The Washington women’s tennis players showed their true mettle with this weekend’s upset wins over No. 45 Washington State and No. 38 Oregon. The wins were the first in the conference for the Huskies in over two years since their home win over the Cougars in 2005.

Saturday’s match against WSU was an epic one that lasted over five hours. Adding to the pressure of the quest for their first Pac-10 win, the team needed to catch a plane shortly after the end of the match in order to arrive in time for Sunday’s bout with Oregon. The women stayed calm in the face of pressure, however, and came from behind in courageous fashion to avenge their 4-3 defeat at the hands of the Cougars earlier in the season.

The match started off with the UW taking the doubles point after fierce battles on all courts. The No. 3 doubles team of Allison Rainey and Aleksandra Malovic were the first off the court with an 8-5 victory. After falling behind 4-0, the No. 2 doubles team of Tara Simpson and Melinda Wong rallied back to take the match 9-7 and clinch the doubles point for the Huskies.

At No. 1 doubles, Mathilde Cor and Joyce Ardies fell in a tiebreaker after the point had already been decided.

Going into the singles games, coach Jill Hultquist warned her team not to repeat the pattern of the last WSU match, where the UW claimed the doubles point but couldn’t back it up with enough singles wins.

“We won the doubles last time [against WSU], so after this one I told the girls we still had a lot of work to do,” Hultquist said.

The Huskies took that message to heart, tenacious on all courts as they notched their fourth win of the season and their first over a ranked opponent.

The women’s performance Sunday immediately proved that the win over the Cougars was not a fluke. Once again, the Huskies took the doubles point with victories on the second and third courts. With straight-set wins from Simpson and Wong at No. 3 and No. 6 singles respectively, the Huskies needed just one more point to claim victory.

With Malovic and Rainey falling at No. 2 and No. 5 singles and Ardies down at No. 4 after losing the first set in a tiebreaker, the match was in the hands of Cor.

She took the first set 6-3 and then was forced to a tiebreaker by Oregon’s Dominika Dieskova in the second. After falling in her match the previous day, Cor wasn’t about to let this one slip away. She clinched the match for the Huskies with a 7-0 victory in the tiebreaker.

“We’ve worked hard, and it feels great to get a win,” Hultquist said. “Everyone played with a lot of heart.”

Reach reporter Risa Pavia at sports@thedaily.washington.edu.