University of Washington
ITA All-American Championships
No. 13 Abbes And Kobayashi Fall At ITA All-American Championships
October 07, 2016 | Women's Tennis
PACIFIC PALISADES, Calif. β After grabbing a huge upset over the fifth ranked duo in the country yesterday at the ITA All-American Championships, Washington women's tennis duo Nour Abbes and Miki Kobayashi fell today to Pepperdine's Luisa Stefani and Jean Runglerkriangkrai 8-4.
"Great run by Nour and Miki to start off the fall season, especially grabbing a great win against a strong Ohio State team," said Washington assistant coach Denise Dy. "We definitely had our chances to get up today but Pepperdine did a great job keeping pressure on us."
Facing their second top-10 ranked duo in the last two days, No. 6 Pepperdine took a 4-2 lead to begin the match, but the 13th ranked Husky duo battled back to tie it 4-4. The Wave went on to grab the next four gamesΒ however, eliminating UW from the main draw.
"Today there was a momentum point when we lost the 4-4 point on a 40-30 deuce," said Kobayashi. "But we now know that we can play with any of the top-five players, so it was a great experience for us."
The last time a Washington duo made it to the quarterfinals of a major tournament was spring of 2011, when Venise Chan and current assistant coach Dy reached the quarterfinals of the NCAA Tournament.
"This tournament was a great start for us," said Abbes. "Our last two matches were against top-ranked teams and we had a great chance to get through today too, but unfortunately we didn't. It feels great to be out here with Miki again and I'm very excited for what the rest of the season is going to look like."
Yesterday Abbes and Kobayashi began play in the main draw by defeating Virginia Tech's Elena Cerezo-Codina and Caroline Daxhelet 8-1 before facing No. 5 Ohio State's Miho Kowase and Anna Sanford. Against the Buckeyes, neither team led by more than one game, before the Huskies broke free of a 6-6 tie with back-to-back gamesΒ to win 8-6.
"We did a great job giving everything we have in this tournament," said Kobayashi. "It was a great win yesterday against Ohio State and that was one of the best matches I've ever experienced. I'm excited to get back and work harder now that we know what to work on."
This was the third time in the last seven months that Abbes and Kobayashi haveΒ defeated an opponent who was ranked No. 5 in the nation by the ITA, and the fourth win over a top-five duo for Kobayashi in the past year.
"This is Nour and Miki's second tournament together and they keep getting better and better," said Dy. "We are excited for what they'll be able to do the rest of the fall."
The team will be back in action next weekend when they travel to Ann Arbor, Michigan for the Michigan Invitational from October 14th to the 16th. Keep up with the Washington tennis team by following us on Facebook and Twitter and by checking out our website at GoHuskies.com.
Players Mentioned
