Senior Kelly Perry gets elusive win vs. Stanford
The No. 49 Arizona women's tennis team, caught in the middle of its toughest two weeks of the year, did not bode well in Northern California.
Having to face No. 17 California and No. 1 Stanford, after facing No. 12 UCLA and No. 5 USC is not easy, no matter how good a team you are.
Arizona (6-10, 0-5 Pacific 10 Conference) faced the defending national champion Cardinal (15-0, 4-0) Saturday in Palo Alto, Calif.
The match looked promising for the Wildcats, as their No. 39 senior duo of Dianne Hollands and Maja Mlakar defeated the No. 12 doubles team of Alice Barnes and Erin Burdette, 8-5.
Sophomore duo Kasia Jakowlew and Jessie Rochefort faced the No. 38 doubles team of Amber Liu and Anne Yelsey, losing 8-1.
Senior Kelly Perry and freshman Camelia Todorova, the two shortest members of the team, played like giants on court three against a much more aggressive Whitney Deason and Lejla Hodzic, losing the match and the doubles point, 9-7.
In singles play, only one Wildcat earned a victory.
It happened to be one player's most important victory of the day.
Senior Kelly Perry, playing on court three against a defending champion and Stanford's second-best player, No. 16 Erin Burdette, Perry defeated Burdette in straight sets, 6-2, 6-4.
"Stanford is the only team in the Pac-10 that I haven't gotten a singles win against," Perry said. "Now I can finish my career happy."
While Perry and the rest of her team were happy for her, the team itself didn't capitalize.
On courts four, five and six, Todorova, Jakowlew and Rochefort each lost 0-6, 1-6 to No. 38 Theresa Logar, No. 45 Deason and No. 84 Yelsey, respectively.
"I'm very proud of Camelia," Perry said. "She came in, after not playing last week (because of food poisoning), and she played really well."
No. 37 Hollands and Mlakar fell on courts one and two to No. 14 Liu and No. 26 Barnes. Hollands lost 7-5, 6-1, while Mlakar lost 6-3, 6-1.
Friday, Arizona faced No. 17 California (12-3, 2-1), and things started smoothly.
Arizona swept Cal for the doubles point, starting with No. 39 Hollands and Mlakar overcoming Cal's Suzi Babos and Stephanie Kusano, 8-6.
Junior Stephanie Blazert and sophomore Jakowlew defeated Cal's Jessica Shu and Marion Ravelojaona, 8-4, while Perry and Rochefort took care of Cristina Visico and Tiffany Lee by the same margin.
Despite Arizona's momentum, Cal went on to sweep the Wildcats in singles play.
No. 37 Hollands took on No. 4 Babos on court one, playing tough but ultimately losing 6-4, 6-1.
Mlakar played a back-and-forth match with Kusano, losing 7-5, 2-6, 10-4
Perry fell to Monica Wiesener 6-2, 6-3.
Balzert, playing on court four, had the toughest match of the day, losing to Ravelojaona 7-5, 7-6.
Arizona meets Washington and Washington State this weekend.