The Washington men's tennis team opened up the ITA Indoor Championships with a 4-0 loss to No. 1 Wake Forest.
The match opened with a tight doubles point as Kawika Lam and Enzo Sommer evened things up after a 6-2 loss by Piers Foley and Mitch Stewart. This put the pressure on Jake Douglas and Jack Davis. After a close back-and-forth match, the duo fell 6-4 to give the Demon Deacons the early point.
The win by Lam and Sommer was an encouraging victory, but the Huskies needed a bit more from the other two courts.
“It gave us a shot out there in the doubles point,” head coach Matt Anger said. “We’re obviously happy with any sets we get but, we’re trying to get the whole doubles point.”
Things were not quite as close for the Dawgs after the doubles point. The singles matches opened with a 6-4, 6-1 loss by Foley against No. 62 Christian Seraphim. Seraphim was one of five players ranked in the top 115 for Wake Forest.
The lone unranked player for the Demon Deacons, Julian Zlobinsky, defeated sophomore Sebastian Hawken 6-4, 6-2 to extend the lead to 3-0.
After that the Huskies were one game away from losing in each of the remaining matches. Batta cracked 6-4, 6-1 to wrap up the match.
Sommer, Douglas, and Stewart all had their matches called trailing in the second set. All three were playing top-100 foes, including the No. 6 player in the country, Petros Chrysochos, facing Stewart. Stewart fell behind 5-0 early, but was able to make it a competitive match 6-2, 5-3.
The performance by Washington was far from its best, but playing the top-ranked team in the country didn’t help.
“I know we can play better than that, but it’s not like I’m frustrated with our guys, some of that is Wake Forest’s good play,” Anger said. “To be honest, I’d like to go back a couple hours but that’s sports. This tournament is huge and you have to be ready to go right away and we get an opportunity again tomorrow.”
The Huskies will try to get back on track tomorrow when they face a tough showdown against No. 9 Oklahoma State at 6:30 p.m. at the Nordstrom Tennis Center.
Reach reporter Kyle Gehler at sports@dailyuw.com. Twitter: @KyleGehler
