University of Washington
Washington State
Huskies Win 4-3 Thriller Against Washington State
March 07, 2015 | Women's Tennis
“Getting the win today was huge for us,” said first-year head coach Robin Stephenson. “Obviously it's always a big match playing against Washington State and the team lost 4-0 there last year so I know they wanted some revenge from that and with it being the first conference match, we knew we just had to come out and compete. We've been playing well and have won a few matches in a row now so it's just really good to get out 1-0 in conference and get some momentum going forward.”
The Huskies got the day started by winning the doubles point in their first two matches. Julija Lukac and Grace Ysidora posted an 8-4 win over Nastia Vasyukhina and Donika Bashota on court three while Elianne Douglas-Miron and Riko Shimizu owned number one doubles with an 8-3 win over Elizaveta Luzina and Lize Leenknecht.
“It was a battle from the doubles point. I thought we came out really well and kind of just took care of business in the doubles,” added Stephenson. “Then in singles, it was another battle from the first point to the last really, it was hard to see where we were going to get our points and I could tell from the beginning that it was going to be pretty close.”
Action picked up in singles play with Washington State evening the score at one-all with a 6-3, 6-1 win on court two over Grace Ysidora but Husky senior Capucine Gregoire quickly put UW back on top with her fourth-straight win at number six singles as she posted a 6-3, 6-1 victory over Nastic Vasyukhina.
Julija Lukac followed up Gregoire's win with another Husky victory, taking down Donika Bashota, 6-4, 6-4, on court four to give UW a 3-1 lead. The Cougars didn't go away though, winning on courts five and three to tie the match at three, leaving court one, the day's most intense match, as the deciding factor.
Junior Elianne Douglas-Miron and Washington State's Elizaveth Luzina gave the match an exciting finish with a very tightly contested battle. Luzina went up early in the first set but Douglas-Miron, coming off of two losses in the last two matches, fought back en route to claiming a 7-6 decision. The second set started off almost the same way with Luzina taking a 2-1 lead, but just like before, Douglas-Miron turned up the heat and went on to win four-straight games to take a 5-2 lead. Washington State won the next two games but it wasn't enough as Douglas-Miron sealed the victory for Washington with her 6-4 win in set two.
“I thought we had chances on some of the matches that we lost where we just came up short and for that to come down to number one and for Elianne to handle her emotions the way she did and rise to the occasion was really nice to see,” said Stephenson. “I saw just a tenacity and determination from Elianne today. I could see the look in her eyes that she wanted it and was going to go and get it.”
“I'm just really excited,” said Douglas-Miron. “The first set was really tough, I was still in my first and a lot of people had already gotten into their third sets but I just stayed focused because I knew it was going to be important and then once I kind of got going, got that first set under my belt, I felt good. She started off pretty strong in the second set but I was able to just get on a roll and get the win.”
The Huskies opened conference play with a win for the first time since 2009-10 with Friday's victory and will ride their four-match winning streak into a pair of non-conference matches next weekend as they host Portland on Friday, March 13 (1 p.m.) and Boise State on Sunday, March 15 (Noon).
“Getting that first conference win today was huge especially with it being our rival,” added Douglas-Miron. “We knew that we were going to have to fight and compete and it came down to the last match so it was really tough but it's good for us because it sends us off in a good way. We still have two other matches next weekend that aren't conference matches so those are going to be big as well and help propel us in to the bulk of conference play.”
#40 UW 4, Washington State 3
Seattle, Wash. – Bill Quillian Tennis Stadium
March 6, 2015
Singles Results (Order of finish: 2, 6, 4, 5, 3, 1)
1. Elianne Douglas-Miron (UW) def. Elizaveth Luzina (WSU), 7-6, 6-4
2. Maria Biryukova (WSU) def. Grace Ysidora (UW), 6-3, 6-1
3. Lize Leenknecht (WSU) def. Miki Kobayashi (UW), 7-1, 2-6, 6-4
4. Julija Lukac (UW) def. Donika Bashota (WSU), 6-4, 6-4
5. Victoria Matejevic (WSU) def. Riko Shimizu (UW), 7-6, 6-2
6. Capucine Gregoire (UW) def. Nastic Vasyukhina (WSU), 6-3, 6-1
Doubles Results (Order of finish: 3, 1, 2)
1. Elianne Douglas-Miron/Riko Shimizu (UW) def. Elizaveta Luzina/Lize Leenknecht (WSU), 8-3
2. Maria Biryukova/Victoria Matejevic (WSU) vs. Angela Chen/Miki Kobayashi (UW), 7-6 DNF
3. Julija Lukac/Grace Ysidora (UW) def. Nastia Vasyukhina/Donika Bashota (WSU), 8-4
Players Mentioned
