Less than one week after bowing out of the team competition in
heartbreaking fashion, a pair of UCLA women’s tennis players
are looking to capture individual national titles. Daniela Bercek
and Riza Zalameda will kick off competition today in the doubles
portion of the NCAA Championships with a first-round match against
New Mexico’s Iva Gersic and Maja Kovacek. Bercek teamed with
Lauren Fisher to win the event last year. “I feel superior to
some of the people, but you always need to prove yourself,”
Bercek said. “I need to defend the title.” The
sophomore lost her chance to win the individual singles title after
falling to TCU’s Helena Besovic 7-6 (2), 6-4 yesterday
afternoon. “I didn’t feel really well, and it was 90
degrees,” Bercek said. The loss was a stark contrast to
Bercek’s previous match, where she cruised to a comfortable
straight set win over USC’s Nicole Leimbach in the NCAA team
event. “It was so hard to see because we should have won that
match,” Bercek said. Zalameda, on the other hand, fared
better in the individual event, scoring a 2-6, 7-5, 6-4 win over
sixth-seeded Robin Stephenson of Alabama. She will face North
Carolina’s Kendall Cline in the second round this morning
before her doubles match with Bercek.
WOMEN’S BASKETBALL: Junior guard Lisa Willis of the UCLA
women’s basketball team has been selected as one of 16
finalists for the USA World University Games Team. The finalists
for the team will convene July 28 for training camp in Colorado
Springs, Colo., at which time the final 12-person roster will be
set. On Aug. 5, the team will travel to Izmir, Turkey, and train
until the 2005 World University Games gets underway on Aug. 10. The
women’s basketball competition games will run Aug. 10 through
Aug. 19 and feature 21 teams from across the world. Bruins Nikki
Blue and Noelle Quinn also tried out for the team, but were not
selected as finalists.
Compiled by Andrew Finley and Seth Fast Glass, Bruin Sports
senior staff.