They’re saving their best for last.
In its penultimate conference road games, No. 4 UCLA women’s tennis (16-3, 6-1 Pac-12) controlled its matches against No. 23 Arizona State (12-7, 3-3) and Arizona (13-5, 3-4), dropping just three points over two days.
Against ASU, UCLA claimed the first doubles match of the day with an 8-2 victory by senior Robin Anderson and sophomore Jennifer Brady. The Bruins then squeaked out the doubles point when No. 1-ranked juniors Kyle McPhillips and Catherine Harrison came through in a tiebreak 8-7(4).
Harrison carried her momentum over into singles, with near perfect play in a 6-0, 6-1 win. Brady earned the Bruins’ next point winning in straight sets 6-4, 6-2.
With the four remaining matches entering third sets, UCLA needed just one more point to win the match.
After dropping the first set, senior Chanelle Van Nguyen roared back, losing just two more games en route to a 4-6, 6-2, 6-0 clincher to give the Bruins an insurmountable lead. The Sun Devils would take the last three matches to bring the final score to 4-3 in favor of the Bruins.
Playing against Arizona, UCLA started off strong with an 8-3 win by freshman Kristin Wiley and Van Nguyen and another 8-3 win by McPhillips and Harrison to capture the doubles point and a 1-0 lead.
In singles play, UCLA claimed all six of the first sets played. Harrison ramped up her performance and did not drop a game in a 6-0, 6-0 demolition.
Van Nguyen followed with another strong performance 6-1, 6-1 over her opponent. No. 1-ranked Anderson, Brady, and Wiley gave the Bruins a 6-0 lead with three 6-3, 6-2 wins on courts 1, 2, and 6 respectively.
McPhillips, the only player whose match did not end in straight sets, came through 6-1, 4-6, (10-4) to complete a 7-0 sweep of the Wildcats.
UCLA returns to Los Angeles to face Colorado (11-8, 1-6) and Utah (8-11, 3-4) on Friday and Saturday respectively to close out its home schedule.
Compiled by Tuanh Dam, Bruin Sports contributor.