University of Washington
Indiana
Huskies Fall Short In Thriller With Indiana
February 26, 2017 | Men's Tennis
SEATTLE โ In one of the most exciting matches of the season, the Washington men's tennis team fell just short in a thriller today with Indiana 3-4 at the Nordstrom Tennis Center.
"There were a lot of close matches out there today," said head coach Matt Anger. "I have to hand it to Indiana, they competed well and did a good job."
The Huskies came out trailing in doubles and weren't able to recover on courts two and three. Indiana's Afonso Salgado and Keivon Tabrizi defeated Amit Batta and Kawika Lam on court three first 6-1, with Jake Douglas and Piers Foley falling on court two shortly after. Enzo Sommer and Wendell Watanabe's match on court one went unfinished, though they led 5-2.
"I think we could have played better in doubles," said Anger. "I was really surprised how we were on our heels because we've been doing a lot better with that these last couple of weeks."
Needing to make up the doubles point in singles, Sommer wasted no time on court one, defeating Tabrizi 6-2, 6-0 to move to 4-1 on the lead court this season. On court five, Batta battled out a tough first set by winning the tie-break 7-5, before carrying the momentum over into the second set, winning 6-2 to put UW up 2-1. However, the Hoosiers drew the match back even at 2-2 with a win on court six.
After coming back with a big second set win 6-1, Gal Hakak was unable to close out the third in a tough match with Bennett Crane, giving Indiana a 3-2 lead. With all eyes on courts two and three, both Mitch Stewart and Douglas' matches remained tight in third sets.
Down 1-3 on court two, Stewart battled back to draw his final set even at 4-4, while Douglas just missed an opportunity up 5-4 with a shot that clipped the net, putting his set at 5-5. The Rolling Hills, Calif. native bounced back on court three however, winning the next game to go up 6-5.
After fighting back in the third set on court two, Stewart ultimately fell in tough back to back games as Antonio Cembellin clinched the victory for Indiana. Douglas' match on court three finished moments later, with the junior clinching his third set in a huge 7-5 win, putting the final score at 4-3.
"No doubt this match hurts," said Anger. "The singles had a lot of hard fought tennis, and good tennis, but they got the last point."
Washington will be back in action next weekend on the road, when they travel to Minneapolis, Minn. To take on Minnesota and Drake.
RESULTS
No. 32 Washington โ 3
No. 45 Indiana โ 4
Doubles
1 โ Sommer/Watanabe (UW) vs. Cembellin/Lugonjic (IU) 5-2 (DNF)
2 โ Brodney/Crane (IU) def. Douglas/Foley (UW) 6-2
3 โ Salgado/Tabrizi (IU) def. Batta/Lam (UW) 6-1
Order of finish: 3, 2
Singles
1 โ Enzo Sommer (UW) def. Keivon Tabrizi (IU) 6-2, 6-0
2 โ No. 125 Antonio Cembellin (IU) def. Mitch Stewart (UW) 3-6, 6-3, 6-4
3 โ Jake Douglas (UW) def. Matt McCoy (IU) 6-3, 2-6, 7-5
4 โ Bennett Crane (IU) def. Gal Hakak (UW) 6-4, 1-6, 6-3
5 โ Amit Batta (UW) def. Oliver Sec (IU) 7-6(7-5), 6-2
6 โ Zac Brodney (IU) def. Piers Foley (UW) 6-3, 3-6, 6-2
Order of finish: 1, 5, 6, 4, 2, 3
Players Mentioned
