Washington Knocks Off No. 15 USC, 4-2

Friday, April 12

Seattle, WA

1:30 PM

University of Washington

USC

April 12, 2019 | Women's Tennis

Box Score

SEATTLE --- No. 15 Washington picked up another upset win over one of the NCAA's top teams, picking up a 4-2 victory over No. 13 USC on Friday afternoon at the Quillian Tennis Stadium.

The Huskies improve on their best start in program history, running their overall record to 17-2 and moving to 7-1 in Pac-12 play. The seven wins in conference play is a program best, eclipsing the previous best of six set in 2001 and 2003—both seasons UW made a deep run in the NCAA Tournament.

After losing the doubles point and the first singles match, Washington rallied with four-straight wins with Natsuho Arakawa clinched the match with a big three-set victory at No. 4 singles.

Arakawa fell behind 3-0 in the first set, before winning six-straight games to win 6-3 in the first. Her opponent—Danielle Willson—broke a 4-4 tie in the second by winning the final two games to even the match at a set apiece. The third set went back and forth until Arakawa came through, breaking the 4-4 tie this time to take the match.

"I was just thinking I need to get the point for the team, everyone was beside me," said Arakawa. "I wasn't thinking all the pressure was on me because I needed to clinch the match. It was one of those matches I was trying to win anyway. I wasn't nervous thinking that I needed to win, I just felt comfortable, and I'm happy we won."

Washington quickly tied the match in singles play with wins by Vanessa Wong at No. 2 and Sedona Gallagher at No. 5. Wong had little trouble in her match, winning four of the final five games to take the first set 6-4, then coming back from a 3-1 deficit to take the second 6-4.

Gallagher looked to be cruising to an easy win on court five up 4-1 in the first. However, Becca Weissmann rallied to take a 5-4 lead just a bit later. But Gallagher fought back, winning three-straight including breaking Weissmann's serve twice to take the set 7-5. She then cruised to a quick 5-0 lead in the second and won 6-1.

Nika Zupancic would give the Huskies a lead with a three-set win on court six. After cruising to an easy 6-0 win in the first, she looked ready for a quick win in the second up 4-3. But Constance Branstine held off the celebration with three-straight wins to even up the match with a 6-4 victory. But the third set was all Zupancic, who jumped out to a 4-0 lead and won 6-1.

That left two matches with Arakawa on court four and Stacey Fung on court one. Fung, who was battling the No. 46-ranked Salma Ewing, dropped the first set 6-2 before dominating the second set en route to a 6-1 win. She dropped the first four games in the third set, but had rallied to make it 4-2 and had a lead in the game when Arakawa clinched the match.

USC took the early edge by winning the doubles point. The matches all started out close, especially in the feature match at No. 1 doubles. The match between USC's 10th-ranked duo of Rianna Valdes and Angela Kulikov and UW's 26th-ranked team of Stacey Fun and Nika Zupancic was a thriller. USC jumped out to a quick 3-0 lead, before UW rallied to tie the score at 3-3. But the Trojans would rally by winning the next three games to win 6-3.

That victory sealed the doubles point for USC which also won at No. 3 doubles 6-3. At No. 2 doubles, Vanessa Wong and Zoey Weil trailed early 3-1 before winning four-straight games and held a 5-4 lead when the point was clinched.

USC stretched its lead to 2-0 with a 6-1, 6-0 win at No. 3 singles before the Huskies.

Washington picks up just its fourth win over USC in program history, improving to 4-23. However, two of those wins have come in the last three meetings between the two schools as UW knocked off USC in 2017 at home. The Trojans narrowly escaped with a 4-3 win in Los Angeles when the teams met last season.

Washington closes out the home portion of its schedule on Sunday, hosting No. 10 UCLA at 12:00 p.m. The match is free to the public with free pizza also provided after doubles play concludes. The Huskies will honor their two seniors: Stacey Fung and Kenadi Hance prior to the match.