Player Bio: Tara Simpson - University of Washington Official Athletic Site
April 18, 2013 | Women's Tennis
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Washington has added a familiar face to its coaching staff in 2009, as 2008 graduate Tara Simpson is back with the team as a volunteer assistant coach. Simpson, who was a four-year letterwinner from 2004-08, had a standout career on the courts, in the classroom, and her exemplary sportsmanship earned her the Northwest Region Cissie Leary Award for Sportsmanship in 2008. Simpson was 73-59 in singles play for her career, the 73 wins tying her for eighth-most all-time at Washington. She was named to the Pac-10 All-Academic First Team in 2006 and the Second Team in 2007 and 2008 as a biochemistry major. Simpson helped the Huskies to the NCAA Championships her freshman year in 2005 and again as a senior in 2008.
University of Washington 2007-08 (Senior): 2006-07 (Junior): 2005-06 (Sophomore): 2004-05 (Freshman): Before Washington: Personal:
YEAR
SINGLES (dual/overall)
DOUBLES (dual/overall)
2004-05 17-6/24-11 12-10/17-15 2005-06 9-11/15-17 2-17/8-22 2006-07 6-15/13-20 11-10/15-13 2007-08 15-7/21-11 10-11/16-14 Career 47-39/73-59 35-48/56-64
Had her best season as a Husky in her final year, tying for the team lead in singles wins with 21 and went 15-7 in dual play ... earned her first career singles ranking, with a season-high of No. 98 ... upset 38th-ranked Cristina Visico of California at No. 3 singles ... defeated Arizona State's Laila Abdala to help the Huskies upset the 12th-ranked Sun Devils, 4-3 ... earned UW's first ever Pac-10 Player of the Week honor for the week of Jan. 28-Feb. 3 as she went 6-0 in singles and doubles to help UW to three wins including an upset of 46th-ranked San Diego State ... played every match at No. 1 doubles with Joyce Ardies, going 10-11 at No. 1 and 15-13 overall ... biggest doubles win came against 28th-ranked Abdala sisters of ASU ... won the SDSU Fall Classic doubles title with Ardies ... named to the Pac-10 All-Academic Second Team.
Played in every dual match, competing at least three times at every spot from No. 1 to No. 4 singles ... best dual mark was 4-3 at No. 3 spot, struggled to 0-6 mark at No. 1, and was 6-15 overall ... won six of her final nine matches, including two wins over Oregon's Carmen Seremeta, and an upset of 76th-ranked Whitney Deason of Stanford, 10-6 in a third-set super-tiebreak that was Washington's only point vs. the Cardinal ... had difficulty in third sets, going 3-10, two losses of which were third-set tiebreaks and two others third-set super-tiebreaks ... reached the final of the Hawai'i Tournament in the fall, losing in three sets to teammate Mathilde Cor ... traveled to the ITA All-American Championships in the fall, losing in qualifying to Milena Kachar of Columbia, 6-3 in the third ... teamed with Melinda Wong for the majority of the dual season, going 11-10 (9-10 at No. 2, 2-0 at No. 3) to post UW's only winning record ... the two led the team with an overall 14-11 doubles record ... began the year 7-1, highlighted by an 8-4 win over Jessica Leitch and Sabrina Capannolo of Arizona State ... Simpson and Wong posted critical wins at the No. 2 spot in the year's final duals vs. WSU and Oregon ... selected to the Pac-10 All-Academic second team.
First on the team with 15 singles wins, 15-17...played in the No. 2 spot going 2-5 and No. 3 spot with 7-6 record...2-2 at the ITA NW Regional...moved into the Flight I singles semifinals at the Husky Invitational...went 2-3 at the Wailea Classic...picked up a win against #61 Juliette Marvroleon of Arizona...scored UW's only singles point of the match when she beat Alex Goodwin of UCLA, Anna Powaska of Oregon, Juliette Mavroleon of Arizona, and Aleksandra Cekic of WSU...played doubles with Dinka Hadzic in the ITA All American NW Regional going 2-2... won in the first round of the Pac-10 championships with Stephanie Svanfeldt...played doubles with Stephanie Svanfeldt and Monika Kolbovic in the regular season...9-23 doubles record.
Second on the squad with 24 singles wins, 24-11 overall...posted the highest singles winning percentage (.686)...tied for the team lead in dual singles wins with a 17-6 record...played primarily in the No. 5 spot in the lineup, going 11-3...also played at No. 4 (5-3) and No. 6 (1-0)...went 17-15 overall in doubles, 12-10 in dual action...paired with both Mugette Ahn and Monika Kolbovic in dual doubles matches... reached the quarterfinals of the Flight I Husky Invitational eventually losing to teammate Saskia Nauenberg...helped the Huskies clinch a win over California with a three set victory versus Cristina Visico...had the sole singles victory over USC in the No. 5 spot versus Carine Vermeulen......was 1-2 against ranked opponents...was 3-0 in three set matches.
One-year team captain at West Van Secondary School in Vancouver, British Columbia...garnered a world ranking...finished in Top-4 at the 2004 Copper Bowl...consolation winner at 2003 National Open...advanced to the quarterfinals of the ITF International Winter Championships in 2002...ranked in the Top-50 for U-16 girls...won the USTA National and Mexican Nationals as a U-14 player.
Tara Gennette Simpson...born in Salt Lake City, Utah...parents are Marcia and David Simpson...has a sister, Mica...was on the Honor Roll and Dean's List each year of high school...fluent in Spanish, English and conversational French...enjoys reading, traveling, playing outdoor and indoor sports...played with former Husky Monika Kolbovic and former men's player David Chu at the Jericho Tennis Club in Vancouver, B.C.
