Tucked away on court No. 3 of Straus Stadium Friday afternoon, UCLA women’s tennissenior Courtney Dolehide stared the end of her
career as a Bruin in the face.
Paired with her doubles partner, junior Chanelle Van Nguyen, the duo found themselves deadlocked against their USC opponents, with a potential Dolehide and Van Nguyen victory handing UCLA the match’s doubles point.
After falling early in the tiebreaker, Dolehide prepared for the next serve, focused on extending her UCLA career by at least one more point.
Following a USC serve, the pair’s return ultimately found the net and, putting an end to both the match and Dolehide’s regular season tenure with UCLA.
Marking the last regular season match for UCLA, Friday’s showdown with crosstown rival and No. 12 ranked USC (16-7, 7-3 Pac-12) ended in a 4-1 UCLA victory and presented an opportunity to bid farewell to three Bruins seniors.
Dolehide, along with fellow seniors Morgan Thomas and former walk-on turned team manager Megan Lester, were honored at a ceremony prior to singles play.
“We couldn’t have accomplished what we have without these three ladies,” junior Kaitlin Ray said over the stadium’s public address system. “Thank you for all you’ve given and what you will leave behind, and thank you for your willingness to sacrifice for the team.”
Despite Dolehide and Van Nguyen’s loss in their doubles match, UCLA (21-2, 9-1) still managed to secure the lone doubles point, thanks to a narrow victory from sophomores Catherine Harrison and Kyle McPhillips. With this doubles point, UCLA earned its 23rd straight victory in doubles play, completing an undefeated run in dual matches for the season.
“Luckily, we got that doubles point by winning that tiebreaker,” coach Stella Sampras Webster said. “We want to put ourselves in tough situations and see how we respond, but the girls did a great job dealing with the pressure and coming out with that win.”
The early scare from the Trojans in doubles play, however, didn’t find its way into singles play, as USC managed to secure only one singles point before dropping three straight matches to a more energetic Bruins squad.
“We had a lot of momentum going into singles, there was a lot of energy flowing,” said freshman Jennifer Brady.
No. 2 singles player, junior Robin Anderson, made quick work of her opponent, No. 26 Zoe Scandalis, dropping the match’s top-ranked Trojan player in straight sets, 6-3, 6-2.
“I was just trying to dictate from the baseline and then when I had my opportunities on short balls or when I got her out wide to just come forward to the net and try to put away some volleys and finish those points inside the baseline,” Anderson said.
Brady and McPhillips each quickly ousted their USC counterparts as well, with each only dropping 3 games each en route to straight set victories.
“It was great for our top three players to really go out there and dominate. The scores were really good,” Sampras Webster said. “One thing about our team is I feel like we really haven’t played our best tennis and we’re still able to win these matches which just shows how great a team we are and what depth we have.”
UCLA finishes well enough for a second place finish in the Pac-12. The Bruins now turn their sights to the Pac-12 Women’s Tennis championships which await the team this Thursday.