Sky falls on Bruins: Phebus falters in singles

Sky falls on Bruins: Phebus falters in singles

By Hye Kwon

Daily Bruin Staff

Invulnerability. Bruin fans have almost come to expect it from
Keri Phebus. Cognizant of the fact that she entered last weekend’s
competition having won 41 consecutive singles matches, those who
follow the No. 7 UCLA women’s tennis team have come to expect an
automatic win at the No. 1 spot.

But after going the entire 1994 campaign and the start of this
season unscathed, Phebus finally lost to Vicki Maes of Arizona on
Saturday and proved she was human after all.

To make things worse for the Bruins, Paige Yaroshuk had pulled a
stomach muscle in a win against Arizona State on Friday and was
unable to go against the Wildcats. All things added up, it equated
to a 7-2 loss for UCLA (3-1 overall, 2-1 in Pac-10).

The Phebus-Maes duel was a rematch of the Pac-10 Indoor
Tournament finals only two weeks ago. In that match, Phebus got the
better of Maes in a straight set victory. On Saturday, Phebus again
had a chance to put away her opponent in two sets, but Maes fought
back hard to redeem herself with a 6-7, 7-5, 6-1 win.

"Keri had chances to win, but it just didn’t go her way," UCLA
assistant coach Stella Sampras said. "She needed to close out the
second set, but instead, let her opponent back in it."

Because of Yaroshuk’s absence, Stephanie Chi and the rest of the
Bruins who make up the bottom half of the draw all moved up a slot
against the No. 8 Wildcats. Chi and Brandi Freudenberg fared well
for UCLA, each notching straight set victories. The rest of the
team, however, did not find equal success.

Kelly Rudolph lost to Betsy Miringhoff 6-4, 6-3 at the No. 3
position, adding to the woes of teammates Jody Anglin and Anicia
Mendez, who lost at the two latter positions. In doubles, Arizona’s
Stephanie Sammaritano and Karen Goldstein secured the team victory
by defeating UCLA’s Freudenberg and Rudolph 6-4, 6-4.

"(Playing without Yaroshuk) definitely didn’t help," Sampras
said. "Everybody had to move up one spot and you never know what
would have happened if we had Paige."

If UCLA had the services of a healthy Yaroshuk, who was playing
the best tennis of her injury-plagued career, the final outcome of
the match could have been different. At the Pac-10 Indoors,
Arizona’s No. 3 player, Miringhoff, was defeated by Chi in straight
sets. Had Yaroshuk been in the lineup at the No. 2 position, Chi
would have gone up against Miringhoff again at the third
position.

"We need all our top players against a team like Arizona,"
Sampras said. "It’s disappointing to lose, but it’s still early in
the season and Arizona is a very solid team."

Daily Bruin File Photo

Keri Phebus’ 41-match winning streak was brought to an end by
the University of Arizona’s Vicki Maes.

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