EDWARD LIN/ Daily Bruin Senior Staff Sara
Walkerand the No. 8-ranked UCLA women’s tennis team upset
the No. 4-ranked Blue Devils in Tuesday’s match.
By Eric Perez
Daily Bruin Contributor
Senior women’s tennis player Catherine Hawley didn’t
mind the pressure that came with turning around the No. 8
Bruins’ luck in close matches.
With the dual-match versus No. 4 Duke tied at three a piece,
Hawley delivered yet another match victory when she defeated Katie
Granson 7-5, 4-6, 6-3. Hawley’s win sealed UCLA’s upset
of Duke on Tuesday afternoon at the Los Angeles Tennis Center.
“You have to enjoy the pressure,” Hawley said.
“But it was really exciting because we’ve had some
close matches that we’ve lost and we finally won
one.”
The Bruins dropped the doubles point, but rallied back to win
four out the six singles matches. No small achievement considering
that Duke has four players in the top 75.
UCLA freshman Megan Bradley and sophomore Lauren Fisher had to
play the deciding match for the doubles point.
Leading 7-6 at one point Fisher/Bradley squandered three
straight match points before losing three straight games to fall to
Duke’s tandem of Amanda Johnson and Julie Deroo 9-7.
“We all realized, after seeing (Duke’s) players in
doubles, that we we’re better than them, so it was more
motivation for us to win,” Bradley said.
Senior Petya Marinova defeated No. 17 Deroo in two sets 6-1, 6-4
to tie the score one all.
Bradley, ranked No. 5 in singles, defeated long time junior
circuit arch rival, No. 3 Kelly McCain, 6-4, 6-3 to give the Bruins
the match lead.
Then, Junior Sara Walker defeated Amanda Johnson 6-4, 1-6, 6-2,
to bring the Bruins one match away from an upset.
Freshman Sarah Gregg was defeated by Ioana Plesu of Duke 6-1,
6-3. Fisher then lost to Ioana Plesu 6-4, 6-4, before
Hawley’s victory sealed it.
After two excruciatingly close losses to Texas and USC, the
Bruins were elated.
“It’s what we need,” UCLA Head coach Stella
Sampras said. “We’ve got a very good team, and they
know it now, because they proved it.”