UW tennis falls at NCAAs, season ends for both teams

It was a case of unfortunate déjà vu for the No. 32 Washington men’s tennis team at the NCAA Championships last weekend when the Huskies played a regional match against No. 33 Wisconsin at UCLA. The Dawgs suffered yet another familiar first round loss to the Badgers, at 4-1, the exact same fate they experienced last year in the first round of the NCAAs.

The final score is deceiving, though, since the No. 2 and 5 singles matches, played by freshman Jeevan Nedunchezhiyan and junior David Chu, were not able to finish, as the match was played out in tournament fashion, where play stops the moment a team clinches the win.

The only point on Washington’s side of the scoreboard came from stellar doubles play. The Huskies took the No. 1 and No. 3 matches to clinch the point, but UW was also on the brink of winning in the No. 2 spot, which stopped play at 6-4.

“It was our best doubles play all season,” said Nedunchezhiyan, who played at the top spot along with junior Patrik Fischer.

As the match progressed to singles play, Washington’s hopes for continuing to the off-season seemed to diminish; the Badgers prevailed in straight sets over freshman Martin Kildahl, 6-4, 6-3, and Fischer, 6-4, 6-4, at the No. 6 and 1 positions.

Sophomore Derek Drabble, who played at the No. 4 singles position, was the next Dawg to go down, but not without a fight. Although he lost an extended first set 7-5, he came back to win the next with a score of 6-3. He was neck-and-neck with his opponent in the third set, but was broken during his serve in the crucial final moments of the match at 4-5, to give Wisconsin a 3-1 overall lead in the match.

The last Husky on the spot was senior Andy Kuharszky, who, in addition to being the only senior on the team, was also the only Dawg to take a first set, 6-4, from the Badgers. His opponent evened up the sets, though, by taking the next set 6-2. It came down to 5-5 in the third; Wisconsin ultimately prevailed with a 7-5, ending the Huskies’ season.

“Everyone played tough,” Nedunchezhiyan said. “The other team just came out solid on every single court and didn’t give in. We did a good job of battling and keeping it alive as best we could.”

Even though they faced an abrupt end, Washington will be returning five of its six singles starters for next season, which will provide the team with a solid foundation to build on.

The No. 38 Husky women suffered a similar fate, getting knocked out in the first round by No. 31 Texas A&M. The regional match was played in Palo Alto, Calif., on the Stanford campus.

It was a disappointing showing for the Huskies, who were full of hope going into their first NCAAs since 2005.

However, unlike the men’s team, they dropped the doubles point to start off the match, but they picked up a singles win at the No. 1 spot.

No. 37 freshman Venise Chan was able to make yet another notch under the win column against ranked opponents this season — this time against No. 104 Elze Potgieter, 6-4, 6-1.

That victory gave Chan a pass to compete in the individual championships. If she reaches round 16, it will make her the program’s fifth All-American. Chan’s match was Washington’s only win of the night.

The Aggies defeated sophomore Aleksandra Malovic and officially ended seniors Tara Simpson and Allison Rainey’s college careers in the No. 2, 3 and 6 singles matches, respectively, in straight sets for the win.