Women’s tennis continues winning ways during winter
Bruins fare well in Milwaukee, Palm Springs
By Chris Isidro
UCLA women’s tennis split squad last weekend to play at
Milwaukee and Palm Springs. It only went to show that in sun, sleet
or freezing rain, the Bruins are a dominant force this season.
Led by the Chi sisters, UCLA plowed past their midwest
adversaries at the Milwaukee Indoor Classic just as it has against
West Coast opponents this fall. Jane Chi defeated sister Stephanie,
6-3, 6-3, for the title and while it was no family feud, the match
was surely a battle.
"I felt a little pressure, playing (Stephanie) is tough," Jane
Chi said. "She’s not going to lay down and let me win the match
because I’m older. She’s going to put up a fight"
"Everyone’s always asking who’s the better player and I think
this proved it," Stephanie Chi said. "I felt some pressure because
I wanted to give it my all and I didn’t want people to think I was
going to give it up."
Freshman Kelly Rudolph saw her first action of the season after
recovering from a knee injury. She had no problems with first round
opponent Jaclyn Batt of Illinois 6-2, 6-0, but succumbed quickly to
Brigham Young’s Angela Nelson 6-4, 6-1.
"We took Kelly to Milwaukee and she said she didn’t feel too
comfortable with her knee," head coach Bill Zaima said. "But she
played and looked very good against a weaker player but not as good
against a strong one."
Anicia Mendez also saw action but failed to break through,
losing 6-3, 6-2 in the second round against Tiffany Gates of
Minnesota. "Mendez needs to get her confidence up," Zaima said,
"Because she certainly has the game."
Meanwhile, in the warmer confines of Palm Springs, another group
of Bruin racketeers battled their Pac-10 foes. Keri Phebus guided
the way, reaching her fourth consecutive final round appearance. At
the brink of her first tourney victory, serving for the match at
5-2 in the second set, the grind finally took its toll on Phebus.
Unable to close out the match against Stanford’s Katie Schlukebir,
the top seed dropped the second set tie-break and could not
recover: 0-6, 7-6 (7-4), 6-3.
"Keri was handicapped by the fact she had just played a three
hour semifinal doubles match," Zaima said. "When you’re up 5-2, you
have not won the match yet against a good player because everybody
tries at 5-2. She just ran out of gas at that point."
Junior Paige Yaroshuk continued her streak of solid play
reaching the quarterfinals battling through two three-set wars.
Fatigue played a factor as she lost 6-2, 6-4 to Schlukebir. "Paige,
she’s back," Zaima said. "We were talking about how to play
Schlukebir and she said she was praying for rain because she just
got through a four-hour singles match the day before."
Breezing through the early rounds, Susie Starrett coasted into
the round of eight before falling in straight sets to Arizona
State’s Joelle Schad 6-3, 6-3.
***
The latest rankings moved UCLA up a notch to No. 7 nationally.
Despite early season successes, Zaima says their rank is not
indicative of the quality of their team.
"We’re not getting the respect due our program because of the
conflicts we have internally," he said. "We have a much calmer,
much more poised team. We’ve always had the talent and this year
we’re going to live up to it."