Not often does Court 6 at the Los Angeles Tennis Center garner
much attention during dual matches.
But this past Sunday was a completely different story as the
fate of the No. 15 UCLA women’s tennis team rested on the
racket of sophomore Elizabeth Lumpkin.
With the score tied at three matches apiece, all eyes turned to
the four-time Illinois state singles champion’s court as she
found herself in a third set against No. 6 California’s
Bojana Bobusic, whose brother clinched a victory for the Georgia
Bulldogs against the UCLA men’s team at the National Indoors
this past weekend.
And at first glance, things weren’t looking very well,
with the scoreboard reading 2-1 in the third set in favor of
Bobusic. Luckily for the Bruins, though, the score was wrong and
Lumpkin actually held the advantage over her opponent.
From that point on, the sophomore changed her approach and
became the aggressor she had been in the first set of the
match.
“In the second set, I knew she was going to have a change
of strategies because I started seeing her hitting the ball higher
towards the end of the first set,” Lumpkin said.
“I was worried too much about adapting to her new game
plan rather than just going out and playing my game style and make
her adjust.”
And for the first time in her two years, Lumpkin has been able
to do so with all eyes on her, whereas she normally goes unnoticed
in the shadows.
“Sometimes I guess you just do take her for granted
because she never complains about anything, she works extremely
hard, she listens, she does all the right things,” coach
Stella Sampras Webster said.
Her absence was noticed in an earlier loss this year to a strong
Pepperdine team, where her experience could have played a
difference in the outcome.
Conversely, her presence was noticed this weekend against Cal,
where she helped contribute in both singles and doubles play.
Playing at the No. 2 doubles spot with junior teammate Alex
McGoodwin, Lumpkin helped clinch the doubles point with an 8-4
win.
Lumpkin had no problem carrying that momentum from doubles into
her first set, cruising to a 6-2 lead after the first set on
Friday.
Though she doesn’t tend to draw the biggest crowd at most
matches, the sophomore does her job of putting the Bruins in a
position to achieve a victory and also just proved that she is
capable of clinching a win.
“We don’t get our recognition, but we always get our
W’s,” Gordon said of players at Court 6, where she
played for the previous two years.