University of Washington
ITA Kick-Off Weekend
Huskies Win One But Fall In Final At ITA Kick-Off
January 25, 2016 | Women's Tennis
BERKELEY, Calif. – The No. 52 Washington Huskies were finally able to play after rain delays at the ITA Kick Off Weekend, where they defeated Saint Mary's in the morning, but fell to No. 6 California in the afternoon.
Scheduled to play Friday, and delayed again due to rain on Saturday, the Huskies faced Saint Mary's to open up play, defeating them 4-1. The Huskies began play at the Hellman Tennis Complex in the morning, grabbing the point to lead Saint Mary's 1-0 before finishing singles play at Channing Tennis Courts. Nour Abbes fell to Jane McCord on court one 6-4, 6-4, while Tami Grende defeated Clementine Clement 6-3, 6-3.
Senior Elianne Douglas-Miron had a strong performance against Kareena Manji on court four grabbing a 6-2, 6-1 victory, with Kenadi Hance defeating Parminder Kaur 6-3, 6-2. Stacey Fung and Grace Ysidora did not finish their matches.
“We came out this morning and played a very solid match against a good Saint Mary's team,” said head coach Robin Stephenson. “We knew we had to be prepared and be ready for a battle and I'm happy with the way the girls stepped up.”
In the Berkeley ITA final, the Huskies faced No. 6 California at 2 p.m., back at the Hellman Tennis Complex. Doubles began with the point going to the Bears, as they took the matches on courts two and three. On court one however, Grende and Miki Kobayashi upset the No. 3 duo in the country in Maegan Manasse and Denise Starr 6-3. It is the first ranked doubles win in a dual match since Douglas-Miron and Kobayashi defeated No. 52 Kassidy Jump and Joanna Smith in April of last season against No. 24 Arizona State.
“I'm so happy for Miki and Tami to get a great win in doubles,” said Stephenson. “They have been playing really well together and it's good to see all of the hard work paying off.”
Grende and Kobayashi have had a great season thus far, with a strong fall performance at the Jack Kramer Invitational where they reached the semifinal round. They're now 7-2 on the year.
In singles Grende fell on court three to Lynn Chi 6-1, 6-2 with No. 65 Stacey Fung losing her first dual match of her career to Klara Fabikova, the 10th ranked player in the country. Nour Abbes fell to No. 5 Maegan Manasse 6-2, 6-2 as California clinched the victory, and the remaining singles matches were abandoned.
“We came up short against California but learned a lot from the match and there are so many areas to go back and improve,” said Stephenson. “There's definitely a learning curve for our new girls and they now see what it takes to compete at the highest level. It will be good for us to have some time to get on the practice courts before we compete again.”
The Huskies will travel down south to Texas next, for a match against Texas Tech on Saturday February 6th, and Baylor on Sunday the 7th. Keep up to date with the Dawgs on GoHuskies.com, or on their social media pages, by following us on Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, and adding us on Snapchat.
Results:
No. 52 Washington – 4
Saint Mary's – 1
Doubles:
1. McCord/Pawid def. Kobayashi/Grende 6-3
2. Douglas-Miron/Fung def. Clement/Nommensen 6-2
3. Abbes/Ysidora def. Manji/Kaur 6-4
Singles:
1. McCord def. Abbes 6-4, 6-4
2. No. 65 Fung vs. Pawid 6-2, 5-3 (DNF)
3. Grende def. Clement 6-3, 6-3
4. Douglas-Miron def. Manji 6-2, 6-1
5. Ysidora vs. Critser 2-6, 6-4 (DNF)
6. Hance def. Kaur 6-3, 6-2
No. 52 Washington – 0
No. 6 California – 4
Doubles:
1. Grende/Kobayashi def. No. 3 Manasse/Starr 6-3
2. No. 43 Fabikova/Hauger def. Douglas-Miron/Fung 6-3
3. Chi/Smith def. Abbes/Ysidora 6-1
Singles:
1. No. 5 Manasse def. Abbes 6-2, 6-2
2. No. 10 Fabikova def. No. 65 Fung 6-3, 6-0
3. Chi def. Grende 6-1, 6-2
4. Starr vs. Douglas-Miron 6-2, 4-2 (DNF)
5. No. 81 Hauger vs. Ysidora 6-2, 3-2 (DNF)
6. Popovic vs. Hance 6-2, 4-1 (DNF)
Players Mentioned
