Bruins break losing streak, cause Cal’s downfall
By Daily Bruin Staff
April 22, 2001 9:00 p.m.
 ANNA AVIK Freshman Lauren Fisher follows
through on a hit during Friday’s win over Cal.
UCLA d. CAL 4-3 Stanford d. UCLA
5-2
By Hannah Gordon
Daily Bruin Contributor
The women’s tennis match against Cal was tied 3-3 with
only the No. 2 spot undecided. For the fourth time this season,
junior Catherine Hawley was given the opportunity and burden of
playing the deciding match for her team. She had taken the first
set in a tiebreaker 7-6(5) against Cal’s Christina Fusano,
ranked No. 73.
The evenly-matched pair battled it out amid the Fusano
family’s cheers, with Fusano’s grandfather, “Papa
Bear,” growling “Go Bears!” every few minutes.
Despite the fan support, Fusano fell to Hawley 6-4.
Hawley, meanwhile, fell right on the ground.
“I was relieved that I got the job done,” Hawley
said of flopping down on the court the second she won.
“I wanted it for (Head Coach) Stella and for the other
coaches and my team. I wanted their efforts to be recognized by a
win.”
With the 4-3 upset, No. 32 UCLA snapped its six-match losing
streak and avenged its April 7 loss to Cal. The win also improved
their chances for a spot in the Pac-10 Championships next
weekend.
“Because we are in the strongest conference, it is
difficult, but hopefully this match will help us,” Head Coach
Stella Sampras said.
UCLA’s other singles wins came from No. 1 sophomore Sara
Walker, who won 6-1, 6-1, and freshman Lauren Fisher, who defeated
her opponent 6 2, 6-2 at No. 4.
At No. 3, junior Petya Marinova lost 6-2, 6-2. At No. 5,
freshman Mariko Fritz-Krockow was defeated 6-1, 6-2 and at No. 6
senior Jennifer Donahue fell 6-0, 6-1.
The doubles teams were incredibly important because they allowed
the Bruins to take only three of the singles for the win. UCLA lost
its last two matches 4-3 due to losing the doubles point, and was
determined not to let that happen again. The team worked all week
on doubles in practice and that labor paid off.
“We felt so good about the week of practice,”
Sampras said.
At No. 2 Walker and Fritz-Krockow destroyed the opposition
8-0.
“Sara and I played tremendous in doubles,”
Fritz-Krockow said. “Sara is a lot of fun to play with and
she is a very supportive partner.”
The Bruins lost at No. 3 when Donahue and freshman Chelsea
Godbey went down 8-4, leaving the No. 1 team ““ Marinova and
Walker ““ to decide doubles. With a 5-4 UCLA advantage, the
match was still up in the air. The Bruins and the Bears went back
and forth, taking a game then losing the next until the match was
7-6, UCLA.
Marinova and Fisher, ranked No. 19 nationally, looked frustrated
but rallied to take the final game from the No. 26 nationally
ranked doubles team, Cal’s Raquel Kops-Jones and Anita
Kurimay.
With the 8-6 win, UCLA went into singles with the 1-0 advantage
it needed.
The 4-3 win gave the team confidence for the next day, but that
was not enough to unseat top-ranked and undefeated Stanford. The
Cardinal took the match 5-2 after sweeping doubles.
The No. 1 doubles spot was again last to finish after an 8-2
loss at No. 2 and an 8-0 loss at No. 3. At No. 1 the unstoppable
Cardinal came back from a 6-3 deficit to win 8-6.
“At No. 1, we should have won but we didn’t play as
well,” Sampras said. “Stanford is just a tough
team.”
Stanford went on to dominate singles, including a win at No. 1
where Laura Granville, ranked No. 1 nationally all year, beat
Walker 6-4, 6-3.
No. 2 Hawley was defeated 6-4, 6-2, at No. 3 Marinova lost 6-2,
6-2, and at No. 6 Donahue fell 6-0, 6-0.
UCLA’s two points came from freshmen Fisher and
Fritz-Krockow. At No. 5, Fritz-Krockow defeated good friend Keiko
Tokuda 6-3, 7-6(4).
“When I beat her I felt a little bad. But just a
little,” Fritz-Krockow said.
Fisher’s was the last match to finish, and her tough win
6-3, 2-6, 6-2 gave an upbeat ending to a trying day.
The Bruins’ last match of the regular season is Wednesday
at noon against Oregon at the Los Angeles Tennis Center.
