No. 6 women’s tennis defeats Washington State, Oregon in easy road wins
Senior Andrea Remynse helped No. 6 UCLA defeat both Oregon and Washington on the road this weekend. The Bruins lost only one doubles and one singles match during the two-game swing and are now 4-1 in Pac-10 play.
Women's Tennis
UCLA 6
Oregon 1
UCLA 7
Washington State 0
By Daniel Khayat
April 4, 2011 12:59 a.m.
The road can be a discomforting place for any team, but the UCLA women’s tennis team felt no ill effects of being away from home this weekend.
The No. 6 Bruins won back-to-back matches in a convincing fashion over the weekend, beating Washington State 7-0 on Friday and downing Oregon 6-1 on Saturday.
“It’s always nice to get a big confidence boost, especially on the northwestern road trip,” senior Andrea Remynse said. “I feel like we’re getting better with each match. Some people struggled this weekend, but the point is that they won, and they got through it.”
The Bruins (14-5, 4-1 Pac-10) still have four straight road matches remaining to close out the season, including a rematch at No. 14 USC, but senior Noelle Hickey sees the extended time away from Westwood as a blessing in disguise.
“You miss a ton of school,” Hickey said. “(But) luckily, I think we’ve played really well when we’re on the road, and we bond so much as a group when we’re on the road that it helps us on the court.”
Junior McCall Jones dropped the only point of the weekend for UCLA, a 7-5, 6-3 loss to senior Pavlina Smatova, but aside from that and an inconsequential doubles loss on court No. 1 in Pullman, Wash., the Bruins were perfect against their northwestern conference foes.
Hickey, Remynse, freshman Courtney Dolehide and junior Carling Seguso each won two singles matches over the weekend. Junior Nina Pantic chipped in with a 6-0, 6-1 win against Washington State (10-9, 0-7), and sophomore Pamela Montez contributed a 6-1, 1-6, 6-4 victory against Oregon (7-11, 1-6).
One area in which the team saw considerable improvement this weekend is doubles. After extended experimentation earlier in the season, coach Stella Sampras Webster has run out a very consistent doubles lineup for the past six matches.
“I think our teams are coming together, and they have improved, and it’s good to see them winning matches,” Sampras Webster said. “Our No. 2 team (of Jones and Hickey) is just dominating, which is great.”
Remynse concurs with her coach and appreciates the added stability.
“It helps mentally to know that everything’s going to be the same each match, instead of wondering what’s up in the air, who you’re going to play with from one match to the next,” Remynse said.
