| Women’s Tennis |
|---|
| UCLA — 4 |
| Pepperdine — 3 |
No.8 UCLA Bruins women’s tennis (5-2) rallied from an early deficit Friday afternoon to earn a 4-3 road victory over No.14 Pepperdine Waves (3-3) at the Ralphs-Straus Tennis Center in Malibu, extending its winning streak to three matches.
The Bruins were forced to play from behind after dropping the doubles point. Sophomore Olivia Center and sophomore Kate Fakih fell 6-1 on court one, and Pepperdine secured the point with a 6-2 win over freshman Kayla Chung and freshman Mayu Crossley on court three. UCLA’s only doubles victory came on court two, where junior Ahmani Guichard and senior Anne-Christine Lutkemeyer produced a strong 6-1 win.
The deficit quickly grew in singles play when Pepperdine collected a straight-sets victory on court four putting UCLA in a 2-0 hole and increasing the urgency across the remaining matches.
Lutkemeyer sparked the Bruins’ response with an impressive ranked win on court one, defeating No.57 Ziva Falkner 6-3, 6-3. Shortly after, Center followed with a dominant 6-1, 6-1 performance on court six, leveling the overall score at 2-2.
Pepperdine briefly moved back in front with a straight-sets win over Guichard on court five, leaving UCLA needing victories on the final two courts to win.
Crossley supplied the first half of the comeback on court two. After dropping the opening set 3-6, the sophomore settled into the match and controlled the final two sets 6-2, 6-1 to tie the team score at 3-3.
All attention then shifted to court three, where Fakih delivered the decisive result. The sophomore dropped the first set 4-6, but responded with a 6-2 second-set win to force a third. With every other match finished, Fakih stayed composed down the stretch, taking the final three games of the match to secure a 4-6, 6-2, 6-4 victory and complete the Bruins’ comeback.
The win keeps UCLA undefeated in conference play. The Bruins return to action next Friday, Feb.27 at 1 p.m. PST to host rival USC Trojans in a crosstown matchup.
