Some people need nothing more than a breath of fresh air to clear their minds after a frustrating series of events. However, it is clear from this weekend that the No. 12 Bruin women’s tennis team is perfectly content staying indoors.
UCLA (15-5, 3-2 Pac-10) started off its five-match road trip on the right foot, easily defeating No. 31 Washington 5-2 on Friday and blanking Washington State 7-0 on Saturday on each team’s respective indoor tennis courts.
After losing three straight matches a week ago for the first time in six years, the Bruins were looking to regain some of the swagger that accompanied their eight consecutive wins that preceded the dry spell.
Senior Ashley Joelson was particularly critical of the team’s seemingly low morale after UCLA’s 6-1 loss to No. 8 California on March 28. She maintains there is still progress to be made in that department.
“We’d lost three in a row, so it feels good to win this weekend,” Joelson said. “(But) we still need to work on getting our confidence back a little bit.”
Though the Bruins won convincingly against the Huskies (12-5, 1-4), the dual match started ominously for UCLA.
Washington won the doubles point by upsetting both of UCLA’s top-30 doubles teams. The biggest upset came at Court No. 1, where UCLA’s No. 2-ranked doubles team of junior Yasmin Schnack and sophomore Andrea Remynse fell to Husky freshman Denise Dy and junior Joyce Ardies, 8-6.
For the first time in five tries this season, the Bruins were able to overcome losing the doubles point and came away with a 5-2 victory. Surprisingly, the only Bruin to lose in singles was Schnack who has recently struggled, having lost three of her last five singles matches after winning her first 12.
Despite these recent struggles, coach Stella Sampras Webster said Schnack can recapture her early brilliance in time for the NCAA Tournament in May.
“In (the No. 1) position, it’s difficult to win all the time,” Sampras Webster said. “I think Yasmin’s getting stronger and stronger with every match she plays, and that’s what we need her to do.”
The Cougars (7-15, 1-6) failed to present any challenge at all to UCLA, and the Bruins completed the clean sweep, winning every singles and doubles match and dropping only two sets.