The match started out as a role reversal for UCLA and USC.
It didn’t stay that way however, as the USC women’s
tennis team beat UCLA 5-2 on Wednesday.
When the two teams met back on Jan. 30, the Women of Troy were
riddled with injuries but started off the match by winning the
doubles point which helped them pull a 4-3 upset.
Wednesday, the No. 8 Bruins came in as the injury-riddled team
without three of its main players but did manage to win the doubles
point.
That’s where the similarities ended, as No. 12 USC won
five of the six singles matches.
“USC is a very good singles team, and it’s tough to
play them without all of our players,” UCLA coach Stella
Sampras Webster said.
The dual match came down to three long, three-set singles
matches.
UCLA and USC had two points each as a result of the first three
singles matches to finish.
USC’s Anca Anastasiu beat Sarah Gregg 7-5, 6-2 and Judy
DeVera beat UCLA’s Laura Gordon 7-5, 6-1.
The lone UCLA singles win came when Lauren Fisher beat Dianne
Matias 6-4, 6-2.
“I think I was doing all the right things,” Fisher
said. “I lost focus towards the end, and I have a lot I need
to work on.”
The other three singles matches were close with several long
rallies.
The match did not end until after 6 p.m. ““ a late finish
for a match that started at 1:30 p.m.
At Court 6, UCLA’s Shilpa Joshi lost her first set 6-4,
but battled back to win the second set in a tiebreaker.
Joshi lost the third set 7-5.
A Bruin chance at victory was then left on the shoulders of
Jackie Carleton and Feriel Esseghir. Both needed to win for UCLA to
prevail, and both were just beginning their third sets when Joshi
lost.
On Court 2, Esseghir and Carine Vermeulen played several long
rallies as neither could put the other one away.
There was an especially long rally when Esseghir was down 4-3 in
the third set with Vermeulen serving and the game at deuce.
Esseghir and Vermeulen both had running shots to save the point
and both had chances to hit a solid winner but did not.
Esseghir, on the run, not only barely reached a ball in the
corner, but hit a cross-court shot to win the point.
Unfortunately for Esseghir, that game would be the last she
would win, as she appeared visibly fatigued afterward, with the
final score of her match being 6-3, 6-7, 6-4.
“Those three-set matches are tough,” Webster said.
“Especially when you’re not in the best of shape.
Esseghir needs to improve in that area.”
Even though the result of the dual match had already been
decided, Carleton and Luana Magnani kept playing. Magnani
eventually won, 4-6, 6-3, 6-4.