W. tennis secures victory against the Tribe
By Hye Kwon
Daily Bruin Staff
As the new national rankings were issued yesterday morning, the
UCLA women’s tennis team found itself moving up a spot to occupy
sixth place. And yesterday afternoon, the Bruins looked every bit
deserving of such an accolade as they destroyed No. 17 William and
Mary by the score of 7-2.
With the wind swirling on the Sunset Courts, the Bruins (10-2)
took five-of-six singles matches from the Tribe (6-4) to secure the
team victory. Paige Yaroshuk and Stephanie Chi quickly got on the
board, each garnering straight set victories. Yaroshuk easily beat
Johanna Sones, 6-2, 6-1 and Chi took care of childhood friend
Michelle O, 6-3, 6-1.
The other four Bruins didn’t have it nearly as easy with their
opponents.
Keri Phebus, Kelly Rudolph and Anicia Mendez were all taken to
three sets, but they all succeeded in putting away their opponents.
According to head coach Bill Zaima, the trio’s performances were
proof of UCLA’s prowess.
"Better teams win three set matches, and we won all of them
today," Zaima said.
Phebus, UCLA’s No. 1 player, struggled out of the gate against
Lauren Nikolaus and lost the first set 5-7. But after jumping out
to a 4-1 lead in the second set, order was quickly restored for the
defending NCAA champion.
"I got off to a very slow start today," Phebus said. "I just
couldn’t get going until the second set."
After soundly defeating Nikolaus 6-3 in the second set, Phebus
was cruising along in the third with a two-break lead. Then, the
All-American experienced a mental lapse and allowed Nikolaus to get
back on serve at 5-4. But fortunately for Phebus, Nikolaus
experienced an even bigger mental lapse in the 10th game. The
sophomore committed three unforced errors, including the backhand
that sailed long on match point.
Another Bruin who had a cause for frustration was Rudolph at the
No. 4 position. Although Rudolph eventually pulled out a 6-3, 6-7,
6-3 win against Tari Ann Toro, it took nearly three hours to
complete the task. At one point in the third set, Rudolph missed a
first serve and, out of anger, hit the returned ball over the
fence.
Surprisingly, the umpire gave the sophomore a break by simply
giving her a warning as opposed to slapping her with a code
violation. The William and Mary coaches cried foul and Rudolph
simply started playing better tennis from that point.
"The umpire was going to cut her some slack and their coaches
got all hot about that," Zaima said. "But what happened is that two
points have already been played. And once you play a point, you
can’t code."
FRED HE/Daily Bruin
Kelly Rudolph
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