Women’s tennis snaps USC’s winning streak at the Freeman Memorial Championships
Daily Bruin File Photo
Sophomore Courtney Dolehide made her return from a stress fracture injury to her foot, teaming up with junior Pamela Montez to upset USC, 8-4, in the doubles final of the Freeman Memorial Championships.
By Tyler Drohan
Jan. 17, 2012 1:36 a.m.
Despite an elite field of teams which included the top-five women’s tennis teams in the country, it appeared as though USC was again going to steal the show at the Freeman Memorial Championships in Las Vegas this past weekend.
Having already claimed the singles title earlier in the day, USC was looking for its second consecutive sweep of the singles and doubles titles at the tournament.
With the No. 3 doubles team having already defeated UCLA’s third-seeded pairing of freshmen Robin Anderson and Skylar Morton in the semifinals, the Lady Trojans’ clean sweep seemed secure.
However, a pair of less-heralded Bruins stepped in, as sophomore Courtney Dolehide made her triumphant return from a stress fracture injury to her foot and teamed up with junior Pamela Montez to upset USC in the final, 8-4.
“It just felt great to be able to come back my first few matches and really pull it together, mentally and emotionally, and win the tournament with (Montez),” Dolehide said.
“Every time we go on the court, we want to bring 100 percent and we want to win, but (with) USC, our rivalry is special. You never want to lose to USC.”
Dolehide and Montez, the No. 23 doubles pair, combined to knock off Kaitlyn Christian and Sabrina Santamaria, a pairing that has given some of their UCLA teammates trouble.
After knocking off the USC duo in the ITA Regionals, Anderson and Morton have since lost to the pairing at the ITA National Indoors as well as the semifinal match in Las Vegas.
“Having one of our teams lose to Christian and Santamaria made us want to go out and play even harder and show that we can beat them, especially for a preview of when we play USC,” Dolehide said.
“We want to go in knowing that one of our teams beat their top team.”
UCLA coach Stella Sampras Webster was happy to see Dolehide and Montez pick up where they had left off after playing well together during the fall before Dolehide’s injury.
“To see them play here with (Dolehide) getting better and to see it reinforced how strong they are was great to see,” Sampras Webster said.
Montez, one of four upperclassmen on the roster, believed the unorthodox style of play employed by the USC duo made it difficult to figure out a successful strategy.
“Our coach talked to us before the match just about what she had seen since (Anderson) and (Morton) had played them so often but just with how unorthodox they are there was no clear plan as to what to do,” Montez said.
“So, we were just kind of conversing after every point and just trying to figure out what to do to change things up, keep them on their feet.”
Sampras Webster praised Dolehide and Montez for their composure in the final against the crosstown rivals.
“Their maturity and not panicking when things weren’t going so well really helped them because they were able to settle in and figure out some ways to expose (Christian and Santamaria), and they did,” Sampras Webster said.
“They exposed that team, and they were able to come up with the win.”
In addition to her semifinal finish with Morton in doubles, Anderson made it to the semifinals in singles before bowing out to the tournament champion from USC in straight sets.
“(Anderson) already established herself as one of the best college players in the country, but she is in college to learn and get better,” Sampras Webster said of the No. 8 singles player in the nation.
“An area where she is going to have to focus on is her maturity as well as dealing with adversity and dealing with situations when she’s not playing her best and being able to still win matches.”
In addition to Dolehide’s return from injury, the team got an added lift from freshman Chanelle Van Nguyen, who joined the team in January and played well at her first collegiate tournament.
“I think adding (Nguyen) to our roster gives us so much depth, and she’s also a very good doubles player as well so we’re excited to work with her and for her to be a part of our program. I expect her to continue to get better and contribute,” Sampras Webster said.
“This is her first week and she is already competing for us, and she is doing a great job of just dealing with the transition into college.”
The elite tournament field allowed the No. 5 Bruins an opportunity to experience some early season success as well as measure themselves against the best teams in the nation.
“There is a lot of competition and a lot of strong teams with new players so we got to see what our competition is going to be like, and I find that we’re right in there with the top teams and we definitely have a lot of work to do to continue to get better,” Sampras Webster said.
