Polls give women’s tennis high-five despite recent slump
By Daily Bruin Staff
April 16, 1996 9:00 p.m.
Wednesday, April 17, 1996
By Hye Kwon
Daily Bruin Staff
When the UCLA women’s tennis team departs for its critical Bay
Area trip this weekend, the Bruins will take with them their
highest ranking of the year.
In the latest rankings issued on Monday by the Intercollegiate
Tennis Association, UCLA moved up a spot to claim the No. 5
position. The only teams ranked ahead of UCLA are Florida,
Stanford, Duke and Arizona.
The Bruins’ ascent in the polls comes as a pleasant surprise to
the team because, since the last rankings were issued 14 days ago,
UCLA has experienced a slump. The Bruins (16-4 overall, 5-3 Pacific
10) did manage three wins compared with one loss in that span of
time, but those wins have been less than spectacular.
UCLA barely squeezed by Pepperdine and California at home, and
against Stanford, the Bruins blew an early lead that could have
sealed the team victory in singles.
* * *
Living up to most people’s preseason predictions, Florida has
been spectacular this year. The No. 1 Gators have played a total of
21 matches as of April 8, and have won every one of them. The most
impressive of Florida’s accolades is winning the championship at
the National Indoors at Wisconsin in February.
With the exception of Arizona, every team ranked from No. 2 to
No. 6 has lost to Florida this season. No. 4 Arizona, which has a
record of 16-2, has not played the Gators.
* * *
After losing to Texas, followed by losses to UCLA and Southern
California in Los Angeles, California has hit the skids as far as
the standings are concerned. Since starting the year ranked No. 6
in the country, the Golden Bears have managed to compile a mediocre
record of 8-9. As a result, California is ranked No. 31 in the
latest polls.
* * *
In the individual rankings, Keri Phebus has maintained her
status as one of the top players in the nation despite key losses.
Phebus, a senior from Newport Beach, has dropped just one spot from
the last poll, as she occupies the No. 5 position. In the last two
weeks, Phebus suffered an unbelievable 6-0, 6-2 loss to Isabela
Petrov and followed that lackluster performance two matches later
with a three-set loss to Ania Bleszynski of Stanford.
Although those two matches apparently didn’t mean a decline in
Phebus’ ranking, they translated into upward surges for her
opponents. Bleszynski moved up four places to the No. 7 spot, while
Petrov moved up three spots to claim the No. 16 ranking.
* * *
The Bruins still have four players ranked in the top 100. Paige
Yaroshuk is ranked No. 24 while Stephanie Chi comes in at the No.
29 spot. The fourth Bruin to be ranked is Kelly Rudolph, who checks
in tied for No. 99.
* * *
The list of hometowns of the top players in women’s collegiate
tennis read like the United Nations directory. Led by the top three
players  Vickie Maes of Arizona, Kylie Hunt of Kansas and
Vanessa Webb of Florida  49 players ranked in the top 100
trace their hometowns to foreign countries.
FRED HE/Daily Bruin
Sophomore Stephanie Chi fell two spots to the No. 29 spot this
week in the Intercollegiate Tennis Association’s rankings.
