By
Dan Komyati
Arizona Daily Wildcat
Cats hoping to continue recent domination of Washington schools
In a pivotal weekend trip to the Pacific Northwest, the UA women's tennis team will attempt to climb back to .500 and improve their position for next month's NCAA championships.
The Wildcats (6-8 overall, 1-7 Pacific 10 Conference) will take on Washington on Friday and Washington State on Saturday in an attempt to build a bit of late-season momentum.
Coming off a 4-3 victory against Tulsa last weekend, the Wildcats will try to earn a pair of conference victories against two schools that they have dominated in recent years.
Since 1985, Arizona is a perfect 15-0 against the Washington schools, though this year's competition might be a bit more stiff.
The No. 22 Huskies come into Friday's match having won 10 of its last 12 contests including two victories over top-15 competition. Washington boasts three singles players and two doubles teams ranked in Wingspan.com's polls.
Washington State has found similar success this season. Winners of nine of their last 10 matches, the Cougars are led by junior Erika Perkins, who has 25 singles victories this season.
UA head coach Brad Dancer said this weekend's matches will allow his team to get out of a funk. UA has struggled recently against Pac-10 opponents.
"We have two really tough matches and this is going to be a critical point to our season," Dancer said. "These are two of the most important tests we will face as we get ready for the NCAAs.
"We would be extremely happy to come away with the sweep, but I think we would feel reasonably good about taking one of two."
Perhaps the greatest indicator of how well the Wildcats will fare in Washington will be the outcome of the doubles point in each match. Arizona is a perfect 6-0 when they claim the doubles point and 0-8 when it drops the point.
"That first point is crucial," UA senior Michelle Gough said. "It's much easier to win three singles matches after that instead of having to take four."
Dancer said the play of the Wildcats' doubles teams could be the difference in the weekend.
"We've come a long way with our doubles play this season but we have not been consistent," he said. "We need the mindset that we need to win all three doubles matches and capitalize on it."
