University of Washington
Alabama
UW Mounts Massive Comeback To Defeat Bama 4-3
January 21, 2017 | Women's Tennis
TUSCALOOSA, Ala. – After falling behind 0-3 to Alabama the Washington women's tennis team won four straight singles matches to defeat the Tide 4-3 today at the Roberta Alison Baumgardner Tennis Facility.
"I'm really proud of the girls," said head coach Robin Stephenson. "They're fight and attitudes today were really good and to beat a talented Alabama team at home was huge."
Alabama jumped on the Huskies early in doubles, defeating Katarina Kopcalic and Kenadi Hance on court three 6-2. The Tide clinched the doubles point on court two while Nour Abbes and Miki Kobayashi's match went unfinished on court one.
With a comeback in their sights, the Huskies grabbed four of the six first sets in singles on courts three through six. However, Alabama was able to extend their lead, as Abbes and Stacey Fung fell on courts two and one respectively, putting the Tide one point away from the dual match victory up 3-0.
"They had a big crowd today and we had a lot going against us," said Stephenson. "Especially after losing the doubles point and going down 0-3 during the singles, but the girls' fight was unbelievable."
On court six Kopcalic looked to close out her match after a 6-3 win in the first set, but Alabama's Juliana Valero put up a fight, drawing it even at 6-6 in the second. The UW freshman was able to win the tie-breaker to put the Dawgs on the board however, setting the score at 3-1 Alabama.
"I told them yesterday and again today, the teams that were able to control emotion in big moments would win," said Stephenson. "That's exactly what it came down to today, them staying the course and being resilient made the difference."
On court four, Alexis Prokopuik was forced into a third set with Smith Hinton but wasted no time, giving the Huskies their second point of the match with a 6-0 third set win. Both remaining matches on courts three and five were in tight third sets, with Washington needing both matches to pull off the comeback.
Winning the first set 6-1, Kobayashi lost a tough second set 6-7 (7) and trailed in the third 1-2 to 109th ranked Danielle Spielmann. After the junior evened the score at 3-3 she continued her run to win the third set 6-4, putting the match at 3-3.
"It was really fun to be out there with my team fighting for every singles ball," said Kobayashi. "I had seven match points in total, but I was able to come back and get the third set 6-4, I'm so happy for this team and had so much fun today."
One of the four Huskies to win their first sets, Kenadi Hance blanked Maddie Pothoff 6-0 before dropping a close second set 5-7. After Hance took a 5-2 lead in the third set, Pothoff battled back to make it a 6-6 tie, but the Husky sophomore came out on top in the end, winning 6-0, 5-7, 7-6 (4) to seal the comeback for Washington.
"Today will definitely be my most memorable match to date," said Hance. "It was such an incredible experience because from courts one through six we all truly played for each other. We gave everything we had and left it all on the court, and I couldn't be prouder of my teammates and to be a Husky."
The win moves Washington's all-time record against the Tide to 2-0, and was the first comeback win from 0-3 for the Huskies since the NCAA moved to the current format of three doubles matches followed by singles. This was also Stephenson's first win over her alma mater as a head coach.
"It was a fun match and a breakthrough for us," said Stephenson. "We're hoping to keep the momentum going with Illinois tomorrow."
The Dawgs have a quick turnaround on their schedule, facing Illinois tomorrow morning in Tuscaloosa, Ala. at 9 a.m. PT. Be sure to follow us on Facebook, Twitter and Instagram for the latest results, news and content, and check out our website at GoHuskies.com.
RESULTS
Doubles
1 – No. 35 Abbes/Kobayashi (UW) vs. Pothoff/Routliffe (UA) 4-5 (DNF)
2 – Spielmann/Daniell (UA) def. Fung/Prokopuik (UW) 6-4
3 – Hinton/Valero (UA) def. Kopcalic/Hance (UW) 6-2
Order of finish: 3, 2
Singles
1 – No. 86 Erin Routliffe (UA) def. Stacey Fung (UW) 6-4, 6-2
2 – Andie Daniell (UA) def. Nour Abbes (UW) 6-1, 6-0
3 – Miki Kobayashi (UW) def. No. 109 Danielle Spielmann (UA) 6-2, 6-7 (7), 6-4
4 – Alexis Prokopuik (UW) def. Smith Hinton (UA) 6-1, 4-6, 6-0
5 – Kenadi Hance (UW) def. Maddie Pothoff (UA) 6-0, 5-7, 7-6 (4)
6 – Katarina Kopcalic (UW) def. Juliana Valero (UA) 6-3, 7-6
Order of finish: 2, 1, 6, 4, 3, 5
Players Mentioned
