As students walked in and out of the Los Angeles Tennis Center
on Thursday, they were able to catch a glimpse of this year’s
new-look women’s tennis team.
However, very few, if any, stayed through the entirety of the
7-0 blowout victory over Loyola Marymount, as the match appeared to
be over just minutes after singles play began.
“Not losing a match is always good, and for the first
match of the season I think our team looked pretty good,”
coach Stella Sampras Webster said.
And although the No. 12 Bruins clinched the victory after senior
Laura Gordon’s 6-2, 6-1 win over the Lions’ Robyn
Baker, the final match did not finish until UCLA’s Riza
Zalameda won a second-set tiebreaker through a 6-4, 7-6 (5) showing
against Pavla Mesterova.
“It was good for Riza to get that match under her belt
after struggling a little bit last week,” Sampras Webster
said of the sophomore, who struggled in the Freeman Memorial
Championships, losing in the first round.
Getting big victories was just as important for the Bruins as
gaining experience in newfound roles.
Zalameda, Gordon and freshmen Ashley Joelson and Anna-Viktoria
Lind all found themselves in positions they had never been in
before. Joelson and Lind both made their debuts in doubles
competition.
Lind joined veteran Alex McGoodwin to form the Bruins’ No.
2 doubles team, while Joelson played alongside sophomore Tracy Lin
at the No. 3 spot.
“I know how it feels to be the freshman because last year
I was playing with a senior,” Lin said. “Ashley did a
great job. She knows what she’s doing, and we get along
pretty well.”
Having been in similar position to Joelson, Lin helped guide her
freshman partner to an 8-4 victory.
“She helped out a lot,” Joelson said. “She
pretty much quarterbacked the match and called the
plays.”
After the duo clinched the doubles point, the freshman
experienced yet another novel situation as she took the court for
singles.
Joelson was stretched to 6-3 in the first set against
LMU’s Maja Sundac but cruised to victory in the second set,
winning 6-1.
Sampras Webster was impressed by the composure and confidence
Joelson displayed.
“I think she handled (the situation) really well,”
Sampras Webster said. “She might have been a little bit
nervous, but she looked like a veteran out there in both singles
and doubles.”
On the opposite end of the tennis center, Gordon was also
playing in foreign territory, never before having competed in the
top three.
“It was really good seeing Laura coming out and feeling
comfortable playing No. 2 for us,” Sampras Webster said.
“It was the first time she played on the front
courts.”
The experienced senior was just as nervous as rookies Joelson
and Lind, but by the way Gordon executed points, it would be hard
to believe she just started playing at such a high position on the
Bruin ladder.
“I was a little nervous playing at No. 2 for the first
time, but overall I think it was a good match,” Gordon
said.
Nervous or not, all the Bruins came out with the intention of
putting the match away as soon as possible, without letting LMU get
any opportunities to pull off the upset.
“I think today we all played pretty well and we stepped it
up,” Lin said. “We didn’t really give them any
leeway.”
After beating LMU for the 14th consecutive time Thursday, the
Bruins are looking to improve and become a competitive force in the
Pac-10.
“It was a good start to our season,” Lin said of the
match. “It can only get better from here.”