University of Washington
Texas
Resilient Huskies Topple No. 16 Texas, 4-3
January 29, 2011 | Women's Tennis
Jan. 29, 2011
TALLAHASSEE, Fla. - Playing without Head Coach Jill Hultquist, who was home in Canada attending to family matters, the Husky women's tennis team played with a fire that surely would have made their coach immensely proud, as the Dawgs rallied for a 4-3 upset victory over 16th-ranked Texas at the Scott Speicher Tennis Center on Florida State's campus.
Juniors Samantha Smith and Denise Dy rallied in third sets in singles to give the Huskies (3-0) one of their most memorable wins in Coach Hultquist's six-year tenure. Hultquist was unable to make the trip, as her father has fallen ill. She was therefore unable to reunite with Longhorns head coach Patty Fendick-McCain, who was the head coach at Washington from 1998-2005, with Hultquist as the assistant coach for five of those years. The two were formerly one of the world's top doubles teams in their playing days.
Today's match was the first round of qualifying for the ITA National Team Indoor Championships. Part of the "ITA Kick-Off Weekend", there are 15 sites around the country this weekend with four teams in each bracket. The winner of each will advance to final site next month, held this year in Charlottesville, Virginia. The Huskies now will play 14th-ranked Florida State on Sunday at 11 a.m. Pacific. The Seminoles beat 37th-ranked Princeton, 4-1, in the later match.
Assistant Coach Damon Coupe led the team in Hultquist's absence. Washington arrived in Florida late Thursday, and he said the team's hit-around Thursday night and full practice on Friday was filled with a positive vibe and solid play. Last night, Coupe addressed how the team could choose to respond without Hultquist.
"I talked to them about how our leader can't be with us; she's got things that are bigger than tennis right now. The important thing for us was to go out there and put forth an effort, win or lose, that would make Jill proud," Coupe said. "Play the way Jill would want us to play, and we battled. Texas could never feel like they were rolling."
Texas held the 1-0 advantage after doubles play. They quickly put the No. 3 match away, then pulled away for an 8-3 win at No. 2 in a match that was closer than the score would show. Unfortunately, playing by tourney rules meant the remaining match was stopped before completion. That deprived Venise Chan and Denise Dy of a match point opportunity against the 87th-ranked duo of Damico and Ellis, as UW led 7-6.
"After doubles I asked them if they were happy with how they played," said Coupe. "If we were going to come back we had to play with no fear. They came out and responded really well in singles."
Dy, the sixth-ranked All-American junior, was the perfect choice for a winner-take-all match. After Smith tied the team match at 3-3, Dy dug deep to fight back from a 5-2 third set deficit against one of the nation's Top-10 players, No. 8 Aeriel Ellis. Dy reeled off the final five games of the match to complete a 2-6, 7-6, 7-5 victory that clinched the UW win.
"It felt like the matches just flew past," said Dy. "It was a little weird without Jill but everyone played really well. Sam was down 4-5 but didn't give up and managed to win, and I knew I couldn't let it get away, I had to work even harder."
Smith's win was just as dramatic. She took her first set against Amanda Craddock, 6-3, but Craddock came back with a 6-2 second set win. Smith was down a break early in the third before coming back to force a tiebreak, which if she had not won, Dy never would have had a chance for her own rally. But Smith was up to the challenge, taking the breaker, 7-4.
In a 4-3 win, every point was obviously crucial, and UW hung in the match early thanks to outstanding wins from seniors Venise Chan and Aleksandra Krsljanin. Chan, the Pac-10 Player of the Week last week, scored a 6-3, 7-5 win over Krista Damico at No. 2 singles. Krsljanin's win was critical, as Washington did not yet have a win out of the No. 6 spot this season, but "Smiley", as the Huskies call Krsljanin, had reason to smile after a 7-6 (4), 6-2 win over Cierra Gayton-Leach for UW's second point.
"Smiley had the win of her life today," said Coupe.
Even Washington's two singles setbacks were closely contested, creating added stress for the favored Longhorns. Freshman Andjela Nemcevic dropped a 6-4, 7-6 match to Maggie Mello at No. 4 singles, and senior Lina Xu played well but lost 6-4, 6-4 at No. 5 to Juliana Gajic.
When Washington visited Texas in 2006, one year after Fendick-McCain's departure, and one year into Hultquist's head coaching stint, the Longhorns hammered UW by a 7-0 score. Five years later, today's match was evidence of how much progress the Huskies have made since then.
The Huskies will be looking for their first trip to the ITA National Team Indoor Championship final site since the 2005 season.
Washington Women's Tennis
ITA National Team Indoor Qualifying - First Round
January 29, 2011 - Tallahassee, Florida
Scott Speicher Tennis Center
No. 24 Washington 4; No. 16 Texas 3
Doubles
2) Gaytan-Leach/Craddock (Texas) def. Nemcevic/Smith (UW), 8-3
3) Gajic/Mello (Texas) def. Xu/Krsljanin (UW) 8-1
Order of finish: 3, 2
Singles
1) (6) Denise Dy (UW) def. (8) Aeriel Ellis (Texas), 2-6, 7-6, 7-5
2) (55) Venise Chan (UW) def. Krista Damico (Texas), 6-3, 7-5
3) Samantha Smith (UW) def. Amanda Craddock (Texas), 6-3, 2-6, 7-6 (5)
4) Maggie Mello (Texas) def. Andjela Nemcevic (UW), 6-4, 7-6 (4)
5) Juliana Gajic (Texas) def. Lina Xu (UW), 6-4, 6-4
6) Aleksandra Krsljanin (UW) def. Cierra Gaytan-Leach (Texas), 7-6 (4), 6-2
Order of finish: 2, 6, 4, 5, 3, 1
Players Mentioned
