• printer friendly
• mail this article
• iPod format
• digg

It took nearly five hours, but the short-handed No. 9 Bruins defeated No. 17 Fresno State 4-3 at the Los Angeles Tennis Center Wednesday.

UCLA has been plagued by injuries all year, the most recent of which is a lower back strain suffered by All-American senior Sara Walker, currently ranked No. 6 in the country.

Her injury limited her to doubles duty yesterday, where she teamed with junior Lauren Fisher and registered an 8-4 win at the No. 1 position. Walker is expected to return to singles play this weekend when the team travels to Arizona, but Fisher, who saw her first dual match action of the season on Friday at Pepperdine, likely will not be available to play singles until at least April.

“It feels good (to be back playing again), and I feel like I’m getting better with every match,” Fisher said. “Ultimately I want to play some singles, but I have to take it slow because I can’t put too much pressure on my elbow too early.”

The Bruins secured the doubles point for the second consecutive match, sweeping all three matches. With the insertion of Fisher into the lineup, the Bruins fielded three new doubles combinations. At No. 2 doubles Jackie Carleton and Susi Wild won 8-7, and Laura Gordon and Sarah Gregg turned in an 8-6 victory at No. 3.

“I was very happy to see us win the doubles point, and I think the teams will definitely get better as the season goes on,” UCLA head coach Stella Sampras Webster said. “We’re just going to be patient and keep working with them.”

Singles play was an adventure to say the least for the Bruins. With Walker out of the lineup everyone had to play up a spot, and freshmen Shilpa Joshi saw her first action of the dual match season.

“Players really had to step up today with Walker out of the line-up,” Sampras said. “I think our team did a pretty good job with the change up.”

The Bruins got their first singles victory on the No. 2 court, where Susi Wild continued her hot streak with a 6-1, 6-3 win over Lucia Sainz.

The freshman from Germany has now won five straight singles matches.

“She has been a very solid player for us,” Webster said. “She is adjusting well to UCLA and to playing here and I’ve been very pleased with her.”

On court three Gregg jumped out a quick lead with a 6-1 first-set win, but she just as quickly found herself in a 0-5 hole in the second set.

“I switched off a little bit (early in the second set),” Gregg said. “But every game was very close, they all seemed to be going to deuce.”

Gregg managed to turn things around in impressive fashion, winning the final seven games of the match en route to a 6-1, 7-5 victory.

The clinching victory came on court four for the Bruins where Gordon recorded a 7-6, 6-3 win over Vlatka Jovanovic.

“I was a little shaky at times today, but I played well at the end so that was good,” Gordon said. “I was aggressive and got to the net as much as I could, but my serve isn’t exactly great right now.”

Fresno State picked up wins on courts five and six, with Kristy McRae and Katherin Winterhalter defeating Loncaric and Joshi respectively.

The marquee match of the day was on court one, where Carleton battled No. 27 Chloe Carlotti, who came into today’s match with a perfect record in singles dual match play. After nearly three hours of long rallies and quick momentum changes Carlotti emerged with a 7-5, 6-3, 7-6 (0) victory. Carleton led the second set 5-1, but Carlotti took the next five games to gain a 6-5 advantage. Despite cramping in both of her legs, Carleton fought off five match points to force a tie-breaker, but Carlotti won the tie-breaker to secure the victory.

“Jackie plays tough matches. They are always long and she works very hard,” Webster said. “She had opportunities to win in the third set, but I think she will learn from this and it won’t happen again.”