Climbing in the rankings as the No. 43 team in the nation with two Pac-10 Players of the Week for the month of February alone and an eight-game winning streak to defend, the Washington women’s tennis team (8-1) will be taking on a pair of the nation’s top tennis teams this weekend at the Nordstrom Tennis Center.

Today at noon, the Huskies have the challenge of facing their highest ranked opponent yet this season, the No. 3 Stanford Cardinal (4-1). On Saturday, the team will go up against the No. 9 California Golden Bears (3-2), also at noon.

The Cardinal has a legacy of being a tennis powerhouse and has won all 18 of its meetings with the Huskies.

The Bears will also pose a threat to the Huskies, with five ranked players on their roster.

“We’re up against two very highly ranked teams this weekend,” Washington coach Jill Hultquist said. “This is our biggest challenge of the year but the team is up for the challenge.”

Washington’s winning streak, which is its longest since the 2003 season, will be on the line this weekend, as will freshman Venise Chan’s undefeated nine-match streak at the No. 1 singles position.

Chan was recently named Pac-10 Player of the Week for the week of Feb. 11–17 after wins over Purdue and Illinois. Her accolade succeeds that of senior Tara Simpson, who received the award just two weeks before Chan and also sports a 9-0 record this season. Simpson plays mostly at the No. 3 singles spot and recently broke into Washington’s top 10 singles’ wins list.

Following the women’s match on Saturday, the No. 27 Washington men’s tennis team (5-4) will be taking over the home courts at 5 p.m. against the University of Arkansas Razorbacks.

This will be the Huskies’ first dual match since the Intercollegiate Tennis Association (ITA) Indoor Championships last weekend, where they tied for 11th place among the nation’s top teams.

Even though Washington placed 11th, it earned a huge upset victory over No. 10 Alabama as a team with some highlight individual wins.

Freshman Jeevan Nedunchezhiyan played seamlessly against 17th-ranked junior Nate Schnugg from the second best team in the nation, Georgia.

Another top performer from the tournament who will be one to watch during this upcoming matchup is junior Ryo Sekiguchi, who holds the best record on the team at 8-1.

“It’ll be another super match,” Washington coach Matt Anger said. “This will be a good match for us and we’re looking forward to playing.”

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