Tennis team sweeps Loyola, 7-0
After eight consecutive 4-3 decisions, the UCLA women’s tennis team finally notched a convincing victory with a 7-0 destruction of Loyola Marymount on Wednesday.
“I definitely enjoy these matches a lot more. They are much less stressful,” UCLA head coach Stella Sampras Webster said. “In college tennis every match is tough, and I was pleased that everyone took care of their matches.”
The Bruins’ last decision by a margin of more than a point came on Jan. 30 against similarly unheralded UC Irvine.
While UCLA (8-4) was without a significant portion of its regular line-up, the team showed no signs of weakness. The Bruins secured all three doubles matches. Each of the six singles players, all in their first year of dual match play, posted straight set wins.
Jackie Carleton and Susi Wild played No. 1 doubles and cruised to an 8-4 win over Edit Pakay and Diana Vinis of LMU. Sara Walker and Laura Gordon combined for an 8-3 victory at No. 2 doubles, and at the third spot Shilpa Joshi and Nina Yaftali blanked Patrycia Hubl and Erin Sanchez 8-0.
Singles play was more of the same for UCLA, as the Bruins quickly erased any chance the Lions had. Yaftali, playing her first ever collegiate dual match, embarrassed Sanchez 6-0, 6-0, at No. 6 singles in a match that was over in less than a half hour. Gordon had similar success on court four, beating up on Jennifer Baker 6-3, 6-1.
“I got some confidence back today, after losing in Arizona,” Gordon said. “It will be good to have a little bit of confidence going into our match against ’SC.”
Anya Loncaric rolled to a 6-1, 6-0 victory over Georgina Dinham to secure the victory for UCLA.
Injuries have prevented the Bruins from fielding their strongest line-up all year, and Wednesday was no exception. Senior No. 8 Sara Walker was limited to doubles play with a slight hamstring pull. Sarah Gregg has also been bothered by a sore hamstring and did not play.
Both players are expected to be ready to play when UCLA travels across town to face USC next Wednesday. Lauren Fisher and Ferriel Esseghir both are continuing to recover from their injuries, and Sampras Webster hopes that they will be available to play doubles against the Trojans.
Last time the two teams played, the Trojans squeaked out a 4-3 win at the Los Angeles Tennis Center.
“If we can get everyone healthy, there is no reason why we can’t beat ’SC,” Carleton said. “They better be ready for us because we’re ready to get them.”



