After the news that Jackie Carleton and Feriel Esseghir had
their scholarships revoked due to attitude-related problems, the
women’s tennis team has now suffered another blow.
Senior Lauren Fisher has decided to forgo her final year of
eligibility at UCLA to pursue a career on the singles and doubles
circuit of the Women’s Tennis Association Tour.
“I would have loved to stay, but the thing is that
I’m sick of school,” said Fisher, a communications
student. “I had planned to finish school in four years, and
that’s what I did.”
Fisher, who redshirted her freshman year, finished her career on
a championship note after teaming up with Daniela Bercek and
downing Marshall’s Jessica Johnson and Ashley Kroh 6-4 and
6-4 in the NCAA doubles final.
With the championship, Fisher and Bercek earned a wild card
invitation to the US Open.
Fisher hopes that the opportunity to compete in Flushing
Meadows, N.Y., at the US Open will “jumpstart” her
career in her quest to play at the professional level.
“I’m very excited. I’ve never got to travel
outside of the country and see the world,” Fisher said.
“There are tons of players, and you have to work your way up,
and I’m looking forward to the challenge.”
Her teammates said they were excited over Fisher’s new
direction in her career.
“She’s come a long way,” Esseghir said.
“She has so much talent. All I can say is, “˜Go for it,
Fisher.'”
During the four years that Fisher was a part of the
women’s program she saw the camaraderie with her teammates
grow as well as her success in her overall career numbers in both
doubles (44-28) and singles (35-30).
“It’s been great, though, winning the NCAA doubles
and getting to spend time with my teammates,” Fisher said.
“These memories will last forever.”
After finishing fourth nationally, the team will now have to
find players to fill the voids left by Carleton, Esseghir and
Fisher.
Redshirt freshman Alex McGoodwin, though, is confident the team
will be fine with the addition of three freshmen ““ Riza
Zalameda, Tracy Lin and Elizabeth Lumpkin.
“In the long run, we’re better off for the
team,” McGoodwin said. “I knew (coaches) Rance (Brown)
and Stella (Sampras Webster) would make an effort to smooth it out,
and I had faith that they would make the right decision.”
Esseghir, who was told her scholarship would not be renewed at a
year-end meeting with Sampras Webster, has had time to reflect on
the circumstances.
“I do not like the whole situation,” Esseghir said.
“There were a lot of problems, a lot of focus on what was not
working instead of what worked out. It’s just kind of weird.
We tried to fix things but we disagreed on a lot of things.
“I guess there’s no hard feelings and what has to be
done was done. It’s time to move on,” she added.
As for the future, Esseghir has mentioned Georgia and
Northwestern as her front-runners.
“I want to look for a place just as good as UCLA,
academically and for tennis, and a place that can be a good fit,
too.”
As Carleton, Fisher and Esseghir look for new places to fit in,
Sampras Webster must hope her incoming players become good fits for
her program.