In a game that experienced two rain delays, the UCLA women’s tennis team never had a chance to find its rhythm.
Soon after UCLA and USC started playing singles matches, judges stopped the matches for fear of injury to the players.
One delay pushed the game’s start time and the other one lasted three hours. After the rain delay, the Bruins did not look like themselves. USC began taking big leads in what had previously been close matches and ultimately won, 4-2, on Friday.
Freshman Catherine Harrison said the sting of having the Trojans celebrate on the Bruins’ home court was tough for the team to handle.
“It makes me angry and it makes all of us angry,” Harrison said. “I think when we play them at (their) home, it is going to be different next time.”
The Trojans went up 2-1 after consecutive singles wins, then the Bruins proceeded to tie it – the last time they would hold any share of the lead.
Sophomore Robin Anderson struggled throughout the day, and was down 4-7 in doubles before the match was stopped because The Bruins had taken the doubles point with wins on courts two and three.
In singles, Anderson’s struggles continued as she lost quickly to sophomore Sabrina Santamaria of USC.
“I was really nervous today going into both matches,” Anderson said. “I wasn’t playing very well in either match. That is definitely what contributed to my losing.”
After the loss, coach Stella Sampras Webster was frank about the match and its implications for the Bruins.
“I think USC‘s players out-competed us today,” Sampras Webster said.
“We need to look at ourselves and see what we need to do to get better.”