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UCLA struggles against Stanford’s home advantage

Freshman Pamela Montez fell to No. 12 Stanford’s Mallory Burdette Saturday during the No. 7 Bruins’ 5-2 loss at Taube Stadium in Palo Alto.

By Jason Wang

April 4, 2010 9:53 p.m.

Rainy conditions often create problems on the road. The UCLA women’s tennis team hit a couple of bumps during their trip to the Bay Area this past weekend, losing to No. 12 Stanford 5-2 and having their match against No. 11 Cal cancelled due to inclement weather.

The No. 7 Bruins (16-3, 3-1 Pac-10) suffered their first conference loss of the season against the Cardinal (14-1, 3-0 Pac-10) in Palo Alto on Saturday. The Bruins came out a bit flat-footed at Taube Family Tennis Stadium, losing all three doubles matches for the first time this season.

“It was kind of a little wake-up call for our team,” UCLA coach Stella Sampras Webster said. “Stanford really came out with a lot of energy and a lot intensity. They set the tone early with their doubles and our doubles kind of backed up.”

The advantage grew to 3-0 in the singles matches as the Cardinal were able to spoil freshmen Pamela Montez’s and junior Maya Johansson’s perfect singles records in straight sets.

Juniors Noelle Hickey and Andrea Remynse were able to pull off victories against Stanford’s Lindsay Burdette and Stacey Tan, respectively, but that was not enough as the remaining Bruins fell.

The Bruins were unable to replicate the results of the non-conference match in February, a match where they won five of the six singles points and the doubles point en route to delivering the Cardinal their only loss this season. But the previous match took place at the Los Angeles Tennis Center, and the Bruins have not been on the road in almost a month.

“It was our first away match in a while. They’ve got their fans and their home court advantage. We just have to be prepared,” Sampras Webster said.

The win extends Stanford’s home winning streak to 159 consecutive victories. With their last home loss dating back to February of 1999, the Cardinal’s streak is recognized as the longest active home win streak in NCAA Division I sports. The Cardinal also stand alone as the Pac-10’s only undefeated team in conference play.

The match against the Bears (14-4, 2-1 Pac-10) was originally scheduled for Friday, but a wet and windy Berkeley forced the match to be postponed until Sunday. In the rescheduled match, the Bruins lost the doubles point but came out strong in singles before more precipitation led to the total cancellation of the event.

Though the Bruins were down at the time the match was called off, Sampras Webster expressed her disappointment in the cancellation.

“We were playing pretty well in singles and dominating some of the matches, but we couldn’t finish any of them,” she said. “Everyone was motivated and eager to get back out there. Unfortunately, we can’t control the weather.”

UCLA has already played Cal twice this season, losing to them in the National Indoors 4-3 and defeating them at the LATC 4-3.

Neither match counted toward conference standings.

The Bruins will not reschedule the match against Cal unless its outcome determines the Pac-10 conference champion. If necessary, the match would take place in Ojai right before the Pac-10 Championships.

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Jason Wang
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