The UCLA women’s tennis team dug itself into a hole twice
this past weekend, but was able to climb out unscathed both
times.
After having taken the doubles point in their previous six
matches, the No. 12 Bruins lost it against Arizona and Arizona
State.
Fortunately, they rebounded strongly in singles to post a 6-1
victory over the Wildcats followed by a 4-3 squeaker against the
Sun Devils the next day.
“We just played really bad in doubles,” coach Stella
Sampras Webster said. “We’re going to regroup Monday
and figure things out.”
Heading into the weekend matches, it appeared as though doubles
was becoming one of the Bruins’ strengths. In spite of a
recent shuffling of partners due to injury, the team had been able
to pick up the doubles point against highly ranked teams such as
No. 11 USC and No. 10 Texas. But the team ended up losing those
matches due to their shortcomings in singles.
The Bruins’ singles lineup had not been strong enough to
overcome a lost doubles point this season, but the lineups of the
Wildcats and Sun Devils weren’t quite the same caliber as
those of the Trojans or Longhorns.
The fact that the Bruins hadn’t won a match after losing
the doubles point did not bother them in the least bit against
Arizona. They swept all six singles matches for the first time
since they played UC Irvine a month ago.
Jackie Carleton, whose ranking slipped to No. 28 after dropping
four matches in a row, came out of her slump with a 6-4, 6-4 win
over No. 31 Dianne Hollands.
Freshman Daniela Bercek, playing in her second straight singles
match after missing the previous two because of a foot injury, was
forced to go three sets against Debbie Larocque before winning 4-6,
7-5, 6-4.
Sarah Gregg was the only other Bruin who needed three sets, as
Feriel Esseghir, Lauren Fisher and Laura Gordon all won
convincingly in straight sets.
Despite giving up the first point in both matches, the eventual
results did not come as too big of a surprise. The Bruins had
defeated the Sun Devils 5-1 at home three weeks ago in a match
where doubles was not played because of a rain delay.
When the Sun Devils opened the match with a doubles win, the
Bruins were counting on their singles to carry them for a second
straight day. And although they weren’t nearly as dominating
as they were in their previous match against the Sun Devils or
their match against the Wildcats a day earlier, the Bruins’
singles lineup proved just strong enough to overcome their poor
doubles showing.
Five of the six courts featured rematches from the teams’
first meeting and the outcomes were going the same way early on.
Carleton knocked off Joslynn Burkett 6-2, 6-0 and Bercek beat Vana
Tomas, 6-3, 7-5.
However, Gordon’s 6-1, 7-6 (5) loss to Kady Pooler was the
first sign the second time around wasn’t going to be as easy
as the first. The three remaining matches all went three sets,
where the Bruins reversed a frustrating trend of losing
three-setters with the match on the line. After Gregg beat Sabrina
Capannolo 4-6, 6-3, 6-2, Esseghir clinched the match for the Bruins
with a 6-2, 5-7, 6-4 win over Wendy Pilecka.
Three-set victories have been somewhat rare for the Bruins, but
the team hopes the only real fluke of the weekend was the
doubles.