No. 6 Women's Tennis Defeats No. 17 USC, 6-1
LOS ANGELES – The No. 6 UCLA women's tennis team nearly pulled off a clean sweep of No. 17 USC Friday afternoon, cruising to a 6-1 non-conference victory at David X. Marks Tennis Stadium.
The Bruins (6-2) collected the doubles point and never looked back, taking all six singles first sets and the first four singles wins. Sasha Vagramov picked up her second decider in as many career rivalry matches. She backed up straight-set efforts by Abbey Forbes and Annette Goulak and was later supported by Vivian Wolff and Elysia Bolton. Salma Ewing logged the lone singles win for the Trojans (5-3).
Goulak and Wolff dropped the first game to Ewing and Clare McKee on Court 2 in doubles play, but rebounded convincingly. The Bruins took the next six and the win, their fifth in six decisions. The top-ranked pair of Bolton and Hart got back in the win column on Court 1, where it earned an early break of serve against Eryn Cayetano and Naomi Cheong and used it en route to a 6-3 clinching win. Played out was the match on Court 3, where Summer Dvorak and Danielle Willson of USC edged out Abi Altick and Taylor Johnson, 6-4.
The scoreboard showed all Bruins when the singles first sets were completed and No. 7 Forbes quickly finished off No. 48 Cayetano to make it 2-0. Forbes, who suffered her only 2020 dual-match loss to Cayetano, was dominant in the first set. Cayetano went on to take 3-0 and 4-1 leads in the second set, but Forbes rallied for the 6-1, 6-4 victory. Forbes is now 6-1, all against nationally-ranked opponents.
Next off was Goulak on Court 6, where she faced a 1-3 first-set deficit versus McKee before taking 11 of the next 13 games and the 6-4, 6-1 win. Goulak has now swept singles and doubles decisions in four matches this season.
Vagramov, who sealed a team-high six victories in 2020 – including one against the Trojans (Feb. 28) – earned her first clincher of 2021 Friday. She took the final three games from Dvorak in the first set and notched a break to close out the match, 6-3, 6-3.
On Court 4, Wolff continued the run on UCLA victories with a 6-4, 6-4 defeat of Willson. Wolff has now won two out of three singles matches since returning from the ITA National Team Indoor Championships.
No. 19 Hart was overcome in a third-set tiebreaker by Ewing, who won by a 4-6, 6-4, 1-0(6) score. No. 9 Bolton was well on her way to a straight-set win on Court 2, but No. 103 Cheong charged back to force the tiebreaker. Bolton ultimately prevailed, 6-3, 5-7, 1-0(8), to finish the match.
The Bruins will begin Pac-12 play Friday, March 5, when they travel to Washington State. First serve from The Simmelink Courts at Hollingbery Fieldhouse is scheduled for 1:30 p.m., PT. UCLA will finish off its Pacific Northwest trip two days later against Washington.
Tennis Match Results
UCLA vs USC
2/26/2021 at Los Angeles, CA
(David X. Marks Tennis Stadium)
#6 UCLA 6, #17 USC 1
Singles competition
1. #7 Abbey Forbes (UCLA) def. #48 Eryn Cayetano (USC) 6-1, 6-4
2. #9 Elysia Bolton (UCLA) def. #103 Naomi Cheong (USC) 6-3, 5-7, 1-0 (10-8)
3. Salma Ewing (USC) def. #19 Jada Hart (UCLA) 4-6, 6-4, 1-0 (10-6)
4. Vivian Wolff (UCLA) def. Danielle Willson (USC) 6-4, 6-4
5. #113 Sasha Vagramov (UCLA) def. Summer Dvorak (USC) 6-3, 6-3
6. Annette Goulak (UCLA) def. Clare McKee (USC) 6-4, 6-1
Doubles competition
1. #1 Elysia Bolton/Jada Hart (UCLA) def. Eryn Cayetano/Naomi Cheong (USC) 6-3
2. Annette Goulak/Vivian Wolff (UCLA) def. Salma Ewing/Clare McKee (USC) 6-1
3. Summer Dvorak/Danielle Willson (USC) def. Abi Altick/Taylor Johnson (UCLA) 6-4
Match Notes:
UCLA 6-2; National ranking #6
USC 5-3; National ranking #17
Order of finish: Doubles (2,1,3); Singles (1,6,5,4,3,2)