Tuesday, January 14, 1997
W. TENNIS:
Kocsis-Freudenberg, Cooper-Schmidt doubles play strongly but
don’t make final cutBy Brent Boyd
Daily Bruin Senior Staff
Katie Kocsis may seem far from home at UCLA, but this weekend
she found herself in familiar territory  the winner’s
circle.
The sophomore from Budapest, Hungary, transferred to UCLA this
season after playing one year at Mississippi State University.
She posted a 25-2 record in singles last year as a Bulldog, and
this weekend, picked up right where she left off, winning the
Milwaukee Tennis Classic.
By defeating Kim Schiff of Vanderbilt, 7-6, 7-6 in the finals,
Kocsis completed the 100-player tournament without losing a set. In
the five matches preceding the finals, Kocsis won 60 games and only
lost eight.
However, Kocsis wasn’t the only Bruin to play well for the
Bruins.
She competed with sophomore Brandi Freudenberg in the doubles
portion of the tournament and the duo won four straight matches
before falling to the top-seeded team from Michigan. Prior to the
loss, Kocsis-Freudenberg upset Lisa Swerniak and Francesca La’o,
the third-seed from California.
In the bottom half of the doubles draw, the freshman tandem of
Annica Cooper and Elizabeth Schmidt also reached the semifinals.
They lost to Danielle Lund and Brooke Hart of Michigan in a tough
three-set match (6-4,4-6,7-5).
Combined, the Bruin doubles teams amassed a 7-2 record.
Besides Kocsis’ sprint to the tournament championship, Bruin
singles suffered some disappointing defeats.
Second-seeded Schmidt advanced with three consecutive
straight-set victories over Anna Scharfield of Northwestern, Kamila
Horacek of Marquette, and Tumeka Harris of Michigan. However, in
the quarterfinals, she was shut out by Kim Schiff.
Annica Cooper, the third seed, also suffered a heart-breaking
upset in the quarterfinals. She lost to eighth-seed Francesca La’o
of Cal when she retired in the third set, after falling behind 6-7,
7-6, 5-2 in a grueling three-set match.
To get to that point, she defeated Monica Poreda of Tulsa, Helen
Andrews of George Washington, Jessica Anderson of Indiana, and
Maggie Cole of San Diego State, all in straight sets.
Freudenberg was the only Bruin not to reach the quarterfinals,
when she lost to La’o in the second round, 6-2, 6-2. She won her
first round match, 6-3, 6-1 over Teresa Baird of Tulsa.
All told, the Bruins started the season off strong, finishing
the tournament with an overall record of 21-5.
The season gets in full swing tomorrow with the Pacific 10
Indoor Championships to be held in Seattle.
JON FERREY
Freshman Annica Cooper reached the quarterfinals of the
Milwaukee Tennis Classic.