Huskies experience a little bit of everything during up-and-down season

Joseph Landor on July 15, 2011 in College Entry

You can get out of your seats now: The ride has finally come to stop.

That roller-coaster ride, of course, is the Washington women’s tennis season. From the great early season success, to the addition of two walk-ons due to injuries and the dismissal of a team member, the 2010–11 season was one of fluctuating emotions.

“This was more of an emotional high, an emotional season, because of the things we were up against,” UW head coach Jill Hultquist said.

Early season success. Two consecutive upsets over top-20 teams without their head coach. A depressing UCLA loss in March during which the Huskies couldn’t field a full roster.

Clearly, it was a year filled with ups and downs. Let’s take it from the top.

HOT START

Though things didn’t work out with a big-time recruit that would have bolstered the UW lineup, the Huskies still found great success to begin the season. Junior Denise Dy, who entered the year ranked No. 7, enjoyed success at the ITA fall tournaments.

The junior outplayed some of the nation’s best, made it to the semifinals of the ITA All-American Championship in October and then advanced to the quarterfinals of Indoors in November.

The other half of the UW’s dominant duo, senior Venise Chan, was a bit rusty to start things off after a busy summer but got going once dual-match play began in January.

The Huskies kicked off regular-season dual-match play to begin 2011 with two convincing road wins over BYU and Utah. The excitement was obvious, and everybody was playing well.

“I think there was a new slate coming in. It was sort of a new team, and everybody wanted to see what would happen,” Dy said. “Everybody played free, without fear and with a lot of motivation. That was an added factor to early success.”

PLAYING FOR JILL

Emotions were all over the place for Hultquist during the last weekend of January. Her father fell ill in Toronto, Hultquist’s hometown, and the sixth-year head coach had to make an emergency trip across the border.

Meanwhile, her Huskies were playing all the way in Tallahassee, Fla., for the ITA National Team Indoor Qualifying. Without their head coach with them, the players had a little extra on their minds.

“It was motivating because she was dealing with something bigger than tennis,” Chan said.

The results speak for themselves. In perhaps the two of the biggest wins of the season, the Huskies upset No. 16 Texas and then did it again to host No. 14 Florida State, advancing them to the February’s 16-team National Indoor Tournament for the first time since 2005.

The victories didn’t just help in the win column. Having her team succeed during her father’s last days helped Hultquist and her mother.

“It really helped my mom get through tough moments because she has great interest in the team,” Hultquist said of the two big wins. “So, as we’re sitting with my dad, watching the live scoring online of our girls doing great, it helped my mom get through a tough time.”

Just four days after the win over FSU, the Huskies reached a season-high ranking of No. 15.

ROCK BOTTOM

The Huskies won three of their next four matches after the impressive performance in Florida, but then things began unraveling. At the ITA Indoors, the UW lost three consecutive matches to North Carolina, Arkansas and Georgia Tech.

After coming home, the coaches asked starting senior Lina Xu to leave the team due to academic conflicts. The dismissal wasn’t the best timing, as the depleted UW roster was dwindled from eight to just seven.

On top of injuries and Xu’s departure, the Huskies were struggling with doubles play. Dy and Chan began the fall season with a 13-0 record as an unstoppable No. 1 doubles duo, but the Huskies would often win just one out of three doubles matches and lose the doubles point.

Hultquist broke up the Chan/Dy combo in hopes of making the No. 2 doubles team stronger. Still, the Huskies would continue to struggle, and it seemed as though there would be a different player every match that would decide to not show up. With a small roster, this was a recipe for disaster.

“When you don’t win the doubles point, you have to win four out of six singles points,” Hultquist said. “When one person is not playing up to par, then it’s hard to put those four points on the board. It wasn’t health. It was just the consistency of our team and not everyone rising to the occasion on that given day.”

It came full circle during a March 5 loss at UCLA. With talented freshman Andjela Nemcevic injuring her knee just two days earlier in a loss at USC, the Huskies were left with just five players — one fewer than the minimum.

Thus, the UW forfeited the No. 3 doubles and No. 6 singles matches, putting them at a huge disadvantage as confidence hit a season low.

“Just knowing that we’re going to automatically lose half a point in doubles and one point in singles — it really just downed our confidence,” Dy, the team captain, said.

WALK THIS WAY

Once March came around, Hultquist was desperate for players.

“If a miracle child shows up that actually can play, then we’ll take them,” Hultquist said at the time. “But I don’t know. I’m just knocking on wood that everybody will be healthy soon, and we won’t be in that predicament where we have to think about forfeiting.”

A miracle child didn’t turn up, but the Huskies did add two walk-ons: former UW soccer walk-on Siana May and freshman Kelli Feeley.

“When I first began, I was kind of thrown right into the starting lineup — it was really overwhelming,” said Feeley, a Newport Beach, Calif., native. “But you know, it was great to be with the team, and they supported me from the beginning with positive comments.”

Around the same time, the players began realizing that every single point was that much more important during matches. They could have pouted and felt sorry for themselves, but the Huskies did neither.

“Even with the injuries and having one teammate leave, [assistant coach Damon Coupe] and Jill still pushed us a lot and made sure their changes or injuries wouldn’t let others down or unmotivat us,” Chan said. “Even when we have injuries, and we have to step it up and focus our goals again.”

FINISHING STRONG

The Huskies certainly stepped up. After a March 13 win over Washington State, they won three of their next four matches and rolled to the NCAA championships.

In the first round, they swept away a tough Maryland team. But No. 4 North Carolina ended the UW’s tournament run the next day with a 4-1 win over the Huskies.

Still, Hultquist was happy with the effort her squad showed down the stretch.

“They didn’t lose their heart and still kept a very positive outlook on the whole season,” Hultquist said after the UNC loss. “We pulled out a lot of tough matches this year, and it was really neat to see.”

Chan and Dy would go on to play in the NCAA tournament for singles and doubles. Chan advanced to the Sweet 16 for the second time in her fourth consecutive individual NCAA appearance, while Dy was ousted in the first round.

As a doubles duo, Chan and Dy reunited to upset two teams en route to the quarterfinals. But in what Hultquist called an “ugly doubles match,” the UW couldn’t upend a USC duo and lost 6-1, 6-4.

Dy struggled again on the big stage, but says she’s learned a lot and will take the experience into her final season next year.

“This is the last tournament for everybody, and every player wants to do well,” Dy said of nationals. “Because of that, some people are able to play in that kind of pressure really well, and some aren’t. I have to use my opportunities better than how I did this year.”

Both Chan and Dy finished with incredible seasons, going a combined 42-3 in dual match play. For nearly every match, they were automatic wins.

“Looking back, I don’t think the other No. 1 players or No. 2 players in UW history have had that kind of record throughout a whole season,” Hultquist said. “It was a great relief to know that I had two of the top players.”

The team will welcome three talented freshmen next season but first had to say goodbye to three seniors this year, with Chan and fellow seniors Aleksandra Krsljanin and Vanja Radunovic graduating.

“It’s so hard to say goodbye to good kids, good young ladies,” Hultquist said. “They each brought different things to the table with their personalities and with tennis.”

The void left by Chan will be near-impossible to replace. She ended up No. 2 on the all-time singles wins list with 101 victories and is undoubtedly one of the best players in UW history.

As Chan turns a new page in her life and heads to China this month to play professionally for Hong Kong, it’s the team aspect of college tennis she’ll miss most.

“Now, I’m going to go back to being alone in professional tennis — it’s more like everyone is my enemy,” Chan said. “I’ll miss the support from the team. It helped me win a lot of matches.”

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