Zupancic Wins Pac-12 Player Of The Week

SEATTLE – After clinching UW's first win at UCLA in program history, senior Nika Zupancic today was named the Pac-12 Women's Tennis Player of the Week. It is the first weekly win for Zupancic and first for UW since the 2020 season.
 
Zupancic (Otocec, Slovenia) went 4-0 in singles and doubles as the Huskies pulled out two thrillers, both by 4-3 final scores, first over Denver and then against then-No. 4-ranked UCLA at the Los Angeles Tennis Center.
 
The Huskies (5-0) needed every win, as both doubles points were 2-1 decisions. Teaming with Sarah-Maude Fortin at No. 2 doubles, Zupancic had a 6-4 win against Denver to help earn that point. Then she posted a 6-3, 6-2 win over Britt Pursell at No. 3 singles to help the Huskies hold off the Pioneers on Friday, Jan. 28.
 
The next day against the Bruins, UW earned the doubles point again, thanks in part to a 7-5 win by Fortin and Zupancic over UCLA's Catanzarite and Forbes. UCLA came back and won the first three singles matches to take a 3-1 lead, but Fortin and Hikaru Sato pulled out hard-fought singles matches to tie it at 3-3. That put the match on Zupancic's court, and she came through with an upset of 49th-ranked Sasha Vagramov, 6-4, 4-6, 6-2, to earn UW's first victory over UCLA since 2003.
 
The two wins qualified Washington for the ITA National Team Indoor Championships, the first time UW has made that elite tournament via the qualifying rounds since 2011. The championships will take place Feb. 11-14 in Madison, Wisc.
 
In the latest ITA National Coaches Poll, released Wednesday, the Huskies jumped from unranked up to No. 16.
 
Washington will host Portland this Friday at 12:30 p.m. in its one match this week before heading to Madison next week.
 
2022 PAC-12 MEN'S & WOMEN'S TENNIS PLAYERS OF THE WEEK