Overcoming a red-eye flight and a midterm exam, Washington tennis stars Venise Chan and Denise Dy persevered, and both pulled out first-round victories yesterday at the prestigious ITA National Indoor Championships in New Haven, Conn.

It wasn’t the best of performances for either of the players, but they gutted out two wins against some talented competitors. Dy, ranked seventh in the tournament, took care of Noemie Scharle of Florida State, 6-3, 6-2. She overcame a bit of nervousness to pick up her first career win at the National Indoor Championships.

“It wasn’t one of her best matches,” assistant coach Damon Coupe said from New Haven. “Being her first singles main draw at nationals, she was a little nervous and I think she had some butterflies. We calmed her down and settled her into her game. She started to play her game after that and was successful at it.”

Chan, who had to take a midterm directly after her match, dealt with a home crowd but still defeated Stephanie Kent of Yale, 6-2, 1-6, 6-4. Chan, the No. 1 singles player on the Husky squad, was not playing at the top of her game but persevered for the victory. Coupe said it’s what you’d expect from a top player like Chan, who is ranked 16th in the country.

“With the overnight flight and lack of sleep, she was physically and mentally tired,” Coupe said. “But she was able to pull the match out. That’s what a top player does. Even when they are not feeling good or having their best game, they find a way to win.”

Dy will now face off against a familiar foe in 2009 Pac-10 Player of the Year Hilary Barte of Stanford. The Pac-10 competitors just saw each other at the ITA Northwest Regional Championships. On her way to winning the singles title, Dy defeated Barte in the quarterfinals. The victory was impressive considering Barte’s No. 5 national ranking.

Chan, who is seeded eighth in the tournament, will put her midterm behind her and concentrate on her match today against Kristy Frilling of Notre Dame, who is ranked 20th in the country.

Both matches begin today at 10:30 a.m. If victorious, the women will move on to their quarterfinal matches, which will also be played later this afternoon.

This is the first time in program history that the women have had two participants in the Indoor Championships. The last time any Husky qualified for the event was in 2004, when Dea Sumantri made it all the way to the quarterfinals.

Reach reporter Taylor Soper at sports@dailyuw.com.