Sato Wins First Pac-12 Player Of The Week

SEATTLE – Thanks to her dramatic, upset-clinching tiebreak victory on Saturday night, senior Hikaru Sato has been named Pac-12 Women’s Tennis Player of the Week for the first time in her career. Sato’s win was the final point in Washington’s 4-3 upset of No. 9 Vanderbilt.
 
The Huskies hosted the ITA National Team Indoor Championships over the weekend, and would face the No. 1, No. 4, and No. 9 teams in the nation. Washington competed well in all three, but was able to secure the upset of the Commodores on Saturday for its first ranked win of the season and first top-10 win since January of 2022.
 
Following singles wins from Erika Matsuda, Astrid Olsen, and Jennifer Kerr, the match was tied at 3-3 and came down to the No. 1 court where Sato was up against 34th-ranked Celia-Belle Mohr. Sato lost the first set, 2-6, but came back with a 6-2 second set win. She was down 1-4 in the third, but came back to tie it at 4-all. The match went to a tiebreaker, where Sato won four straight points for a 5-2 lead. Mohr saved two match points to tie it at 6-6, but Sato got another chance with a crucial passing shot winner for 7-6, and she forced Mohr into an error on the next point to end it.
 
It wasn’t the only upset of the weekend for Sato. Against Duke on Sunday, she and freshman teammate Zehra Suko knocked off the 25th-ranked doubles team in the country, 6-3, to clinch the doubles point victory for UW over the 4th-ranked Blue Devils.
 
This is the first Pac-12 Player of the Week this season for the Dawgs. Washington has the week off from match play before heading on the road next week to Waco, Texas to take on Baylor and San Diego.

We can’t get over these photos ??

Saturday night’s upset of No. 9 Vanderbilt will be a favorite memory … at least until the NEXT top-10 win ??#GoHuskies pic.twitter.com/y2bQCWG1DQ

— Washington Women’s Tennis (@UW_WTennis) February 14, 2023

2023 PAC-12 MEN’S & WOMEN’S TENNIS PLAYERS OF THE WEEK