April 22, 2000
PULLMAN, Wash. - The Washington State women's tennis team suffered an emotional 5-4 loss to the No. 25 Washington Huskies Saturday, at the Stadium Way Tennis Center in Pullman. The team paid tribute to senior team captain Melissa Pine (Newfoundland, Canada) and Patrycja Gajdzik (Szczecin, Poland). The match wrapped up the Cougars regular season action.
The Cougars were down 4-2 going in to the doubles competition. With wins for WSU at the No. 2 and No 3 doubles positions, the entire match came down to the outcome of the No. 1 doubles match. Pine and junior Tamara Filipovic (Belgrade, Yugoslavia) lost a hard fought match to Washington's Kristina Kraszewski and Peggy Wu. The match awarded the fifth point to Washington and secured the win.
Filipovic posted her third straight singles victory for the Cougars by defeating Washington's Colleen Gray at the No. 4 singles positions.
"I went out there, played aggressive and didn't let her get in the game," Filipovic said. "I just played my game."
Moniek van de Ven (Stellenbosch, South Africa) also posted a singles victory for the Cougars by defeating Washington's Zuzana Stunova 4-6, 6-2, 6-3, at the No. 5 position. She also teamed up with freshman Kathleen Pienaar (Bellville, South Africa) to defeat Washington's Gray and Jennifer Svanfeldt 8-4, at the No. 3 doubles position.
In her last dual match as a Cougar, Gajdzik fell 6-2, 6-2, at the No. 1 singles position to Kraszewski, who is currently ranked No. 1 in the latest ITA polls. Gajdzik later pair up with Ana Maria Moura (Rio de Janeiro, Brazil) to defeat Washington's Ilona Kordonskaya and Zuzana Stunova 8-2 at the No. 2 doubles position.
"I really wanted to finish strong and win my last match against the Huskies and my last dual match, so I was really pumped up," Gajdzik said about her doubles play. "Ana and I really went after them and executed the things we've been doing in practice. We really wanted it, and I am happy with the way we played doubles."
"I thought their performance was great," head coach Cari Groce said of the Cougars. "We came out and fought to the end. It's tough to lose to the Huskies. They are a tough team, but I thought everyone fought very hard."
The Cougars will head to the Pac-10 Championships in Ojai, Calif., April 27-30.
"The players need to play hard, go out and accomplish things, and set goals for themselves," Groce said. " It's an individual tournament, and it's difficult for them to switch gears from playing for each other to playing for themselves. Each one of them needs to be prepared to go out and make a name for themselves and take a stand in the Pac-10 tournament, because anything can happen there."
Washington 5, WSU 4
Stadium Way Tennis Center
Pullman, Wash.
Singles
1. Kristina Kraszewski (UW) def. Patrycia Gajdzik (WSU) 6-2,6-2
2. Ilona Kordonskaya (UW) def. Melissa Pine (WSU) 6-1,6-4
3. Darija Klaic (UW) def. Ana Maria Moura (WSU) 7-6,3-6,6-4
4. Tamara Filipovic (WSU) def. Colleen Gray (UW) 6-2,6-2
5. Moniek van de Ven (WSU) def. Zuzana Stunova (UW) 4-6,6-2,6-3
6. Peggy Wu (UW) def. Kathleen Pienaar (WSU) 7-6,6-3
Doubles
1. Kraszewski/Wu (UW) def. Pine/ Filipovic (WSU) 8-4
2. Gajdzik/Moura def. Stunova/Kordonskaya (UW) 8-2
3. Pienaar/van de Ven (WSU) def. Gray/Svanfeldt (UW) 8-4
