University of Washington
California
Nauenberg Leads Women's Tennis Past No. 12 Cal in 4-3 Nail Biter
March 27, 2004 | Women's Tennis
March 27, 2004
SEATTLE, Wash. -In the last home appearances for decorated seniors Claire Carter and Erin Hoe, a freshman stole the show for Washington's women's tennis team this afternoon against the No. 12 California Golden Bears. With the match knotted at 3-3, Husky freshman Saskia Nauenberg staged a dramatic third-set comeback win at fifth singles, setting off a UW celebration in the Lloyd Nordstrom Tennis Center as the seventh-ranked Huskies (15-3, 2-1 Pac-10) slipped past the Bears, 4-3. The win is only Washington's second all-time against California, improving to 2-18.
After losing the first set, 5-7, to Cal's No. 83 Jody Scheldt, Nauenberg (Santa Cruz, Calif.) rallied to take the second set 6-2. Heading into the third set as the only match left in action, both players knew the third set would decide the whole match's outcome. Nauenberg took a 3-1 lead but Scheldt rebounded with three straight games to inch ahead 4-3. After an easy service hold, Nauenberg broke Scheldt's serve when the Cal Bear missed a routine overhead into the top of the net. The freshman played with a senior's experience in serving out the match under the pressure packed conditions.
Washington earned their other three points on the singles courts. At number one singles, senior All-American Claire Carter hammered Cal's Catherine Lynch in straight sets to pick up UW's first point. Carter (Nottingham, England), a three-time All-American currently ranked 28th, was dominant in her final home match and looks to be on track to become Washington's first ever four-time All-American. Dea Sumantri (Jakarta, Indonesia), finished off her opponent soon after Carter at No. 2 singles. The 18th-ranked junior lost the first four games of the match, before winning 12 of the next 13 over Jieun Jacobs for a 6-4, 6-1 win. Washington's third point of the match came from Stephanie Svanfeldt (Belvedere, Calif.) at sixth singles, where the sophomore earned the third dual win of her career, 6-2, 6-4.
Senior Erin Hoe (Mililani, Hawaii) came up short in her final home appearance against possibly Cal's toughest player, No. 24 Sasha Podkolzina. 88th-ranked Hoe defeated No. 19 Erin Burdette of Stanford on Friday but could not knock off her second top-25 player of the weekend. Sophomore Dinka Hadzic (Split, Croatia) also fell at fourth singles, when after sustaining an injury at 3-all in the first set, Hadzic struggled with mobility and lost in straight sets.
Cal swept the doubles matches, including upsetting UW's sixth-ranked duo of Carter and Sumantri at No. 1 singles. Jacobs and Podkolzina raced out to a 7-3 lead in the match, but Carter and Sumantri fought back in a big way, winning five straight games to take an 8-7 lead. However, Cal won the next game to force a tiebreak, and finished off the Dawgs on their third match point, 7-4, in the tiebreak. Carter and Sumantri were coming off a win over the No. 1 ranked doubles team from Stanford on Friday. Washington falls to 7-11 in the doubles point this year.
Up next the women travel to Arizona to begin a three-week road trip taking them through the end of the regular season. The Huskies face Arizona State on April 2 at 1:30 p.m. in Tempe and battle Arizona on April 3 at noon in Tucson.
Washington Women's Tennis vs. California
March 27, 2004 - Lloyd Nordstrom Tennis Center - Seattle, Wash.
No. 7 Washington 4, No. 12 California 3
Doubles
1. Jacobs/Podkolzina (Cal) def. (6) Carter/Sumantri (UW) 9-8 (4)
2. (42) Havlicek/Scheldt (Cal) def. Hadzic/Hoe (UW) 8-5
3. Lynch/Wiesener (Cal) def. Nauenberg/Ahn (UW) 8-4
Singles
1. (28) Claire Carter (UW) def. Catherine Lynch (Cal) 6-3, 6-1
2. (18) Dea Sumantri (UW) def. Jieun Jacobs (Cal) 6-4, 6-1
3. (26) Sasha Podkolzina (Cal) def. (88) Erin Hoe (UW) 6-4, 6-2
4. Nicole Havlicek (Cal) def. Dinka Hadzic (UW) 6-3, 6-3
5. Saskia Nauenberg (UW) def. (83) Jody Scheldt (Cal) 5-7, 6-2, 6-4
6. Stephanie Svanfeldt (UW) def. Monica Wiesener (Cal) 6-2, 6-4
