Huskies Win Sixth-Straight, Turn Back Buffs

SEATTLE – The 17th-ranked Husky women's tennis team earned its sixth-straight win and fourth-straight Pac-12 victory today with a 6-1 win over Colorado at the Nordstrom Tennis Center. Washington is now 13-4 on the season and 4-0 in Pac-12 play heading into a break for finals.
 
"We're in a really good position," said Head Coach Robin Stephenson. "I'm really proud of how we started the Pac-12 season. Even after the long Midwest trip, after (ITA National Team) Indoors, we responded really well and got a lot better from those matches, learned a lot and put in a lot of work. These last couple weeks have been really good for us, and now is a really good time to rest and regroup, and then hit it hard. Our focus is going to be to prepare as well as we can, because we've got really good opportunities ahead of us in the second half of the Pac-12 season, and we want to take advantage of them."
 
First to finish in singles was Nika Zupancic, as she rolled to a 6-2, 6-1 win at No. 3 over Maria Campos. Zupancic is now 11-3 at No. 3 singles and has won six in a row. Freshman Kelly Leung got her second win of the week at No. 5 singles, 6-0, 7-5, to make it 3-0 Dawgs. Then sophomore Sarah-Maude Fortin clinched the win with a 6-3, 6-3 victory over Caroline Pozo. Fortin has now won five straight matches and is 13-2 in dual play.
 
From there, senior Vanessa Wong polished off a 6-4, 6-4 win at No. 1 singles over Atonia Balzert to make it 5-0. Wong now has 109 career singles wins, two away from the UW school record.
 
Colorado got its only point at No. 6 singles, where Betina Tokac won a third set super-tiebreak over Yolanda Lin after the two split sets. But Washington closed out with a victory at No. 4 singles as Hikaru Sato came back from a 3-6 first set loss, taking the next two sets, 6-1, 6-2, over Megan Forster.
 
The Huskies took the doubles point behind wins at second and third doubles. Sarah-Maude Fortin and Hikaru Sato dropped a 6-0 set on their opponents at No. 2. Then Kelly Leung and Yolanda Lin fought back from down 2-4 to win 6-4 over Ecton/Tokac to clinch the point. Vanessa Wong and Nika Zupancic were tied at 5-5 at No. 1 when UW clinched.
 
The Huskies will have a week off for finals next week and then return to conference play on Mar. 27 with a battle at Oregon.
 
 
Washington Women's Tennis
March 13, 2022
Nordstrom Tennis Center | Seattle, Wash.
 
No. 17 Washington – 6
Colorado – 1
 
Singles
1. Vanessa Wong (UW) def. Atonia Balzert (Colo) – 6-4, 6-4
2. Sarah-Maude Fortin (UW) def. Caroline Pozo (Colo) – 6-3, 6-3
3. Nika Zupancic (UW) def. Maria Campos (Colo) – 6-2, 6-1
4. Hikaru Sato (UW) def. Megan Forster (Colo) – 3-6, 6-1, 6-2
5. Kelly Leung (UW) def. Mila Stanojevic (Colo) – 6-0, 7-5
6. Betina Tokac (Colo) def. Yolanda Lin (UW) – 5-7, 6-1, (10-4)
Order of Finish: 3, 5, 2, 1, 6, 4
 
Doubles
1. Wong/Zupancic (UW) vs Pozo/Campos (Colo) – 5-5, DNF
2. Fortin/Sato (UW) def. Balzert/Stanojevic (Colo) – 6-0
3. Leung/Lin (UW) def. Ecton/Tokac (Colo) – 6-4
Order of Finish: 2, 3