DAVE HILL/Daily Bruin Senior Staff Senior
Jennifer Donahue reaches for the ball in a match
against Irvine earlier this season. Third Round, NCAAs
Vanderbilt 4 UCLA 1
By Hannah Gordon
Daily Bruin Contributor
The No. 30 UCLA women’s tennis team’s season came to
an end today as they lost 4-1 to No. 6 Vanderbilt in the third
round of NCAA Championships in Stone Mountain, Georgia.
Four of the players, however, will go on to the NCAA Individual
Tournament next week.
The team got off to a rough start in doubles. At No. 1, freshman
Lauren Fisher and junior Petya Marinova, ranked No. 18 nationally,
lost 8-1 to Vanderbilt’s Julie Ditty and Kate Burson, ranked
No. 5. Their styles did not match well because Fisher and Marinova
favor an aggressive serve and volley while Ditty and Burson stayed
back from the net and mixed their plays up with spin on the
ball.
“Playing No. 1 is hard, but Petya and Lauren were too hot
and cold. They are either fantastic or horrendous,” Head
Coach Stella Sampras said.
At No. 3, senior Jennifer Donahue and junior Catherine Hawley
lost 8-4, giving Vanderbilt the doubles point. The No. 2 match was
still in play but was suspended as soon as the doubles point was
determined.
In singles, sophomore Sara Walker, ranked No. 18 nationally,
accounted for UCLA’s only point when she defeated No. 15
Julie Ditty 6-3, 7-6 in the top spot.
Unfortunately, the match slipped out of UCLA’s grasp with
three defeats in singles. At No. 3, UCLA’s Fisher lost 6-2,
6-3 to Vanderbilt’s Miller. At No. 5, Bruin freshman Mariko
Fritz-Krockow fell 7-5, 6-3 to Aleke Tsoubanos. At No. 6, Donahue
was defeated 6-3, 6-2 by Kelly Schmandt.
Because of the tight schedule, the NCAA suspends unfinished
matches once one team wins the requisite four points. As a result,
Catherine Hawley and Petya Marinova’s matches at No. 2 and
No. 4, respectively, were stopped.
Both could have won their matches given that Marinova was up a
set and Hawley was only down one set.
“Vanderbilt came out fired up and they are fighters. They
have a lot of heart,” Sampras said. “We have heart and
talent, as well, but I think the difference is that they’ve
been more consistent over the year.”
The team is disappointed, but must set its its sights on the
next task at hand: the individual tournament.
“It is never fun being around a tournament you’re
not in,” Sampras said. “But we’ve got to get
ready and at least we have more time to do that.”
Although Walker is the only Bruin competing in singles, two UCLA
teams will be represented in doubles. UCLA’s No. 1 team of
Fisher and Marinova will compete as well as the No. 2 team of
Walker and Fritz-Krockow. The latter have been playing especially
well lately. Before today’s suspended match they won their
last ten matches and the Pac-10 doubles championship.
The individual tournament begins Monday.