In the past five women’s tennis seasons, University of Washington tennis brought home the victory three times against WSU.
This year the Cougs were looking to beat their rival, No. 26 ranked UW to complete an upset and end their five-game losing streak to maintain a winning record.
Doubles team No. 1 Eva Alvarez Sande and Elyse Tse faced off against No. 44 nationally ranked Astrid Olsen and Alexia Jacobs. The match was close, with teams exchanging games. Alvarez Sande and Tse shined at the baseline but struggled to return shots down the middle, unfortunately ending in a 7-5 loss.
Doubles team No. 2, Yura Nakagawa and Fifa Kumhom played UW’s Dariya Detkovskaya and Erika Matsuda. Like Sande and Tse’s match, it started off close, but Detkovskaya and Matsuda came back from behind to take home the victory 6-4.
Doubles team No. 3, Martina Markov and Hania Abouelsaad had a much better day on the court playing Melissa Sakar and Catherine Gagnon of the Huskies. It started off close like the other doubles matches, but Markov and Abouelsaad played with impressive agility and shot placement. Their cohesion led them to a 7-5 win.
The Cougs looked to make a comeback in their singles matches. No.1 singles Eva Alvarez Sande had a match similar to her previous match against Stanford. She lost the first set to Erika Matsuda and began to build momentum in the second to bring her to a tie-breaker.
No. 2 singles Elyse Tse struggled to find a rhythm against No.103 Alexia Jacobs. Tse lost the match 6-4, 6-2.
Yura Nakagawa had a similar match against No. 94 Astrid Olsen. Nakagawa struggled to return Olsen’s tough groundstrokes and took a difficult loss, 6-1, 6-4.
Fifa Kumhom displayed strong forehand shots but struggled with small mistakes against UW’s Melissa Sakar leading to a 6-4 first set loss.
Hania Abouelsaad had an exciting match against Sarah-Maude Fortin. Abouelsaad lost the first set 6-4 but came back with a vengeance in the second. She had great ball placement and strong defense at the net, leading her to a 6-1 win in the second set.
Martina Markov had a tough match against Dariya Detkovskaya, as she battled unforced errors and Detkovskaya’s impressive ball placement; leading to an unfortunate loss.
As a result of the previous losses for WSU throughout the afternoon, the three remaining matches were stopped, due to the Cougs’ large deficit. Eva Alvarez Sande, Fifa Kumhom and Hania Abouelsaad all ended their afternoon with unfinished matches.
Even though this was a disappointing loss for the Cougs, they have a chance at redemption, as they will be back on the court April 24 –27 for the Pac-12 Championship.
