W. tennis ends losing streak
By Esther Hui
Daily Bruin Senior Staff
While battling the wind coming off the ocean at the Malibu
tennis courts, the No. 6 UCLA women’s tennis team defeated a gale
of their own, ending a six-match losing streak in its defeat of No.
18 Pepperdine, 6-3, Friday.
The matchup was an unofficial scrimmage for the two teams, whose
first meeting, which was scheduled in March, was rained out. But
with UCLA playing Wake Forest in the first round of the NCAA
tournament on the same Malibu courts this Friday, any type of win
for the Bruins was important.
"It was a non-counting match as far as the NCAAs," UCLA head
coach Bill Zaima said. "But it was good to play at Pepperdine. It
was really, really windy, and it’s probably pretty close to what it
will be (at the tournament). But it will be tough conditions for
everybody, and we’re going to be more used to them than Wake
Forest."
Top-ranked Jane Chi prevailed over Isabela Petrov in a close
three sets (3-6, 6-1, 7-5), and No. 2 Keri Phebus backed up her
Pac-10 singles championships with a win over Annabel Rognon (6-3,
6-1).
Friday’s matchup also saw the return to the lineup of Kelly
Rudolf, who won at No. 5 singles (6-3, 5-7, 6-1) after having been
out the past month with a knee injury. Rudolph eventually lost at
No. 2 doubles with Paige Yaroshuk (8-1), the only non-default loss.
Also returning at No. 6 singles was Stephane Chi, who retired
against Tomoko Tsurutani after one set, but returned with Jane Chi
to win at No. 3 doubles.
"It was good to win, seeing as we had lost six in a row," Jane
Chi said. "It starts the momentum for nationals. It was really
windy, and it took a while to get used to it. But I think it’ll
help (next weekend) because the past games we’ve gone to were in
Florida and Georgia and there were totally different conditions.
These are the courts and this is where we’re going to be
playing."