On a January day in which the on-court temperature approached 90
degrees, the youthful No. 7 women’s tennis team fell to its
experienced rival No. 9 USC 4-3.
A small but spirited crowd gave the LATC a true home-court
atmosphere for the Bruins, but the Trojans took the wind out of
UCLA’s sails early by securing the doubles point.
Sara Walker and Laura Gordon fought off four set points at the
No. 1 doubles spot, but eventually fell 8-6 to Jewel Peterson and
Tiffany Brymer of USC.
“Brymer and Peterson are a very experienced and very good
team,” UCLA head coach Stella Sampras Webster said.
“This is only the second or third match that Sara and Laura
have played together, and I was very pleased with the way they
competed.
On the second court, Sarah Gregg and Susi Wild were handled 8-4
by Luana Magnani and Anita Loyola. The one bright spot in doubles
for the Bruins came on court three, where Anya Loncaric and Jackie
Carleton controlled the net en route to an 8-4 win over Maureen
Diaz and Caroline Vermuelen.
“The doubles point is really important, and we need
that,” Loncaric said. “Next time we play USC, we need
to focus on the doubles point because the singles can build off of
the doubles.”
In singles play the Trojans sealed UCLA’s fate by jumping
out to early leads in several matches.
At No. 2 singles Carleton struggled from the start against
Magnani, a player she has beaten before, and never found her rhythm
en route to an 0-6, 3-6 defeat.
“I just need to raise the level of my game,”
Carleton said, “because there is no excuse for playing the
way I played today.”
Wild had similar difficulties at No. 3 singles against Diaz. She
jumped out to a quick 2-0 lead but then lost the next 10 games of
the match and eventually lost 2-6, 2-6.
The Trojans’ fourth point came from the No. 6 court where
Loncaric was downed by Vermuelen 3-6, 4-6.
“I was feeling a little tired today, but the girl was
good, she played very well,” Loncaric said. “We are
very tight with USC, so things can go either way.”
The Bruins got very solid performances out of their other
singles players. Walker split sets with Peterson, then emerged
victorious in a 10-point tiebreaker in lieu of a third set.
Peterson is a player known for blazing ground strokes and
overwhelming power, but Walker was able to neutralize her friend
and rival by taking balls early and effectively placing her
shots.
“We are such good friends and we are so competitive with
each other that it is always fun tennis every time we play,”
Walker said.
Gregg also won a tiebreaker third set against Loyola after
coming back from a 5-7 defeat in the first set to take the second
set 6-2.
The only straight set victory of the day for the Bruins came
from Gordon at No. 5. The freshman defeated Brymer, a senior, 7-6,
6-1.
“I was aggressive and came into the net well,”
Gordon said. “I got a little tight but kept hitting out, and
things went well.”
The loss drops the Bruins to 3-1 on the year. It was the first
significant challenge the team has faced all year.
And for a young Bruin team loaded with potential, it was also a
good indicator of what the Bruins need to work on to compete with
““ and beat ““ the top teams in the country.