Women’s tennis drops single point en route to victory against USC
Playing in just the singles portion of the match, sophomore Abbey Forbes picked up No. 6 UCLA women’s tennis’s first singles point for the fourth time this season, extending the team’s lead, one it would never lose. (Antonio Martinez/Daily Bruin)
Women's Tennis
| No. 6 UCLA | 6 |
| No. 17 USC | 1 |
By Olivia Simons
Feb. 27, 2021 9:26 a.m.
For the third time in a row, the Bruins have defeated their crosstown rivals.
No. 6 UCLA women’s tennis (6-2) beat No. 17 USC (5-3) by a score of 6-1 on Friday, making the overall series record between the two schools 56-51 and giving the Bruins their third consecutive win against the Women of Troy.
UCLA clinched the win at a score of 4-0 with the doubles point and three singles victories, and later won two more singles matches and lost one. The win came after a 4-3 loss to then-No. 17 California last weekend.
“I think (the win) was much needed,” said senior Annette Goulak. “Morale is kind of low – we’re a really talented team but it’s tough taking those road losses. To come back in such a decisive fashion against a big rival like today at ‘SC was super fun and exciting.”
The first doubles victory for the Bruins came from Goulak and senior Vivian Wolff, who beat USC’s Salma Ewing and Clare McKee 6-1. Goulak said despite any nerves that come from playing the Trojans, she and Wolff were able to play well together.
“We were a little nervous in the beginning, but we have complete and total trust in each other and we just went for it,” Goulak said. “Everything fell into place and it was just super fun and quick.”
No. 1-ranked doubles team junior Elysia Bolton and graduate student Jada Hart suffered a loss last weekend against California, and also lost their doubles match against USC during their last contest in 2020. In this match, however, they were able to defeat the Trojans’ doubles pairing of Eryn Cayetano and Naomi Cheong 6-3, clinching the doubles point for UCLA.
“(Hart) came up with some huge serves, huge returns, I could tell she was super focused,” said coach Stella Sampras Webster. “(Bolton) did a good job executing her shots. That was great for them as a team. I felt like (Hart) really upped her level, had some amazing shots that you would probably see on ESPN.”
No. 7-ranked singles player sophomore Abbey Forbes earned the first singles point for the Bruins when she beat Cayetano 6-1, 6-4. This was her second match in a row winning the first singles point and her fourth this season.
Forbes said playing USC helped her motivation and confidence in her match.
“This match, whether there’s fans or not, it’s loud, it’s rowdy,” Forbes said. “We never want to lose to the Trojans no matter where we’re playing them or what time of year it is. That definitely gave me confidence going in and made me want to fight that much harder for my teammates.”
No. 113-ranked singles player sophomore Sasha Vagramov clinched the victory for UCLA when she defeated USC’s Summer Dvorak 6-3, 6-3. Vagramov also clinched the win for the Bruins in their last match against the Trojans, one of her team-high six 2020 clinching victories.
Other UCLA singles victories came from No. 9-ranked singles player Bolton, as well as Wolff and Goulak.
“They all really came out and played extremely well and competed hard,” Sampras Webster said. “It was a super team effort – everyone fought hard and to beat ‘SC 6-1 is not easy, so they all did a really great job.”
Sampras Webster also said her team did a good job controlling its emotions during the match against the team’s rival.
“I think what this team did was manage their emotions, manage the situation and the moment really well,” Sampras Webster said. “I was really happy with the way they did that. It was unfortunate we didn’t get to play with fans because that always makes it more exciting, but anytime we beat the Trojans, it’s a good day to be a Bruin.”
