The UCLA women’s tennis team can look at the regular
season and shrug indifferently. Once again, the Bruins have shown
that it doesn’t matter come tournament time.
With their 4-2 win Thursday over USC in the NCAA
Tournament’s Round of 16, they avenged a regular-season loss
for the third consecutive year in that very round. The Bruins now
head to the quarterfinals against Miami.
“The NCAAs are a completely different ball game,”
said Lauren Fisher, whose straight-set win over Bernadette Bayani
gave the Bruins the early lead. “We don’t even think
about the regular season.”
The match was a familiar situation with a just-as-familiar
result. In last season’s Round of 16 against Washington, UCLA
redeemed itself after a regular-season loss to the Huskies.
Laura Gordon, who came up with the clinching win, registered a
repeat performance against the Trojans. After breaking Melissa
Esmero at 4-4 in the third set, she held serve to give the Bruins
the necessary fourth point.
“I was a lot more relaxed this year,” Gordon said.
“I’ve been in this position before and have played well
recently.”
Her win took any pressure off Sarah Gregg, whose match was
suspended at the beginning of the third set once the Bruins secured
the win. But if just a few points at the outset of the match had
gone the other way, Gregg’s match would have been the
decisive one.
After falling at No. 1 doubles and with Gregg and Gordon
trailing 6-7 on Court 3, the Bruins were in jeopardy of losing the
doubles point. But Gregg and Gordon came back to win the next three
games. Jackie Carleton and Feriel Esseghir narrowly won their
match, 9-7, allowing the Bruins to jump out to the early lead.
“It was so close and tight,” coach Stella Sampras
Webster said. “It was neck and neck.”
But it didn’t take USC long to recover. Even though Fisher
extended the Bruins’ lead to 2-0, the Trojans evened the
score with wins on courts 2 and 3, leaving the Bruins in need of
two wins from Daniela Bercek, Gregg or Gordon.
Bercek did her part, cruising in the second set against No. 15
Luana Magnani after the first set went to a tiebreak.
“(Daniela) never got into much of a rhythm that first
set,” Sampras Webster said. “She felt much more
comfortable out there in the second set.”
Bercek’s victory set the stage for Gordon who extended her
win streak to seven.
Her blossoming at the end of the season is reflective of the
entire team in recent years. Last year’s win over Washington
was merely the most recent example. Two years ago, the Bruins also
defeated the Trojans after an earlier season loss.
“We’re at our best at the end of the season,”
Sampras Webster said. “We always have the talent. It’s
just a matter of having everyone healthy.”
As much as they have peaked in the Round of 16, the next round
has given them fits. The quarterfinals have been a hump the Bruins
haven’t gotten over since 1996.
But there is every reason to expect this year to be
different.
With top-seeded Florida falling in the second round, UCLA finds
itself playing a new role in the quarterfinals ““ as the
favorite.
The Bruins acknowledge that Miami, which they defeated 4-3
during the regular season, is their best opportunity to reach the
semifinals in recent years.
“Sure (it is),” Sampras Webster said.
“Miami’s playing extremely well, but we’re
feeling good going in. We have beaten them before.”
But the team has already proved that regular season success
amounts to little in the playoffs.
Yesterday, the Bruins tossed out some regular season history.
Today, they will look to toss out some of their forgettable
tournament history.