The women’s tennis team nearly ended its season with the
same sort of disappointment that has permeated its 2003
campaign.
In the NCAA tournament round of 16, the No. 11-seed Bruins found
themselves trailing the No. 6 seed Washington Huskies 3-1. From
that point, UCLA rallied to win the final three matches and advance
to the NCAA quarterfinals with a 4-3 victory.
“It was just a battle. We won the doubles point, and
Washington came out in the singles just firing away,” UCLA
head coach Stella Sampras Webster said. “We got down in a lot
of first sets. I am just proud of my players for not giving up and
coming back. This match could have gone either way.
“Neither one of us deserved to lose that match, but I am
glad that Laura (Gordon) was able to finish up and pull that
out.”
The Bruins came out red hot to start the match, with Sara Walker
and Laura Gordon earning a quick 8-3 win at No. 2 doubles. Anya
Loncaric and Susi Wild lost 8-6 on the third doubles court, but
Feriel Esseghir and Jackie Carleton ousted Colleen Gray and Dea
Sumantri 8-2 to secure the doubles point for the Bruins.
Singles was a very different story at the start, as Washington
won the first set in five of the six singles matches. The Huskies
turned three of those into victories to take a 3-1 lead in the
match. Carleton, in her first match back after a prolonged absence
due to shin splints, lost 6-4, 6-4, and the usually reliable Wild
was also defeated in straight sets. The Huskies’ third point
came at the No. 6 position, where Dinka Hadzic of Washington turned
in a 6-2, 1-6, 6-1 victory over Anya Loncaric.
At that point things started to change for the Bruins. Walker,
an All-American, was leading 6-4, 5-5 when Sumantri had to retire
due to a left knee injury. That made the score 3-2 in favor of
Washington. Esseghir fought back after losing the first set to tie
the match with a 4-6, 6-2, 6-2 win.
That left only Gordon on the court, where she had a comfortable
5-1 lead in the third set. Her opponent Erin Hoe charged back,
winning five of the next six games, but Gordon was able to win the
tie-breaker 7-4 to stamp UCLA’s ticket to the
quarterfinal.
The Bruins now advance to face No. 3 seed Duke in the
quarterfinal today at 7 a.m. The Blue Devils advanced with a 4-0
win over William and Mary Thursday.
The NCAA Championship game will be on Sunday at 11 a.m, with
semifinals on Saturday.