The women’s tennis team closed out the regular season last
weekend in frustrating fashion, dropping 6-1 decisions to No. 2
Stanford and No. 4 Cal. UCLA (13-10, 4-4) was once again
short-handed with Jackie Carleton out with shin splints and
All-American Sara Walker out Saturday with a sore hamstring.
On Friday the No. 1 doubles team of Laura Gordon and Sara Walker
got the weekend off to a great start by shocking the No. 1 doubles
team in the nation, Lauren Barinkow and Erin Burdette of Stanford,
9-7.
“(Walker and Gordon) were down in that set, so to see them
come back and beat the No. 1 team in the country was very
impressive,” UCLA head coach Stella Sampras Webster said.
“It shows that they can play at that No. 1 spot, because
they’ve definitely had their ups and downs this
season.”
Courts two and three were a very different story. Susi Wild and
Sarah Gregg fell 8-2 at No. 2 doubles, and at No. 3 Shilpa Joshi
and Anya Loncaric were defeated 8-5.
In singles play, Feriel Esseghir, who has missed almost the
entire season because of a foot injury, claimed the Bruins lone
point of the afternoon by defeating the All-American Burdette 6-4,
2-6 (11-9).
“It was really good to be back out there playing because I
was injured for so long,” Esseghir said. “Playing Erin
was great, and she is a very good player, but I just felt like I
needed to play my game. I’ve been out for a while, but I
didn’t forget how to play.”
Stanford controlled the other five singles matches, winning all
but one of them in straight sets. Walker, currently ranked No. 12
nationally, nearly upset No. 4 Amber Liu but was narrowly defeated
3-6, 6-2 (10-8).
On Saturday No. 4 California jumped ahead of the depleted Bruins
early, claiming the doubles point with victories at No. 1 and No. 3
doubles. Wild and Gregg prevented a sweep by the Golden Bears by
winning 9-7 at No. 2.
The absence of Carleton and Walker from the lineup was most
evident in the singles portion of the match. Due to their absences,
everyone in the line-up was forced to play two spots higher than
they otherwise would.
Cal capitalized on this change and captured three straight-set
victories. Esseghir nearly upset No. 31 Christina Fusano but fell
in three sets ““ 6-7, 6-4 (10-4). Joshi also went three sets
but fell 3-6, 6-4, 6-1. Loncaric prevented the shutout with a 3-6,
7-5 (13-11) victory at No. 5 singles.
With these final two losses the Bruins finished the regular
season without playing a single match at full strength. Aside from
the injuries to Walker, Carleton and Esseghir, the team has also
been without the services of Lauren Fisher, who has missed almost
the entire season with an elbow injury. The absence of so many key
players from the lineup has made it extremely difficult for the
Bruins to realize their full potential.
“It has been very frustrating to not get the results that
we could have being at full strength,” Sampras Webster said.
“But it’s encouraging that we are at the part of our
season where we have some time to heal, and hopefully, when we are
at full strength, we will surprise a lot of teams.”