University of Washington
Hawai'i
Dawgs Prepared To Start 2017 Season
January 10, 2017 | Women's Tennis
SEATTLE – The 2017 tennis season has arrived and the Washington women's tennis team will hit the road to begin play in Honolulu, Hawai'i this week, facing Hawai'i on Thursday at 5 p.m., and Kansas State on Friday at 1 p.m.
"We are really looking forward to getting started with the season in a couple of days," said head coach Robin Stephenson. "This is a special group and they're ready to begin going after the goals that we have set."
Stephenson begins her third season with the Huskies after defeating five ranked opponents in 2016 and leading the team to as high as 19th in the country. Her success in building a strong program continued, as she brought in her second straight recruiting class ranked in the top-15 nationally. Making up the 2016 class are current freshmen Katarina Kopcalic and Lana Slavica.
Kopcalic joins the program from Toronto, Canada, where she represented her country in the U14 World Cup, and was crowned the National singles champion in U12, U16 and U18. She has already picked up her first nine wins at Washington this past fall, winning six in singles and three in doubles. Coming to Seattle from Zagreb, Croatia, Slavica owns a career-high ITF ranking of 141, and was the winner of the Croatian Team National Women's Tennis Championships in 2015.
The third newcomer to this year's roster, Alexis Prokopuik, transferred to Washington from Georgia Tech, where she picked up over 40 wins in singles during two seasons. The junior has already grabbed her first victory over a ranked opponent in purple and gold this fall, defeating No. 102 Tina Bukhua of Texas A&M at the David Kent Invitational.
"We have three amazing additions to our team this year and they have made a tremendous impact already with our culture, setting the bar even higher," said Stephenson. "I'm excited to see how the returners and our newcomers come together over the course of the season. We will rely on the returners experience and leadership this spring and it's been so impressive to see their commitment to constant improvement and their desire to push this program to the next level."
The lone senior on the team, Nour Abbes returns after earning All-Pac-12 Honorable Mention last season, ending the year ranked 29th in the country with Miki Kobayashi in doubles. The duo defeated the fifth ranked doubles pair in the country twice in 2016, and were the first team to make it to the NCAA Doubles Championships for UW since 2011. Abbes' doubles teammate, Kobayashi, finished last year with 25 doubles wins, tying for the 7th most in a season in school history. The two continued their success from last season this past fall, defeating the No. 5 ranked duo yet again at the ITA All-American Championships.
Stacey Fung looks to build on her success from last season as a freshman, when she led the team in singles wins with 22. Ranked as high as 65th in the country, the Vancouver, Canada native defeated three ranked opponents last year, and has already defeated one this past fall. Fellow sophomore Kenadi Hance has already grabbed 10 total wins this fall, including four at the David Kent Invitational. The sophomore from Torrance, Calif. began her regular season last year by winning nine straight in singles without a loss, and finished second on the team in dual match wins.
"We have put in a lot of work and are really pleased with the progress the team has made over the course of the fall and the girls are mentally and physically ready to take on the challenges presented to them this spring," said Stephenson. "We are going to have a fun journey together this spring and look forward to some great things ahead."
Washington will face a tough matchup to open the season on Thursday against Hawai'i at 5 p.m., but look to continue their streak of success, defeating the Rainbow Wahine in the last four seasons. They are coached by Jun Hernandez who enters his 10th season at Hawai'i, and are led on the court by freshman Petra Melounova who begins the season ranked 119th in singles.
On Friday Kansas State will play their first match of the 2017 season against the Huskies at 1 p.m. in Honolulu, Hawai'i. They are coached by Danielle Steinberg who is in her third year at the helm.
You can keep up with the team this week by following us on Facebook, Twitter and Instagram for the latest results, news and content, or by checking out our website at GoHuskies.com.
Players Mentioned
