Women’s tennis defeats Long Beach State 4-0 to head to NCAA Sweet 16

Contrary to a stream of “beach” chants and a black-and-yellow “Go Beach” sign enthusiastically pumped in the air by a jumping member of a mixed crowd, UCLA’s 4-0 home win over Long Beach State proved to be anything but a day spent enjoying steady waves along the shoreline. The second round NCAA match took on the personality of a chilly and slightly overcast Saturday, with many Bruins in battles featuring uneven flow that often saw UCLA out of its element.

“You’ve got to make the adjustments; (Long Beach doesn’t) hit any two balls the same,” associate coach Rance Brown said. “All sports are rhythm and momentum, so our girls (didn’t) get the normal rhythm they’re accustomed to. But those are the adjustments you have to make when you’re a good team.”

Down 4-5 at one time during their doubles match and with junior Pamela Montez and sophomore Courtney Dolehide struggling with balls down the middle in a 4-6 non-decision on the adjacent court, freshmen Robin Anderson and Skylar Morton broke off wins in four of five games to earn UCLA’s first point and some footing.

Anderson kept rolling and Montez shook off her shaky doubles match, as each notched straight set singles wins. Their teammates were greeted by considerable resistance from a combination of a game Long Beach squad and a lively visiting contingent.

Morton kept composed throughout her own match on the backcourts, despite constant Long Beach player shrieks and 49er names being yelled out between every point by opposing supporters.

“It works out better for me when I’m quiet. I stay calm because it allows me to focus better. For me, (yelling) makes me more scared,” said Morton, who saw the loud and “annoying” crowd to be a sign of things to come in Athens, Ga., where the Bruins will head out to complete their NCAA run.

In one of three non-decisions in singles play, Carling Seguso contributed a series of vocal outbursts to the spirited vocal environment. A struggle of a first set that Seguso eventually won gave the senior fits. At one point, a frustrated Seguso questioned herself aloud, “What are you doing? This isn’t how I play tennis!”

“I’m normally really aggressive, take balls early. The girl I played is a pusher and her type of ball I love, but today I was playing too much not to lose because I knew I was going to win, but I was just playing not to lose,” Seguso said of her match against a conservative opponent.

The senior recognized that her game was thrown off by her competition’s unorthodox tendencies, such as hitting balls flat and passing up forehands to hit backhands.

Brown felt that much of Long Beach played similarly to the player opposite Seguso.

“We’re such a fast-striking team, we’re an aggressive team, and the teams counteract that with trying to counterpunch and retreat … (and) not a lot of aggressive tennis. Once the teams see that they cannot match up, they change strategies. “¦ You’re going to face teams that can’t match up talent-wise with you (but) will definitely match up strategy-wise with you,” Brown said.

Thursday’s draw pits Brown’s team against someone who has seen her share of UCLA strategy. The Bruins will face a Rice University team led by UCLA alumna Elizabeth Schmidt, a former Pac-10 star whose Owls pulled off two straight upsets in Mississippi to earn the right to play against her alma mater in the Sweet 16.