Only two players on the Arizona women’s tennis team managed to pick up more than one win this weekend at the Pacific 10 Conference Championships in Ojai, Calif., and both were freshmen.
Katie Orletsky and Natalia Toporowska defeated their first-round opponents in the women’s invitational singles draw Thursday before teaming up for another win in the invitational doubles bracket Friday. Toporowska also picked up an extra singles victory due to default moving her to the quarterfinals of the invitational draw.
UA assistant coach Brian Ramirez said he was happy with the way the two performed in their first Pac-10 Tournament.
“”They handled themselves well,”” he said. “”I think Katie in particular did a really good job of composing herself and getting into her matches early on. She picked her game plan and really played well.””
Going into the tournament, Orletsky was on a seven-match losing streak in singles. However, in the first round Thursday, she came from behind to defeat Washington State’s Aleksandra Stefanova in three sets, 4-6, 6-3, 6-3.
“”I was down 3-1 in the second set,”” Orletsky said. “”Then I just started trying to pick targets, get the ball in and try to get a rhythm from there.””
After the strong showing in singles, Orletsky teamed with Toporowska in the invitational doubles draw. The pair beat Oregon’s Monica Hoz de Vila and Anna Powaska 8-2 in the first round. However, a shoulder injury to Toporowska forced the duo to retire in their second-round match against California’s Bojana Bobusic and Claire Ilcinkas.
“”We played pretty well against Oregon,”” Orletsky said, “”so I felt like we had a good chance to win that match and continue to do well in the tournament.
“”It was disappointing not being able to play, but it was best for (Natalia) to rest her shoulder.””
Before her injury, Toporowska won her first-round match over Washington State’s Bianca Selaru 6-1, 6-2 in singles. Then an injury default by USC’s Anca Anastasiu moved Toprowska onto the quarterfinals. However, this is where her run ended, as ASU’s Laila Abdala handled Toprowska 6-4, 6-1.
“”Her arm was bothering her a little bit,”” Ramirez said, “”but overall her focus was OK, and she was trying to execute her game plan as well as she could.
“”She wasn’t as tuned in as I would have liked to see her, but she always competes very well.””
While the freshman highlighted the wins for Arizona, neither of Arizona’s veteran players had a good weekend. Sophomore Danielle Steinberg lost her first-round match in both singles and doubles. Steinberg teamed with junior Juliette Mavroleon in the championship doubles draw, and the duo was bounced out by Jessica Nguyen and Celia Durken of Stanford, 8-5.
In singles, Mavroleon managed to escape the first round in the singles championship draw but could not make it past the second round as she fell to the eventual tournament champion, USC’s No. 9 Lindsey Nelson, 6-4, 6-2.
“”The girls played well,”” Ramirez said. “”Danielle didn’t play as well as she’s been playing, but that’s going to happen here and there.
“”The girls continued to show improvement, but they just lost matches, which is going to happen.””
