By
Dan Komyati
Arizona Daily Wildcat
Doubles play proves costly once again
Playing in the nation's most competitive conference has always had its ups and downs for the UA women's tennis team. While the team has had the opportunity to perform against the nation's elite, year in and year out, there is also rarely a break in the schedule.
This past weekend, the Wildcats were reminded of just how good the Pacific 10 Conference is.
Arizona dropped two close contests to Washington, 5-2, and Washington State, 4-3, marking the first time in school history that either program has topped UA.
While Friday's match was held in Seattle, Saturday's contest against Washington State was moved indoors - and to another state - to avoid inclement weather. The Wildcats lost to the Cougars on the campus of Lewis and Clark State College in Lewiston, Idaho.
Once again, the outcome of each match was determined by the winner of the doubles point. The Wildcats dropped two of three doubles contests in both matches and fell to 0-10 this season when they lost the doubles portion of the match.
UA senior Michelle Gough and junior Sophie Regnier got back on the winning track, taking all of their weekend singles matches.
However, when Gough and Regnier - the 38th-ranked doubles team in the country - teamed together, they lost two highly competitive matches, 8-5 and 8-6.
"Obviously our doubles play has been letting us down," Gough said. "It just seems like we aren't able to all play well at the same time. In our conference, you need to do that in order to win."
Though UA head coach Brad Dancer has found his squad on the cusp of breaking through this season, not finding the results they have hoped for has been hard to swallow.
"It's a really discouraging time for the girls," Dancer said. "It hurts the coaching staff when you have an equal amount of talent as the competition and do not come out on top. There must be some coaching error there."
While the Wildcats (6-10 overall, 1-9 Pac-10) have proven that they have top-25 talent this year, they have now lost seven of eight matches and may fall short of qualifying for the NCAA Championships next month.
Things do not get any easier for Arizona, which will play host to No. 11 Texas on Wednesday at noon before finishing the season with three matches against top-10 competition.
"It will be a serious challenge for them, knowing they may need an upset victory to qualify for the NCAAs," said Dancer. "It will be interesting to see how they respond."
Gough said the team's underdog status may help them down the stretch.
"There really is no pressure on us now as the underdog," she said." We just have to come in and play relaxed and take it to them. Crazier things have happened."
