Feb. 13, 1998

Los Angeles - It could not have been much closer as the No. 2 ranked UCLA women's tennis team edged cross-town rival No. 25 ranked USC, 5-4, in a Pac-10 Conference match today at UCLA's Los Angeles Tennis Center. With the victory UCLA improved to 5-1 overall, 2-1 in the Pac-10 while USC dropped to 3-3 overall and 0-3 in the league.

Rankings really don't mean much when these two teams play, and it showed today. Coming out of singles play the match was tied at three all, leaving the winner to be determined in doubles action. UCLA claimed singles victories at the Nos. 1, 4 and 5 positions, while USC won on court Nos. 2, 3 and 6. In doubles play, UCLA claimed the match on court No. 2 by a score of 8-2, but USC answered with an 8-5 win on court No. 1. Everyone's attention turned to court No. 3 where UCLA's team of Brandi Freudenberg and Cristina Popescu led USC's tandem of Amber Basica and Kara Warkentin, 7-6. The Bruin duo proceeded to win the final game for an 8-6 win and the team victory.

Injuries were less of a factor for UCLA in today's match as both Katia Roubanova and Popescu were able to play doubles. This was the first appearance of the spring for Roubanova who has been recovering from a stress injury in her foot. Popescu has seen limited action in the last few weeks, but proved ready for today's spotlight match. Remaining out of the lineup for an undetermined length of time is projected No. 1 singles player, Amanda Basica who suffered a shoulder injury in the fall and has yet to make her dual match debut. The Bruins' next action will be at the USTA/ITA National Team Indoor Championships in Madison, Wisconsin Feb. 19-22. UCLA returns home to the Los Angeles Tennis Center on Feb. 28 to host UNLV.

Here are today's position-by-position results:

Singles

No. 1 Annica Cooper (UCLA) def. Ditta Huber (USC) 6-2, 6-1

No. 2 Veronika Safarova (USC) def. Elizabeth Schmidt (UCLA) 7-5, 6-0

No. 3 Jacqui Boyd (USC) def. Kati Kocsis (UCLA) 6-3, 6-1

No. 4 Kelly Rudolph (UCLA) def. Karolina Bakalarova (USC) 6-2, 6-1

No. 5 Brandi Freudenberg (UCLA) def. Kara Warkentin (USC) 7-6, 6-3

No. 6 Amber Basica (USC) def. Alyson Gray (UCLA) 6-3, 6-1

Doubles

No. 1 Ditta Huber / Jacqui Boyd (USC) def. Elizabeth Schmidt / Katia Roubanova (UCLA) 8-5

No. 2 Annica Cooper / Kati Kocsis (UCLA) def. Veronika Safarova / Karolina Bakalarova (USC) 8-2

No. 3 Brandi Freudenberg / Cristina Popescu (UCLA) def. Amber Basica / Kara Warkentin (USC) 8-6

Final Team Score: UCLA 5, USC 4