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Feriel Esseghir’s 4-6, 6-2, 6-2 win over Washington’s Colleen Gray helped the Bruins

The women’s tennis team nearly ended its season with the same sort of disappointment that has permeated its 2003 campaign.

In the NCAA tournament round of 16, the No. 11-seed Bruins found themselves trailing the No. 6 seed Washington Huskies 3-1. From that point, UCLA rallied to win the final three matches and advance to the NCAA quarterfinals with a 4-3 victory.

“It was just a battle. We won the doubles point, and Washington came out in the singles just firing away,” UCLA head coach Stella Sampras Webster said. “We got down in a lot of first sets. I am just proud of my players for not giving up and coming back. This match could have gone either way.

“Neither one of us deserved to lose that match, but I am glad that Laura (Gordon) was able to finish up and pull that out.”

The Bruins came out red hot to start the match, with Sara Walker and Laura Gordon earning a quick 8-3 win at No. 2 doubles. Anya Loncaric and Susi Wild lost 8-6 on the third doubles court, but Feriel Esseghir and Jackie Carleton ousted Colleen Gray and Dea Sumantri 8-2 to secure the doubles point for the Bruins.

Singles was a very different story at the start, as Washington won the first set in five of the six singles matches. The Huskies turned three of those into victories to take a 3-1 lead in the match. Carleton, in her first match back after a prolonged absence due to shin splints, lost 6-4, 6-4, and the usually reliable Wild was also defeated in straight sets. The Huskies’ third point came at the No. 6 position, where Dinka Hadzic of Washington turned in a 6-2, 1-6, 6-1 victory over Anya Loncaric.

At that point things started to change for the Bruins. Walker, an All-American, was leading 6-4, 5-5 when Sumantri had to retire due to a left knee injury. That made the score 3-2 in favor of Washington. Esseghir fought back after losing the first set to tie the match with a 4-6, 6-2, 6-2 win.

That left only Gordon on the court, where she had a comfortable 5-1 lead in the third set. Her opponent Erin Hoe charged back, winning five of the next six games, but Gordon was able to win the tie-breaker 7-4 to stamp UCLA’s ticket to the quarterfinal.

The Bruins now advance to face No. 3 seed Duke in the quarterfinal today at 7 a.m. The Blue Devils advanced with a 4-0 win over William and Mary Thursday.

The NCAA Championship game will be on Sunday at 11 a.m, with semifinals on Saturday.