UCLA women’s tennis claims titles at Freeman Memorial Championships
No. 119 redshirt sophomore Jada Hart fell to fellow Bruin Ena Shibahara in the singles finals. The pair teamed up later on in the doubles finals to claim both titles for UCLA women’s tennis.
(Daily Bruin file photo)
By Jacqueline Dzwonczyk
Jan. 15, 2018 11:19 p.m.
What started with 32 players representing eight schools finished entirely in Bruin blue.
This weekend, five UCLA’s women’s tennis players traveled to Las Vegas for the Freeman Memorial Championships. They came home with first place titles in both the singles and doubles brackets.
Not only did the Bruins secure the singles title, but the team worked its way into an all-Bruin final, pitting No. 16 sophomore Ena Shibahara against No. 119 redshirt sophomore Jada Hart.
Shibahara pulled the top seed for the tournament, earning a first round bye. She defeated UNLV’s Anna Bogoslavets 6-3, 6-0 and North Carolina’s Alexa Graham 6-1, 6-2 in the following rounds, and faced her freshman teammate, No. 46 Abi Altick in the semifinals.
Altick’s singles run concluded with the 6-1, 6-2 loss to Shibahara. Altick’s doubles play with senior Terri Fleming ended in the first round by Pepperdine’s Evgeniya Levashova and Dzina Milovanovic .
Hart’s road to the final was packed with impressive upsets.
She defeated Texas’ No. 32 Petra Granic and Stanford’s No. 69 Caroline Lampl on Friday, only to be overcome by her own teammate in the final.
Though Shibahara came out on top 6-2, 7-6(4), Hart didn’t come home empty handed.
The same two that battled in the singles finals joined forces as partners in the doubles final, earning the title for the Bruins. No. 7 Shibahara and Hart defeated Oklahoma State’s No. 20 Vladica Babic and Sofia Blanco 6-4.
In Rancho Mirage, California, four Bruins competed in the National Collegiate Tennis Classi. Senior Kristin Wiley and freshman Sophie Bendetti lost to Texas’ Anna Turati and Fernanda Labraña 8-3.
Though the Longhorns bested the Bruins in the singles bracket, UCLA didn’t let them finish with a perfect record. In doubles play, juniors Gabby Andrews and Alaina Miller defeated Texas’ Bianca Turati and Bojana Markovic, 8-3 to end the day with a win.
The team only has a few days off before returning to action in their season opener against UC Santa Barbara on Friday.
