Squad looks for strength in numbers after early losses

By Eric Perez
Daily Bruin Contributor

They came, they saw and they bowed out.

The No. 6 UCLA women’s tennis squad’s first day at
the the Pac-10 Championships resulted in all three Bruin players
being cut out of the single’s bracket in the
tournament’s first round

Senior Petya Marinova was defeated by the University of
Washington’s Colleen Gray 6-2, 6-1. Sophomore Mariko
Fritz-Krockow was beaten by Washington State’s Erica Perkins
7-6, 6-2. Freshman Sarah Gregg was defeated by Dianne Hollands of
Arizona 7-6, 6-4.

Regardless of the the Bruins’ surprisingly quick cameo
appearance in the tournament’s singles bracket, head coach
Stella Sampras still retains an optimistic view of the day’s
results.

“It was a disappointing day, we lost the matches, but it
was good for them to get match experience,” Sampras said.

The Bruins didn’t come into the Pac-10 championships
planning on launching a full frontal assault.

Choosing to stay away from the action were No. 3 Megan Bradley,
No. 9 Sara Walker, sophomore Lauren Fisher and senior Catherine
Hawley. All four players decided not to play and to rest up for the
upcoming NCAA regionals coming in May.

Despite the prestige of having a Pac-10 singles title, the bulk
of the Bruin decided to sit out the tournament to get healthy and
focus on doubles bracket which begins this morning.

In the Pac-10 invitational bracket, Hawley and Gregg will start
playing at 9:30 this morning.

Marinova and Walker, the No. 2 doubles team in the nation, will
start playing this morning at 11 a.m. No. 5 Bradley and Fisher will
follow at 12:30 in the afternoon.

“Our mind-set going into doubles is to go and win as many
matches as we can. Basically we want both of our teams to go all
the way and face each other in the finals.”

The men’s side saw more success as sophomore Marcin
Matkowski, junior Rodrigo Grilli and sophomore Tobias Clemens all
won their first two matches and will play in the quarterfinals
starting today. Junior Jean-Julien Roger was defeated in the first
round.

In the open Pac-10 bracket, junior Erfan Djahangiri, freshman
Alberto Francis and junior Lassi Ketola have also advanced to their
bracket’s quarterfinals.