Pepperdine 5 UCLA 2
By Hannah Gordon
Daily Bruin Contributor
Saturday was a long day for the UCLA women’s tennis team,
which played on and off from 11 a.m. to 9 p.m. due to rain. The
Bruins lost to No. 9 Pepperdine 5-2, making their record 3-1
overall, 2-0 in the Pac-10.
But the match was closer than the 5-2 score makes it appear.
“It was a matter of points determined in close matches,
and we just didn’t get those big points,” head coach
Stella Sampras said.
UCLA gave up the doubles point after losing two close matches at
the No. 2 and No. 3 spots. The No. 2 doubles team, junior Catherine
Hawley and sophomore Sara Walker, were defeated 9-7, and No. 3
senior Jennifer Donahue and freshman Mariko Fritz-Krockow were
defeated 9-7 as well.
At No. 1, Bruin freshman Lauren Fisher and junior Petya Marinova
upset the nation’s second-ranked doubles team of Paola
Palencia and Ipek Senoglu, 8-4. Marinova and Fisher are undefeated
this season and have beaten the No. 2 and No. 3 doubles teams in
the nation.
“We complete each other on the tennis court,”
Marinova said.
After losing the doubles point, the Bruins went on to several
close singles matches. No. 1 Walker defeated Senoglu 7-6, 6-1. The
other UCLA point was provided at the No. 5 spot by Fritz-Krockow,
who beat Pepperdine’s Maren Mueller 6-2, 7-6.
At No. 2, Palencia beat Hawley 6-2, 2-6, 7-6. No. 3 Marinova was
defeated by Cintia Tortorella 7-5, 6-4. Fisher lost to Monika
Horvath 7-5, 6-4. Finally, Pepperdine’s Anh Nguyen beat
Donahue 6-0, 6-0.
Although the Bruins were disappointed by the loss, they earned
high praise from their coaches.
“I can’t even tell you how proud I am of
them,” said assistant coach Jon Reeves.
Pepperdine is an experienced team with three seniors playing.
Despite this maturity, the team is inconsistent and therefore
unpredictable.
“Pepperdine is a dangerous team because they have a lot of
talent, but in the past have not always had matching heart and
discipline. Saturday they played tough,” Sampras said.
Because the match was close, Sampras feels UCLA has the talent
to beat Pepperdine, given the chance. They will have the
opportunity to prove it when UCLA hosts the Waves on Tuesday, Feb.
27.
“Our girls did a tremendous job competing,” Reeves
said. “If they compete the way they did yesterday, a team is
going to have to play tremendously well to beat us.”
Several teams will be trying to do just that this week when the
Bruins travel to Madison, Wisc. to compete in the National Team
Indoors.
“We couldn’t have had better preparation,”
Reeves said.