Warren Hardie takes first in Men’s Invitational Singles as tennis teams compete in Pac-10 Championships over weekend
By Jason Wang
May 1, 2011 11:56 p.m.
Both the UCLA men’s and women’s tennis teams competed in singles and doubles tournaments this weekend at the Pac-10 Championships in Ojai.
Both Bruin teams had strong performances in each of the tournaments, and UCLA was able to claim one of the eight titles with sophomore Warren Hardie’s victory in the Men’s Invitational Singles Championship.
Hardie, who played exclusively in doubles during the end of the regular season, cruised through his four victories en route to the championship, winning each of his matches in straight sets. In the finals on Sunday, the lone Bruin in the field defeated Stanford’s Walker Kehrer, 6-4, 6-2.
The rest of the Bruins played well, but were not as successful as Hardie. In the main draw singles, the Bruins sent out five players into the field of 32. Freshman Adrien Puget fought his way to the semifinals before dropping to USC’s Steve Johnson, the No. 1 seeded player who ultimately won the tournament. Senior Amit Inbar also fell victim to Johnson, but not before winning two matches in straight sets.
Hardie and Inbar joined forces in the main draw doubles championship, reaching the finals in dramatic fashion by knocking off the top-seeded Stanford tandem of Bradley Klahn and Ryan Thacher 9-7. But in the finals, the two fell again to Johnson and his doubles partner Raymond Sarmiento, who beat the Bruin duo of Puget and redshirt sophomore Alex Brigham to get to the final.
On the women’s side, the Bruins played well but were unable to match last year’s stellar results. Just a year removed from sweeping the four women’s titles, the Bruins fell short in each tournament. The most successful run of the weekend belonged to junior Nina Pantic and freshman Courtney Dolehide in the Women’s Invitational Doubles tournament. The pair received a bye and a default victory because of opponent injuries in the first two rounds, and handily defeated Cal’s Stephany Chang and Catie Visico to secure a spot in the finals. However, the two lost 8-6 to Stanford’s Mallory Burdette and Natalie Dillon and had to settle for second place.
In the main draw doubles tournaments, the No. 3-seeded Bruin tandem of senior Noelle Hickey and junior McCall Jones lost 9-8(1) in the quarterfinals in another hard-fought match against Stanford’s Kristie Ahn and Nicole Gibbs. UCLA’s other main draw tandem of junior Carling Seguso and sophomore Pamela Montez fell early to the No. 4-seeded Arizona State tandem of Micaela Hein and Kelcy McKenna 8-3.
In singles, Jones had a successful run despite being unseeded in the main draw, powering her way through two victories before falling to Stanford’s Nicole Gibbs 6-3, 6-2. Pantic and Montez also participated in the main draw, but both fell in the first round of 32.
In the Invitational singles, freshmen Morgan Thomas and Megan Lester both received first round byes. The duo had limited playing experience this season.
Compiled by Jason Wang, Bruin Sports contributor.
