Women's tennis bounces back to earn split in last home matches
By Jason Wang
March 27, 2011 12:10 a.m.
The UCLA women’s tennis team has made it a goal to improve with each match this season, ultimately reaching the NCAA Tournament at the peak of its game.
This weekend’s play initially failed to meet this goal with a lopsided 6-1 loss to No. 2 Stanford, but concluded with a more fulfilling 4-3 victory over No. 10 California at the Los Angeles Tennis Center.
The No. 8 Bruins (12-5, 2-1 Pac-10) paid the two Bay Area teams a visit earlier in the season, but neither match counted toward conference standings. The Bruins dropped both away matches; 4-3 to Cal and 5-2 to Stanford, their first losses of the season.
Despite the large margin in score, the Bruins kept up with the Cardinal (17-0, 4-0) throughout the entire match. Stanford’s No. 1 and No. 2 doubles teams took nine points each to dispose of the Bruins’ teams, with a tiebreaker deciding the No. 2 match.
In singles play, four of the six matches went to three sets, including the Bruins only point by senior Maya Johansson. Playing in court No. 6, Johansson came back after losing the first set and prevented Stanford from completing a shutout.
The defending NCAA champion Cardinal remain the only undefeated team in the conference, sitting atop of the Pac-10 standings at 4-0. Last year, the Bruins were able to deliver Stanford its first regular season loss in their non-conference match.
The Bruins had a more favorable start to their match against the Golden Bears (12-5, 3-1), winning the doubles point behind the tandem play of Johansson with sophomore Pamela Montez and freshman Courtney Dolehide with senior Andrea Remynse.
Singles play proved more difficult as the Bruins split singles points with the Golden Bears, but quick straight-set victories by Montez, Remynse and Johansson clinched the match before Cal had a chance to come back.
UCLA also split the season series against Cal a year ago. The Bruins fell to the Golden Bears during last year’s Indoor Championships, but exacted revenge less than a month later. The conference match between the teams later in the season was cancelled due to inclement weather.
The weekend series marked the final home matches for seniors Noelle Hickey, Johansson and Remynse, as the Bruins will be on the road for the remainder of the season. UCLA will continue conference play against Washington State later this week.
