Injury, bad weather hinder Bruins; team bears losses to Stanford, Cal

Cal d. UCLA 5-2 Stanford d. UCLA 10-0

By Jason Saltoun Ebin
Daily Bruin Contributor

Welcome to the UCLA women’s tennis team’s
nightmare.

The Bruins (5-14, 2-4 Pac-10) had lost 12 of their last 14
matches and had to face the top-ranked Cardinal Friday and then the
No. 5 Cal Bears on Saturday. Nerves were flying, as only three of
the Bruins had even been to Stanford before the match against the
undefeated Cardinal. The match started but was not completed. The
weather didn’t hold. The team had to wait two more days to
get that opportunity to play the Cardinal.

The next day, the Bruins faced Cal, the No. 5 team in the nation
that had won 12 of its last 13 matches with its only loss coming
against the Cardinal. The conditions were nasty with strong winds
and cold temperatures. Hardly ideal tennis weather.

But UCLA had a job to do. Only Cal was more than up to the Bruin
challenge.

The Bruins pushed the Bears early in doubles, showing that they
had come to play. At No. 1, junior Petya Marinova and freshman
Lauren Fisher pushed the Cal team to its limit before falling
9-7.

At No. 2, in another match that could have gone either way,
freshman Mariko Fritz-Krockow and sophomore Sara Walker fell 9-7.
This was Walker’s first match back after she injured her foot
when her shower door came off its hinges and caused a severe
bruise. With a Cal 8-3 win at No. 3 doubles over junior Catherine
Hawley and co-captain Jennifer Donahue, the Bears completed the
doubles sweep.

The Bruins still had some bite left in their game, but with
Walker only playing doubles, UCLA was just able to break the skin
of the Bears with their teeth, barely drawing blood. Cal ended the
day with a 5-2 win as only freshmen Fisher at No. 3 singles and
Fritz-Krockow at No. 4 singles could come up with wins for
UCLA.

“I was really pleased with the way they (Fisher and
Fritz-Krockow) competed this weekend,” Bruin Head Coach
Stella Sampras said. “They are beating very good players …
it is good to see them win those two matches against
Cal.”

According to Sampras, Fritz-Krockow and Fisher are playing their
best tennis since coming to UCLA.

“I feel Fisher is playing better now than she has been
playing all year,” she said. “And Mariko is playing
better; she is becoming the player that she can be.”

But it takes an entire team to win, and on Sunday against
Stanford (19-0, 8-0), only an entire team effort would give the
Bruins a chance.

The Bruins had some confidence, as they felt the rain delay had
given them time to prepare more mentally.

“It was kind of a blessing it (the Friday Stanford match)
got rained out,” senior co-captain Jennifer Donahue said.
“I had never come out of a match like that believing we could
win.”

Stanford, however, also confident and at home, was not going to
give the Bruins any hope. From the beginning of the match the
Cardinal showed why they are undefeated. They convincingly swept
doubles, but UCLA was not about to throw in the towel.

Still, heart can only do so much for a team. Again playing
singles without Walker, UCLA was just overmatched. The Bruins could
only manage to win two sets on the day, one at No. 3 singles by
Fisher and the other by No. 4 singles Fritz-Krockow.

With only five matches left in the regular season and Cal and
Stanford coming to Westwood in less than two weeks, the Bruins
realize that they are going to have to step up their play to
accomplish their goals. With Walker expected to re-enter the
singles lineup this weekend against Washington and Washington
State, the Bruins should get a much needed boost.

But Sampras says she is going to need more than just for Walker
to get better.

“It is going to take us playing better in doubles, Walker
being healthy and ready to play, the whole team coming together and
expecting to win, and having some pride,” she said.