By Eric Perez
Daily Bruin Contributor
[email protected]
PALO ALTO “”mdash; Freshman Sarah Gregg’s return landed
just to the outside of Georgia opponent Lori Grey’s right
sideline. With that final unforced error, Gregg’s defeat was
sealed at 7-6, 6-3. At the end of a match where Gregg was plagued
by mistakes, even appearing to be visibly shaken at times, Gregg
threw her racket in disgust, frustration and heartbreak onto the
hard surface of Court 4 at Stanford University.
“We were all better players,” Gregg said.
“That girl didn’t hit a single ball past me.”
“I’ve played a lot of scrappy players, and I let
them get away with crap.”
Without her racket in hand, Gregg walked to the net to shake the
hand of her Georgia opponent. With this singles point tallied, UCLA
had lost the dual match 2-4 and Georgia had advanced to the NCAA
semifinals.
“It was emotional,” UCLA head coach Stella Sampras
said. “It was such a close match, both teams competed well,
it could have gone our way, but it just didn’t.”
On Court 2, junior Sara Walker was one game away from a come-
from-behind three-set victory when Gregg lost, and Walker’s
match was suspended at 3-6, 7-5, 5-1.
The Bruins were within a few errant returns, a few missed
smashes and a few squandered points from reaching the NCAA
semifinals.
“It just didn’t go our way today,” Sampras
said. “But I still believe in our team, and I believe that we
are very good. For the returning players next year they will learn
a lot from this experience, and I think we’ll be even
stronger next year.”
The Bulldogs and the Bruins attacked each other almost
immediately after the doubles point began the dual match.
At No. 1 doubles, freshman Megan Bradley and sophomore Lauren
Fisher defeated Mariel Verban and Tina Hojnik 8-5. At No. 3 doubles
Gregg and Catherine Hawley fought back from a 4-0 deficit to pull
the score at 6-7 before Walker and Petya Marinova defeated
Georgia’s Grey and Agata Cioroch 8-6.
The 1-0 UCLA lead going into singles had a short shelf-life when
Georgia’s Anne Nguyen blew out Marinova 6-1, 6-1. Then at No.
6 singles, Hawley took out Alexandra Smith 6-1, 6-1 with technical
precision to restore UCLA’s lead.
“Hawley just played great tennis at six,” Georgia
head coach Jeff Wallace said. “She just played unbelievable
down there and really beat our MVP, our most solid performer all
year.”
UCLA’s 2-1 lead did not last long. At No. 5 singles,
Fisher lost a second set lead before falling to Hojnik 6-3, 6-4.
But perhaps the most crucial loss for UCLA was Bradley’s 7-5,
6-1 second set collapse to Cioroch, which put Georgia at one point
away from victory.
“Even though we lost the doubles point we had more energy
than we did the first day,” Grey said. “I think we just
needed to have a lot of spirit because UCLA was a great
team.”
UCLA’s national championship hopes rested on the success
of both Bradley and Walker; both of whom are ranked in the top 10
nationally in singles. Bradley played poorly in both of her singles
matches at the NCAA round of 16 and in this quarterfinal. It was
probably the most Bradley misfired all season, something the Bruins
could not afford against a team of Georgia’s caliber.
“I felt we broke down physically and mentally
today,” Sampras said. “We should have won a couple of
those matches if we were in better shape and a little more
composed.”
So UCLA was sent home, within inches of standing among the very
elite in college tennis.