BOULDER, Colo. – The Huskies battled it out in Boulder but couldn’t pull off the win after Colorado defeats Washington 3-4 this afternoon. This is Colorado’s second conference win after claiming their first against Washington State on Friday, April 7. The Huskies are now 5-2 in conference play after a missed opportunity in the mountains, and 15-5 on the season.
A day of rest did the Dawgs well as they took the early 1-0 lead and secured the doubles point. Sarah-Maude Fortin and Erika Matsuda got the first win against Puzak and Tokac, 6-2, at No. 3 singles. The clincher belonged to Hikaru Sato and Zehra Suko after they defeated Balzert and El Sayed, 6-3, at No. 1 singles to put the doubles matches away.
Washington carried this momentum into singles after winning back to back matches for a 3-0 lead, before Colorado came back to do the same and further win the match with four straight singles wins, all in third sets.
Erika Matsuda continues her road trip hot streak after losing just one game to Carri Hayes (6-0, 6-1) at No. 6 singles. She awards the Dawgs with their first singles match point. Sarah-Maude Fortin raised the Huskies lead to 3-0 after she defeats Elys Ventura in mirror sets (6-2, 6-2) at No. 2 singles.
Astrid Olsen split the first two sets with opponent, Mila Stanojevic, but fell short in the third (2-6, 6-2, 2-6) at No. 3 singles. Colorado’s Aya El Sayed took the match on court 4 after splitting sets rallying from a set down to beat Jennifer Kerr at No. 4 singles, 3-6, 6-4, 6-4.
Melissa Sakar rallied to force a third set at No. 5 singles but then was unable to get on the board in the third; awarding Colorado with their third straight point to tie things up in Boulder.
That left it to the No. 1 singles match, where Hikaru Sato had won the second set to force a third, and then came back from 0-3 down to take a 6-5 lead over Antonia Balzert, but Balzert won the next game to force a tiebreak, and she then won a long tiebreak, 8-6, to win the match.
The Huskies will have close to one week to recover and prepare to take on 13th-ranked Stanford on Friday, April 14 at 1:30 p.m. in Stanford, California.
Washington Women’s Tennis
April 9, 2023
Boulder, Colorado
#16 Washington – 3
#71 Colorado – 4
Singles
1. Antonia Balzert (CU) def. (#97) Hikaru Sato (UW) – 6-4, 5-7, 7-6 (6)
2. Sarah-Maude Fortin (UW) def. Elys Ventura (CU) – 6-2, 6-2
3. Mila Stanojevic (CU) def. Astrid Olsen (UW) – 6-2, 2-6, 6-2
4….
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