Buffs Battle Closely with No.7 Washington

Friday, March 8

Boulder, Colo.

1:30 PM

Colorado

Washington

Photo by: Deric Swanson/BuffVision

March 08, 2019 | Tennis

Box Score

By: Shaun Wicen, Assistant SID

BOULDER – The University of Colorado women's tennis team put pressure on the No.7-ranked Washington Huskies Friday afternoon in the Rocky Mountain Tennis Center, but ultimately fell short in a 4-1 loss.

Colorado (6-7) took two of the singles matches to three sets and won the No.3 singles match, but Washington (11-1) closed out the win with strong doubles play and wins from the No.1, No.2 and No.5 singles matches.

"We are never happy with a loss but definitely happier with our performance today compared to a couple weeks ago," said head coach Danielle Steinberg. "To me if we can do it once we can do it every time so it is very encouraging. I think we played fearless which I loved. Much better doubles play than the past few weeks. We did make some changes to the doubles lineup and it sparked some more aggressive play and more energy and I liked it. I just told the team that at home we can beat any team in the country. It doesn't matter how high ranked they are. We have a big advantage here with the altitude and with our home court advantage and we need to come out strong in every match, especially at home. Overall I am happy with the progress, happy with the way we came out mentally, moving onto Sunday another top-ranked team coming into town and we need to play them just as hard."

CU's Monica Malinen picked up the lone victory for Colorado, defeating Katarina Kopcalic in quick fashion. She took the first set 6-1 and finished out the match with a 6-3 win in the second before the No.1 singles match had concluded its first set. Malinen improves to 11-2 in dual matches this season.

"She played a great match today," said Steinberg. "We threw some new stuff on her this past week as far as strategy and she listened and accepted it and executed very well. With Monica the less overthinking the better and when she just comes out there confident and does what she is suppose to do and doesn't overthink she is a wonderful and great player. I think seeing her win in straight sets against a very good player today was great."

The tightly battle No.1 singles match began with a grueling first set that ended in a 7-6(7) victory for No.69-ranked Stacey Fung. Sara Nayar took three games from the top-100 player to take a 4-2 lead after opening the set down 2-1. The two traded games to 5-3 before Fung rallied back to take a 6-5 lead. Nayar tied up the set without allowing a point in the game and sent the set to a tiebreaker. She took a quick 3-0 lead in the tiebreaker, but Fung answered back to make the score 6-4. Facing a set loss, Nayar took the next three points and nearly won the set on an aggressive charge to the net but the ball landed just out to tie it up at seven apiece. Fung took the next two points to win the set.

Following the long first set, Nayar fell in the second 6-4 to drop the match.

"We know Sara has the abilities, the athleticism, she has the tennis, she knows how to play so she read the game very well," said Steinberg. "She is very young and still has a lot to learn in terms of how to play a full match and compete for a full match. I hope every time she does take a top player, this is the second time this year she has taken a top player to a tough set or a tough third set. I think every time she does that she should get more confident and know that she is at that level tennis wise, she just needs to add a few more things that may or may not be tennis related to make her a complete player."

The other close match came with Annabelle Andrinopoulos taking on No.112-ranked Vanessa Wong in the No.2 singles match. Andrinopoulos quickly jumped out to a 6-1 opening set win. Wong then battled with back-to-back 6-3 set wins to take the match and put Washington up in the dual.

The dual score favored the Huskies 3-1 following the first three singles matches and the doubles. Washington's Fung and Nika Zupancic, the 43^rd-ranked duo in the nation, picked up the first doubles win in the No.1 doubles match by defeating Malinen and Andrinopoulos 6-3. The team point was clinched when Wong and Zoey Weil took the No.2 doubles match 6-4 against Nayar and Megan Forster.

With the dual needing just a point, Colorado began to battle back in the No.4 singles match. Megan Forster took the first set 7-6(2) against Natsuho Arakawa but fell behind and lost the second set 6-4. The two were in a 5-4 third set in favor of Arakawa when the match was clinched by Sedona Gallagher in the No.5 singles match. Gallagher defeated Tallulah Farrow 6-4, 6-3 to clinch the win for the Huskies.

Colorado returns to action Sunday at the Rocky Mountain Tennis Center when it takes on No.28 Washington State at 10 a.m.

RESULTS:
Doubles:
No.1 #43 Fung/Zupancic (UW) def. Malinen/Andrinopoulos (CU) 6-3
No.2 Wong/Weil (UW) def. Nayar/Forster (CU) 6-4
No.3 Farrow/Ecton (CU) vs. Hance/Gallagher (UW) 4-4 unfinished

Order of finish: 1, 2, 3

Singles:
No.1 #69 Stacey Fung (UW) def. Sara Nayar (CU) 7-6(7), 6-4
No.2 #112 Vanessa Wong (UW) def. Annabelle (CU) 1-6, 6-3, 6-3
No.3 Monica Malinen (CU) def. Katarina Kopcalic (UW) 6-1, 6-3
No.4 Megan Forster (CU) vs. Natsuho Arakawa (UW) 7-6(2), 4-6, 4-5 unfinished
No.5 Sedona Gallagher (UW) def. Tallulah Farrow (CU) 6-4, 6-3
No.6 Ky Ecton (CU) vs. Nika Zupancic (UW) 3-6, 2-4 unfinished

Order of finish: 3, 2, 1, 5