With only two seniors leaving, the addition of a pair of new freshmen will add to the young team

This season was full of highlights and success for the women’s tennis team, including a berth to the NCAA Championship — a feat that hasn’t been accomplished for three years. Not only was 2008 a season to remember for the Huskies, but it was also a season that set many benchmarks for years to come. The new recruits are hoping to achieve just that.

The first player to join the team is Denise Dy from San Jose, Calif. Although she hails from the Golden State, Dy is a household name in the Philippines; she has been the top-ranked Filipino tennis player for the last two years and recently represented the Philippines in the Fed Cup this year.

In 2006, she was No. 42 player internationally among girls 18 and under and then climbed to No. 720 in the Women’s Tennis Association just last year, making her one of the most heavily recruited players in the world.

“We are very excited about Denise,” coach Jill Hultquist said to gohuskies.com. “She is a very experienced and talented player. She is going to add more depth to an already very strong team. We are happy that she has chosen us, as she was looking at other excellent programs and thought this was the best fit for her.”

The second and only other signee to the women’s tennis team to date is another California native, Samantha Smith, of Los Angeles.

“Samantha is a fighter on the court, and we look forward to her being a big part of our team next year,” Hultquist said.

Smith has climbed all the way to her highest ranking, at No. 15, in her age group, but she has consistently held a place among the top 25 juniors in the nation for the past couple of years.

These two newest additions to the women’s tennis team make for an extremely young team entering into the 2009 season. There will be two freshmen, two juniors and a number of sophomores, but no senior starters.

The team will be young and talented if the new recruits are anything like this season’s standout freshman Venise Chan, who led the team by taking down ranked opponent after ranked opponent at the No. 1 position and earned herself a spot in the NCAA Women’s Tennis Singles Championship and a peak ranking of No. 30 in the nation.

Softball looks to extend season next year with the addition of local and out-of-state talent

Out on the field, the women’s softball team has signed five talented players with a combination of speed and power for the 2009 season.

Coach Heather Tarr didn’t hesitate to sign these powerhouses; the new teammates announced back in November that four players, Jenna Clifton, Felecia Harris, Kimi Pohlman and Niki Williams, would be arriving next fall.

Of the four, pitcher/outfielder Clifton would be making the furthest trip to Seattle, hailing from Glendale, Ariz. Among her many accolades, she boasts the title of Arizona Small School Player of the Year, Metro Region Player of the Year and has led her team to the Class 2A State Championship.

The other out-of-state signee, infielder Williams, comes from Lake Forest, Calif.

“Niki has played a major role on her ASA [Amateur Softball Association] gold team for two years,” Tarr said to gohuskies.com. “She can play any infield position, hit for power and average and has great speed. We expect her to come in right away and make an impact.”

The remaining recruits, outfielder Pohlman and pitcher/ first baseman Harris, are both local products of Washington.

Harris was the first of the class to sign with Washington and will be held to a high standard; she has been a three-year letter winner for Kentlake High School and has been named to First Team All-State, First-Team All-Area and First Team All-League in all three of those seasons, the last of which she was team captain.

Pohlman, from Sammamish, Wash., is a well-rounded athlete who played soccer, basketball and on the track and field team in high school, in addition to softball on the LadyHawks Gold Team.

These four standouts signed just one day into the early recruiting season which ran from Nov. 14-21.

However, Tarr was successful in finding yet another fresh talent during the regular recruiting season, which started April 9 and will run through Aug. 1.

The latest addition to the 2009 class is a 5-foot-10-inch catcher/outfielder from Olympia: Taylor Smith.

In addition to being a phenomenon on the diamond for Timberline High School, where she was named to the All-West Coast Conference second team as a freshman and progressed to All-WCC first team these last two seasons on top of All-Area honors by The Olympian, Smith has also been a standout in the classroom. She has won the Timberline High School Distinguished Scholar Award for the past two years.

“I chose Washington because I loved the coaches and the girls,” Smith said to gohuskies.com. “It just felt right. It had more of a family feel and I really liked that. The University of Washington is a beautiful school with great tradition, and I felt like it was the best place for me to reach my academic goals, as well as my athletic goals.”

Even though recruiting season isn’t quite over yet, Husky fans can expect great things in 2009 with the arrival of these talented freshmen.