STANFORD, Calif. – The Husky women’s tennis team dropped its third-straight Pac-12 road match, unable to overcome an 11th-ranked Stanford squad that features three top-40 singles players and four in the top-70. Freshman Erika Matsuda provided the one UW point today, getting a win at No. 5 singles.
The Huskies (15-6, 5-3 Pac-12) made some changes to the doubles lineup but could not grab the opening point. Matsuda moved up to No. 1 doubles to team with Hikaru Sato but the pair lost a 6-3 match to 28th-ranked Blake/Blokhina. Stanford then clinched the doubles point with a 6-3 win at No. 2 doubles, with Choy/Yepifanova defeating Jennifer Kerr and Astrid Olsen. At No. 3 doubles, Zehra Suko teamed with Sarah-Maude Fortin for the first time, and the pair were down 4-5 when the point was clinched.
In singles play, Matsuda pulled out a long first set in a tiebreak, 7-5, over Valencia Xu at the No. 5 spot, and Kerr had a quick 6-0 win at No. 4 singles over 70th-ranked Alexis Blokhina. But the remaining four first sets went to Stanford, and the Cardinal didn’t let up when they got the lead.
28th-ranked Alexandra Yepifanova defeated 101st-ranked Sato at No. 1 singles, 6-2, 6-1. Then 36th-ranked Angelica Blake topped Fortin, 6-1, 6-3, at No. 3 singles to make it 3-0. Stanford then clinched when 14th-ranked Connie Ma beat Astrid Olsen, 6-1, 6-1, at second singles.
Matches were played to completion today, but Stanford added two more. Sara Choy defeated Melissa Sakar, 6-2, 6-3, at the No. 6 spot. After Kerr won her first set without losing a game, Blokhina came back and won the second and third sets both by 6-2 scores to win.
Matsuda was down 3-5 in her second set but came back to force another tiebreak, and this time she didn’t lose a point, winning 7-0 to get the Huskies a point in the final match of the day.
Washington will try to snap its skid tomorrow when it visits 30th-ranked California, which is now a game ahead of the Huskies in the Pac-12 standings at 6-2. First serve will be 11:30 a.m.
Washington Women’s Tennis
April 14, 2023
Stanford, Calif. | Taube Tennis Center
#19 Washington – 1
#11 Stanford – 6
Singles
1. (#28) Alexandra Yepifanova (Stan) def. (#101) Hikaru Sato (UW) – 6-2, 6-1
2. (#14) Connie Ma (Stan) def. Astrid Olsen (UW) – 6-1, 6-1
3. (#36) Angelica Blake (Stan) def. Sarah-Maude Fortin (UW) – 6-1, 6-3
4. (#70) Alexis Blokhina (Stan) def. Jennifer Kerr (UW) – 0-6, 6-2, 6-2
5. Erika…
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