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No. 8 UCLA women’s tennis nearly shut out by undefeated Stanford but bests California

Senior Maya Johansson and the No. 8 Bruins split victories against the Bay Area teams, losing 6-1 to No. 2 Stanford on Friday but beating No. 10 California 4-3 Saturday at the Los Angeles Tennis Center. UCLA finishes the rest of the season on the road.

By Daily Bruin Staff

March 28, 2011 12:34 a.m.

The UCLA women’s tennis team has made it a goal to improve with each match this season, ultimately in the hopes of reaching the NCAA Tournament at the peak of its form.

This weekend’s play initially failed to meet this goal with a lopsided 6-1 loss to No. 2 Stanford on Friday but concluded with a more fulfilling 4-3 victory over No. 10 California Saturday at the Los Angeles Tennis Center.

The No. 8 Bruins (12-5, 2-1 Pac-10) paid the two Bay Area teams a visit earlier in the season, but neither match counted toward conference standings.

The Bruins dropped both away matches, 4-3 to Cal and 5-2 to Stanford for their first losses of the season.

Despite the large margin in score, the Bruins kept up with the Cardinal (17-0, 4-0) throughout the entire match.

Stanford’s No. 1 and No. 2 doubles teams took nine points each to dispose of the Bruins’ teams, with a tiebreaker deciding the No. 2 match.

In singles play, four of the six matches went to three sets, including the Bruins’ only point by senior Maya Johansson. Playing in court No. 6, Johansson came back after losing the first set and prevented Stanford from completing a shutout.

The defending NCAA champion Cardinal remains the only undefeated team in the conference, sitting atop of the Pac-10 standings at 4-0. Last year, UCLA was able to deliver Stanford its first regular season loss in their non-conference match.

The Bruins had a more favorable start to their match against the Golden Bears (12-5, 3-1), winning the doubles point behind the tandem play of Johansson with sophomore Pamela Montez and freshman Courtney Dolehide with senior Andrea Remynse.

Singles play proved more difficult as the Bruins split singles points with the Golden Bears, but quick straight-set victories by Montez, Remynse and Johansson clinched the match before Cal had a chance to come back.

UCLA also split the season series against Cal a year ago. The Bruins fell to the Bears during last year’s Indoor Championships but exacted revenge less than a month later. The conference match between the teams later in the season was cancelled because of inclement weather.

The weekend series marked the final home matches for seniors Noelle Hickey, Johansson and Remynse, as the Bruins will be on the road for the remainder of the season. UCLA will continue conference play against Washington State later this week.

Compiled by Jason Wang, Bruin Sports contributor.

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