UCLA
Stanford
UCLA Hosts Bay Area Schools to Open Pac-12 Play
March 09, 2017 | Women's Tennis
LOS ANGELES โ The No. 28 UCLA women's tennis team opens Pac-12 play Friday with a visit from No. 14 Stanford at 1:30 p.m. Then, on Saturday, No. 12 California invades Sunset Canyon Tennis Courts for a 12:00 p.m. clash. The Cardinal and Golden Bears mark the fifth and sixth consecutive ITA/Oracle Top-25 opponents for the Bruins.
The Bruins visited No. 13 Baylor on March 4, in their final tune-up before conference play. Moved inside to the Bears' Hawkins Indoor Tennis Center due to rain, the match went the distance, as the final point came by way of a third-set tiebreaker that went to the home team. The Bruins successfully utilized a new doubles lineup, as Ena Shibahara and Kristin Wiley posted the first win of the day on Court 3 and Terri Fleming and Jada Hart recorded the clinching decision on Court 1. Neither team led by more than one point throughout singles play, and two decisions took three sets. One of those came on Court 2, where Baylor's Elizabeth Profit held off Fleming, 3-6, 7-6, 7-6 (2), for the overall win.
When the ITA/Oracle rankings were released Tuesday, UCLA (6-4) singles players Shibahara and Hart found themselves at No. 3 and No. 81, respectively. Shibahara's singles win against Baylor ended a two-match skid and put her dual-match record at 7-2. Hart is 6-4 over the same span. In doubles, the same pair is ranked fourth in the nation with a 7-1 record.
Stanford comes to town with a record of 7-1. The Cardinal dropped its only match at No. 1 Florida, 4-1, on Feb. 19. Stanford is represented by six players in the latest singles rankings, as Melissa Lord (No. 13), Caroline Doyle (No. 36), Emma Higuchi (No. 46), Emily Arbuthnott (No. 67), Taylor Davidson (No. 69) and Caroline Lampl (No. 73) found themselves scattered throughout the top 75 Tuesday. The pair of Doyle and Lord is 29th in the doubles rankings.
In terms of common opponents, both the Cardinal and Bruins blanked Saint Mary's over the span of eight days. The Cardinal holds the all-time edge over the Bruins, 76-19. Most recently, UCLA fell on the road at Stanford, 5-1, in a Top-25 battle at the Taube Family Tennis Stadium on March 12, 2016.
The Bruins will also welcome the Golden Bears, who hold a 6-2 overall record and a previous win over UCLA. On Feb. 24, California's Olivia Hauger clinched an eventual 6-1 victory in a non-conference match at the Hellman Tennis Complex. Hauger (No. 96) is one of three Golden Bears in the latest singles rankings, which also include No. 9 Karla Popovic and No. 45 Maegan Manasse. Four California pairs, meanwhile, span the doubles rankings, led by No. 23 Popovic and Hauger. Manasse and Maya Jansen check in at No. 28, Alexis Nelson and Denise Starr sit at No. 46 and Jansen-Starr rounds out the quartet at No. 65.
UCLA leads the all-time series with California, 40-35.
Upon completion of their Pac-12 home-opening weekend, the Bruins will head north for a visit to the Oregon Student Tennis Center and a dual with Oregon. The March 17 match will begin at 1:30 p.m.
Players Mentioned
