MICHAEL LITSCHI Sophomore Lauren Fisher
lunges after the ball against Pepperdine.
By Eric Perez
Daily Bruin Contributor
One could feel a slight nervous tension pulsing through the L.A.
Tennis Center before Friday’s match versus Loyola
Marymount.
It was the official start of the dual match season for UCLA
women’s tennis. The chair umpire introduced the doubles
tandem of freshman Megan Bradley and sophomore Lauren Fisher on
court one: “On my right is the No. 1 UCLA women’s
doubles team Megan Bradley and Amy Fisher.”
Bradley and Fisher immediately looked at each other and laughed,
and so did everyone in the LATC who heard the umpire’s
mistake.
“Go Amy!” A UCLA fan teased.
Then Bradley kicked off the dual match season with a searing
serve that was barely returned with a floating volley that Fisher
crushed at the net with the kind of ferocity that would have made
even Joey Buttafuoco blush. Fisher/Bradley won the match 8-2.
No. 16 UCLA rolled over LMU 7-0 without a single Bruin player
dropping a set the whole afternoon. The Bruins then came back the
next day and took on No. 24 Pepperdine and blew the Waves out of
the water 6-1.
“It’s been a while since we won a match 7-0,”
UCLA head coach Stella Sampras said. “Then today (against
Pepperdine), I was very pleased with the way our players are
competing and the way they are playing. It’s a great weekend
and a great start to the season and I think everyone is excited and
they are realizing how good they are.”
The only compelling singles match over the weekend was freshman
Sarah Gregg’s 7-6, 6-3 come from behind two set victory over
LMU’s Angelina Zdorovytska. Gregg, battling slumping play,
came from behind in both sets. She was down 0-3 in the second
before firing off six straight games to seal the shutout for the
Bruins.
“What I’ve done in the last two days was learn to
win when I’m not playing well,” said Gregg, who
dispatched Pepperdine’s Monika Horvath 6-0, 1-6, 6-2 the next
day. “I just had to focus on doing what I can do and finding
a way to win.”
Due to injuries the Bruins have had to juggle their lineup.
Sophomore Mariko Fritz-Krockow, who played on Friday, has been
battling plantar fasciitis in her foot and senior Petya Marinova
forfeited Saturday’s game against Peperdine’s Charlotte
Vernaz with a strained hamstring.
“If it came down to it I could have kept playing and have
won,” said Marinoova, who strained her hamstring on Wednesday
and did not play on Friday. “But since everyone did really
well and already won their matches, it’s not really worth it
to make it worse.”
With two tough matches against UC Irvine on Wednesday and No.7
USC of Friday, the Bruins prime concern is to stay healthy.
And maybe even avoid a case of mistaken identity.