University of Minnesota Athletics
Gophers Earn First Home Win Over Oregon
2/13/2011 12:00:00 AM | Tennis
For the third time this season, the No. 73-ranked Minnesota women’s tennis team followed up a weekend-opening loss with a victory, defeating Oregon 5-2 on Sunday afternoon at the Baseline Tennis Center. The win was the Gophers’ first at home in 2010-11 and it improved their spring dual-match record to 3-3.
“We’re making steady improvement as a team,” said Minnesota head coach Tyler Thomson. “We weren’t perfect, but I thought it was a very good weekend considering the fact that we didn’t have our full lineup. We had a really good showing.”
The Gophers took the match’s first point by winning two of three doubles matches. The Ducks gained the advantage by winning at No. 1, but Minnesota knotted up the doubles competition one minute later when Magdalena Wiecha and Mariana Spilca finished off Rabea Stuckemann and Siobhan Cavan of Oregon at No. 3, 8-3. Alexa Palen and Doron Muravnik would later secure the doubles point with an 8-5 win at No. 2.
Palen stretched the Gophers’ lead to two by quickly vanquishing Trudie du Toit 6-0, 6-3 and Alessandra Ferrazzi helped Minnesota regain a two-point cushion with a win at No. 2 after Oregon cut its deficit in half. Wiecha clinched the victory with her third consecutive singles win. Palen, Ferrazzi, and Wiecha all won in straight sets.
Minnesota’s Natallia Pintusava capped the match with a 7-6 (4), 7-5 win at No. 1, giving the Gophers wins in each of the top four positions. Pintusava, the 51st-ranked singles player in the nation, has yet to drop a singles match at home.
“[Pintusava] made a lot of improvements this past weekend,” said Thomson. “[Wiecha] has improved a great deal and she’s emerging as a different-level player right now. She had a great weekend. She didn’t drop a match all weekend, singles or doubles.”
The Gophers will return to the Baseline Tennis Center next week to face Brigham Young on Friday and North Carolina State on Sunday. Friday’s match begins at 6 p.m. and the match on Sunday is slated to start at noon.
2/13/2011 at Minneapolis

(Baseline Tennis Center)

No. 73 Minnesota 5, Oregon 2
Singles competition

1. No. 51 Natallia Pintusava (MIN) def. Pavlina Smatova (ORE) 7-6 (4), 7-5
2. Alessandra Ferrazzi (MIN) def. Patricia Skowronski (ORE) 7-6 (4), 6-2
3. Magdalena Wiecha (MIN) def. Julia Metzger (ORE) 6-4, 6-4
4. Alexa Palen (MIN) def. Trudie du Toit (ORE) 6-0, 6-3
5. Rabea Stuckemann (ORE) def. Doron Muravnik (MIN) 6-4, 6-3
6. Pascale Neubert (ORE) def. Mariana Spilca (MIN) 1-6, 6-4, 6-4
Doubles competition

1. No. 59 Pavlina Smatova/ Patricia Skowronski (ORE) def. Natallia Pintusava/ Alessandra Ferrazzi (MIN) 8-6
2. Doron Muravnik/ Alexa Palen (MIN) def. Trudie du Toit/ Julia Metzger (ORE) 8-5
3. Magdalena Wiecha/ Mariana Spilca (MIN) def. Rabea Stuckemann/ Siobhan Cavan (ORE) 8-3
Match Notes:

Minnesota: 3-3; National ranking No. 73

Oregon: 4-2
Order of finish: Doubles (1,3,2); Singles (4,5,2,3,6,1)
Players Mentioned
