Tuesday, February 17, 1998
Victory over USC brings hopes of repeat success in tourney
W.TENNIS: Club beats Trojans, stars are cleared for doubles
competition
By Jared Hummel
Daily Bruin Contributor
The latest chapter in the storied epic that is the UCLA-USC
rivalry lived up to its hype on Friday at the Los Angeles Tennis
Center.
When the dust cleared and order was once again restored, the
Bruins emerged tired and bruised but victorious.
"Every time we play ‘SC, it’s always a battle," UCLA head coach
Stella Sampras said. "Yeah, we’re No. 2 in the country and they’re
No. 25, but when we play each other neither team wants to lose and
they come out playing their best. Our team came out believing we
could win, it was close, but that’s how all of our matches against
USC are."
In undoubtedly the most exciting match of the young season, it
came down to the final doubles match of the afternoon to determine
the outcome as the team of Cristina Popescu and Brandi Freudenberg
battled to an 8-6 win to the chagrin of the beleaguered USC players
who had gathered around courtside.
The Bruins improved their record to 5-1 overall, 2-1 in Pac-10
action.
The win gives the Bruins momentum going into next week’s
ITA/USTA Team Indoors Tournament at Madison, Wisc. taking place
Feb. 19-22. This tourney will be a litmus test for the club because
they will be challenging the elite teams of the nation.
Beyond the excitement surrounding the victory, Friday featured
the return of All-American sophomore Katia Roubanova and
highly-touted freshman Popescu, who have both recovered from
injuries. They competed in doubles matches Friday but it is unknown
when they will be cleared to participate in singles.
"It’s good to be back in this atmosphere, but it was tough,"
Roubanova said. "I had to be intense from the first point. It was
definitely obvious that we had not played for awhile. It will take
time for us to get back together because we were a really good team
last year."
In singles action on Friday, the Bruins and women of Troy split
their matches down the middle 3-3.
Sophomore Annica Cooper was once again superb as she won easily
over USC junior Ditta Huber 6-2, 6-1, extending her unbeaten streak
in dual match play to six. With the dominance of Cooper’s game,
it’s hard to believe she is only the interim No. 1 player,
competing in that spot only during sophomore Amanda Basica’s
absence.
Rounding out Friday’s top three singles matches: UCLA sophomore
Elizabeth Schmidt fell to Veronika Safarova 7-5, 6-0 and Bruin
junior Kati Kocsis lost to Jacqui Boyd 6-3, 6-1.
UCLA senior Kelly Rudolph and junior Brandi won their matches in
positions four and five 6-2, 6-1 and 7-6, 6-3 respectively. Bruin
junior Alyson Gray dropped her match to USC’s Amber Basica, older
sister of UCLA’s Basica, 6-3, 6-1.
DERRICK KUDO
Anna Cooper in a match against UNLV.