The UCLA women’s tennis team started and finished on a
high note in its weekend matches against Bay Area rivals Cal and
Stanford.
Unfortunately, everything in between was disastrous. Despite
capturing the doubles point against the Bears and the final point
against the Cardinal, the Bruins dropped both matches to the
co-second ranked teams 6-1 to fall to 12-7 in the season.
“We’re at a time of the season where we have a
really tough schedule,” head coach Stella Sampras Webster
said. “We’re glad we played them now so we have time to
do what we need to do.”
In Friday’s match against the Bears, the Bruins appeared
poised for the upset. The team captured the doubles point with
Laura Gordon and Sara Walker taking out Jieun Jacobs and Jody
Scheldt 8-5 at the No. 2 spot, and Sarah Gregg and Susi Wild
defeating Nicole Havlicek and Catherine Lynch 8-6 at the No. 3
spot. The Bruins almost swept the doubles point, but Feriel
Esseghir and Jackie Carleton narrowly fell to fifth ranked Raquel
Kops-Jones and Christina Fusano 9-8 (3).
The singles matches started off very promising, with the Bruins
taking four of the first singles sets. However, no player was able
to win another set and the Bruins lost all six matches.
“We need to be mentally and physically strong and maintain
a high level of play,” Sampras Webster said.
“They’re an experienced team and we need to take this
as a learning experience.”
Saturday against Stanford, sustaining a high level was not the
major issue. Falling behind early in the doubles, the Bruins were
unable to recover against a talented Stanford squad who defeated
No. 1 USC one day earlier. The Cardinal quickly pounced on the
Bruins’ reconfigured doubles lineup that rested Esseghir for
singles.
“We definitely didn’t come out strong in
doubles,” Sampras Webster said. “Feriel not playing
didn’t make us stronger.”
Esseghir, who had not played a singles match this season because
of a stress fracture, made an impressive debut, barely losing to
fourth-ranked Alice Barnes of Stanford 6-4, 7-6 (5).
“It’s so good to be back,” said Esseghir.
“I had low expectations, but I slowly came back and it was
really fun.”
The Stanford match marked the Bruins’ last home match of
the season and senior Sara Walker’s last home match of her
career. The All-American senior, who earlier this year earned the
USTA Sportsmanship Award, had a couple of forgettable matches
against Cal and Stanford’s top players. Walker fell to
Cal’s ninth-ranked Kops-Jones 3-6, 6-4, 6-2 and
Stanford’s fifth-ranked Amber Liu 0-6, 5-7.
“It’s disappointing losing, but it’s been a
great four years and I don’t look back at just one
match,” Walker said.
Carleton’s 6-3, 3-6, 6-4 victory over sixteenth-ranked
Lauren Barnikow gave the Bruins their lone point at day’s
end.
Similarly to her Cal match, Carleton jumped out to a quick start
by winning the first set, only to drop the second. Nevertheless,
she rebounded to win the only singles match for the Bruins over the
weekend.
“Jackie’s win was huge for her confidence and a good
way for us to finish the match,” Sampras Webster said.
“It was a disappointing weekend, but we can’t get
too down about it.”
The Bruins will have a rematch at Cal and Stanford in two weeks,
when the results will count toward Pac-10 standings.