There is a picture that UCLA senior Noelle Hickey looks at for inspiration from time to time, but it is not of a family member, former teammate or role model. It is a picture of herself, from almost exactly one year ago, with her head in her hands in shame, taken immediately after last year’s season-ending loss to Duke in the round of 16 of the NCAA Tournament.

“I look at it sometimes to remind me how terrible that felt,” Hickey said.

Sunday, with her team up 3-2 to the same Blue Devils team that ended their season a year ago, Hickey found herself in prime position to even the score and took full advantage of the opportunity.

Hickey out-battled Duke senior Ellah Nze on court No. 2, eking out a 7-6 (4), 5-7, 6-2 win that clinched the 4-2 victory for the Bruins.

“This feels so good,” Hickey said. “I’m so happy that we got our revenge. We deserved to win. I thought we were the tougher team and we played better.”

No. 6 seed UCLA (22-5) will play No. 2 seed Florida (29-1) in the national semifinals today.

Perhaps the most crucial element of the Bruins’ win was the energy with which they came out in doubles play. Doubles has been an area of uncertainty for the Bruins this year, but coach Stella Sampras Webster is glad to see her players improving their game in that area of late.

Hickey and her doubles partner, junior McCall Jones, easily dispatched of senior Nadine Fahoum and freshman Hanna Mar 8-0, and senior Maya Johansson and sophomore Pamela Montez were soon to follow with an 8-5 victory over sophomore Mary Clayton and junior Monica Gorny to get UCLA on the board first.

“That was some of the best doubles McCall and I have played all year,” Hickey said. “I think (Duke’s) girls came out a little bit tight, and we took advantage of that right away.”

The Bruins came out strong in singles as well, but the Blue Devils (25-5) would not go down easily. Duke evened the match at 1-1 when freshman Rachel Kahan topped UCLA freshman Courtney Dolehide 6-4, 6-4 on court No. 5. Montez was the only Bruin to win in straight sets Sunday, downing senior Elizabeth Plotkin 7-5, 6-4 at the No. 4 spot to give the Bruins a 2-1 lead they would not relinquish.

Jones battled back from a first set loss to claim the No. 1 singles match with a 2-6, 6-2, 6-3 win over Fahoum. Jones, a transfer from Brigham Young University, is unbeaten so far in her first NCAA Tournament, posting wins in all four of the Bruins’ matches.

“The pressure has really helped me to succeed in this tournament,” Jones said. “There’s nothing like … feeling like if I lose or if the team loses, then it’s the end.”

With the other matches decided, it was up to any one of UCLA’s three seniors – Hickey, Johansson and Andrea Remynse – to play the role of hero and send the team to the final four. But when Johansson failed to complete her comeback and the outcome of Remynse’s match looked bleak, it was up to Hickey to make amends for last year.

“I’m really happy that in my senior year I was able to clinch such a big match,” Hickey said.

UCLA’s next matchup against the Florida Gators today is a flashback to the 2008 national semifinals, when the Bruins defeated the Gators 4-2 en route to winning the national championship, the school’s only women’s tennis title since it became an NCAA sport in 1982.

Florida’s only loss this year came at the hands of unbeaten Stanford (27-0) in the final round of the Intercollegiate Tennis Association National Team Indoors in February.

“Now that we’re in the final four, anything can happen,” Sampras Webster said. “(Florida has) had a great season, but they haven’t seen us.”