JANE LEE
Assistant Sports Editor
The No.-25 Pepperdine women’s tennis team remained undefeated this season as it bested Fresno State and upset No.-15 UCLA on Saturday at the Ralphs-Straus Tennis Center.
The Waves kicked off the weekend with a 5-2 win over Fresno State on Friday afternoon to improve to 5-0 on the season while the Bulldogs dropped to 1-2.
The Pepperdine doubles team of senior Merve Asimigil and sophomore Sylvia Kosakowski was defeated by Fresno’s Lucia Sainz and Katharina Winterhalter 8-6, while the Wave duo of junior Caroline Raba and senior Natalie Braverman fell to Vanessa Heroux and Tinesta Rowe 8-6.
The lone doubles win for the Waves came from junior Eva Dickes and sophomore Bianca Dulgheru, who pounced on Fresno’s Jacqueline Haskettwon and Magdalena Tokarska 8-2.
After losing the doubles point, the six Pepperdine singles teams came back strong and captured all matches.
The Waves won at the No.-1 through No.-5 spots with Dulgheru, Kosakowski and Raba registering straight set wins.
While Braverman rallied from a first-set loss to defeat Tinesta Rowe 3-6, 6-0, 6-3, Dickes was also forced to a third set by Haskett before winning 6-0, 2-6, 7-4.
“I was expecting Fresno to be pretty good and was just hoping we could play as well as we did against Long Beach,” Head Coach Gualberto Escudero said. “It was a good match, and the comeback by Eva made the big difference. I was very happy with the performance, as the whole team was.”
The Waves improved to 6-0 one day later after surprising fans with a 4-3 upset over UCLA, which dropped to 4-1 on the season.
Pepperdine won the doubles point after grabbing victories in the No. 2 and No. 3 positions.
The No.-21 Wave team of Dulgheru and Dickes defeated Anna-Viktoria Lind and Alex McGoodwin 8-6, while Braverman and Raba beat Tracy Lind and Ashley Joelson in a close 9-8 match.
The Waves’ single teams kept them rolling, as No.-15 Dulgheru quickly beat Riza Zalameda 6-0, 6-2 to give Pepperdine a 2-0 lead.
The Bruins, however, put up a fight and tie the match after taking wins in the third and fourth positions.
Following a first set loss, Kosakowski was forced by the Bruins’ Laura Gordon to a third set, during which Kosakowski defeated her opponent 6-2, 5-7, 7-6.
Dickes brought back Pepperdine’s momentum with a 6-4, 3-6, 6-3 victory over Alex McGoodwin to tie the match at three points each.
The fans’ attention was immediately turned to the sixth court after the win, as Asimigil began a third set against Lind and eventually won 6-2 to clinch the team victory.
“All the fans were watching in excitement,” Escudero said of the match between Asimigil and Lind. “Both players were tested physically and mentally, and Merve was able to come up with some key points. She was very aggressive for the win, and she played it like an experienced senior should play.”
Before the big victory Saturday, Pepperdine had not defeated UCLA since 2001, when it went 2-0 against the Bruins that season.
“It’s been a long time since we’ve beat UCLA,” Escudero said. “It’s about time to upset them, especially at a time when we’re undefeated.”
The Waves will be thrown back into action Saturday when they continue their four-match home stand against Sacramento State. The match is slated for an 11 a.m. start at the Ralphs-Straus Tennis Center.
“They’re a pretty good team,” Escudero said of Pepperdine’s upcoming competition. “Just because they’re ranked lower doesn’t mean they’re a pushover.
“Our goal is still to reach the top 10, so we will continue to work as hard as a top 10 team does.”
02-16-2006
