After dismantling No. 56 Washington State 6-1 Friday, No. 48 Arizona was forced to wait through a delay before extending its winning streak to four games Saturday with a 5-2 victory over Washington at Robson Tennis Center.
For the first 20 minutes of the Wildcats’ match Saturday, Washington head coach Jill Hultquist kept her team off the courts as she made calls to the Pacific 10 Conference regarding a specific rule dealing with a substitution in the Huskies’ doubles lineup.
“”I was unsure,”” Hultqust said regarding the substitution rule. “”The head of the Pac-10 had told me I couldn’t do (the change), but then I got a phone call saying I could. So I had to call back the head of the Pac-10 because he had made a mistake.””
Because of the delay, the officials gave each of Washington’s doubles teams a one-game penalty plus a forfeit of the coin toss, which selects the team that decides to serve or receive to start the match.
The Wildcats (5-3, 2-0) capitalized, collecting wins at all three doubles positions to secure the match’s first point.
The delay “”played a little bit (into the outcome) because we had just warmed up, and waiting around makes us cold,”” said UA junior Camelia Todorova. “”But we felt pretty confident and got a one-game advantage, so that helped out.””
The Wildcats picked up two quick singles wins from Todorova and junior Juliette Mavroleon.
Washington (0-6, 0-2) responded with victories at the No. 3 and No. 5 singles positions to bring the match score to 3-2 Arizona.
With sophomore Danielle Steinberg just beginning her third set on Court 1, freshman Natalia Toporowska was nearing the end of hers in the No. 4 singles match.
At 5-5 in the third set, Washington’s Allison Rainey got frustrated over what she considered a bad call and was penalized a point for a language violation. The penalty gave the game to Toporowska.
Toporowska’s focus was not as much on the judges as on Rainey’s moon-ball style of play.
Her style of play “”was frustrating,”” Toporowska said. “”My coach was telling me to come in to the net a lot and take the ball out of the air. She also told me to hit more forehands and be more aggressive.””
The adjustments paid off, as she picked up a 6-0, 6-7(3), 7-5 win that clinched the match for Arizona.
“”We still had some issues (Saturday) with getting ahead and not really doing a good job closing them out in a few cases, but the girls have been fighting their way through and that is the important part,”” said UA assistant coach Brian Ramirez.
The Wildcats easily defeated the Cougars (8-3, 0-2) Friday.
The No. 2 doubles team of Steinberg and Todorova and the No. 3 duo of Mavroleon and freshman Katie Orletsky won, keeping both teams undefeated since becoming pairs. The pairs have won five straight matches.
The Wildcats kept the victories coming in singles play, with the only loss coming from senior Kasia Jakowlew at the No. 3 spot.
Overall the Wildcats managed to pull out a pair of victories although things didn’t always go smoothly.
“”We still had some issues (Saturday) with getting ahead and not really doing a good job closing them out in a few cases, but the girls have been fighting their way through and that is the important part,”” assistant coach Brian Ramirez said.