ATHENS, Ga. “”mdash; It was perhaps the biggest point of the match and it was the one the UCLA women’s tennis team knew it would have to win.
When the Bruins took to the courts to start doubles play, there was only one result that they would be satisfied with ““ two wins to clinch the point. And by the time the teams came off the court, they had done just that.
“We knew how important the doubles point would be,” junior Riza Zalameda said.
Zalameda and her freshman partner, Yasmin Schnack, were quite familiar with their opponents, as they had to beat the Stanford duo of Lindsay Burdette and Anne Yelsey in the final of the Pac-10 doubles championship to earn the crown.
Knowing how to play their opponents and their strengths and weaknesses, the top UCLA tandem got off to a strong start and ended similarly to win 8-4.
“Yasmin and I knew we had to win our match really decisively and quickly,” Zalameda said. “We knew how to beat them, and we just had to play 80 percent of our best to beat them, not even 100 percent, so we just stayed calm and got the job done.”
However, it was not smooth sailing on the rest of the courts, as the Bruins’ No. 3 team of junior Elizabeth Lumpkin and freshman Stephanie Wetmore got off to a sluggish start and trailed 4-1, down two breaks. The two were able to fight and break their opponents back, though, and even the score in their match, while teammates Ashley Joelson and Alex McGoodwin established a lead on court No. 2 ““ one that they weren’t about to let slide away, eventually winning 8-5.
“I was a little worried when we were pretty far down,” Lumpkin said. “I’m really glad that we were on the court, because it just changes the dynamics of the match when it just comes down to one last court, so I’m glad we were able to just hang in there.”
Though doubles had been the shakiest area for the Bruins throughout much of the early season, the teams have grown together and UCLA coach Stella Sampras Webster has found her best combinations on each court.
Whenever UCLA dropped the doubles point this season, it lost the match, giving the team all the more reason to focus on capturing what used to be an elusive point that was hard to come by.
THE ROAD HAS ENDED: What many members of the team have been calling the road to revenge has officially ended with the win over the No. 1 Stanford Cardinal.
The Bruins were able to successfully avenge losses that they suffered recently in three straight matches of the 2007 NCAA Championships.
“When we saw the draw, we felt like it was destiny if we could get through the early round,” Sampras Webster said. “We saw we could play Northwestern, who we lost to this year, and then Florida, who we lost to at the NCAAs last year, and then Stanford, who we lost to twice, so it was motivating for the team to have the opportunity for rematches.”
Though the Bruins won’t have any revenge to seek against No. 3 Georgia Tech in tonight’s final, the team will have a chance to capture its fourth win over a top-five team in a matter of just five days.
“Our revenge is complete, but just because it’s complete, it doesn’t mean our business is over,” junior Tracy Lin said. “We have unfinished business and we’re about to wrap it up.”
CORRECTION: Georgia Tech was seeded No. 3, not No. 2, in the tournament.