Bruins sail perilously over Waves



February 20, 1996

Bruins sail perilously over Waves

By Hye Kwon

Daily Bruin Staff

MALIBU — With the entire squad rallying around Stephanie Chi’s
courageous effort, the seventh-ranked UCLA women’s tennis team was
able to hold off Pepperdine for an emotional 5-4 win Saturday
afternoon.

Despite suffering from an extreme case of an upset stomach, Chi
maintained her perfect dual-match record with a clutch 6-4, 3-6,
7-5 win over Pepperdine’s Kathrin Denn. At times, the Bruin
sophomore appeared at the brink of collapse, but her determination
carried her through the 2 1Ž2-hour match.

Chi’s victory not only put UCLA (6-1, 2-1 Pacific 10) up 4-2
going into doubles, it served as an inspiration to the team which
has been playing a great deal of tennis in the last three days.

"It was hard to watch her knowing that she was in a lot of
pain," UCLA assistant coach Stella Sampras said. "It was a little
scary because I didn’t know if she was going to faint out there.
Stephanie has a lot of heart and she showed it."

UCLA’s No. 1 player, Keri Phebus, who helped her team to a 7-0
victory over Nevada-Las Vegas at home on Friday, was solid at
Malibu. Pepperdine’s Isabela Petrov used an aggressive style of
play to counter the defending NCAA champion, but in the end, Phebus
was able to record a 6-3, 6-2 win.

Phebus broke Petrov three times while losing serve on only one
occasion in the first set. In the second set, the two players
exchanged breaks in the first three games of the set. However, the
big difference in the latter portion of the set was winners and
unforced errors. Phebus had 11 winners and only two unforced
errors, while Petrov managed four and seven, respectively.

Paige Yaroshuk, who had a perfect dual-match record going into
the weekend, wasn’t so successful. The Bruins’ No. 2 player fell
3-6, 4-6 against the Waves’ Angela Lawrence. Anicia Mendez, who was
playing the sixth spot for UCLA, also lost, 3-6, 3-6, to Sonya
Olejar. It turned out that the two losses could have come back to
haunt the Bruins had Chi lost her match.

In the doubles competition, the Waves’ No. 1 team was leading
UCLA’s counterpart in the third set and the No. 2 spot was even
after two sets. With UCLA needing just one doubles win to get the
team victory, the Waves attempted a valiant come back which almost
came through. But the Waves came crashing down when the Bruin
combination of Brandi Freudenberg and Alyson Gray beat Denn and
Annabel Rognon, 6-2, 6-3.

However, the Waves did get a huge moral victory when Petrov and
Lawrence defeated Phebus and Yaroshuk at the No. 1 doubles. The
toughly fought match went down to the wire as the teams battled to
a tie-break in the third set. The Waves held off the Bruins 7-6 to
complete the upset victory.

"It could have been really interesting if we didn’t get the win
at the third spot first," Sampras said. "Thank God we did."

Saturday’s triumph over the Waves was an emotional win that can
propel the Bruins to the very elite group of teams in the nation.
It was also significant that the win came at the tail end of a
three-day, three-match schedule through which the Bruins remained
unscathed.

Starting this Thursday, UCLA has a chance to prove it belongs at
the very top when it competes at the National Indoor Tournament in
Madison, Wis.

"We’re very confident going into the Nationals after a win like
this," Sampras said. "Pepperdine is a solid team that has killed
quality teams like Southern Cal this season, and for us to get four
wins in singles shows how deep we are in singles."

NIMA BADIEY

Stephanie Chi endured an upset stomach to uphold her perfect
dual-match record Saturday.

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© 1996 ASUCLA Communications Board

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