They wanted to waste no time in taking care of yet another nonconference opponent on their home courts, and the No. 15 UCLA women’s tennis team did just that on Tuesday afternoon, winning in dominating fashion against UC Irvine.
“It’s really just another solid win, which is what we need,” junior Tracy Lin said. “But we also need to focus on getting better as the season goes on.”
In particular, the Bruins (5-2) will need to focus on their matches this weekend against fellow Pac-10 teams No. 8 Cal and No. 1 Stanford.
But before they got caught up in thoughts of the upcoming weekend, the Bruins made sure to build on the momentum they began with a 7-0 shutout victory against No. 24 Fresno State.
UCLA had very little trouble getting the win over the Anteaters on Tuesday, even with a lineup that didn’t include sophomore Ashley Joelson, who usually fills the No. 4 position for the Bruins. Moreover, UCLA coach Stella Sampras Webster continues to experiment with the doubles lineup. She teamed Lin with fellow junior Riza Zalameda at the No. 1 position, freshman Yasmin Schnack with junior Elizabeth Lumpkin on court No. 2, and sophomore Anna-Viktoria Lind and freshman Stephanie Wetmore on the third court.
“Every time they play, we get more feedback,” Sampras Webster said. “We’ll find out a lot more this weekend when they get challenged a bit more.”
“I think it’s just early in the season and we’re going to try to see who our best teams are.”
Once the Bruins got off to a quick start in doubles play, it was apparent that there was no way UC Irvine would be able to catch a fire in singles. The Anteaters dropped five matches in straight sets, with only junior Becky Bernhard able to capture a set at the top court against Zalameda.
“It was a tough start and after I lost the first set, I realized I’d just have to grind it out to get the win,” said Zalameda, who won 10-7 in the third-set super-tiebreaker.
“I’m glad we got a match in before this weekend,” Sampras Webster added. “Our players need to keep playing and building their confidence.”
ZALAMEDA RECEIVES PAC-10 HONOR: Zalameda was named the Pac-10 Women’s Tennis Player of the Week for the week of Feb. 5-11 after she defeated the nation’s fourth-ranked player, Melanie Gloria, in straight sets in UCLA’s dual match against Fresno State. This is the first such award Zalameda has achieved in her career as a Bruin.
“It’s really tough to get that, because our conference is tough,” Zalameda said. “I think I had a good win, and it was nice to get the award.”
BRUIN CAPTURES TOURNAMENT TITLE: Freshman walk-on Becky Duesler competed in the women’s open singles draw of the 55th Annual Pasadena Rose Bowl Championships this weekend and found herself in the championship match after defeating Marcia Lee 6-1, 6-1 in the semifinals.
Duesler went on to defeat Olivia Colman, a four-star recruit in the top 150 of the USTA rankings who received a full-ride scholarship to San Diego State for the upcoming season, 7-5, 6-4 to capture the championship.
“It’s nice to know I can still compete with players from other schools and that I have the potential to beat them,” Duesler said.
MEN’S TENNIS: The No. 6 UCLA men’s tennis team will have to wait longer than expected before heading to Chicago, Ill., after being stuck at LAX for several hours on Tuesday afternoon. The Bruins were scheduled to arrive in Chicago for the USTA/ITA National Team Indoors on Tuesday night, but will have to postpone arrival because of nearly a foot of snow at their destination.
The Bruins play their first match Friday evening when they take on No. 26 Miami in the first round of action.