At the 2008 ITA National Men’s Team Indoor Championships this past weekend, the No. 37 Huskies took on three of the nation’s top tennis teams: No. 2 Georgia, No. 10 Alabama and No. 11 Illinois.

The tournament began with high hopes for the Huskies, who have had a history of first-round upsets beating higher ranked teams three of the last four times Washington has hosted.

However, when the Huskies took on the second-seeded Georgia Bulldogs, last year’s defending champions, their efforts fell just short of an upset.

Nonetheless, hundreds of Husky fans were in attendance to witness one of the closest matches with a top-10 opponent Washington has had.

In doubles, the Huskies’ number two team of junior Patrik Fischer and freshman Jeevan Nedunchezhiyan quickly polished off the Bulldogs’ team 8-2, but Georgia evened things up at the number three spot where the team took out Dawg pair freshman Martin Kildahl and junior David Chu.

The fate of the doubles point was then put in the hands of sophomore Derek Drabble and senior Andy Kuharszky, who was serving for the match at 7-6. The Bulldogs wouldn’t back down though as they proceeded to break his serve, hold and break again for the match.

The Huskies tried to shake off the doubles point when they once again took the courts for singles play, but once again the Bulldogs showed the tenacity that makes them the No. 2 team in the country and bested the Huskies 4-2.

“We play every match to win and this one was no different,” Washington coach Matt Anger said. “Obviously when it’s in a national championship, there’s a little bit more at stake. There were some opportunities that passed us by, but we weren’t missing a lot of balls. Their guys came out and made shots. We put the pressure on them and they responded, so good for them.”

The Huskies had another primetime setup Saturday, this time against Alabama.

When it looked as if the Huskies were about to face yet another disappointing win for the second night in a row, Drabble and junior Ryo Sekiguchi pulled through with long, gritty comeback wins for Washington.

Drabble lost his first set 6-4, but came back in the second 6-3 for a three-setter in his match at the number four singles spot. The match seemed to be nearly over, as Drabble was down 5-2, but he was able to continually break serve and hold his own to take the match to a tiebreak, where he only allowed the opponent to score two points.

Sekiguchi’s match was the clincher for the Huskies that lasted well past midnight. Again in a three-setter, Sekiguchi was able to outlast his opponent and improve his dual record to 7-1, the best on the team, giving Washington the 4-2 win.

For their third and final match of the tournament, the Huskies had the challenge of taking on the Fighting Illini, with many of their loud and rambunctious fans cheering in the stands.

The doubles point once again came down to the third team as Kildahl and freshman Tobi Obenaus won their match 8-5, but Kuharszky and Drabble lost theirs 9-7.

The tandem of Fischer and Nedunchezhiyan kept it close but weren’t able to overcome the Illinois duo, losing 9-7.

For the second night in a row, Sekiguchi wore out his opponent in a three-set match, winning 2-6, 6-2, 6-4, but this proved to be Washington’s only win of the night, as Illinois came out with a 4-1 victory.

The Huskies are now 5-4 as they look to next week to try to improve their record against Arkansas.

[Reach reporter Sheena Nguyen at sports@thedaily.washington.edu.]