The fall season ended on a high note for the UCLA women’s tennis duo, juniors Catherine Harrison and Kyle McPhillips, as they won the women’s doubles draw at the USTA/ITA National Indoor Intercollegiate Championships on Sunday in New York.
The pair capped the tournament off with a straight-set victory over the No. 2-seeded Auburn duo, consisting of junior Pleun Burgmans and senior Emily Flickinger.
McPhillips said that their play was solid from the get-go, which Harrison attributed to their energy.
“We played really clean tennis. We didn’t make a lot of errors,” Harrison said. “We were also really aggressive with both how we played and our energy on the court, and even in times when we weren’t playing our best tennis – there were maybe one or two games – we still had good energy and were able to get pumped back up and play well again.”
During the tournament, unseeded UCLA knocked off three of the four seeded teams in the 32-team draw. It took down No. 3 Cal 6-4, 6-4 in the quarterfinals, No. 1 Clemson 7-5, 5-7, 11-9 in the semifinals and then No. 2 Auburn 6-2, 6-3 in the finals.
“It was some of the best doubles they’ve played together,” said associate coach Rance Brown.
McPhillips felt they were at the peak of their performance in the finals.
“I felt like everything was on – returns, serves and volleys – and we stayed mentally tough throughout the whole match,” McPhillips said.
Senior Chanelle Van Nguyen competed in the singles draw as the No. 2 seed, but fell in the second round to Miami’s Stephanie Wagner.
Despite the early exit, Brown said he was “really pleased” with how Van Nguyen played. He noted that it is a tough transition from California to an indoor court, saying the team only had an hour and a half to practice on the courts before competition began.
The indoor championship marks the end of competitive play for the Bruins until the official season starts up in January.
“I think it just gives us confidence going into the season,” McPhillips said.