The Pac-10 Tournament could not have gone any better for the No. 7 UCLA women’s tennis team. The Bruins swept the honors in Ojai this past weekend, winning four singles and doubles titles in total.
“It’s a great feeling, it’s really special to be able to do this in Ojai,” coach Stella Sampras Webster said. “There’s just so much tradition here, and for our team to do so well definitely makes us feel special. We’re really happy with the way our players played, and hopefully they’ll use this to get ready for the NCAAs.”
Senior Yasmin Schnack dominated the main draws in both singles and doubles. In the singles final, she defeated Stanford’s Hilary Barte, who beat Schnack in three sets in both of their regular season encounters.
The two matched up again in the doubles championship match, and Schnack and junior doubles teammate Andrea Remynse came out on top of Barte and Lindsay Burdette in what was the last match of an extremely successful weekend for the Bruins.
“I really, really wanted to win today,” Schnack said. “I did everything I could to prepare, and everything on court to play well.”
The Bruins locked up the invitational singles title before the title match was even played ““ UCLA sophomores Nina Pantic and Carling Seguso fought their ways through the first four rounds of the draw and faced off in the closing match. Pantic eventually came out on top 6-2, 6-0, but admitted that the experience was a bit unusual.
“I’ve never played a teammate before in a competition, so it was very awkward,” Pantic said. “But at the same time, I know her game so well and she knows my game so well. … On the court we acted like it was just a regular match, like any other opponent.”
Seguso would get another shot at a title, this time in the invitational doubles draw with freshman Stephanie Hoffpauir. Seguso and Hoffpauir would emerge victorious as well, bringing the total number of title-winning Bruins for the tournament to five. Hoffpauir and Seguso defeated Washington’s Aleksandra Malovic and Samantha Smith 8-6 to take home the trophy and complete the sweep for UCLA.
The Bruins now head into the NCAA Tournament riding a great deal of momentum. UCLA defeated USC 6-1 on the final day of the regular season, and their unbridled success in Ojai can only help their confidence.
“We wanted to take a little break right now and get back at it,” Sampras Webster said. “We’re just going to build from this tournament.”
While it was undoubtedly a good weekend for the Bruins, sweeping the Pac-10 individual championships was not the main goal. The team has its sights set on a loftier ambition, and Schnack sees a similarity between this year’s squad and the Bruins team that took home the national championship in 2008.
“(Former Bruin Riza Zalameda) won the Pac-10 (Tournament) the year we won NCAAs,” Schnack said. “So we’re all kind of like, “˜Oh, it’s a sign.'”
All that is left for UCLA to do now is wait until the NCAA Tournament draw. The Bruins are likely to be selected to host a regional section ““ the first two rounds of the tournament are played on the home court of each of the top 16 seeded teams ““ and if they are able to advance through that, they will travel to Athens, Ga, to compete for the national championship.