LOS ANGELES – For the second time this season California prevailed in a close match with defending NCAA champion UCLA, with the third-ranked Golden Bears beating the fifth-ranked Bruins, 4-3, on Friday at the Los Angeles Tennis Center. The Golden Bears – the defending Pac-12 champs – improved their record to 12-2 (3-0 in the Pac-12), while the Bruins' record now stands at 11-3 (1-1 Pac-12) after the conference clash.
Cal beat UCLA, 4-3, on Feb. 20 in a nonconference match in Berkeley. This time, the Bears handed the Bruins their first home loss of the year.
Just as in that February match, the Bears clinched the win over UCLA at Chanelle Van Nguyen's expense. Junior Klara Fabikova – ranked 27th in singles – defeated the 10th-ranked Bruin, 7-5, 7-6(11) on Friday, while sophomore Maegan Manasse beat Van Nguyen on Feb. 20 to wrap up that victory.
Fabikova had six match points against Van Nguyen, including when she led 5-4 in the second set and during the long second-set tiebreaker.
“Chanelle is in the top 10 in the country for a reason,” Cal head coach Amanda Augustus said. “She's a real tough competitor, so you have to compete hard and have the right game plan to beat her. The first set was really crucial. It was a long first set. Both Maegan and Denise (Starr) were farther along in their matches, while Klara was in the middle of her first set. At the end in the tiebreak, Klara needed several match points. She was playing great points, but Chanelle kept coming up with better shots in that tiebreak for a while. Klara kept her focus and was able to clinch the win for the team.”
“I kept going for my shots, and there was always one ball after another that she kept hitting back,” Fabikova added. “I think before (the final) match point I missed the last shot, but I told myself to keep going for them. I wanted to be in charge of the point, and so I didn't look back. I just looked forward to the next point.”
The win clinched the overall match with the score at 4-2. The teams played out the match on court four, on which the Bruins' 79th-ranked Catherine Harrison beat 29th-ranked senior Zsofi Susanyi, 6-2, 6-7(4), 7-6(6), to make the final score 4-3.
Earlier, the Bears' secured the doubles point when junior Lynn Chi and freshman Karla Popovic knocked off the pair of Van Nguyen and Kristin Wiley, 8-4, on court three and then the fifth-ranked duo of sophomores Manasse and Starr beat the third-ranked team of Catherine Harrison and Kyle McPhillips. After Cal won the point, the teams finished the match on court two, with UCLA's Robin Anderson and Jennifer Brady upsetting Cal's 11th-ranked duo of Fabikova and Susanyi, 8-6.
Today's match appeared on the Pac-12 Networks.
Cal completes its L.A. trip when it battles No. 7 USC in a conference match on Sunday at noon.
No. 3 California (12-2, 3-0 Pac-12) vs. No. 5 UCLA (11-3, 1-1 Pac-12) – 4-3
March 20, 2015, in Los Angeles, Calif.
Los Angeles Tennis Center
Doubles
1. No. 5 Maegan Manasse/Denise Starr (Cal) def. No. 3 Catherine Harrison/Kyle McPhillips (UCLA) – 8-4
2. Robin Anderson/Jennifer Brady (UCLA) def. No. 11 Klara Fabikova/Zsofi Susanyi (Cal) – 8-6
3. Lynn Chi/Karla Popovic (Cal) def. Chanelle Van Nguyen/Kristin Wiley (UCLA) – 8-4
Cal captured the doubles point.
Order of Finish: 3, 1*, 2
*Clinched the doubles point
Singles
1. No. 2 Robin Anderson (UCLA) def. No. 4 Maegan Manasse (Cal) – 2-6, 6-3, 6-4
2. No. 27 Klara Fabikova (Cal) def. No. 10 Chanelle Van Nguyen (UCLA) – 7-5, 7-6(11)
3. No. 81 Denise Starr (Cal) def. No. 35 Kyle McPhillips (UCLA) – 6-3, 6-2
4. No. 79 Catherine Harrison (UCLA) def. No. 29 Zsofi Susanyi (Cal) – 6-2, 6-7(4), 7-6(6)
5. No. 60 Karla Popovic (Cal) def. No. 98 Kaitlin Ray (UCLA) – 6-2, 6-3
6. Kristin Wiley (UCLA) def. Cecilia Estlander (Cal) – 6-1, 6-3
Order of Finish: 3, 5, 6, 1, 2^, 4
^Clinched the overall match
