Last year around this time, the UCLA women’s tennis team
was feeling the bitter consequences of a struggling season, as the
nation’s elite competed at the USTA/ITA Indoor Team
Championship in Wisconsin while the Bruins stayed home.
However, with the team’s remarkable turnaround and No. 7
ranking last year, the Bruins were invited to this year’s
tournament, and have already left their mark.
The No. 9 Bruins, seeded seventh in the tournament, established
themselves on the national scene with a win over No. 11 Tennessee
4-3 on Thursday.
UCLA got wins in singles competition from freshman Jackie
Carlton, freshman Susie Wild, and sophomore Anya Loncaric.
Wild and Sara Gregg, as well as Carlton and Loncaric, both won
doubles matches to win the crucial doubles point for the
Bruins.
With the win over the Lady Vols, who entered the tournament a
perfect 4-0 on the season, the Bruins have earned a quarterfinal
date with second-seeded Florida at 1:30 p.m. today.
Loncaric’s 6-0, 4-6, 7-5 win over Tennessee’s Ashley
Robards at No. 6 singles gave UCLA a 4-0 advantage to seal the
match before Tennessee made it look close.
The Lady Vols’ Vilmarie Castellvi, the No. 4 singles
player in the country, edged No. 6 Sara Walker 7-5, 5-7 (10-8) at
No. 1 singles.
Gregg lost at No. 3 singles 6-0, 6-1 to Melissa Schaub and
UCLA’s Laura Gordon lost 6-7, 6-3, (10-7) to Crystal
Cleveland.
UCLA improves to 10-4 all-time in first round matches at the
Indoors.
Many teams across the country, including Tennessee, play home
matches on indoor courts. These courts play faster than most
outdoor courts.
“You have to shorten your strokes and move quicker,”
head coach Stella Sampras Webster said. “But a lot of our
players have played on indoor courts before and we practiced on
them the last two days.”
With the season still barely underway and with some teams having
only played a few matches, predicting a tournament winner may be
difficult.
However, by the end of the weekend, the Bruins may have secured
a spot among the elite in NCAA women’s tennis.