The Husky women’s tennis players fought hard in their first matches of the Pac-10 Championships in Ojai, Calif., but were ultimately unable to break through the injuries and illnesses that have kept them from competing at full strength. The fierce competition of facing some of the best women’s tennis players in the nation didn’t help the Huskies’ cause either, as one by one the women were knocked out of both the Pac-10 and the Invitational singles draws.

In the Pac-10 draw, all three of the women from UW were defeated, although there were some tough battles. Joyce Ardies fell to defending NCAA singles champion Susie Babos of Cal 6-3, 6-4. Teammate Mathilde Cor soon followed suit with a 6-1, 6-2 loss to Arizona State’s Nadia Abdala.

Neither Ardies nor Cor had been able to get in as much match experience this season as they would have liked. Cor was stricken with mononucleosis, which kept her sidelined for nearly the first half of the season, while Ardies’ battles with various injuries left her unable to take the court for all matches and gave her difficulties in the matches that she did play.

Coming into this weekend, however, both Cor and Ardies appeared to be on the mend, as they helped lead the team to its season-ending consecutive victories over Washington State and Oregon.

“We’re going in pretty healthy,” UW coach Jill Hultquist said. “All we needed was a few more girls healthy, and I knew we’d get the wins.”

Aleksandra Malovic — the other Husky in the Pac-10 singles draw — managed to take a set off Arizona State’s Sabrina Capannolo, but couldn’t close out a victory, losing 6-1, 5-7, 6-0. Malovic only recently made her Husky singles debut after sitting out the beginning of the season due to eligibility questions.

In the Invitational singles draw, Tara Simpson and Allison Rainey both had first-round byes, while Melinda Wong lost her first match 6-0, 6-4 to Anna Victoria Lind of UCLA.

Simpson and Rainey will get their chance to advance this weekend in singles matches, while every player will try to gear up for doubles play, which also begins after today.

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