SEATTLE -- No. 45 Washington (10-8, 2-5) heads out on the road this weekend to face No. 63 Utah (8-7, 2-5) and No. 75 Colorado (7-11, 2-5) in Pac-12 play. The Dawgs take on the Utes on Friday, April 5, at 12:30 p.m., followed by the Buffaloes on Sunday, April 7, at 11 a.m. After facing the top of the Pac-12 conference the first couple of weeks, Washington has a pair of crucial matches against mid-tier teams. Washington would move comfortably into sixth place with a pair of wins this weekend.
The Dawgs are coming off a split last weekend, falling 4-3 to No. 22 Arizona State, before knocking off No. 74 Arizona, 4-3. In both matches, the score was tied at 3-3 and came down to
Natali Coronel playing at No. 5 singles. Friday, she fell in a third-set tiebreak, but responded on Saturday to close out her opponent. Coronel also teamed with
Grace Ysidora on both days to earn a doubles win.
The Dawgs have been playing fantastic doubles lately, led by
Elianne Douglas-Miron and
Riko Shimizu who are ranked No. 71 in the country. The duo won both matches over the weekend and now won three in a row.
In singles, Douglas-Miron was the lone Dawg to win both of her matches against the Arizona schools. She improved to 9-9 in dual matches this season, tying Coronel for the second in wins behind
Julija Lukac who leads the team with 11.
Utah coming off a pair of 7-0 losses to Cal and Stanford and has lost five in a row overall. The Utes are led by Tereza Bekerova who is ranked 74th nationally by the ITA. They also have a ranked doubles team with Bekerova and Paige Mills, who are 33rd. The Dawgs are 8-6 all-time against Utah, but lost 6-1 last season in the first matchup since the Utes joined the Pac-12.
Colorado entered the ITA ranking this week after knocking off Oregon in Boulder. The Buffs ended a five-match losing streak with a win over the nation's No. 59 team. Colorado does not have any individually ranked players, but are led by No. 1 singles player Julyette Steur who has 14 wins on the season and is coming off a victory over No. 102 Nicole Long of Oregon. Washington is 6-3 all-time against Colorado, including a 7-0 victory last season to welcome the Buffs to the Pac-12.
This weekend concludes the road portion of the dual match schedule for Washington. The Dawgs return to Seattle for consecutive Saturday matches against Sacramento State and Washington State. The finale against Wazzu on April 20th will be broadcast on the Pac-12 Networks.
