Women’s tennis secures spot in indoor championship following two weekend wins
Sophomore Taylor Johnson and partner, junior Abi Altick, posted the clinching doubles win for UCLA women’s tennis’ victory over Loyola Marymount on Saturday. Their 6-4 win put the Bruins up 1-0 heading into singles play. (Andy Bao/Daily Bruin)
By Donovon Barnes
Jan. 26, 2020 4:08 p.m.
The Bruins punched their ticket to the ITA National Women’s Team Indoor Championship.
No. 4 UCLA women tennis (2-0) recorded two 4-0 wins the ITA Kick-Off Weekend, defeating both Minnesota (2-2) and Loyola Marymount (1-1) to secure an automatic berth to the indoor championship held in Chicago from Feb. 7-10.
Freshman Abbey Forbes secured the clinching point for the Bruins on Saturday, after defeating Eva Marie Voracek 6-3, 6-1. She said her performance was built off the encouragement of her teammates.
“Well, my teammates helped me out and told me to keep fighting,” Forbes said. “That’s sort of my process, to use my physicality to my advantage so I can be out there as long as possible, to play and fight for my teammates, myself and for the Bruins.”
Against LMU on Saturday, sophomore Elysia Bolton – who is ranked No. 14 in singles – downed the Lions’ Veronika Miroshnichenko 6-3, 6-0 to record her first dual match singles win of the season. Bolton’s match against Minnesota’s Tina Kreinis went unfinished Friday.
Freshman Sasha Vagramov also recorded her first singles and doubles wins of her career with a over LMU’s Lillian Gabrielsen 6-1, 6-1, after both her singles and doubles matches against Minnesota went unfinished.
In doubles action, the tandem of Vagramov and Bolton defeated the Lions’ Siobhan Anderson and Gabrielson in a 6-2 victory to give the Bruins the early lead. On court three, junior Abi Altick and sophomore Taylor Johnson rallied to clinch the doubles point for the Bruins with a 6-4 win over Yesica De Lucas and Voracek.
“It’s definitely tough, I think you have to be ready and always be on your game,” Johnson said. “It’s always good to be in these situations, especially when the match is counting on you to get the doubles point.”
Forbes and junior Annette Goulak were unsuccessful against the Lions’ Katerina Filip and Miroshnichenko in a 6-3 loss.
Coach Stella Sampras Webster said she was thrilled with the victory, but knows there is still work to be done.
“Overall, I think we played pretty well,” Sampras Webster said. “We were challenged and we played well, because every team’s good. We can improve on some things. I think we missed on putting away matches early, so just some fine tuning here and there, because I believe that we have a really good team and its just about putting it all together.”
