SEATTLE – Sophomore Dzianis Zharyn broke a 3-3 tie with a break of serve at 6-5 in the third set, finishing off a huge 4-3 win for the Huskies over 28th-ranked California in the regular season finale. The match was also the home finale for the Dawgs, and was their first and only outdoor match this season at Bill Quillian Stadium.
Washington finishes the regular season at 12-10 and 3-5 in Pac-12 play, getting two big wins this weekend over No. 17 Stanford on Friday and No. 28 Cal today, the first season sweep of the Bay Area schools since 2005. The wins should give a boost to UW’s No. 56 national ITA ranking and improve the Huskies’ chances of earning an NCAA tournament bid. They can continue to build their case next week at the Pac-12 Championships in Ojai, Calif. which begin this coming Wednesday.
“Both teams really fought hard,” said Head Coach Rahim Esmail. “We hoped it would be a battle because that means we’re doing our part. It just shows where playing together as a team and fighting hard will take you. As soon as you stop doing those things, it’s hard to compete in this league. Every team in this league is extremely good and extremely competitive, and it’s a fine line between being a very successful team and just a good team.
“Our competitive level and our desire to win and the way we played together this weekend is the only reason we won these two matches. It comes down to 4-3, 7-5 in the third, I don’t think either team is that much better, it just came down to fighting and digging and finding ways to win.”
The Huskies held a 3-1 lead but Cal won third set battles on courts four and six to tie it up, leaving it up to Zharyn against Cal’s Derrick Chen. Chen won the first set, 6-3, but Zharyn rebounded with a 6-2 second set. Chen then broke to start the third set and held a 4-2 lead before Zharyn broke back to get back on serve, and held to go up, 5-4. He had a deciding point/match point chance at 5-4 but Chen won it to make it 5-all. Zharyn then held for 6-5 and got 0-40 on Chen’s next service game. Chen saved two more match point chances before making a close error on the final point to end it, 7-5.
Also coming through in singles today for the Dawgs were Cesar Bouchelaghem and Jim Hendrikx. Hendrikx won first, his third-straight Pac-12 win, topping Philip Hjorth, 6-2, 6-2, at the No. 5 spot. Bouchelaghem finished the regular season with a 19-1 dual record as he took out Ryder Jackson at No. 2 singles, 6-2, 7-6…
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