No. 16 Huskies Ready For Three-Match Mountain Climb

THIS WEEK IN HUSKY WOMEN’S TENNIS

#16 Washington at #71 BYU, 11 a.m.

Friday, Apr. 7 | Salt Lake City, Utah

#16 Washington at #60 Utah, 12:30 p.m.

Sunday, Apr. 9 | Boulder, Colo.

#16 Washington at #70 Colorado, 10 a.m.

SEATTLE – A huge road stretch starts Thursday for the Husky women’s tennis team as it has every possible goal still on the table with three weeks left in the regular season. 16th-ranked Washington aims to stay in the hunt for a Pac-12 title and a top-16 seed for the NCAA tournament but has three tough road matches in four days in the mountains this week.

 

The Huskies (14-3, 5-0 Pac-12) play their final non-conference match on Thursday in Provo, Utah against 71st-ranked BYU starting at 11 a.m. Pacific time. One day later they resume conference play at 60th-ranked Utah on Friday at 12:30 p.m. Pacific. After resting on Saturday, the Huskies visit #70 Colorado on Easter Sunday for a 10 a.m. Pac-12 dual.

 

Washington will try to extend its eight-match winning streak, which has included two road wins, at Baylor and at San Diego. Every match will be big in UW maintaining its season-high No. 16 team ranking as the postseason looms. UW last earned a top-16 seed and the right to host the first two rounds of the tournament back in 2019. That was also the last year UW had a 5-0 start to Pac-12 play.

 

First up come the Cougars on Thursday. BYU is 10-6 on the season, coming off a loss against San Diego, which the Huskies knocked off two weeks ago. BYU also had a 5-2 win over the Pac-12 Cougars on Feb. 4, and a 4-0 win over rival Utah in Provo.

 

The Utes are 10-8 on the season and 1-4 in Pac-12 play, pulling off a big home win over California on Mar. 3. Utah also took two points off Stanford at home, falling 2-5. The Utes lost on the road at USC and UCLA last weekend. Utah has been excellent at the four, five and six spots, going a combined 31-12 at those positions.

 

Colorado is 9-8 this season and 0-5 in conference play, with a tough 3-4 home loss against California, a 1-6 loss to Stanford, and 0-4 losses to the L.A. schools and Oregon. Colorado had a 4-3 win over BYU. Aya El Sayed has won her last eight matches at No. 4 singles for the Buffs.