SEATTLE – The Huskies showered the desert schools in “Purple Reign” after sweeping the Arizona schools this week. It wasn’t easy, as the 21st-ranked Dawgs survived a gritty effort from the 57th-ranked Wildcats today. The match went back and forth, ultimately coming down to court No. 3, where Astrid Olsen held off Midori Castillo-Meza, 7-5, 7-6 (6) to clinch the 4-3 win. The Huskies remain undefeated in conference play at 4-0 and are 12-3 on the season with six-straight wins.
Washington fell short during doubles to trail 0-1 going into singles, but then had three consecutive straight-set singles wins to take a 3-1 lead, before Arizona answered with the next two singles wins to tie it up.
The 77th-ranked Olsen and Castillo-Meza then had all the eyes on them. In the first set, Olsen had a 5-1 lead before Castillo-Meza fought back for 5-all, but Olsen got the next two games to take the set. Olsen then was in front for most of the second, and had a 5-3 lead, but Castillo-Meza caught up again. Olsen had a match point at deuce leading 6-5, but the UA player fought it off to force a tiebreak. In the breaker, Castillo-Meza went up, 6-5, to hold a set point, but Olsen saved that and then moved up, 7-6, for her first match point in the tiebreak, and second overall. After a long rally, Castillo-Meza missed just long to set off the Husky celebration.
“Astrid’s been working so hard,” said Head Coach Robin Stephenson. “Being out last year with an injury after transferring here. It’s so awesome to see the hard work paying off. She works as hard as anybody and is totally committed to this team. Super proud of her and the entire team. Today was a team effort. We came out a little slow in the doubles, and Arizona played a heck of a match. Very impressed with them. We had to regroup in singles and it took everybody today. A great win.”
Of Washington’s four Pac-12 wins, Olsen has now clinched three of them. This week she did it with her mother in attendance, visiting from their native Norway.
“That was very close,” said Olsen. “I just want to make my mom happy really, so when she’s here I’d better step up and get the job done. I got it done in the end so I’m glad. She’s a firecracker and gives me so much energy. I’m grateful she gets me so pumped. Sometimes I’m like, ‘Mom, relax, I got this.’ But she reminds me to be alert and keep my foot on the gas.”
In doubles, Hikaru Sato and Zehra Suko lost a tough battle against Salma Ziouti and Reece…
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