UCLA women’s tennis triumphs over Washington, Washington State
Abi Altick dropped her doubles match with partner junior Ayan Broomfield against Washington State, but the duo recovered with a victory over Washington. The freshman also took home a singles win against the Cougars. (Ken Shin/Daily Bruin staff)
By Dylan Dsouza
March 26, 2018 7:36 p.m.
The Bruins dropped only one set across all completed matches this weekend.
No. 13 UCLA women’s tennis (12-4, 4-1 Pac-12) swept Washington State (17-2, 2-1 Pac-12) and Washington (10-8, 0-3 Pac-12) 4-0 on consecutive days at home.
After facing losses on back-to-back days at ITA Division I National Women’s Team Indoor Championship earlier this season, coach Stella Sampras Webster warned that training sessions were going to get more endurance-intensive – and the hard work has paid off for the Bruins.
Sampras Webster, who is in her 22nd season as UCLA’s head coach, has seen what qualities are vital to a team’s hopes in major tournaments.
“We know the Pac-12 tournament will also be three-four games in a row,” Sampras Webster said. “It’s always going to be the fittest teams that end up doing well.”
This weekend, the Bruins’ only blemish came early on when the Cougars’ duo of Guzal Yusupova and Tiffany Mylones outlasted the Bruin combination of freshman Abi Altick and junior Ayan Broomfield 6-3 on court two.
“They were a really feisty team and made us work for each and every point,” Altick said. “We did a good job of keeping it solid.”
The duo redeemed themselves Sunday by clinching the doubles point against the Huskies pair of Kenadi Hance and Alexis Prokopuik 6-1 on court two to improve to 4-2 as a pair.
No. 100 junior Alaina Miller had a strong weekend, dropping merely one game over her two singles matches.
She was promoted to court five from court six in the second match on Sunday after Sampras Webster elected to rest Broomfield.
Senior Kristin Wiley, playing for the first time since January, replaced Broomfield in the lineup and vanquished Washington’s Angela Li 6-1, 6-0 on court six.
Fellow senior Terri Fleming clinched the win for the Bruins on Sunday with a 6-2, 6-0 win against Alexis Prokopuik on court three.
With the two victories, UCLA moves to second in the Pac-12 standings behind Stanford.
“The wins give us confidence and a chance to get a high seed into the Pac-12 championships,” said redshirt sophomore Jada Hart.
UCLA will head into spring break and resume its Pac-12 slate on April 6th against Utah.
“The break is an opportunity for the players to rest a bit, mentally and physically,” Hart said. “We’ve been going at it for three months, so it will give us a chance to work on the little things.”
