Huskies Host Arizona Schools, Senior Day Sunday
THIS WEEK IN HUSKY MEN'S TENNIS
Friday, Apr. 15, Bill Quillian Stadium or Nordstrom Tennis Center (weather dependent)
#48 Washington hosts #62 Arizona State, 3 p.m.
Live Stats and Video
Sunday, Apr. 17, Bill Quillian Stadium or Nordstrom Tennis Center (weather dependent)
#48 Washington hosts #14 Arizona, 12 p.m.
Live Stats and Video
SEATTLE -- The regular season and the home season both come to a close this week for the Husky men's tennis team, as the Dawgs keep battling to try and earn a postseason berth with two huge matches including Senior Day on Sunday. Friday, the 48th-ranked Huskies host the 62nd-ranked Sun Devils at 3 p.m. at Bill Quillian Stadium, weather permitting. Sunday's final home match will be against 14th-ranked Arizona, at 12 noon, again at Bill Quillian Stadium. Washington will honor seniors Jack Davis, Ewen Lumsden, and Jack Pulliam prior to Sunday's first serve.
The Pac-12 Championships are just one week away, to be followed potentially by NCAA tournament action. The Huskies could use a few more wins to bump their ranking up, as well as to position themselves for the conference tourney. UW owns a record of 15-8 and 2-4 in conference this year.
Seniors Davis, Lumsden, and Pulliam are set for their final home appearances this weekend. Davis, a fifth-year senior from Vancouver, Canada, has set a new career-high this season with 14 dual wins, and now owns 73 career singles victories and 70 career doubles wins. Davis has been ranked in both singles and doubles throughout his career, and just this week, he and Lumsden, another Senior Day honoree, moved into the ITA doubles rankings at No. 47. Davis has captained the Huskies for several years running and has won ITA Regional awards for leadership and sportsmanship.
Lumsden, from Glasgow, Scotland, is coming to the end of his fourth season at Washington. This year, Lumsden earned a career-high No. 66 singles ranking and is now ranked in doubles with Davis at 47th. He is 17-10 in singles this year and has 56 career singles wins and 42 doubles wins. Lumsden was an All-Pac-12 honorable mention a year ago.
Pulliam came to the Huskies from Texas A&M, where he spent one season. Originally hailing from Manhattan Beach, Calif., Pulliam has started 36 dual matches in singles for the Dawgs over the past three years, going 18-18 in dual play, and 28-28 overall. Pulliam has co-captained the Huskies along with Davis and Clement Chidekh.
Friday's opponent, Arizona State, features the 20th-ranked singles player in the nation in Murphy Cassone and Fabien Salle gets the last ranked spot currently at No. 125. Salle and Max McKennon are ranked 35th together in doubles. ASU is 8-13 overall and 1-4 in conference play but pushed a top-20 USC team to a 3-4 final and also earned a win against a ranked Cal squad. The Sun Devils fell in their last match, 2-4, against Utah.
Arizona can clinch its first ever Pac-12 title this weekend if it gets two wins, something the Huskies will look to prevent. The Wildcats are 5-0 in league play, having defeated USC, Stanford, California, Arizona State, and Utah, with UCLA canceling their match-up. Arizona (18-5) will face Oregon first before coming to Seattle. Jonas Ziverts is ranked 48th in singles and Gustaf Strom is right behind him at No. 51. Herman Hoeyeraal also ranks 82nd and Ziverts and Hoeyeraal are 51st as a doubles pair.