After eight consecutive 4-3 decisions, the UCLA women’s
tennis team finally notched a convincing victory with a 7-0
destruction of Loyola Marymount on Wednesday.
“I definitely enjoy these matches a lot more. They are
much less stressful,” UCLA head coach Stella Sampras Webster
said. “In college tennis every match is tough, and I was
pleased that everyone took care of their matches.”
The Bruins’ last decision by a margin of more than a point
came on Jan. 30 against similarly unheralded UC Irvine.
While UCLA (8-4) was without a significant portion of its
regular line-up, the team showed no signs of weakness. The Bruins
secured all three doubles matches. Each of the six singles players,
all in their first year of dual match play, posted straight set
wins.
Jackie Carleton and Susi Wild played No. 1 doubles and cruised
to an 8-4 win over Edit Pakay and Diana Vinis of LMU. Sara Walker
and Laura Gordon combined for an 8-3 victory at No. 2 doubles, and
at the third spot Shilpa Joshi and Nina Yaftali blanked Patrycia
Hubl and Erin Sanchez 8-0.
Singles play was more of the same for UCLA, as the Bruins
quickly erased any chance the Lions had. Yaftali, playing her first
ever collegiate dual match, embarrassed Sanchez 6-0, 6-0, at No. 6
singles in a match that was over in less than a half hour. Gordon
had similar success on court four, beating up on Jennifer Baker
6-3, 6-1.
“I got some confidence back today, after losing in
Arizona,” Gordon said. “It will be good to have a
little bit of confidence going into our match against
‘SC.”
Anya Loncaric rolled to a 6-1, 6-0 victory over Georgina Dinham
to secure the victory for UCLA.
Injuries have prevented the Bruins from fielding their strongest
line-up all year, and Wednesday was no exception. Senior No. 8 Sara
Walker was limited to doubles play with a slight hamstring pull.
Sarah Gregg has also been bothered by a sore hamstring and did not
play.
Both players are expected to be ready to play when UCLA travels
across town to face USC next Wednesday. Lauren Fisher and Ferriel
Esseghir both are continuing to recover from their injuries, and
Sampras Webster hopes that they will be available to play doubles
against the Trojans.
Last time the two teams played, the Trojans squeaked out a 4-3
win at the Los Angeles Tennis Center.
“If we can get everyone healthy, there is no reason why we
can’t beat ‘SC,” Carleton said. “They
better be ready for us because we’re ready to get
them.”