University of Washington
Northwestern
Dawgs Defeat No. 38 Northwestern 5-2
March 05, 2017 | Women's Tennis
SEATTLE – The No. 25 Washington women's tennis team ended the weekend on a high note today, picking up a 5-2 win over No. 38 Northwestern in the Nordstrom Tennis Center.
"Today was a great team win for us," said Stephenson. "Northwestern is a good team and really well coached so we had to be at our best."
The Huskies took an early 1-0 lead by claiming the doubles point to begin the match. The freshman duo of Katarina Kopcalic and Lana Slavica were first to finish their match over on court three, defeating Rheeya Doshi and Lee Or 6-2.
"I was most pleased with the progress that we have made in doubles," said Stephenson. "We knew coming in that they have very strong doubles and that we would have to play well to win that point. We have been working extremely hard on it and it showed today."
Over on court one, Nour Abbes and Miki Kobayashi sealed the doubles point for UW with a 6-3 win, as Stacey Fung and Kenadi Hance's match was stopped with the Dawgs owning a 5-2 lead. Abbes and Kobayashi's win on court one was the second top-10 duo they've defeated this season, as Alex Chatt and Maddie Lipp are currently ranked 9th by the ITA.
"We all knew that their doubles were one of their strengths," said Kobayashi. "We had to come and play our best tennis to beat them."
On court five in singles Hance quickly extended Washington's lead with a 6-1, 6-0 win over Chatt. Northwestern claimed a point back with a win on court two, but Kobayashi picked up her second singles win of the weekend to bring her record to 11-2 in dual matches, and put the score at 3-1.
"I'm happy that my singles have come a long way from when I was struggling the last two years," said Kobayashi. "All of the hard work is paying off."
Winning a tough tie-breaker to claim the first set on court six, Kopcalic clinched the win for the Huskies with a 7-6, 6-3 win. On court four, Alexis Prokopuik lost a tough third set tie-breaker 10-1, but Fung claimed a final point for the Dawgs with a 6-0, 3-6, 6-4 win to bring the final tally to 5-2.
"I was pleased that we were able to close it out and play well at the end of our sets," said Stephenson. "This weekend was a great challenge for us before we head into Pac-12 play, and we really took a lot out of it."
Washington will be back in action at home next weekend, opening up their conference schedule with a televised match against Oregon on Friday at 2 p.m.
RESULTS
No. 25 Washington – 5
No. 38 Northwestern – 2
Doubles
1 – Abbes/Kobayashi (UW) def. No. 9 Chatt/Lipp (NU) 6-3
2 – Fung/Hance (UW) vs. Larner/Rischbieth (NU) 5-2 (DNF)
3 – Kopcalic/Slavica (UW) def. Doshi/Or (NU) 6-2
Order of finish: 3, 1
Singles
1 – Stacey Fung (UW) def. Erin Larner (NU) 6-0, 3-6, 6-4
2 – Maddie Lipp (NU) def. Nour Abbes (UW) 6-3, 6-1
3 – Miki Kobayashi (UW) def. Lee Or (NU) 6-1, 6-3
4 – Rheeya Doshi (NU) def. Alexis Prokopuik (UW) 4-6, 6-4, 10-1
5 – Kenadi Hance (UW) def. Alex Chatt (NU) 6-1, 6-0
6 – Katarina Kopcalic (UW) def. Nina Van Oost (NU) 7-6, 6-3
Order of finish: 5, 2, 3, 6, 4, 1
Players Mentioned
