SEATTLE – In what ended up being a very close match between the No. 25 Washington women's tennis team and No. 11 Oklahoma State, the Huskies fell 6-1 today at the Nordstrom Tennis Center.
Each team traded leads in doubles, with the Huskies playing tough against three ranked doubles duos for the Cowgirls. Courts two and three opened up at 2-2 ties, before OSU took a lead, and eventual win on court three 6-4. On court one Nour Abbes and Miki Kobayashi were unable to battle back against the 6th ranked duo in the nation, falling 6-3 to surrender the doubles point to Oklahoma State.
In singles, each match remained close, with no side taking more than a one game lead for a majority of the first sets. Katarina Kopcalic was the first to finish her set, grabbing a big 6-3 win in the first over No. 101 Sofia Blanco. Despite each court remaining close, the Huskies were only able to get two first set wins, on courts two and six, with Abbes winning her first set in a big tie-break victory 9-7.
However, Oklahoma State would come out on top in the second set in five courts, clinching the first win on court four with a 7-5, 6-3 victory, and a second win on court five. Up 3-1, the 11th ranked team in the country clinched the win on court one, with Stacey Fung falling in a tough battle with No. 9 Viktoriya Lushkova 7-5, 6-4.
The remaining matches were played out, as Kobayashi bounced back from a 6-4 first set loss, to win 6-2 in the second and 6-3 in the third over No. 54 Aliona Bolsova. On court two, Abbes dropped a close second set 6-4, and fell in the tie-breaker 13-11, dropping a very competitive match to No. 56 Katarina Adamovic. Kopcalic was unable to clinch her match on court six, falling by a final score of 3-6, 6-3, 6-3 to bring the final tally to 6-1 OSU.
The Huskies will take the day off tomorrow before returning to the Nordstrom Tennis Center to face No. 38 Northwestern at noon. The match will be free to attend with pizza served to all between the doubles and singles matches.
RESULTS
No. 25 Washington – 1
No. 11 Oklahoma State – 6
Doubles
1 – No. 6 Babic/Tur Mari (OSU) def. Abbes/Kobayashi (UW) 6-3
2 – Fung/Hance (UW) vs. No. 31 Blanco/Bolsova (OSU) 4-5 (DNF)
3 – No. 34 Adamovic/Lushkova (OSU) def. Kopcalic/Slavica (UW) 6-4
Order of finish: 3, 1
Singles
1 – No. 9 Viktoriya Lushkova (OSU) def. Stacey Fung (UW) 7-5, 6-4
2 – No. 56 Katarina Adamovic (OSU) def. Nour Abbes (UW) 6-7(7-9), 6-4, 13-11
3 – Miki Kobayashi (UW) def. No. 54 Aliona Bolsova (OSU) 4-6, 6-2, 6-3
4 – No. 50 Vladica Babic (OSU) def. Alexis Prokopuik (UW) 7-5, 6-3
5 – Lena Ruppert (OSU) def. Kenadi Hance (UW) 6-4, 6-4
6 – Katie Stresnakova (OSU) def. Katarina Kopcalic (UW) 3-6, 6-3, 6-3
Order of finish: 4, 5, 1, 3, 2, 6