W. tennis suffers agony of defeat
Stomach pull plagues Yaroshuk, teammates Anglin, Phebus lose
By Hye Kwon
Daily Bruin Staff
As Keri Phebus of the UCLA women’s tennis team learned last
weekend, all good things must come to an end.
After winning 40 consecutive matches in singles, Phebus had to
suffer the agony of defeat at the hands of Arizona’s Vicki Maes.
The 6-7, 7-5, 6-1 loss came in her very first weekend of dual match
competition, but it was the first of its kind for what seems like
ages.
To dig up the last dual match loss that the three-time
All-American has suffered, one must go all the way back to the
1993-94 season. That was the year when Phebus made it to the NCAA
finals. She was the first Bruin ever to make it to the finals, and
only the second player in the history of the NCAA tournament to
make it as an unseeded player.
***
Besides UCLA losing for the first time this year and Phebus’
streak coming to an end, another major development that emerged
last weekend was Paige Yaroshuk’s injury. The senior right-hander,
who usually plays at the No. 2 position for Bruin head coach Bill
Zaima, apparently suffered a stomach pull in the win against
Arizona State last Friday.
The injury is actually an aggravation of an old injury that has
been giving her minor discomfort during practice and prior matches.
But in the 6-3, 7-5 victory against ASU’s Stephanie Lansdorp, the
stomach pull became full-blown once again when Yaroshuk hit an
overhead smash.
"Right now, we have no idea … how serious the stomach pull
is," assistant coach Stella Sampras said. "But I’m sure she will be
going to the training room a lot."
***
After stringing out three consecutive wins to start her UCLA
career, Jody Anglin lost her first match of the season last
Saturday against Arizona. The freshman from Bronx, N.Y. was
defeated by Karen Goldstein 6-7, 7-5, 6-1. Saturday’s match was not
only the first loss of the year for Anglin, it was the first time
that one of her matches went to three sets.
"Jody had a great chance to close the match out in the second
set," Sampras said. "But she was playing at the five position, and
you never know how things might have turned out if Jody was playing
at the six position."
Bruin freshman Brandi Freudenberg is still going strong. Since
losing to Arizona’s Goldstein at the Pac-10 Indoors, Freudenberg
has compiled a winning streak of four matches. It is also
noteworthy that all of those victories were in straight sets.
NIMA BADIEY
UCLA freshman Jody Anglin lost for the first time this
season.
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