Winning without its star player is not a prospect any team wants
to be faced with.
But that’s exactly what the UCLA women’s tennis team
was forced to do as it opened up conference play against the
Washington schools over the weekend.
UCLA (9-2) was playing without No. 1 singles player, sophomore
Riza Zalameda, who is nursing a sprained right ankle, but defeated
Washington State 7-0 and Washington 5-2.
The matches were not perfect, but the No. 16 Bruins were able to
capture two decisive Pac-10 victories that helped continue their
climb toward their most formidable opponents.
In claiming a 7-0 win over the Cougars and a 5-2 win over the
Huskies, the Bruins earned much more than what appears on paper.
Learning how to win despite not being at full strength is something
that the team can build on before playing the likes of USC,
Stanford and California in the next month, according to coach
Stella Sampras Webster.
“The thing about this team is that they’re not
panicking or freaking out when a player is out,” Sampras
Webster said. “I think our team focused and did a great job
of dealing with the wind and the cold.”
Friday afternoon, UCLA took on Washington State in its Pac-10
opener and had very little trouble putting the Cougars away,
dropping just one set in singles.
“We had to make sure we maintained our level rather than
drop down to their level,” sophomore Elizabeth Lumpkin
said.
Going into doubles already having won the match, the Bruins
opted to default the No. 3 spot and have their No. 2 and No. 3
teams move into the No. 1 and No. 2 slots.
This difference was hard to distinguish as the Bruins
didn’t lose a single game on either court, sealing the
shutout win over the Cougars.
“We took care of business and it was great,” Sampras
Webster said.
“It’s always good to get a 7-0 victory, especially
against a Pac-10 team,” senior Laura Gordon said.
Gordon, the nation’s No. 24 singles player, has filled in
the No. 1 spot for the Bruins in their past three matches.
The rest of the lineup fed off of her intensity and tenacity on
the top court, and her on-court attitude has provided the Bruins
with a fire to carry them through their past three matches without
their No. 1 player.
“I’m not used to it, but it’s pretty
cool,” Gordon said of playing at the top position.
“It’s nice to play No. 1 at home.”
Her hustle was showcased in a critical point the next day in a
match against Washington’s Dinka Hadzic, ranked No. 76 in the
nation, when Gordon ran toward the net in an attempt to reach a
drop shot and laid herself out with hopes of making contact with
the ball, but coming up just short.
With bandages keeping the blood on her hand and elbow concealed,
Gordon went on to win the match 7-6, 6-2.
For the second consecutive match, the Bruins decided to default
the No. 3 doubles position, having already captured their second
Pac-10 win in just as many tries.
However, this time, the Bruins were unable to capture both
doubles matches, dropping the doubles point to the Huskies, but
still ultimately posting a 5-2 overall win.
“This weekend was important because we hadn’t played
since we went to Arizona,” freshman Ashley Joelson said.
Joelson won both singles and doubles matches in the first Pac-10
conference matches of her Bruin career. “We were able to get
into some good matches and get ready for next week.”