University of Washington
Florida State
Dy Clinches Another Upset, Dawgs On To National Indoors
January 30, 2011 | Women's Tennis
Jan. 30, 2011
TALLAHASSEE, Fla. - In a season in which the Husky women's tennis team needed to be road warriors, why not add one more cross country to the schedule? The 24th-ranked Huskies did just that today, earning one of 16 spots in the ITA National Team Indoor Championships with an incredible 4-3 upset win over 14th-ranked Florida State at FSU's Scott Speicher Tennis Center that was a mirror in many ways of UW's 4-3 win over No. 16 Texas on Saturday.
Once again, the Huskies played with confidence and heart up and down the lineup, with every player battling in singles. Once again, UW played without head coach Jill Hultquist, but competed the way their coach would have wanted, as Hultquist tends to her ailing father. And once again, sixth-ranked junior Denise Dy made a final surge in the No. 1 singles match to clinch the victory when the outcome was in doubt.
With the win, Washington (4-0) will advance to the final site of National Team Indoors, held this year in Charlottesville, Virginia, from Feb. 18-21. That will add at least three more matches to UW's schedule, all of which will come against the nation's elite teams. This is the first time Washington has qualified for National Team Indoors since the qualifying rounds were added three years ago. The Huskies last competed at the National Team Indoors final site back in 2005, and this will be their fifth overall appearance.
Similar to Saturday's exhausting tilt with Texas, today's match swung back and forth over the length of nearly four hours. But just like Saturday, it came down to Denise Dy's No. 1 singles match with the team score tied at 3-3. Saturday, Dy came back from 5-2 down in the third set to beat 8th-ranked Aeriel Ellis, 7-5. Today, Dy was again down 5-4 in the third to 42nd-ranked Katie Rybakova, but took the final three games to lift her team when it mattered most. The final count read 6-2, 4-6, 7-5 in Dy's favor.
Including doubles, Dy had put in eight long sets of tennis by the end of today's match, and she admitted to being nearly spent.
"When I was down 4-5 in the third, I was seeing double, maybe triple," Dy said. "I said just almost there, almost done. I said three more games tops. And then I was going to faint really. She got a lot back and put a lot of pressure on me." Dy had been up 6-2, 4-3 and let three straight games get away by "trying to just be consistent." In the end she had to attack. "I told myself if you're going to win this, you've got to go for it this time."
Putting Dy in position to win were seniors Venise Chan and Aleksandra Krsljanin, both of whom provided singles points.
Chan, at No. 2 singles, actually faced the higher-ranked opponent in 18th-ranked Noemie Scharle. But Chan showed again why her No. 55 singles ranking will soon be on its last legs, as she rolled to a 6-1, 6-3 victory.
For the second day in a row, Krsljanin stepped up at No. 6 singles and gave UW a point from a spot that just a week ago looked to be its biggest question mark. The senior, getting the first consistent starting time of her career, capped off the best week of her career with a 6-0, 5-7, 6-1 win over Manon Veldman for UW's third point.
"It was a really good weekend for me and I'm just happy I helped the team to win," said Krsljanin. "There hasn't been a chance sometimes (in past years). Now senior year I have a chance to help and now is a time to step up. Third set I just played with no pressure and played point by point and tried to be mature."
Washington grabbed the early 1-0 lead with a win in the doubles point. Samantha Smith and Andjela Nemcevic took a big early lead and held on for an 8-5 victory over Scharle and Veldman. After Florida State won at No. 3 doubles, Chan and Dy stayed undefeated with an 8-6 win at the No. 1 spot over Ruth Seaborne and Franesca Segarelli to clinch the point.
From there, "it was another roller coaster," said assistant coach Damon Coupe, leading the team this weekend with Hultquist away. "Being up 1-0 was such a difference. We came out on fire in singles. We were dominating and playing unbelievably; they didn't know what him them. But as a great team does they kept playing and fighting and they clawed their way back. It was pretty nervous there for a while to say the least."
Florida State got on the board at No. 3 singles where Segarelli came back to beat Samantha Smith, 2-6, 6-1, 6-2. The Seminoles then tied it, 2-2, when Seaborne edged out Nemcevic 7-6, 7-5 at fourth singles. Senior Lina Xu was a game away from closing out the win for the Huskies as well at No. 5 singles, but Federica Suess pulled out a 6-3, 1-6, 7-5 victory to leave it up to Dy's No. 1 singles match.
"The person it came down to today is one of the best in the country for a reason and we were extremely confident in her to get it done," said Coupe. "We know what an awesome person and player and champion that she is. Just to watch it happen time and time again, it still just gives you chills when you're watching it. She loves pressure and wants the ball when it counts. She's everything that embodies a champion."
Chan, who has won numerous crucial clinching matches for the Dawgs as well, claimed she did not feel nervous watching the final match. "I think (Dy's) pretty confident. You can see that. She always wins during the tight points. I do not get nervous at all that she can handle it," she said. Now Chan says she's excited to play in her first National Team Indoors in her senior year.
For the Huskies, it's another big stepping stone for a program that has permanent Top-10 aspirations. So far this year the Huskies have shown a lot of mental toughness to come through in hostile environments.
"We knew we could compete but we didn't know what we were going to get," Coupe says. "We were kind of Jekyll and Hyde in Utah. I didn't know what to expect, but man the team responded. It was special; we just went after it, we didn't play afraid. That's when the high quality comes and the level of tennis was unbelievable."
Washington's 2011 schedule featured eight road trips and just three home weeks during the regular season, but in regards to adding a ninth long road trip, Coupe said "we'll gladly take it."
Washington Women's Tennis
ITA National Team Indoor Qualifying - Final Round
January 30, 2011 - Tallahassee, Florida
Scott Speicher Tennis Center
No. 24 Washington 4; No. 14 Florida State 3
Doubles
2) Nemcevic/Smith (UW) def. Scharle/Veldman (FSU), 8-5
3) Suess/Rybakova (FSU) def. Xu/Krsljanin (UW) 8-3
Order of finish: 3, 2, 1
Singles
1) (6) Denise Dy (UW) def. (42) Katie Rybakova (FSU), 6-2, 4-6, 7-5
2) (55) Venise Chan (UW) def. (18) Noemie Scharle (FSU), 6-1, 6-3
3) Francesca Segarelli (FSU) def. Samantha Smith (UW), 2-6, 6-1, 6-2
4) Ruth Seaborne (FSU) def. Andjela Nemcevic (UW), 7-6 (2), 7-5
5) Federica Suess (FSU) def. Lina Xu (UW), 6-3, 1-6, 7-5
6) Aleksandra Krsljanin (UW) def. Manon Veldman (FSU), 6-0, 5-7, 6-1
Order of finish: 2, 3, 4, 6, 5, 1
Players Mentioned
