Huskies edge No. 72 WSU 4-3, end 10-match losing streak

[img1]Ever since a 7-0 victory over Portland on Feb. 3 it had been the same story over and over for the Washington women's tennis team. Lose the doubles point, lose momentum and fritter away the match.

Yesterday, the story was finally different.

The UW (2-11 overall, 0-5 Pac-10) captured the doubles point for only the third time this season and rode it to a 4-3 win over Washington State yesterday at the Lloyd Nordstrom Tennis Center in a non-conference match. When WSU's Amy Toth sailed a forehand wide in the No. 3 singles match against sophomore Tara Simpson, a 10-match losing streak ended.

"At a time like this, it was nice to get a win under our belt," said UW coach Jill Hultquist. "Plus, we always want to beat them (WSU)."

Including recent losses to No. 3 USC (11-2) and No. 14 UCLA (9-2) in Los Angeles, No. 4 Northwestern (10-3) in Seattle and No. 37 Oregon (11-4) in Eugene, Ore., it had been 51 days since the UW had last tasted victory. The No. 72 Cougars came in as a favorite to win, but yesterday belonged to the Huskies.

The doubles point alone took almost an hour and 45 minutes to complete. In the beginning, it looked as if it would be more of the same for the UW when Simpson and junior Monika Kolbovic lost 8-4 at No. 2. Even with senior Stephanie Svanfeldt and freshman Melinda Wong ahead in the No. 3 match, things looked bleak for the Huskies at No. 1.

With the UW down 5-7 and with WSU needing just one more game to take the match and the doubles point, senior Dinka Hadzic and freshman Tori Brymer needed a hold and a break to stay alive. They did just that, knotting the match at 7-all and pumping some energy into the home fans.

"We weren't playing very well," Brymer said. "We looked at each other like, 'We can beat this team.' That's all we wanted -- to keep our spirits up."

They did, and even after WSU forced a tiebreak, the senior-freshman duo did not panic. They were able to bear down and allow the Cougs only a single point in the tiebreak, giving them the 9-8 victory at No. 1.

"It was definitely a momentum builder," said Brymer.

Brymer carried that momentum into her No. 3 singles match, winning 6-0, 6-1. Melinda Wong won 6-4, 6-4 at No. 5 to earn her first-ever win at that spot in the lineup.

The Cougars tied it up by earning wins at No. 1, 4 and 6, but in the end Simpson proved to be too tough for Toth. The sophomore won in three sets, 7-6 (4), 0-6, 6-2.

"I did more of a 'do whatever it takes' type of thing," Simpson said, contrasting the third set with the second. "It worked."

Following this match, the team meeting room had a much different tune than it had following matches earlier in the year. Yelling and screaming had been replaced by laughing and joking. Frustration had been replaced by jubilation. On this day, the UW's plan finally worked.

Reach Daily reporter Jeff Brown at [url='mailto:jeffbrown@thedaily.washington.edu']jeffbrown@thedaily.washington.edu[/url]