The victory was within reach.
For a good portion of the afternoon, it appeared as though the
UCLA women’s tennis team would leave victorious from USC,
even after losing the doubles point. It didn’t turn out that
way, however, as UCLA dropped the match, 4-3.
The No. 15 Bruins (15-5, 5-2) had the No. 3 Trojans (16-3, 6-1)
just where they wanted them.
They had captured four first sets, and sophomore Tracy Lin and
freshman Ashley Joelson had helped even the score at 2-2 after
senior Laura Gordon was defeated by No. 52 Lindsey Nelson.
Sophomore Riza Zalameda had taken a 4-1 lead in the second set
after quickly winning the first set against No. 9 Amanda Fink.
Moreover, though junior Alex McGoodwin was trailing in the
second set, she had already captured the first set and was keeping
each game close.
“I think we all thought that we really had it one
point,” Joelson said.
From that point on, however, the Trojans began to claw their way
back into the match, and the momentum shifted in their
direction.
Fink was able to break Zalameda’s serve after several
deuces and brought the second set score to 3-4 rather than going
down 2-5. In addition, McGoodwin dropped a second set full of
questionable calls that went against her.
No. 6 sophomore Elizabeth Lumpkin also had her serve broken in
the middle of her second set, after narrowly dropping the first set
in a tiebreaker.
Three games after Fink had broken back, she used the second set
to even the match out and took all the steam that once belonged to
Zalameda and the Bruins.
“It was a bit unfortunate that Amanda started playing so
much better, and that match started to kill our momentum,”
UCLA coach Stella Sampras Webster said.
Just minutes later, Lumpkin was defeated 7-6, 6-3 by USC’s
Carine Vermeulen, putting the Bruins in a 3-2 deficit.
Things began to look very grim when Zalameda’s third set
deficit continued to grow as the sophomore lost game after game,
dropping eleven straight and eventually the match, 6-4, 4-6,
6-0.
The Trojan win on court No. 2 gave them the non-conference
victory over the Bruins, who appeared to have the match notched
just moments earlier in the afternoon.
“It was there for us to take,” Lin said. “I
think we could have won every single match, No. 1 through No.
6.”
Lin continued her season-long trend of being one of the first
Bruins to finish her match, and was followed shortly thereafter by
her doubles partner, Joelson, who was playing in her first rivalry
match as a member of the UCLA team.
McGoodwin also joined the pair in sealing a victory for the
team, winning a marathon match against the nation’s No. 25
Dianne Matias.
However, their victories were overshadowed by the losses of
their teammates.
“It’s a disappointment, especially when the match
ends that close,” said Joelson, who handed USC’s Anca
Anastasiu her first dual-match defeat of the season.
Though the Bruins may be disappointed, they will have to recover
by Friday, when they take on the Trojans again, this time at
home.
“It’s one of those matches where it could have gone
either way,” Sampras Webster said. “We just came out
short, but I think our team will bounce back and be ready for
Friday.”