University of Washington
Illinois
Fourth-Ranked Women's Tennis Defeats No. 18 Illinois, 5-2
February 27, 2004 | Women's Tennis
Feb. 27, 2004
CHAMPAIGN, Illinois - Washington women's tennis team earned an important 5-2 road win over the 18th-ranked Illinois Fighting Illini at the Atkins Tennis Center in Champaign, Illinois. For the second straight match the fourth-ranked Huskies used superior depth and skill in singles play, rebounding from dropping the doubles point to take five of six singles matches and improve to 8-1 overall. It was a rematch of last year's NCAA Second Round matchup in which Washington swept Illinois 4-0 to move into the Sweet 16.
Dea Sumantri continues to make her case as one of nation's top singles players as the 23rd-ranked Husky junior dismantled 14th-ranked Jennifer McGaffigan, 6-2, 6-1, at No. 1 singles. McGaffigan was the reigning Big-10 Player of the Week. Sumantri (Jakarta, Indonesia) improved her dual mark to 8-0, split evenly at first and second singles. Senior Erin Hoe (Mililani, Hawaii) posted a 6-1, 6-2 victory over Isabel Jarosz at No. 3 singles to give UW a 2-1 advantage, and freshman Saskia Nauenberg (Santa Cruz, Calif.) followed suit with a 6-3, 6-3 win at fifth singles over Brianna Knue of Illinois to put the Huskies ahead 3-1.
Sophomore Dinka Hadzic (Split, Croatia) clinched the match with her come-from-behind three-set win at No. 4 singles. After losing the first set 6-4, Hadzic reversed the momentum and won the second set 6-1, and finished off the match with a 6-4 third set win. It was the fourth time this season Hadzic dropped the first set only to come back and win the match. With their wins, Hadzic, Hoe and Nauenberg all improved to 7-2 in dual play.
With the match's outcome decided, the second and sixth singles matches went to third set super-tiebreaks. For the second straight match, 25th-ranked senior Claire Carter (Nottingham, England) prevailed in the third set tiebreak, 10-7, at No. 2 singles. Freshman Monika Kolbovic (Vancouver, B.C.) fell short however, losing 10-8 in the third set tiebreak at No. 6 singles as Illinois picked up their second point.
The Illinois women captured the doubles point despite the team of Carter and Sumantri upsetting the 7th-ranked doubles team of Mcgaffigan and Goulet with a convincing 8-3 win. However Illinois got a close win at second doubles and clinched the point at third doubles when the Fighting Illini's Emily Wang and Brianna Knue outlasted UW's Erin Hoe and Monika Kolbovic in a tiebreaker, 9-8.
The Huskies conclude their road trip with a top-ten showdown versus No. 10 Northwestern tomorrow, Feb. 28 at 11 a.m. CT, at Urbana, Illinois.
Washington Women's Tennis vs. Illinois
February 27, 2004 - Atkins Tennis Center - Champaign-Urbana, Illinois
No. 4 Washington 5, No. 18 Illinois 2
Doubles
1. (19) Carter/Sumantri (UW) def. (7) McGaffigan/Goulet (Ill.) 8-3
2. Eklov/Jarosz (Ill.) def. Hadzic/Nauenberg (UW) 8-6
3. Wang/Knue (Ill.) def. Hoe/Kolbovic (UW) 9-8 (1)
Singles
1. (23) Dea Sumantri (UW) def. (14) Jennifer McGaffigan (Ill.) 6-2, 6-1
2. (25) Claire Carter (UW) def. Tiffany Eklov (Ill.) 6-7 (3), 6-3, 1-0 (7)
3. Erin Hoe (UW) def. Isabel Jarosz (Ill.) 6-1, 6-2
4. Dinka Hadzic (UW) def. Cynthya Goulet (Ill.) 4-6, 6-1, 6-4
5. Saskia Nauenberg (UW) def. Brianna Knue (Ill.) 6-3, 6-3
6. Emily Wang (Ill.) def. Monika Kolbovic (UW) 6-2, 6-7 (5), 1-0 (8)
