University of Washington
San Diego
Huskies Post Top-40 Win In Season Opener
January 27, 2012 | Women's Tennis
Jan. 27, 2012
BERKELEY, Calif. - Patience paid off for the Husky women's tennis team, which got its 2012 dual season started a week later than planned, but opened with a confidence-building 5-2 win over 32nd-ranked San Diego. The match was the first round of ITA National Team Indoor Championships qualifying, hosted by California at the Hellman Tennis Complex. The 28th-ranked Huskies (1-0) will now face the seventh-ranked Golden Bears tomorrow at 1 p.m.
Last week's snowstorm prevented the Huskies from opening their season in the comforts of home, and so they headed cold into today's match with the Toreros, who advanced to the second round of the NCAA Championships a year ago and defeated the Huskies, 4-3, last season in San Diego. But the Huskies showed they were prepared, coming out and taking an early 2-0 lead, and then closing out with three more singles wins, the last two from freshmen in their first dual match.
Washington took the 1-0 lead after winning the top two doubles matches. Seniors Denise Dy and Samantha Smith handled the team of Laura Claus and Juliette Coupez, 8-5, at No. 1 doubles. Then sophomore Andjela Nemcevic and freshman Capucine Gregoire stopped USD's Haciraifoglu and Hoffpauir, 8-3, to clinch the point. The third doubles match was stopped at that point.
Moving to singles, Dy recorded her 90th career singles victory, becoming the fifth Husky to reach that plateau, as she bested Hoffpauir at No. 1 singles, 6-3, 6-0. But San Diego came back to tie things at 2-2. Claus topped Smith, 6-4, 6-3, at second singles and Coupez overcame Gregoire at third singles, 6-4, 6-2.
Nemcevic gave UW back the lead as she pulled away from Anna Depenau at No. 4 singles to win, 6-4, 6-1. Washington now led 3-2 and needed freshmen Natali Coronel or Julija Lukac to come through at fifth and sixth singles. Both would do just that.
Lukac, a native of Belgrade, Serbia, would provide the clinching point at sixth singles, coming back from a set down to beat Maja Sujica, 2-6, 6-4, 6-2. Coronel (Lomas de Zamora, Argentina) then followed suit, rallying in a marathon to beat Marite Raygada at No. 5, 4-6, 6-4, 7-5.
The winner between the Huskies and Bears tomorrow will advance as one of sixteen teams to the final site of the ITA National Team Indoor tournament, held Feb. 10-13 in Charlottesville, Virginia.
Washington Women's Tennis
ITA National Team Indoor Qualifying - First Round
Hellman Tennis Complex - Berkeley, Calif.
January 27, 2012
No. 28 Washington 5; No. 32 San Diego 2
Doubles
1. Dy/Smith (UW) def. Claus/Coupez (USD), 8-5
2. Nemcevic/Gregoire (UW) def. Haciraifoglu/Hoffpauir (USD), 8-3
3. Coronel/Shimizu (UW) vs. Depenau/Sujica (USD), DNF
Order of finish: 1, 2
Singles
1. (10) Denise Dy (UW) def. Stephanie Hoffpauir (USD), 6-3, 6-0
2. Laura Claus (USD) def. Samantha Smith (UW), 6-4, 6-3
3. Juliette Coupez (USD) def. Capucine Gregoire (UW), 6-4, 6-2
4. Andjela Nemcevic (UW) def. Anna Depenau (USD), 6-4, 6-1
5. Natali Coronel (UW) def. Marite Raygada (USD), 4-6, 6-4, 7-5
6. Julija Lukac (UW) def. Maja Sujica (USD), 2-6, 6-4, 6-2
Order of finish: 1, 3, 2, 4, 6, 5
