Yasmin Schnack is showing everyone that what she did in the fall
was no fluke ““ she really can hang with the top players at
the collegiate level.
Schnack and some of her Bruin teammates played in the National
Collegiate Tennis Classic hosted at Indian Wells this weekend, but
none had more success than Schnack as she advanced through the draw
to eventually face USC junior Lindsey Nelson in the singles
final.
It appeared as though the Bruin freshman was on her way to a
title, capturing the first set 6-4, but Nelson turned up her game
and took the next two sets, winning 4-6, 6-1, 7-5.
Though she was unable to pull out the victory over one of the
Trojans’ top-ranked players, Schnack would get yet another
chance to face Nelson in the final of the doubles draw with junior
partner Riza Zalameda.
This time, Schnack got the better of Nelson as she and Zalameda
cruised to an 8-3 victory over Nelson and her partner, Julie
Smekodub, capturing the doubles championship.
Entering the tournament, Schnack was the top-ranked Bruin, and
will likely maintain that top spot after her impressive run in
Indian Wells. Zalameda was able to advance to the quarterfinals of
the singles draw before losing to Northwestern’s Samantha
Murray, 5-7, 4-6, and UCLA junior Tracy Lin lost in three sets in
the quarterfinals to No. 1 Stanford’s Whitney Deason.
Several other Bruins traveled to Las Vegas to compete in the
Freeman Memorial Championships at UNLV. On Friday, the first day of
the tournament, near-freezing temperatures halted play, and on
Saturday, play was completely cancelled due to weather.
Senior Alex McGoodwin, sophomores Ashley Joelson and
Anna-Viktoria Lind, and freshman Stephanie Wetmore all lost their
first-round matches.
In doubles play, McGoodwin and Joelson teamed to capture a
first-round win, while Lind and Wetmore lost their opening-round
match.
QUICK HITS: The No. 15 UCLA women’s
tennis team will take on Hawai’i on Friday to open up its
dual- match season at the Los Angeles Tennis Center. … The Bruins
won’t face a Pac-10 opponent for another month, when they
travel to the Bay Area to face California and top-ranked Stanford
on Feb. 16 and 17, respectively.