With one week remaining in the regular season, UCLA’s
women’s tennis team is still searching for the one thing that
has eluded it all season ““ good health.
As some players recover from earlier injuries, others are
falling victim to the wear and tear of a long season in the
brutally challenging Pac-10 Conference.
In their upcoming matches against No. 1 Stanford and No. 4 Cal
this weekend, the Bruins hope to field their strongest lineup, but
the exact composition of that lineup may be uncertain until just
before the match. UCLA was forced to shuffle its lineup just
half-an-hour before the Washington State match on Friday when the
shin splints plagued Jackie Carleton, making it unbearable for her
to play.
Carleton, who had not missed any matches prior to last weekend,
will undergo an MRI today to check for any fractured bones.
Carleton’s injury forced the Bruins to rearrange a doubles
lineup that had been relatively stable in recent weeks. Head coach
Stella Sampras Webster has indicated that she was satisfied playing
Feriel Esseghir with Carleton, Sara Walker and Laura Gordon, and
Susi Wild and Sarah Gregg. However, with the team’s injuries,
this revised lineup’s potency may not be fully realized until
the NCAAs.
Still recovering from a stress fracture in her foot sustained
before the season began, Esseghir has nonetheless made valuable
contributions to the team. She expected to have the day off Friday
before playing in the Washington match the next afternoon. Instead,
she filled in for Carleton, picking up her first singles win of the
year with a 6-3, 6-2 win over the Cougars’ Chris
Martinez.
“I wasn’t really ready, but I competed and did my
best,” Esseghir said. “It was a good mental
boost.”
One other Bruin who has played through pain is sophomore Sarah
Gregg, whose injured hamstring forced her to retire in the second
set of her match against Washington’s Erin Boisclair.
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The news hasn’t been all painful for the Bruins recently.
All-American senior Sara Walker was selected for an ITA All-Star
team to represent the United States in Japan 12-16. She was one of
just three Division I women chosen for the team, which will face
Japan’s top-ranked Waseda University and a Japanese all-star
team.
“It’s a really big honor,” Sampras Webster
said. “She’s a great representative of UCLA and
America.”