the Bruins is Anderson and Van Nguyen who are 3-1 on the year in dual play.
KLUIVING CATCHING EYES
Marlou Kluiving is making great strides in her second season with the Ducks. The sophomore leads Oregon with a 21-2 overall mark in singles play and 13-0 in dual action at the No. 4 singles position. Her only losses in singles play came to Washington State’s Elizaveta Luzina who was ranked No. 66 when the two played last October at the USTA/ITA Northwest Regionals and to Sarah Baron of Indiana.
DYNAMIC DUO
The eccentric freshman pair of Nia Rose and Alyssa Tobita has made a splash in the doubles scene during the tournament season. The duo was ranked 10th in the Jan. 6 ITA Northwest Regional rankings after going 12-4. Rose and Tobita opened their collegiate careers by capturing the No. 1 doubles division at the WSU Invitational. The pair also made it to the doubles semifinal of the Bulldog Classic, downing Portland State’s Peri/Vorster 8-4, but a final was not played.
SILVERIO SIGNS FIRST RECRUITS
In her first signing class as head coach, Alison Silverio inked a pair of five-star recruits. Silverio first signed Daniella Nasser, who hails from Tampa, Fla. The lefty senior at Academy of Holy Names is a three-time District 10 champion in both singles and doubles as well as a regional champion.
They days later, Silverio inked her second five-star recruit in Rebekah Anderson. Anderson, a lefty like Nasser, hails from La Mirada, Calif., where she is ranked No. 14 in the state and No. 19 in the southwest region and No. 77 nationally according to Tennisrecruiting.net. The SoCal native has had plenty of experiences playing against top 50 players in USTA National events.
SILVERIO ADDS GIANNONI
Less than a month after being named the 10th head coach in Oregon women’s tennis history, Alison Silverio announced Tony Giannoni as her assistant coach. Giannoni, a Miami, Fla., native was previously at UCF before joining the Ducks. Silverio and Giannoni have known each other for a while, as they have frequently crossed paths on the recruiting trails.
While with the Knights, Giannoni helped guide them to 14 victories during the 2012-13 season – the most wins in a single season since the 1999-00 season. He also helped freshman Caroline Eberhart reach the 25-win plateau that year, the fourth-best mark in a single season at UCF.
Prior to his time with the Knights, Giannoni spent two seasons with his alma mater, Florida. As a volunteer assistant with UF, the Gators went 24-3 overall – undefeated in SEC play (11-0) – and advanced to the NCAA Final Four in his first season. UF followed up with a sweet sixteen appearance the next year before Giannoni joined UCF.
SILVERIO NAMED 10TH UO WOMEN’S TENNIS HEAD COACH
After an extensive national search, Athletics Director Rob Mullens named Alison Silverio as the 10th women’s tennis head coach at Oregon. Silverio arrived in Eugene after spending the past four seasons as an assistant coach at Georgia Tech, her alma mater. She succeeded Paul Reber who stepped down last April after compiling a 77-101 mark over eight seasons at the helm.
Following a stellar playing career that culminated in captaining the Yellow Jackets to the 2007 NCAA National Championship and earning tournament MVP accolades, Silverio has experienced continued success in the coaching ranks, starting with a two-year stint at North Carolina State, where she helped the Wolfpack to a pair of team NCAA appearances in 2008 and 2010, and assisted with bringing in the first top 25 recruiting class in program history (2010).
At Georgia Tech, she helped assemble the No. 1 recruiting class in the nation in 2012, and followed that up with the No. 6 class in 2013. Silverio tutored the top-ranked doubles team in the nation last spring as well as the ITA National Indoor doubles champions and ITA Regional doubles champions in 2013. The Yellow Jackets made NCAA Sweet 16 appearances in 2012 and 2013.
