This weekend’s road trip for the women’s tennis team was anything but an easy assignment. The Gauchos faced Washington State and University of Washington, a pair of dominant teams, this past Saturday and Sunday.

The Gauchos (1-5) first traveled to Pullman, Washington to face Washington St. (8-1) on Saturday. The Gauchos looked to pull off the upset against the offensively assertive Cougars. Unfortunately for UCSB, Washington St. was too much to handle, and the team suffered a 6-1 loss. The Gauchos tried to apply the mental toughness and continuous stamina that has been extremely important to them as a team thus far, but left Washington St. with only a single victory.

Starting at number one singles for the Gauchos was Kai Boyer, who was toppled by WSU’s Elizaveta Luzina 2-6, 2-6. Luzina has been dominant for the Cougars and has now won her last seven of eight matches. At second singles for the Gauchos was April Scatliffe, who fell to WSU’s Lize Leenknecht 2-6, 3-6.

Number three singles starter for UCSB was Stacy Yam, who was defeated by WSU’s Maria Biryukova 1-6, 0-6. At the number four singles spot was Paola Cos, who lost to WSU’s Olga Musilovich.

The loss to WSU was without a doubt a tough one on the Gauchos, who have been trying to construct their team around new players and several injuries. UCSB then traveled 300 miles from Pullman to Seattle to face No. 61 ranked University of Washington on Sunday.

The match against Washington was very similar to the match the Gauchos played the day before against Washington St. in the sense that the Gauchos were simply overpowered 7-0.

The Gauchos put up a strong effort against the Huskies, but were dominated throughout each match. The Gauchos, however, can collect many positive notes from this weekend’s matchups. They still have over two weeks until conference play begins, and therefore the Gauchos have two weeks to really patch up their team and allow each player to become the healthiest possible for conference play.

UCSB looks to face Pacific University at the Rec Center tennis courts this Sunday. The match is set to begin at 10 a.m.

This article is an online exclusive and did not appear in the print edition of the Daily Nexus.