LOS ANGELES – The University of Denver women's tennis team (0-1) got 3-0 behind, fought back to 3-3, but fell 4-3 to Washington (4-0) in the season opener on Friday at the Los Angeles Tennis Center.
Doubles:
Denver's No. 1 doubles tandem of
Camille Verden-Anderson and
Britt Pursell got the match started off on the right foot with a 6-1 victory against the Huskies' top unit. Washington evened up the doubles portion with a win on three, leaving the focus on the No. 2 court.
Taylor Melville and
Anna Riedmiller went down a break at 5-3, but broke back immediately to get back on serve at 5-4. The Huskies duo of Nika Zupancic and Sarah-Maude Fortin made it three breaks of serve in a row on a receiver's choice deciding point to take both the match and secure Washington the doubles point.
Singles:
Washington took the second and third courts in straight-sets to take a 3-0 lead. Riedmiller (court 1), Verden-Anderson and
Tatum Burger all won first sets to keep the Pioneers in the match.
Verden-Anderson got the first point on the board for the Pioneers with a straight-set 7-5, 7-5 victory over Zoey Weil.
Andrea Burguete Beltran evened up her match at a set apiece, while Burger pulled the Pioneers to within one point with a 6-3, 2-6, 6-4 victory on court six and Riedmiller went up 5-1 in the decisive third set on court one.
Riedmiller went on to win her match 7-5, 2-6, 6-2 to bring Denver all the way back from 3-0 down to level at 3-3.
Burguete Beltran and her opponent Hikaru Sato traded breaks in the early stages of the final set, making it 2-2 four games in before the Pios fourth-court singles player made it three-straight breaks to take a 3-2 advantage. The Burriana, Spain, native consolidated her break to take a 4-2 lead in the middle of the third set, but Sato reeled off the next four games to take the match 6-4.
Up Next:
Denver will continue its ITA Kickoff opening weekend tomorrow against the loser of UCLA and Cal Poly at 11 a.m. MT.
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