The No. 15 UCLA women’s tennis team had absolutely no trouble dismantling Loyola Marymount 6-1 on Tuesday afternoon.
The Bruins (6-4) showed no signs of being rusty after going over a week without playing any dual matches. Nor did they show any signs of not being ready after the match against the Lions was rescheduled due to rain.
UCLA jumped ahead of LMU (3-3) on the road by taking solid control during doubles play, taking an early 1-0 lead over the host Lions.
From there, the Bruins continued to cruise toward their first victory since defeating Wisconsin in the USTA/ITA National Team Indoors over two weeks ago. Upon returning from the tournament held in Madison, Wisc., UCLA suffered a blowout loss to No. 8 California and a 4-3 loss to top-ranked Stanford.
UCLA played without its No. 2 and No. 3 singles players on Tuesday, junior Tracy Lin and freshman Yasmin Schnack, respectively, but still managed to capture a 6-1 victory, with the Bruins’ sole loss coming at the top court where junior Riza Zalameda lost to Pavla Mesterova in three sets.
The depth of this year’s team has proven to be valuable for filling the holes left by individuals in the top six due to any circumstances, including injuries. Sophomore Anna-Viktoria Lind and freshman Stephanie Wetmore filled in at the No. 5 and No. 6 positions, respectively, on Tuesday afternoon and both were able to provide their team with wins.
It was Lind and Wetmore who were able to clinch the Bruins’ first point by teaming together to win their No. 3 doubles match 8-2.
Sophomore Ashley Joelson played at the No. 2 singles court, her highest in her tenure as a Bruin thus far, and had a dominating 6-3, 6-1 performance. Joelson, who would not have played in last week’s originally scheduled meeting between the two teams due to sickness, came into the match and perceived it as a way to warm up for the weekend and a way to build confidence.
With a dominating victory, it seems the Bruins were able to do just that before traveling northward to face Pac-10 schools Washington and Washington State over the weekend.