March 12, 2009

LOS ANGELES - The No. 9 UCLA women's tennis team got straight-set wins from its bottom three singles players Thursday, pulling out a 4-3 victory over No. 14 Arizona State at the Los Angeles Tennis Center. The Bruins up their record to 13-2 on the season, while the Sun Devils move to 8-3. Because it is the first meeting between the two teams this season, Thursday's result will not count in the Pac-10 standings.

UCLA actually owned a 4-0 lead in the contest before Arizona State rallied to take the final three singles matches. The bottom-half of the Bruin lineup came up big, accounting for all three of the team's singles wins. After capturing the doubles point, UCLA's Carling Seguso (court No. 6), Ashley Joelson (court No. 5) and Nina Pantic (court No. 6) were all victorious in straight sets to give the Bruins an insurmountable 4-0 advantage.

With the match already decided, ASU's Nadia and Laila Abdala each took a pair of match tiebreakers on court Nos. 2 and 3, respectively, to cut the lead to 4-2. The Sun Devils also took the final match of the day at court No. 1, where third-ranked Kelcy McKenna outlasted No. 19 Yasmin Schnack, 6-3, 5-7, 6-4.

UCLA travels to Waco, Texas this Saturday for a Noon (CST) showdown with No. 5 Baylor.

Doubles
1. (5) Remynse/Schnack (UCLA) def. (50) L. Abdala/N. Abdala (ASU), 8-4
2. (76) Seguso/Stephanie Wetmore (UCLA) def. Brown/Simmons (ASU), 9-8(5)
3. Joelson/Pantic (UCLA) def. McKenna/Van Horne (ASU), 8-4
UCLA Wins Doubles Point - Order of Finish: 3, 2, 1

Singles
1. (3) Kelcy McKenna (ASU) def. (19) Yasmin Schnack (UCLA), 6-3, 5-7, 6-4
2. Nadia Abdala (ASU) def. (27) Andrea Remynse (UCLA), 7-5, 2-6, (11-9)
3. Laila Abdala (ASU) def. (81) Maya Johansson (UCLA), 5-7, 6-4, (10-8)
4. (112) Nina Pantic (UCLA) def. Ashlee Brown (ASU), 7-5, 6-3*
5. Ashley Joelson (UCLA) def. Sianna Simmons (ASU), 6-4, 6-2
6. Carling Seguso (UCLA) def. Ali Van Horne (ASU), 6-2, 7-5

* Denotes Clinching Match -- Order of Finish: 6, 5, 4, 2, 3, 1