Chi survives marathon as
women’s tennis beats ‘SC
By Chris Isidro
If tradition had anything to do with winning matches, the USC
women’s tennis team would go undefeated every year. But as shown by
the 1995 Women of Troy, past glories don’t win points on the
court.
UCLA handed USC its ninth loss in 15 matches this season with a
5-1 victory at the Los Angeles Tennis Center on Saturday. The No. 3
Bruins improved to 4-1 in Pac-10 South play-off and 14-2 overall
after taking their weekend matches with USC and Harvard.
The Women of Troy, seven-time national champs, have endured a
tumultuous season. Six-year coach Cheryl Woods resigned over the
summer and interim head Ed Burt is out after this season.
But while USC is lacking in chemistry, its talent was still
evident Saturday morning against the Bruins. Susie Italiano, USC’s
top singles player, gave No. 2 Jane Chi a struggle before
succumbing 7-5, 6-7 (3), 6-4.
Chi started slowly, surrendering two breaks to a hot-hitting
Italiano. The Bruin netter fought back to 5-5 as Italiano began
missing her passing shots. Chi chalked up the first set when
Italiano hit long on break point in the 12th game.
Third-ranked Keri Phebus drew Nicole London, USC’s standout
freshman from Palos Verdes. Phebus ground out a 6-1, 2-6, 7-6 (5)
victory after nearly giving away the match in the third set. The
UCLA junior reeled off five straight games to runaway with the
first set, but after London broke to open the second, Bruin hopes
for a rout vanished.
On court one, Italiano clawed to 6-6 after facing a 4-0 deficit.
In the second-set tiebreak, both competitors seemed worn by the
nearly three hours on the court. Of the ten points contested, only
one was not decided by an error — Chi’s double fault to open the
tiebreak.
"(Chi) didn’t seem to stay in the points during the tiebreaker,"
Italiano said. "She was just missing a lot of her shots."
Meanwhile, the No. 2 match culminated in a hard-fought third
set. Phebus responded to being down 2-4 with two service breaks.
Serving for the match at 30-all, Phebus initially called a London
ball wide with the chair umpire in agreement. But the Bruin then
changed her ruling after London vented her disapproval.
"I decided to change my call because it was a close time in the
match," Phebus said. "(London) didn’t see that I changed it and
after I hit the ace, she thought it was over."
But instead, the match was far from finished as the freshman
broke Phebus’s serve to eventually force the decisive tiebreaker.
London’s potent serve and a couple Phebus errors helped the Trojan
to a 4-1 lead.
"In the back of my mind, I was thinking that I already won this
match  why was I so nice?" Phebus said. "But when I was down
4-1, something inside me just didn’t let me lose."
Phebus could not miss, hitting three winners to get to match
point. On the service return, she went around to her forehand side
and hit a rocket that London sent wide of the court.
Chi vs. Italiano was the only match left to be decided. After
Chi let a 3-0 lead slip to a 4-4 tie, she finally found her
forehand going down the line, cross court, then down the line again
to serve for the match. At 40-30, Chi set up the point with sharp
ground strokes and finished off the four hour match with a cross
court forehand winner.
* * *
The UCLA men’s team began the new season the same way it ended
its winter schedule. The No. 5 Bruins evened its all-time record
against USC with a 4-3 victory at the LATC on March 16.
The Bruins returned from break this weekend winning a couple of
tune-ups against Harvard and Washington by the score of 7-0.