By Jeff Agase Daily Bruin Contributor
The UCLA women’s tennis team made it two-for-two on the season
against crosstown rival USC Saturday at the Los Angeles Tennis
Center with an impressive 6-3 victory.
The Bruins (11-5, 5-2 Pac-10) entered the contest ranked eighth
nationally and in desperate need of a solid conference win in order
to keep up with the rest of the extremely competitive Pac-10.
When the two teams met in Los Angeles exactly one month before,
the Bruins found themselves down 4-2, but won the last three
matches to ensure a 5-4 win. This time, however, things were
different. UCLA pounced on the No. 7 Trojans in singles, winning
four of the six matches and entering the three doubles matches in
need of only one win to clinch the victory.
Senior Annica Cooper said that hard work during the team’s week
off allowed the Bruins to get out to an early lead.
"We had a really good week of practice. We worked really hard
this whole week," Cooper said. "It’s a great way to start the
spring quarter."
Freshman Abigail Spears won quickly in straight sets over USC’s
Veronika Safarova, 6-1, 6-4, to start the singles surge, then
Cooper won easily over eighth-ranked Jewel Peterson in the No. 2
singles slot, 6-2, 6-3.
But after Amanda Basica dropped her match in the No. 1 spot to
USC’s Kara Warkentin 7-5, 6-4, and Catherine Hawley lost to USC’s
Jacqui Boyd, 6-4, 6-4, the match appeared to be up for grabs.
Senior Elizabeth Schmidt scored an inspired win over Southern
Cal’s Anita Loyola at the No. 4 singles spot, 6-4, 3-6, 6-2, while
in the No. 6 slot, sophomore Petya Marinova pulled out an arduous
three-set win over Tiffany Brymer, 6- 4, 3-6, 6-4.
"I felt good because I was hitting the ball better than I have
been hitting lately," Schmidt said. "I was able to really rely on
my serve. I felt good going into the third set, and just tried not
to panic and continue to play my game.
"I guess we wanted to win more," she added.
Schmidt teamed up with Spears in doubles play to score the
clinching win, 8-5, over Safarova and Loyola. Sara Walker and
Basica dropped their match at No. 1 doubles to Warkentin and
Brymer, 8-4, but Marinova and Cooper added a tough 9-8 (7-4) win at
the No. 3 spot over Peterson and Caroline Christian.
UCLA head coach Stella Sampras cited the two three-set wins in
singles matches as the reasons for the victory. "Winning some key
matches, and some three-setters, that was the key," Sampras
said.
The Bruins certainly do not have time to let the win set in,
however, as they host top-ranked Stanford Friday at the Los Angeles
Tennis Center at 1:30 p.m. They then host sixth- ranked California
on Saturday at noon, also at the LATC.