University of Washington
Baylor
UW Comeback Falls Just Short At Baylor
February 05, 2017 | Women's Tennis
WACO, Texas – Looking to complete their second comeback after trailing 0-3 this season, the Washington women's tennis team fell just short today at Baylor, dropping a 4-3 match at the Hawkins Indoor Tennis Center.
"It was another great match today and unfortunately somebody had to lose," said head coach Robin Stephenson. "We had our opportunities and just didn't capitalize and it cost us in the end."
Shuffling up the doubles lineups today, Washington went with two new duos in Stacey Fung and Miki Kobayashi at court one and Nour Abbes and Katarina Kopcalic on court two. The third court was the first to finish, where Kenadi Hance and Alexis Prokopuik dropped their first match of the regular season 6-4. On court two, the Dawgs fell 7-5 to give Baylor the doubles point, with court one's match going unfinished.
"A lot of credit to Baylor for being disciplined and playing a great match," said Stephenson. "They're a well-coached team and they did a really good job today."
The Bears took a 2-0 lead after Kobayashi fell on court three 6-2, 6-0, and extended that lead to 3-0 as No. 7 Blair Shankle defeated Fung 6-2, 6-2. However, on court five Kenadi Hance halted the shutout with a 6-1, 6-2 win, her 12th of the season, to bring the score to 3-1.
On court four Prokopuik faced off against freshman Jessica Hinojosa who ranks 117th by the ITA, and gave the Huskies their second point with a 6-4, 6-1 win. After falling in the first set 6-4, Abbes forced a third with a 6-2 win in the second set, and tied the match at 3-3 with a win.
With all eyes on court six, Kopcalic picked up a huge second set win 7-5 to force a third and keep UW alive. However, Baylor came out on top of the final singles match of the day to bring the final score to 4-3.
"It's not an easy task coming on the road and playing two legitimate top-25 teams but our girls fought so hard and left it all out on the court, and that's all we can ask," said Stephenson. "These matches are going to make us better and are preparing us for our conference schedule. We are doing so many good things and even though we didn't get the results we wanted this weekend we are moving in the right direction."
The Huskies will be back on the road next weekend, heading down to California for a matchup with Saint Mary's on Friday February 10th, and San Diego State on Saturday the 11th.
RESULTS
Washington – 3
Baylor – 4
Doubles
1 – No. 15 Shankle/Profit (BU) vs. Fung/Kobayashi (UW) 4-5 (DNF)
2 – Newborn/Van Zyl (BU) def. Abbes/Kopcalic (UW) 7-5
3 – Hinojosa/Shakhraichuk (BU) def. Hance/Prokopuik (UW) 6-4
Order of finish: 3, 2
Singles
1 – No. 7 Blair Shankle (BU) def. Stacey Fung (UW) 6-2, 6-2
2 – Nour Abbes (UW) def. Theresa Van Zyl (BU) 4-6, 6-2, 6-3
3 – Rhiann Newborn (BU) def. Miki Kobayashi (UW) 6-2, 6-0
4 – Alexis Prokopuik (UW) def. No. 117 Jessica Hinojosa (BU) 6-4, 6-1
5 – Kenadi Hance (UW) def. Karina Traxler (BU) 6-1, 6-2
6 – Angelina Shakhraichuk (BU) def. Katarina Kopcalic (UW) 6-2, 5-7, 6-1
Order of finish: 3, 1, 5, 4, 2, 6
Players Mentioned
