EDWARD LIN/Daily Bruin Senior Staff Petya
Marinova and UCLA women’s tennis had a rewarding
season.
By Eric Perez
DAILY BRUIN REPORTER
[email protected]
The first goal of UCLA women’s tennis was to “earn
back that respect,” as UCLA head coach Stella Sampras put it.
In hindsight, it seems now that task was all too easy for this team
to accomplish.
The Bruins were armed with the nation’s top recruit, Megan
Bradley, who began the season with junior all-American Sara Walker
ranked in the top 10. And with two doubles squads ranked in the top
10, the only real uncertainty surrounding this team was whether the
Bruins could stay healthy.
The Bruins did retain their relative health, and so the bar was
raised throughout the year as they began compiling wins. Their
season began with three easy victories over Loyola Marymount,
Pepperdine and UC Irvine.
UCLA’s first big test for legitimacy came with its early
season matchup against arch-rival USC. Playing in front of a
hostile Trojan crowd, the Bruins defeated the Women of Troy
5-2.
Then the Bruins moved on for a pair of easy victories against
Fresno State and Pepperdine. They also swept the Arizona schools,
landing them among the top 10 in the national rankings.
UCLA then headed to Texas to take on the Longhorns. In what
would prove to be a very strange afternoon, with a cold Texas
winter mandating a venue change, the Bruins lost their first dual
match of the season 4-2.
The Bruins would lose their second dual match in row when USC
avenged its earlier loss by winning a dramatic match 4-3.
After that, they cruised, winning the rest of the regular season
with the only blemishes being a pair of 6-1 losses to eventual 2002
NCAA champs Stanford. The Bruins went on to dominate an overmatched
Southern University 4-0 and Washington 4-1 in the NCAA regionals.
In the round of 16, the Bruins defeated the Women of Troy 4-1 in
perhaps their most complete victory of the season.
Their NCAA title run was eventually cut short in the NCAA
quarterfinals by Georgia 4-2 in a closely contested match that the
Bulldogs won in a come-from-behind victory after losing the doubles
point. This would be the last time senior captains Catherine Hawley
and Petya Marinova would play for UCLA in team competition.
The bar is set for UCLA women’s tennis. Returning players
will include No. 1 and No. 2 singles players Bradley and Walker,
Gregg, sophomores Lauren Fisher and Mariko Fritz-Krockow and
freshman Anya Loncaric, who will shed her redshirt status.
The offseason will be important as Sampras will be looking for
another strong recruiting class and two new team captains, plus a
new doubles partner for Walker. A possible partner for Walker might
be Fritz-Krockow, who teamed with her in the 2001 season for a
Pac-10 championship.
Barring injury and provided strong new leadership, a solid
recruiting class and improvement this coming offseason, there is no
reason why the Bruins shouldn’t make an even more serious run
at the national championship next year.