New Orleans- The 37th ranked Arizona women's team beat Tulane 6-1 on Saturday, Feb. 27 to improve to 9-3 on the season and split their two match road trip. The Wildcats came to New Orleans after dropping a close match to No. 12 LSU the previous day.
The duo of senior Shayne Austin and junior Lauren Marker continued their excellence on doubles court one and bested Tulane's Ipek Birol and Sade Atkinson 7-5. Freshman Camila Wesbrooks and sophomore Devin Chypyha fell to Kyla Klier and Jacqui Katz, but senior Inge Hendrixk and Samantha Czarniak were able to secure the doubles point with a come from behind victory against Tulane's Elena Muller and Naz Karagoz.
Marker quickly increased Arizona's lead to 2-0 with a 6-2, 6-0 victory over Birol in singles competition. Freshman Kinga Gartner unfortunately had to retire and surrender her point to Tulane's Muller, but Wesbrooks' 6-2, 6-3 win over Karagoz on court three quickly swung the momentum back to Arizona. Czarniak defeated senior Meredith Maltby to clench the match for Arizona and improve to 10-0 in singles play. Arizona's next two matches would go down to the wire. Austin gave the Wildcats a four point lead with her 10-7 tiebreaker victory over Klier, and Chypyha finished last in somehow slightly more dramatic fashion with a 10-8 tiebreaker victory over Katz on court five, finalizing the score at 6-1.
The Wildcats will play in two challenging home matches next weekend to begin conference play. On Friday Mar. 4 at 1:30 p.m. MST Arizona will take on No. 16 Stanford before playing No. 1 California the following day at 12 p.m. MST.
Doubels
1. Marker/Austin (UA) def. Birol/Atkinson (Tul) 7-5
2. Czarniak/Hendrikx (UA) def. Muller/Karagoz (Tul) 7-6
3. Klier/Katz (Tul) def. Chypyha/Wesbrooks (UA) 6-3
Singles
1. Marker (UA) def. Birol (Tul) 6-2, 6-0
2. Austin (UA) def. Klier (Tul) 6-3, 4-6, 10-7
3. Wesbrooks (UA) def. Karagoz (Tul) 6-2, 6-3
4. Muller (Tul) def. Gartner (UA) 6-2, 3-1 WR
5. Chypyha (UA) def. Katz (Tul) 5-7, 6-4, 10-8
6. Czarniak (UA) def. Maltby (Tul) 6-3, 6-1
FOLLOW THE WILDCATS!
Fans can keep up with the latest in Arizona athletics by following us on Facebook (Facebook.com/ArizonaAthletics), Twitter (@AZATHLETICS), Instagram (azathletics) and YouTube.com (Youtube.com/ArizonaAthletics). In addition, the women's tennis team has established its own official Facebook (Facebook.com/ArizonaWomensTennis), Twitter (@ArizonaWTennis), and Instagram (ArizonaWTennis) accounts.
