Bruin Bites: Tennis Teams Finishing Strong, Softball Wins, Women's H2O Polo's Close Chance

We'll turn you back to football later today when Coach Mora's national-title contending squad returns to Spaulding Field, but for now, we shift our focus to the various bits and pieces of news from our various non-revenue sports (not including, of course, men's volleyball thanks to Bruinette88's amazing coverage). Here's your news from around the non-revenue UCLA-iverse:

--- Beginning on the diamond, our #2-ranked softball team had a quiet week, with only one game on Thursday against Cal State Fullerton, dropping the Lady Titans in Fullerton, 5-2. Ally Carda (7.0 IP, 2 ER, 7 K, 3 BB) wasn't near her dominating best form, but she was effective through all seven innings, keeping the Titans limited to just two runs, which was enough to help her pick up her 21st victory on the year. Freshman RF Jelly Felix (2-3, 1 R, 3 RBI, 1 HR) had a break-out game, launching her third collegiate home run in the second inning to make the difference for the Lady Bruins. With the weekend off, the Lady Bruins end the week at 35-4 overall. They'll be back in action tomorrow in Westwood, this time hosting Cal State Fullerton at 3 p.m. PST.

--- Moving over to the L.A. Tennis Center, the #2-ranked women's tennis team hosted both Arizona schools this past weekend, and walked away from the weekend with a clean 14-0 mark, beginning with a 7-0 sweep of #25-ranked Arizona on Friday. The Lady Bruins opened with the doubles point (8-1, 8-4) before running off a clean run of six singles wins by Catherine Harrison (6-4, 6-0), Jennifer Brady (6-1, 6-3), Chanelle Van Nguyen (6-2, 6-3), Kyle McPhillips (6-1, 6-4), Kaitlin Ray (6-2, 6-3), and Robin Anderson (6-3, 7-6(3)). On Saturday, the Bruins faced off against the #19-ranked Arizona State Sun Devils, and despite the higher ranking, produced the same dominating result, winning 7-0. Once again, UCLA opened up the match with the doubles point (8-3, 8-6), followed by a clean sweep in singles action, with Brady (2-1, forfeit), McPhillips (6-3, 6-1), Anderson (6-3, 6-2), Harrison (6-2, 6-2), Ray (6-3, 6-4) and Courtney Dolehide (5-7, 6-3, 10-4) all picking up the wins. With the weekend sweep, the Bruins stand at 20-2 overall and 8-1 on conference play. The Lady Bruins will wrap up their regular season program this upcoming Friday against cross-town rival Southern Cal at 12:30 p.m. PST, before heading out to Ojai for the Pac-12 conference championships.

--- Turning to their male counterparts, the #3-ranked men's tennis team hit the road this weekend, beginning in Salt Lake City on Friday, sweeping Utah away, 4-0. The Bruins began with a close call for the doubles point (8-1, 6-8, 8-7(5)), before running off three singles wins by Karue Sell (6-2, 6-1), Gage Brymer (6-0, 6-3), and Marcos Giron (6-3, 6-3) to clinch the win for the Bruins. UCLA then went south to Tucson on Sunday to take on Arizona, and made short work of the Mildcats, winning 4-0. The Bruins once again opened with a point out of doubles action (8-6, 8-3), before winning the first three singles matches by Brymer (6-4, 6-1), Ryoto Tachi (6-1, 6-4), and Clay Thompson (6-4, 6-1) to give themselves a perfect weekend. With the wins, UCLA now stands at 19-2 overall and 6-0 in conference play. The Bruin will finish up their regular season against UC San Diego on Wednesday at the L.A. Tennis Center at 3:30 p.m. PST before their final regular season match at Southern Cal on Friday.

--- Heading over to the pool, the #2-ranked women's water polo squad had a golden opportunity to take the top spot in the rankings when they hosted #1-ranked Stanford in Westwood this past Friday. Unfortunately, the Bruins came up just short, losing to the Cardinal, 9-8. The match remained even at 2-2 after the first quarter, before Stanford closed the first half strong with a four-goal second quarter. UCLA wouldn't go away, picking up three goals in the third quarter to even the score at 7-7 entering the final quarter. The Cardinal picked up a two goal lead, with Emily Donohoe able to bring it within one with just four seconds left. With only a few ticks of the clock, it wasn't enough time for UCLA to force OT, with the Lady Bruins losing in Westwood for the first time on the year. Fortunately on Saturday, the Lady Bruins got to send out the seniors out right on Senior Day, dropping San Jose State 8-6, in their penultimate regular season game. Led by Becca Dorst's hat trick and Sami Hill's nine-save effort, the Bruins ended the weekend with a win, to go to 22-3 overall. The Lady Bruins will end their regular season at Southern Cal on Wednesday before turning to the conference championships the following weekend.

Alright folks, those are your Bruin Bites for this Monday morning. Fire away in the comment section with your thoughts, additions, or other bits of UCLA-related news.

GO BRUINS