Women’s tennis defeats USC 4-3 in close competition

That 3-1 lead started feeling uncomfortably tight.

No. 20 UCLA women’s tennis (6-1) had rolled to a 3-0 lead Saturday – taking the doubles point and cruising through two singles matches in straight sets – but host No. 22 USC (3-2) wasn’t about to surrender.

The Trojans started mounting a comeback, creeping back into the match by putting their first point on the board and sending the remaining three matches into deciding third sets.

But the Bruins didn’t falter.

Redshirt freshman Jada Hart sealed the 4-3 win for UCLA with a three-set come-from-behind win over USC sophomore Rianna Valdes.

<blockquote class=”twitter-tweet” data-lang=”en”><p lang=”en” dir=”ltr”>Jada does it! Hart rattles off five consecutive games in the third set to beat Valdes 2-6, 6-2, 7-5.<br><br>UCLA clinches the match over USC 4-1! <a href=”https://t.co/9PBCCbKs7h”>pic.twitter.com/9PBCCbKs7h</a></p>&mdash; UCLA Women&#39;s Tennis (@uclawtennis) <a href=”https://twitter.com/uclawtennis/status/833142344056594435″>February 19, 2017</a></blockquote>

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[Related: UCLA looks to continue pattern of winning away games]

“I really needed to step it up because it was also tied up on court two, so I had a feeling that it would come down to me,” Hart said. “I just really stepped it up at the end and I was really happy that I was able to pull it off for the team.”

Underclassmen came up big for UCLA on Saturday afternoon, winning all three of the team’s singles points and giving up just two combined games in doubles.

After an almost four-hour rain delay, the Bruins came out firing in doubles. No. 12 Hart and freshman Ena Shibahara did not lose a game to the No. 14 doubles team of Zoë Katz and Madison Westby in a 6-0 rout.

[Related: Shibahara and Hart draw from Georgia Tech upset]

Sophomore Alaina Miller and junior Terri Fleming followed shortly after with a 6-2 win on court two to seal the crucial doubles point.

“We really set the tone early – we got off to really good starts in our doubles,” said coach Stella Sampras Webster. “I was really pleased with the way our team performed, considering we’re really young and we’ve had some players that never experienced playing USC before.”

On court one, Shibahara won her fourth consecutive straight-sets match, downing Katz 6-1, 6-3 in her first collegiate rivalry match.

Sophomore Gabby Andrews put up the third point of the day for the Bruins with her own straight-set win, upsetting the Trojans’ No. 82 Westby.

“I broke her down mentally – I could see that she was kind of getting frustrated by some of the variety I was throwing at her,” Andrews said. “I would mix up the pace, go deep and hard and then slice and hit a few drop shots so I think once I saw her breaking down, I just put my foot down on the pedal.

USC got on the board when sophomore Jessica Failla swept by Miller 7-5, 6-2.

With the last three matches all in deciding third sets, it was Hart who got the clincher.

The redshirt freshman lost her first set 6-2, and trailed Valdes early in the third 5-2 before reeling off five straight games.

A clean forehand winner sealed Hart’s fifth win in six singles matches and the Bruins’ first win on the Trojans’ home court since 2014.

“In the second set, that’s when I really started to do better with being more patient and setting up the points, using a lot of variety and a lot of angles,” Hart said. “I started to do that as well towards the end of the third set when I was down 5-2. I was just able to rally back and play smarter.”

Fleming and junior Kristen Wiley played out their matches with the Trojans taking both for the final 4-3 score.

UCLA will face another ranked team on the road this weekend in No. 8 California. The Golden Bears have won their last four meetings against the Bruins, dating back to the 2014 season.