By Eric Perez
DAILY BRUIN CONTRIBUTOR
[email protected]
PALO ALTO “”mdash; The UCLA women’s tennis squad was
somewhat reticent to play up the rivalry aspect of their NCAA
tournament matchup against USC. NCAA tournament pressure was high
to begin with and UCLA reasoned that facing USC would not make much
of a difference.
But reason does have its way of disappearing in the heat of a
do-or-die battle with one’s arch-rival.
“It’s always exciting to beat ‘SC,”
senior team captain Catherine Hawley said.
“It’s exciting to win our first round up here in
Stanford but when it’s your cross-town rival, someone you
lost to at home, and it’s your senior year, all those factors
make it that much more sweet.”
There was just too much intrigue in this matchup to not make it
the intense competition that it was.
Looming over the Bruins’ head was the possibility of
losing, for the entire UCLA athletic department, the first Lexus
Gauntlet Trophy to USC, a trophy intended to be handed out
annually. The Lexus Gauntlet Trophy awards the most successful
school in UCLA-USC matchups by way of a point system, and as it
stood previous to yesterday’s match USC led UCLA 55-52.5.
‘SC was a win away from winning the trophy, but now UCLA
leads 55-52.5, and the task of winning the trophy is left to the
baseball teams in their season ending series; the Bruins can win
the Gauntlet trophy with just one victory in the three game
series.
“There’s nothing more you can ask; ‘SC is our
rival and we beat them and now we’re in the
quarterfinals,” senior team captain Petya Marinova said.
“This win was good, just to prove that we’re the
better team. Plus we have to win that trophy.”
Don’t let the 4-1 score fool you; this match stretched
both teams in pulling out their collective best.
The heroes of the day for the Bruins were the bottom half of the
UCLA lineup. In the doubles point, all three Bruin teams were down
early to USC. But at No. 3 doubles, Hawley and freshman Sarah Gregg
came back from a 4-1 deficit to even the score at 8-8 before their
game was suspended.
They held down the fort while sophomore Lauren Fisher and
freshman Megan Bradley cruised with seven straight points to win
8-3. Marinova and junior Sara Walker battled back to win the point
at 8-6.
After the doubles point, Hawley at No. 6 singles outlasted
Melissa Esmero 6-4, 7-5. At No. 4 singles, Sarah Gregg fought
through heat exhaustion before her match was suspended at 7-6
(8-6), 4-4. While at No. 5 singles, Fisher sealed the victory for
the Bruins in an emotional come-from-behind win 2-6, 6-1, 7-5.
Seeing the dejection on the faces of the Women of Troy, some of
whom were in tears after the match, and some others who simply
refused to comment, was evidence enough of the emotion that this
rivalry usually produces.
“It is disappointing having come all the way out here to
lose to one of our biggest rivals, but you learn from it and go to
the next season,” said USC freshman Luana Magnani.
“UCLA just outplayed us today, some played better than
others, but all of us gave our best in all of our
matches.”