The Arizona women's tennis team went winless by the Bay this weekend, dropping a pair of matches and adding to the Wildcats' recent woes. They have now lost 10 of their last 11 matches.
The UA fell to No. 1 Stanford (20-0, 5-0 Pacific 10 Conference) on Friday, 7-0, and followed that up with a 5-2 loss at the hands of No. 11 California (16-6, 7-4). The Wildcats dropped to 5-12 on the year.
"It was a very tough road trip," said assistant coach Petar Danolic. "Stanford hasn't lost a match this whole season. Going down there in the big stadium in front of a big crowd - it's a tough place to play."
Stanford was able to win every match against the Wildcats, as Arizona lost 7-0 for the first time this season. Juniors Diane Hollands and Maja Mlakar stayed tough in the first set of their matches, each losing the first set in a tiebreak before falling in the second set. Junior Kelly Perry also came close, losing her match in three sets to Lauren Barnikow.
"I think we did play well," Danolic said. "Kelly had a tough match. Maja, Diane had good first sets. They both played well. We did a good job of showing up and playing hard against Stanford."
Against California, the Wildcats lost two of three doubles matches, with Perry and Jessie Rochefort defeating Catherine Lynch and Jessica Shu 8-2. However, on courts one and two, Arizona fell 8-5 and 8-3, respectively.
"I think some of the girls could have done better," Danolic said. "It was a tough road trip, but hopefully we learned something from it."
Singles play gave the Wildcats what could be their highlight of the season, as No. 17 Hollands defeated No. 4 Raquel Kops-Jones 6-1, 4-6, 6-4. Jones, who had been No. 1 for most of the season, ran into Hollands, who played one of the best matches of her career.
"It was the best match I've seen Diane play the whole year," Danolic said. "She played with lots of heart, and she played exceptionally well. Her hard work is paying off. She really cares about her game, and she keeps getting better. It was an impressive performance, and I think the whole team is very proud of her."
Hollands said she was disappointed after losing to Stanford's Amber Liu the previous day, so she was looking to redeem herself.
"My main goal against Kops-Jones was to try to hang in with her," said Hollands.
"I kept grinding and kept prying at it, and eventually I had some points go my way, which was good against a good player like that."
The only other win Arizona could muster was Kelly Perry's win over Nicole Havlicek.
"It's hard because teams like Stanford have so much depth," Hollands said. "From one to six, they're just so strong."