‘Cats Come Up Short to Huskies, Fall 3-4

SEATTLE, Wash. – #57 Arizona came up just one match short to #21 Washington, falling 3-4 in a heartbreaker loss on Sunday, March 19 at Bill Quillian Tennis Stadium.

The ‘Cats started off strong in doubles with Salma Ziouti and Reece Carter defeating #65 Zehra Suko and Hikaru Sato 6-3 at one doubles. Then Kayla Wilkins and Parker Fry clinched the point 6-4 against Jennifer Kerr and Astrid Olsen 6-4 at two doubles. The Wildcat senior and sophomore pair are now 6-0 in doubles together.

Despite starting with the doubles advantage, the Wildcats only picked up two singles matches against the Huskies. Wilkins fell 1-6 in both sets against #120 Kerr at four singles to give Washington their first point. Then the Huskies extended their lead to 2-1 after #110 Soto defeated Ziouti 7-5, 6-1 on court one. Fry lost 3-6, 4-6 to Matsuda at six singles, increasing Washington’s lead to 3-1.

Arizona won two matches in a row to even out the overall score to 3-3. Carter grabbed the first singles win for the ‘Cats when she defeated #105 Fortin 7-6(5), 7-5 at two singles. The freshman remains the team leader in singles with a 14-2 dual record. Next Lexi Ryngler won her match 7-6(0), 6-3 in the No. 5 lineup spot. All eyes were then on court three where Castillo tried to force a third set against #77 Olsen who defeated the Wildcat 7-5 in the first. They battled it out in a back and forth tiebreaker in which the Wildcat lost 7-6(8) to the Husky. 

Arizona is now 14-7 overall and 1-2 in Pac-12 play. The Wildcats enter a bye weekend before heading to California to face #15 Stanford on Friday, March 31 at 1:30 p.m. MT, and #52 Cal on Saturday, April 1 at 12 p.m. MT. 

Results

#21 University of Washington 4, #57 University of Arizona 3

Singles competition

1. #110 Hikaru Sato (WASH) def. Salma Ziouti (ARIZ) 7-5, 6-1

2. Reece Carter (ARIZ) def. #105 Sarah-Maude Fortin (WASH) 7-6 (7-5), 7-5

3. #77 Astrid Olsen (WASH) def. Midori Castillo-Meza (ARIZ) 7-5, 7-6 (8-6)

4. #120 Jennifer Kerr (WASH) def. Kayla Wilkins (ARIZ) 6-1, 6-1

5. Lexi Ryngler (ARIZ) def. Melissa Sakar (WASH) 7-6 (7-0), 6-3

6. Erika Matsuda (WASH) def. Parker Fry (ARIZ) 6-3, 6-4

Doubles competition

1. Salma Ziouti/Reece Carter (ARIZ) def. #65 Zehra Suko/Hikaru Sato (WASH) 6-3

2. Parker Fry/Kayla Wilkins (ARIZ) def. Jennifer Kerr/Astrid Olsen (WASH) 6-4

3. Erika…