March 5, 2010

SEATTLE, Wash--The No. 39 Arizona women's tennis team opened conference play with a 5-2 loss to No. 18 Washington Friday.

The Wildcats (8-3, 0-1 Pac-10) opened up play with a loss of the doubles point to Washington (9-1, 1-0 Pac-10). This is the third match in a row where Arizona has lost the doubles point. Sophomore Natasha Marks and freshman Alexandrina Naydenova came close to overcoming the No. 9 ranked duo of Joyce Ardies and Denise Dy. The score was close throughout the entire match before Ardies and Dy pulled away at 8-6.

In singles, Naydenova took down Lina Xu 6-2, 6-2 in the No. 3 position, and at No. 6 senior Claire Reitsch came out on top over Aleksandra Malovic 7-5, 3-6, (10-8).

At No. 2, sophomore Sarah Landsman, ranked at No. 106, came close to topping No. 7 Dy, opening the with 6-1 win in the first set, but dropped the second and third 0-6, 4-6.

"We had a great opportunity to beat Washington today." Said head coach Vicky Maes, "After losing the doubles, the team had a really solid start in nearly all the singles. We cruised on four courts, winning all the first sets easily. Then I think we got overwhelmed by the possibilities stopped playing in the moment. We weren't able to hang on and that was a bit of a letdown. This will hopefully be a good experience in the long run. For now, we have to regroup for tomorrow's match."

Up next, the Wildcats will face Washington State on Saturday, March 5 at noon PT.

Complete Results:

Doubles

1. (9) Ardies/Dy (UW) def. Marks/Navdenova (UA), 8-6

2. Chan/Smith (UW) def. Landsman/Rietsch (UA), 8-1

3. Malovic/Xu (UW) def. Masschelein/Toporowska (UA), 8-2

Order of finish: 2, 3, 1

Singles

1. (16) Venise Chan (UW) def. Natasha Marks (UA), 7-5, 6-1

2. (7) Denise Dy (UW) def. Sarah Landsman (UA), 1-6, 6-0, 6-4

3. Alex Navdenova (UA) def. Lina Xu (UW), 6-2, 6-2

4. Samantha Smith (UW) def. Ariane Masschelein (UA), 2-6, 6-2, 6-2

5. Joyce Ardies (UW) def. Natalia Toporowska (UA), 6-0, 6-1

6. Claire Rietsch (UA) def. Aleksandra Malovic (UW), 7-5, 3-6, (10-8)

Order of finish: 5, 3, 1, 2, 6, 4