University of Washington
Portland
Dawgs Open Up Home Schedule With Doubleheader
January 26, 2017 | Women's Tennis
SEATTLE – After opening the season with four straight matches on the road, the Washington women's tennis team will play in their home-opener this weekend, hosting a doubleheader against Portland and Seattle on Saturday January 28th beginning at noon in the Nordstrom Tennis Center.
"This Saturday's matches can't come soon enough for us," said junior Alexis Prokopuik. "We are going into this weekend with a lot of positive energy and momentum from our wins over Alabama and Illinois, which are two highly competitive and talented teams."
In the opening weekend of the 2017 season, the Huskies picked up wins over Hawai'i and Kansas State, before heading to Tuscaloosa, Ala. In head coach Robin Stephenson's return to her alma mater, the Dawgs pulled out an incredible comeback against Alabama, winning the final four singles matches after going down 0-3 to defeat the Tide. Washington continued their momentum the following day against Illinois, picking up a 5-2 win to move to 4-0.
Kenadi Hance and Miki Kobayashi lead UW in singles thus far, each owning 4-0 dual match records and both having big weekends in Alabama. Against the Tide, Kobayashi defeated No. 109 Danielle Spielmann to tie the match at 3-3, before grabbing the clinching victory on Sunday against Illinois. On Saturday Hance battled through a tough third set in the final match of a tied 3-3 game, grabbing the eventual clinching point for the Huskies 4-3 win.
Saturday's first match of the day will be against Portland, marking the 27th meeting between these two teams with the Huskies owning an undefeated record of 26-0. The Pilots will bring a 1-2 record to Seattle this weekend, after falling to Oregon 1-6 and Georgia Tech 0-7, before returning home and defeating Portland State last weekend 6-1. They have been led by freshman Jelena Lukic at the No. 1 position in singles to start the season, but were without her in their win against PSU due to injury. Head coach Susie Campbell is currently in her 24th season with the program, and has been named the West Coast Conference Coach of the Year twice during her career.
The second match of Washington's doubleheader is scheduled to begin at 4 p.m., with the Dawgs facing their crosstown rival Seattle. This is head coach Adam Reeb's second season with the program, after leading them to an 11-14 record in his first year. After going 15-9 in singles last season Michelle Lui leads the squad again this year, picking up her first dual match win last weekend against Montana State. The Huskies are undefeated against Seattle, owning a 19-0 record all-time after defeating them 7-0 last season.
"I know the girls are excited to be playing at home and finally show our UW fans how much this team has to look forward to this season," said Prokopuik. "We can't wait."
Each match on Saturday is free to attend, with pizza served in between the doubles and singles matches to all in attendance. If you can't make it to the Nordstrom Tennis Center, you can follow along via the live stream and stats page which can be found at the link above.
