The Washington men’s tennis team will look to bounce back after suffering a loss last weekend as it hosts Pacific on Saturday at 4 p.m.
The Huskies fell to No. 17 Michigan 4-3 last weekend, but they came away with plenty of positives that they can take with them for the rest of the season. One of the biggest is on the mental side of things.
“From this past match, we gained a lot of confidence that we can play against any team in the country,” sophomore Kawika Lam said. “Just going out there and knowing that we can win is huge.”
That added confidence will no doubt help Washington this weekend against the 1-3 Tigers. They also know what they have to improve on on the court to get back in the win column.
“When I look back at the singles matches — certainly, we got a couple of them but we needed one more — the one thing that really showed up was just for us to give ourselves a better chance at each service return game,” head coach Matt Anger said. “The other guys were holding a little too comfortably too often. We weren’t giving ourselves enough chances. That would be the one thing if I were to say kinda team-wise that would be a thing for me to point to.”
The best match last weekend was played by senior Jake Douglas, who upset No. 20 Runhao Hua in a thrilling, three-set comeback.
“We’ve been focusing on the beginning of the season just to play our best tennis, and we’re not focusing too much on the other team,” Douglas said. “We do think about their strengths and weaknesses, but we don’t think about their ranking too much.”
Douglas was pleased about the performance of the team, but he also knew what they can improve on going forward.
“We can improve on little things, such as less unforced errors, and make a few more volleys in doubles.” Douglas said.
Reach reporter Kyle Gehler at sports@dailyuw.com. Twitter: @KyleGehler
