University of Minnesota Athletics
University of Minnesota
Washington
No. 28 Washington Deals Minnesota Season's First Loss
2/5/2012 12:00:00 AM | Tennis
Feb. 5, 2012
The Minnesota women's tennis team was handed its first loss of the season after dropping a 5-2 decision to 28th-ranked Washington at the Baseline Tennis Center on Sunday morning. Each team is now 3-1 on the young spring season. With the loss, the Gophers dropped to 3-3 all-time against UW.
Washington began the match strong, sweeping all three doubles matches.
In the top flight, Denise Dy and Samantha Smith gave the Huskies the early advantage by blanking Minnesota's Julia Courter and Emilie Renault, 8-0. UW later clinched the match's first point when Andjela Nemcevic and Capucine Gregoire thwarted a comeback effort by Alexa Palen and Tereza Brichacova to win 8-4.
It was the first time this season that UM conceded the match's first point. The competition concluded with Natali Coronel and Riko Shimizu defeating Natallia Pintusava and Yuliana Umanets 8-3.
The Huskies doubled their lead with a quick win at the No. 1 singles position. Dy, ranked 10th in the nation in singles, gave Pintusava her first loss in three contests on the year with a 6-1, 6-0 win.
Nemcevic put Washington on the cusp of victory with a straight-set 6-1, 6-4 triumph over Umanets in the third poisition and Shimizu clinched the team win with a match of an identical 6-1, 6-4 score against Doron Muravnik at No. 6.
Shortly after the Huskies wrapped up the win, Brichacova ended UW's shutout bid by taking care of Coronel in two sets at No. 5.
After winning the first set 6-1, Gregoire denied Courter a chance at playing a match tiebreaker at No. 4 by tending a back-and-forth second set with a 8-6 tiebreak win.
Palen, who won her first set 6-3, erased a 3-0 lead in the next set, but was forced into a super tiebreaker after falling 7-3 in a second set tiebreaker. In the match tiebreaker, Palen outlasted Smith with a 10-4 win to make it a 5-2 final score.
With Sunday's results, Palen improved to 3-0 in dual-match singles play while Brichacova and Courter moved to 3-1.
After a week off next weekend, the Gophers will resume play with their first road trip of the season. Minnesota will travel east to visit No. 68 Wake Forest on Feb. 18 and 37th-ranked North Carolina State on Feb. 19.
Feb. 5, 2012
Baseline Tennis Center (Minneapolis, Minn.)
No. 28 Washington 5, Minnesota 2
Singles Competition:
1. No. 10 Denise Dy (WASH) def. Natallia Pintusava (MINN) 6-1, 6-0
2. Alexa Palen (MINN) def. Samantha Smith (WASH) 6-3, 6-7 (3), 1-0 (4)
3. Andjela Nemcevic (WASH) def. Yuliana Umanets (MINN) 6-1, 6-4
4. Capucine Gregoire (WASH) def. Julia Courter (MINN) 6-1, 7-6 (6)
5. Tereza Brichacova (MINN) def. Natali Coronel (WASH) 6-1, 6-4
6. Riko Shimizu (WASH) def. Doron Muravnik (MINN) 6-1, 6-4
Doubles Competition:
1. Denise Dy/Samantha Smith (WASH) def. Julia Courter/Emilie Renault (MINN) 8-0
2. Andjela Nemcevic/Capucine Gregoire (WASH) def. Alexa Palen/Tereza Brichacova (MINN) 8-4
3. Natali Coronel/ Riko Shimizu (WASH) def. Natallia Pintusava/Yuliana Umanets (MINN) 8-3
Match Notes:
Minnesota 3-1
No. 28 Washington 3-1
Order of finish: Doubles (1,2*,3); Singles (1,3,6*,5,4,2)
Players Mentioned
