The UCLA women’s tennis team went into its weekend matches
at the USTA/ITA National Team Indoor Championships hoping to make a
statement and left saying wait until next time.
Although their 6-1 loss to top-seeded Stanford in the
quarterfinals, followed by a 5-2 loss to fourth-seeded Vanderbilt
in the consolation round, was disappointing, the Bruins (2-3) were
hardly discouraged about their performances.
“It’s kind of bittersweet,” redshirt junior
Lauren Fisher said. “We don’t like to lose, but
everyone played well and we’re getting better. Just because
we lost now doesn’t mean we will in the long run.”
The Bruins have plenty of reasons to expect the long run to be
better. Freshman standout Daniela Bercek missed both weekend
matches due to illness, forcing each person below her in the lineup
to move up one spot. Bercek had cruised to a 6-1, 6-2 win over
North Carolina’s Lee Bairos at No. 2 singles in the first
round of the tournament and her absence in the following two
matches clearly hampered the Bruins.
The team only managed to win one match at the bottom half of the
lineup against Stanford and Vanderbilt. Sophomore Laura Gordon, who
came in to replace Bercek, lost both her matches in three sets.
“We did as well as we could under the
circumstances,” sophomore Jackie Carleton said. “We
just lost some tough matches that we need to find a way to
win.”
Bercek’s illness forced Feriel Esseghir, who is still
acclimating to the rigors of a full season after missing last year
with a foot injury, into the No. 2 position. She dropped both her
matches, falling to Stanford’s 21st-ranked Alice Barnes 6-2,
2-6, 6-0 and then to Vanderbilt’s Aleke Tsoubanos 6-2,
6-3.
Esseghir’s three-set loss was typical of other matches in
the Bruins’ not-so-lopsided loss to the Cardinal. The Bruins
lost three matches that went three sets, while Jackie Carleton lost
her match at the No. 1 position in a second set tiebreak to Amber
Liu, 6-2, 7-6 (3).
“We need to find a way to win the tough matches,”
said Carleton, who was able to rebound the next day to defeat
Vanderbilt’s 39th-ranked Audra Faulk 4-6, 7-5, 7-5. “We
need to make sure our legs are there for all three sets so we can
get in good position to get to the ball.”
The Bruins will have two chances to redeem themselves against
the Cardinal during the regular season. While making up three
points to reach the four needed to win a match will be a difficult
task, the team feels some more match experience, improved health
and mental toughness can lead to an upset.
“They’re strong all the way down the line,”
Fisher said of the Cardinal. “But we have a greater
upside.”
Fisher is an integral part of that upside. Playing in her first
singles match of the season against the Tar Heels, she beat Jenna
Long at the No. 6 position 6-3, 6-1. Fisher also beat
Vanderbilt’s 77th-ranked Ashley Schellhas 6-3, 6-3.
Obviously, the Bruins would have loved to take out Stanford or
Vanderbilt. But at such an early point in the season, settling for
improvement might be more than just putting a positive spin on a
losing effort.
“A lot of us just need to play more matches,”
Carleton said.