All of UCLA’s singles players won their first set as the No. 8 women’s tennis team (7-2) beat the University of Hawai’i convincingly on Friday. The Bruins continued their domination in the second set, winning five of six matches. UCLA’s doubles teams also won all three sets that they played, clinching the doubles point to begin the match.
The Bruins’ success comes with each singles player playing up one spot as sophomore No. 1 Andrea Remynse sat out the singles match, giving some of the other Bruins a chance to show their strength. Junior Yasmin Schnack played in the top spot, and won the clinching point winning 6-1, 6-2 over Hawai’i junior Sophie Kobuch.
“I think everyone did great,” UCLA coach Stella Sampras Webster said. “Everyone that was out there stepped up. Not having Andrea got other players into the lineup. It gave other players a chance to play. Andrea has a little injury, and hopefully the rest she had will be better by next week.”
Playing at an increased level of competition on Court No. 1, Schnack’s success has kept her positive.
“It’s nice to be able to win at the No. 1 spot,” Schnack said. “This year, pretty much everything has clicked and I feel confident. I don’t really think I’m doing anything different.”
Sophomore Maya Johansson played well at the No. 2 spot, marking the second day in a row that she won at a higher spot than she normally plays.
“I was pretty happy with my game,” Johansson said. “I really wanted to stay focused from the beginning of the match, and I think I did that. It was really nice. It’s not like a huge difference, but it’s still really nice being the top of the lineup. After the indoors, I started playing really well. I just want to continue the same way, play the same game I played at the indoors. I grew up indoors, basically, so it was nice to find my roots.”
The toughest competition for the Bruins came on Court No. 3, where senior Ashley Joelson fought back to win her second set 7-5 against Hawai’i freshman Anja-Canessa Peter and clinched the final victory of the match. The players alternated games until Joelson won the last three of the set. Yet Sampras Webster saw the match as a positive.
“I was just really pleased with the way (Joelson) played,” Sampras Webster said. “She’s definitely hitting with a lot more confidence. … Just that confident feeling with her playing her game was great to see. When you start losing, you can lose that confidence so quickly. It’s nice to see her gaining that back.”
Sampras Webster said she was pleased with the play of the doubles teams on Court Nos. 1 and 3, but is still trying to determine what she will do with Court No. 2, which struggled to win their match 8-7 (7). These adjustments will continue her season focus on getting doubles teams that play well with each other by the time the year ends.
“We struggled a little bit with the No. 2 doubles,” Sampras Webster said. “We have some flexibility with some partners and we are kind of talking about what we want to do. I’m really pleased with the way Nos. 1 and 3 are playing. They are definitely developing as pretty good team. We maybe just need to make some adjustments on No. 2. We need to find some teams we believe in.”