UCLA women’s tennis gives no love in shutout win against Cal Poly
Senior Noelle Hickey made quick work of Cal Poly’s Ashley Pane Monday, winning 6-2, 6-0. Hickey, the Bruins’ No. 2 singles player and her teammates will head to the National Indoor Championships this weekend.
Women's Tennis
UCLA 7
Cal Poly 0
By Daniel Khayat
Feb. 15, 2011 12:02 a.m.
There may have been love in the air on Monday, but the UCLA women’s tennis team showed none of it in its methodical 7-0 beat-down of Cal Poly at the Los Angeles Tennis Center.
The No. 7 Bruins (6-2) dominated the Mustangs (5-3) from start to finish, sweeping the doubles point via three comfortable wins and posting straight-set singles victories in five out of six matches.
“It was a good match for us to fine-tune things before our trip (to the National Indoor Championships),” coach Stella Sampras Webster said. “Overall I thought that our team competed really well, but obviously there’s still stuff we need to keep working on in singles and doubles.”
Sampras Webster continued her recent trend of tinkering with her doubles pairs; the three tandems that suited up against Cal Poly had a combined three matches of experience playing with each other.
“Everyone’s just anxious to find a steady partner,” senior Noelle Hickey said. “Everybody’s like, “˜Am I in? Am I out? What spot am I playing? Who am I playing with?’ It’s tough when you don’t have that consistency, but I think we’re trying to fit our game styles with someone who works well with us.”
The Bruins handled singles play with little trouble. Hickey was the first to complete her match, posting a lightning-fast 6-2, 6-0 win over senior Ashley Pane in the No. 2 position.
“I was really purposeful today,” Hickey said. “Her game was very unorthodox. She had slice forehands, slice backhands, all different kinds of weird stuff, but I just tried to stay with patterns.”
Junior Carling Seguso was the next Bruin to emerge victorious. Seguso bested freshman Jennifer Cornea 6-1, 6-3 on Court No. 5. Senior Maya Johansson clinched the victory for UCLA with a 6-2, 6-3 win over freshman Florence Lehane on Court No. 4 moments later.
Senior Andrea Remynse beat sophomore Margarita Spicin 6-0, 6-2 at the No. 3 slot, and junior Nina Pantic beat out junior Jocelyn Davis 7-5, 6-1 on Court No. 6.
Junior McCall Jones got off to a fast start but struggled down the stretch when the remnants of last week’s cold caught up to her. The illness kept Jones out of UCLA’s match against UC Irvine Wednesday, but it was not enough to keep her from edging out sophomore Alexa Lee 6-2, 6-7 (4-7), (12-10) in a grueling match at the No. 1 position Monday.
“It was really tough,” Jones said. “I don’t I think I hit from Tuesday (to) Sunday. Overcoming the struggle when I wasn’t playing well was something I needed to do.”
The Bruins will make their first cross-country trip of the season when they head to the USTA/ITA National Indoor Championships in Charlottesville, Va. this weekend.
