The score might not have showed it, but the 20th-ranked Washington women’s tennis team got its first home test this season yesterday against San Diego State University before coming out on top, 5-2.

After taking the doubles point and winning two quick singles matches, the UW was cruising with a 3-0 lead. Then Venise Chan, Samantha Smith and Lina Xu all won their first sets, and it looked too easy for the Huskies.

But SDSU stormed back and all three of the Aztec singles players remaining won their second sets and forced a third set. Suddenly, the Aztecs had life.

Sophomore Samantha Smith provided the clincher, fighting back in her third set with a tough 6-4 win to give the Huskies the elusive fourth team point and the win.

After Smith clinched the match, the attention turned to No. 1 singles, where Chan was in a battle against SDSU’s No. 1 player, Julia Trunk. Despite the match being over, the No. 1 match-up remained intense. Chan fought back from a third-set deficit to force a tiebreak, but eventually lost the back-and-forth battle. The 11th-ranked player didn’t look completely like herself Sunday, but her coaches say it’s a confidence issue.

“She’s got to trust herself a little more,” assistant coach Damon Coupe said. “One error is causing a small panic. We trust her 100 percent and know she’ll come through when we need her to.”

After Sunday’s match, head coach Jill Hultquist said her team is finally starting to see more teams that are “gunning” after the now-more-respected Husky program.

“It was a test, and it was a good test,” Hultquist said. “I think they really saw that people are gunning for us, but that’s part of us being in the top 20 and SDSU being ranked lower than us. We had to come up with gutsy tennis at the end.”

Junior Lina Xu had a confidence-building weekend. She won her match Friday and had a tough 6-0, 6-7, 6-4 win at the No. 3 singles position Sunday.

“I’m working on these close games,” Xu said. “I’m trying to make my opponents run and be really disciplined with all my shots. I have the ability to close out every single set, but I just need to realize that it’s a strength of mine.”

Practice last week was concentrated on the Husky doubles play, which has been an area of concern all season. Whatever the team seemed to practice this week worked, as the UW didn’t drop a doubles match all weekend.

“It’s better,” Hultquist said of her doubles teams. “We still have lapses in the middle of the matches, but we’re better. I was pleased.”

The win Sunday completed a weekend sweep. The Huskies handed Portland a 7-0 blowout Friday afternoon, as no match went longer than two sets. Ashley Anderson saw some time at the No. 3 doubles slot with Aleksandra Malovic while junior Aleksandra Krsljanin played at the No. 6 singles slot and got a 6-0, 6-2 win in her first start of the year.

The Huskies can finally take a breather this weekend, as the ITA Indoor Championships begin Friday. Two weeks ago, the Huskies failed to qualify for the tournament, which might be a blessing in disguise. The team hasn’t had a weekend off in a while, and a break might be just what this team needs in preparation for Pac-10 matches that loom ahead.

Reach Sports Editor Taylor Soper at sports@dailyuw.com.