Senior McCall Jones paired with freshman Chanelle Van Nguyen for the first time Wednesday, when the duo found success against UC Irvine’s doubles pairing with an 8-5 win.
The story between UCLA and UC Irvine’s women’s tennis teams remained unchanged as the Bruins swept the Anteaters 7-0 at the Los Angeles Tennis Center, but an abundance of new faces wrote this year’s script.
“It was a good first match for us, having such a young team get the jitters out. It was good for (the freshmen) to have a match that they felt they were in control of,” said coach Stella Sampras Webster, whose teams have not lost to UC Irvine this century.
UCLA’s win showcased the prowess of its most recent recruiting class. With sophomore Courtney Dolehide and senior Carling Seguso banged up, the Bruins deployed freshmen in four of the six singles spots and three of the six doubles slots.
While the match’s conclusion may read as utter UCLA supremacy, the Bruins’ path to a complete victory was met with considerable Anteater resistance toward the end of two sets, each involving freshmen.
Freshman Robin Anderson easily took her first singles set 6-1, but had to rally from a 4-5 deficit in the second set, eventually winning a tiebreaker against UC Irvine junior Kristina Smith.
“She was making me play a lot of balls, and I was making a few more errors than in the first set. She started going for a few more of her shots when she got some confidence and made a few winners,” Anderson said.
Anderson righted herself by playing more patiently.
“I served a little bit better, and made her play a lot more shots. Instead of going for the winner on the first few balls, I rallied a bit more,” she said.
Freshman Chanelle Van Nguyen paired with senior McCall Jones to contribute to UCLA’s doubles sweep, claiming their set 8-5.
The duo’s lead sat at 6-5 after a set involving a rally in which the Anteaters hit to Van Nguyen for more than five consecutive shots.
Intentional or not, the amount of balls placed near Van Nguyen failed to rattle the freshman.
“The ball was short, and I’m solid at the net. I’m comfortable at the net, and don’t mind when they hit it to me,” Van Nguyen said.
UCLA lost the first point of the next game, which had Van Nguyen serving, but the two Bruins would not surrender a point for the rest of the set.
The match was Van Nguyen’s first with Jones, who won her singles match 6-2, 6-4. Jones acknowledged Van Nguyen’s net game and the complementarity of their styles.
“I’m an aggressive baseliner, and she’s pretty aggressive and active at the net, so we work well together,” Jones said.
Freshman Kaitlyn Ray also impressed in her regular-season college debut, vanquishing her opponent 6-1, 6-1 in straight sets en route to UCLA’s first singles point win, while fellow freshman Morton won her singles point 6-4, 6-2.
Not to be left out, Dolehide, a scratch from the singles lineup because of a stress fracture in her foot, joined junior Pamela Montez for an 8-3 doubles win. Montez earned a win in singles as well, notching a 6-0, 6-4 victory.
UCLA’s beating of UC Irvine on the strength of its freshman fulfills Sampras Webster’s desire of seeing her young players rise to the occasion, despite how hard they can be to read.
“With freshmen, you don’t know who or what is going to show up. You just hope that they know what they have to do and deal with whatever adversity that comes their way,” Sampras Webster said.