Stanford slams UCLA in quarterfinal shutout

By Rekha Rao

Daily Bruin Contributor

The UCLA women’s tennis team finished off its season with
a disappointing 5-0 loss to the all-powerful Stanford Cardinal on
Friday afternoon at Pepperdine during the quarterfinals of the NCAA
Championships.

The No. 1 Cardinal took only an hour and twenty minutes to blow
the UCLA team out of the water, not even allowing the Bruins to win
a single set.

“We didn’t play as well as we had hoped, and
Stanford played very strong. They just came up on us very early and
they took over,” head coach Stella Sampras said.

Bruin senior Annica Cooper pointed out that the Bruins
didn’t open the match quick enough.

“We were all just pumped up from Thursday’s match,
but we were slow getting started,” she said. “With a
team like Stanford you have jump on them right away. We just got
down too quick and couldn’t come back from it.”

UCLA has played Stanford twice this season and lost both matches
7-2, but the match on Friday was a different story.

“It is definitely different when nobody has a home court
advantage. We played here yesterday on the same courts, so I felt
we had a little advantage going in, in that sense,” Cooper
said.

Senior Elizabeth Schmidt added, “It’s the first time
Laura Granville ever played against us, so I don’t know if
she made the difference. Last time we played them, there were a
couple of matches that could have gone either way, but this time
there were no matches that could have gone our way.”

In singles action, UCLA’s freshman Sara Walker, currently
No. 2 in the nation, fell to the nationally No. 1 ranked player
Marissa Irvin 6-2, 6-3.

The other Bruin freshman, Abigail Spears, did not fare any
better, losing 6-1, 6-2 to Stanford’s Gabriela Lastra.

Unlike Thursday’s match against Texas, where senior
Elizabeth Schmidt motivated her team with a comeback three-set
victory, on Friday Schmidt’s match was stopped because
Stanford had already won five out of the nine matches that were
going to be played.

Stanford seemed to possess a confidence that helped them get the
easy victory over the Bruins, according to Sampras. “They are
undefeated, they are playing with a lot of confidence. We came out
not believing.”

Schmidt agreed, saying, “You could see it two ways: either
they (Stanford) had all the pressure on them or they were really
confident and they came out with the confidence today.”

The loss could also be attributed to Stanford’s high level
of play in Friday’s match and during the season.

“If you look at the scores, they took care of us. They
played a great match, they beat us today, and it’s as simple
as that,” Schmidt said.

Although this was a disappointing match for the Bruins, they are
pleased with the season’s results as a whole.

“I am proud of our team, you can’t ask for any
more,” Schmidt said.

Sampras continued, “We obviously didn’t have what it
takes to win today, but you have to give your hats off to Stanford,
they were very good and very confident.”

“It’s the last time we will be together as a team.
It’s a time where we want our return players to learn
something from this match. For our seniors this is their last
match. I am really proud of them, they have had an up-and-down
season with a lot of adversity, and they made it to the
quarterfinals, and that’s acceptable for me right
now.”