Women’s tennis shoots down California, Stanford in away games

After sweeping both their Bay Area rivals within the last month, the Bruins once again came out on top – this time in hostile territory.

One day after claiming a 4-3 victory over California (3-4, 1-1 Pac-12), No. 3 UCLA women’s tennis (12-1, 2-0) defeated No. 9 Stanford (10-2, 1-1) by a score of 4-1 Saturday, its first win at the Taube Tennis Center since 2014.

Saturday’s win marked the Bruins’ second defeat of the Cardinal this season, as UCLA swept Stanford in the semifinals of the ITA indoors Feb. 9. UCLA had also beaten California at home Feb. 21 by a score of 7-0.

“We knew it was going to be a tough match,” said coach Stella Sampras Webster. “We also knew Stanford was trying to get some revenge on us from the (ITA) indoors, but I think our doubles came off really strong. We really got off to a great start there.”

Not long after juniors Abi Altick and Annette Goulak earned a 6-0 doubles win on court three, sophomore Elysia Bolton and redshirt senior Jada Hart clinched the doubles point for the Bruins with a 6-1 victory on court one.

The Bruins have now won 12 out of 13 doubles points this season.

“It helps so much (to get the doubles point), especially against a tough team like Stanford,” Altick said. “Just coming out and dominating the doubles really gets us going into singles.”

Altick also provided the first singles point for UCLA against Stanford with a 6-3, 6-1 straight sets victory over the Cardinal’s No. 97 Janice Shin, marking her fifth straight singles win and her first over a ranked opponent this season. Altick also earned the Bruins’ first singles point Friday with a 6-0, 6-2 straight sets win over the Bears’ Anna Bright.

“Altick’s been playing some of the best tennis she’s played since she’s been at UCLA,” Sampras Webster said. “That’s really been a big help at both singles and doubles. She’s just such a fighter and a great player.”

On court five against Stanford, Goulak found herself trailing the Cardinal’s Sara Choy 5-1 during the first set tiebreaker. However, the junior transfer climbed back to claim a 7-6 (8), 6-4 straight sets victory while Bolton and freshman Sasha Vagramov – who had clinched her team-high sixth match against the Bears the day before – were each still locked in their third sets.

Goulak’s win clinched the victory for UCLA over Stanford for the first time in her career as a Bruin.

“It felt unreal,” Goulak said. “Indescribable feeling. … We have a lot of hard workers, and when someone’s not playing well, someone else is there to pick up the slack. We have really great team camaraderie, and we’re always there for one another. That’s why we’ve all been super successful.”

Sampras Webster said the key behind the Bruins’ success away from home this weekend was the team’s ability to avoid off-court distractions. Namely, the match at Stanford was delayed four hours because of rain.

“Every match this weekend was really tough, contested and competitive,” Sampras Webster said. “I was really proud of how they stayed within themselves, didn’t get distracted by the crowd or the moment or the delay, and stayed disciplined. A lot of times, it’s just about keeping them calm and sticking with their gameplans and just not getting distracted.”

With the two victories this weekend, UCLA extended its winning streak to five while securing a 2-0 start in Pac-12 play. The win also snapped Stanford’s 38-match regular season winning streak.

“We’re super happy,” Altick said. “We had a lot of motivation to win today, and I think this shows that we’re one of the best teams in the nation.”

The Bruins will get two weeks of rest before hosting Washington State and Washington at the Los Angeles Tennis Center on March 21 and 22, respectively.