Huskies fall to California schools at Pac-10 opener
Sheena Nguyen
March 31, 2008
Photo by John McLellan.
Senior Andy Kuharszky lunges close to the net, just barely missing a return in his doubles match. Kuharszky and teammate Drabble lost their doubles match 8-6 in the 6-1 loss against UCLA.
After a stellar seven-match winning streak, the 20th-ranked Washington men’s tennis team dropped its Pac-10 opener to sixth-ranked UCLA 6-1 Friday, then fell to fourth-ranked USC Saturday at the Nordstrom Tennis Center.
The Huskies had to fight from behind as they dropped all three doubles matches to give the Bruins a 1-0 head start going into singles play.
There, UCLA quickly extended its lead by winning the number four and five singles matches over Washington’s sophomore Derek Drabble 6-4, 7-5 and junior Ryo Sekiguchi 6-0, 6-4.
Washington’s lone victory came from junior David Chu, who battled through a first set tiebreaker at the number six singles position to win the match in straight sets, 7-6 (4), 6-2.
“I stuck with my game,” Chu said. “I just played smart, made as many first serves in as I could and out-rallied the other guy.”
However, the Huskies didn’t build momentum after that win, as the top three singles matches were all dropped to Top-30 ranked opponents.
“I felt we were going to come out and play actually a little better,” Washington coach Matt Anger said. “We didn’t play badly, and the other team is very good, but I think we could have made it a little more difficult for them than we did.”
Their job wasn’t finished by Friday night though, as the Huskies had an even tougher opponent to take on Saturday afternoon.
They had their work cut out for them with the fourth-ranked USC Trojans. The story played out in almost the same manner, as the Huskies fought hard but were only able to take one match from the Trojans.
It was Washington senior Andy Kuharszky who was victorious over No. 54 Gary Sacks of USC at the number three singles spot.
“It feels really good, although wins feel even better when the team wins,” Kuharszky said. “It’s kind of a personal joy.”
“I’m very disappointed at how we did, but our guys played hard and [USC] played better than we did,” Anger said. “That’s tough to take but that’s the truth. They were more well rounded than we were, and it obviously shows that we’ve come a long way, but we have a ways to go still.”
Washington has now dropped to 12-6 overall and 0-2 in Pac-10 play. They will be on the road to take on the Arizona schools next weekend with hopes for conference wins.
[Reach reporter Sheena Nguyen at sports@thedaily.washington.edu.]
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