No. 2 women’s tennis earns berth to National Indoors Championships
Sophomore Robin Anderson won both of her singles and doubles matches over the weekend against San Diego and Washington.
Washington: 0
By Richard Kaumeyer
Jan. 28, 2013 1:49 a.m.
This weekend, UCLA women’s tennis showed why it is the No. 2 team in the country as it defeated San Diego and Washington on its way to earning a berth in next month’s USTA/ITA National Indoor Intercollegiate Championships.
The team won the tournament last year, and coach Stella Sampras Webster knew the pressure was on to make sure there was not a letdown versus the lower-ranked opponents they played this weekend.
“We always expect our opponents to play their best,” Sampras Webster said. “I think our team did a really good job staying focused and getting ready for their matches.”
Against San Diego on Saturday, the Bruins began the match by sweeping the Toreros in the three doubles matches. The team experienced more of the same in singles matches as sophomore Robin Anderson set the tone for the rest of the singles players winning 6-1 and 6-0 for her 15th straight victory of the season. Freshman Catherine Harrison and sophomore Chanelle Van Nguyen would go on to win their singles matches to clinch a 4-0 win for the Bruins.
On Sunday, UCLA faced Washington in the championship match of the qualifying tournament. Washington beat South Florida the day before to get into the finals. A different opponent did not faze the Bruins and the result remained the same. UCLA won the doubles point behind an impressive performance from Anderson and sophomore Skylar Morton. The team then went on to win three singles matches to close out the Huskies, 4-0.
The doubles team of Anderson and Morton shook off their struggles from the National Collegiate Tennis Classic last week and played well, winning 8-3 on against San Diego, and 8-1 against Washington.
“We played better than we played in a while,” Morton said. “Some of those problems are behind us or didn’t show in the match today, hopefully it stays that way.”
The National Indoor Championships are a prestigious event in college tennis, and will give the team another chance to prove its worth among the top squads in the country. Anderson knows the importance of the event having been part of the team that won the Bruins’ first-ever National Team Indoor Final last year.
“I feel like our team is a lot better than when we came back from where we played over the first weekend,” Anderson said. “I think we have a good chance to win at Indoors.”
Email Kaumeyer at [email protected].
