Saturday, 03/24/2012

TEMPE, Ariz. – Freshmen Capucine Gregoire and Julija Lukac posted two singles wins in the middle of the lineup, but the Husky women’s tennis team came up short against 30th-ranked Arizona State today by a 5-2 count at the Whiteman Tennis Center. Washington (6-7, 0-4 Pac-12) was behind the eight ball without All-American senior Denise Dy who sat out today, but still made a good run at the Sun Devils.

Without Dy, the rest of the Huskies all moved up a spot in the singles lineup. Gregoire, the product of Sevres, France, prevailed in a lengthy second set tiebreaker to force a third set against Sianna Simmons at No. 3 singles, and was leading when Simmons retired, netting Gregoire the 4-6, 7-6 (9-7), 4-2 victory. One spot below at fourth singles, Belgrade, Serbia native Lukac was quick to victory over Hannah James, 6-3, 6-1. Both Gregoire and Lukac completed 2-0 weekends in singles play.

But the rest of the matches went to ASU, which swept the doubles point over UW’s makeshift lineup to take the 1-0 lead. Freshman Riko Shimizu suffered her first loss in conference play after posting wins over Stanford, Cal, and Arizona, as she lost at fifth singles, 6-1, 6-4, to Joanna Smith. Senior Adrijana Pavlovic stepped in to the No. 6 singles spot and played tough but ultimately lost, 6-4, 6-2, to Leighann Sahagun.

Sophomore Andjela Nemcevic stepped up to No. 1 singles and faced quite a tall order in ninth-ranked Jacqueline Cako, and Nemcevic lost in straight sets, as did senior Samantha Smith at second singles against Michelle Brycki.

The road remains challenging for the Huskies, who head to Los Angeles next weekend to take on USC and UCLA.

Washington Women’s Tennis
Whiteman Tennis Center – Tempe, Ariz.
March 24, 2012
No. 30 Arizona State 5, No. 36 Washington 2

Doubles

1) Cako/James (ASU) def. Nemcevic/Smith (UW), 8-4
2) Brycki/Smith (ASU) def. Shimizu/Lukac (UW), 8-5
3) Simmons/Sahagun (ASU) def. Gregoire/Pavlovic (UW), 8-6

Singles

1) (9) Jacqueline Cako (ASU) def. Anjela Nemcevic (UW), 6-0, 6-0
2) Michelle Brycki (ASU) def. Samantha Smith (UW), 6-2, 6-2
3) Capucine Gregoire (UW) def. Sianna Simmons (ASU), 4-6, 7-6 (7), 4-2, ret.
4) Julija Lukac (UW) def. Hannah James (ASU), 6-3, 6-1
5) Joanna Smith (ASU) def. Riko Shimizu (UW), 6-1, 6-4
6) Leighann Sahagun (ASU) def. Adrijana Pavlovic (UW), 6-4, 6-2