Feb. 12, 2010

Pullman, Wash. - The Pacific women's tennis team was unable to hold onto its early lead against Washington State as the Tigers fell, 4-3, Friday afternoon on the road. This marked the first of 10-matches Pacific will spend away, and its second straight loss.

"We competed really well against a Pac-10 team," said Head Coach Bob Chiene. "We have room to get better and are working to be ready for our own conference play."

Junior Jenifer Widjaja (Sao Roque, Sao Paulo, Brazil) and senior Sasha Fisher (Southampton, Bermuda) continued their exceptional play at the No. 1 doubles position, topping Lea Jansen and Elisabeth Fournier 8-2 to open scoring. After the Tigers lost at the No. 2 position, freshman Christina Goehl (Karlsruhe, Germany) and Olga Gumenyuk (Hamberg, Germany) had the doubles point in their hands. The pair fended off Andjela Kankaras and Marina Nicolas in the tie-break to win 9-8 (8-6) and gave the Tigers a 1-0 lead heading into singles play.

No. 60 Widjaja rebounded from a rough start at the No. 1 position to improve her singles record to 5-1 overall this spring after taking down Liudmila Vasileva in three sets (1-6, 6-4, 6-3). Pacific then suffered tough losses at the No. 2-4 positions to drop the match.

Fisher earned her fourth singles win this season over Jansen at the No. 6 position (6-4, 6-4) to close the competition.

Pacific will remain in Pullman, Wash. to face Idaho tomorrow, Feb. 13, with the match time set for 9 a.m. PST.

WASHINGTON STATE WOMEN'S TENNIS
Washington State 4, University of the Pacific 3
February 12, 2010
Simmelink Tennis Courts

Doubles
No. 1 Jenifer Widjaja/Sasha Fisher (Pacific) def. Lea Jansen/Elisabeth Fournier (WSU) 8-2
No. 2 Liudmila Vasilieva/Ksenia Googe(WSU) def. Sarah Irvin/Julia Hansen (Pacific) 8-4
No. 3 Christina Goehl/Olga Gumenyuk (Pacific) def. Andjela Kankaras/Marina Nicolas (WSU) 9-8 (8-6)

Order of finish: 1, 2, 3

Singles
No. 1 Jenifer Widjaja (Pacific) def. Liudmila Vasileva (WSU) 1-6, 6-4, 6-3
No. 2 Elisabeth Fournier (WSU) def. Christina Goehl (Pacific) 7-5, 6-0
No. 3 Ksenia Googe (WSU) def. Julia Hansen (Pacific) 6-2, 6-2
No.4 Marina Nicolas (WSU) def. Olga Gumenyuk (Pacific) 6-4, 6-1
No. 5 Andjela Kankaras (WSU) def. Sarah Irvin (Pacific) 6-1, 6-3
No. 6 Sasha Fisher (Pacific) def. Lea Jansen (WSU) 6-4, 6-4

Order of finish: 2, 4, 3, 1, 5, 6