UCLA Women's Tennis: The Bruins Battle the Tar Heels in the Quarterfinals

Opponent: #2 North Carolina (30-1)

When: Sunday, May 17, 7:00 AM PDT

Where: Hurd Tennis Center, Waco, TX

Audio: None

Watch Online: Baylor Live Video

Live Stats: Baylor Live Stats

Live Blog: Baylor In-Match Blog

UCLA Resources: UCLA Official Preview | UCLA Media Guide

NCAA Resources: NCAA Digital Tournament Program | NCAA Bracket

Our defending national champions face #2 North Carolina today in an NCAA quarterfinal match. This is a rematch of last year's title game which saw the Bruins win a thriller to earn UCLA's 111th national championship. In that match, Kyle McPhillips won the deciding point with a dramatic 3-set victory over the Tar Heel's Caroline Price. The matchups will be different this morning, but the match promises to be as close as last year's final.

UCLA Dumps the Aggies

The Bruins got off to a shaky start against the tenth-ranked Aggies. UCLA has been strong in doubles play in the latter half of the season; in fact, the Bruins entered Friday's contest having won the doubles point in ten straight matches. But UCLA's doubles teams stumbled out of the gate against Texas A&M.

On courts 1 and 3, the Bruins were down a service break early, and each fight back seemed to be followed by another service break. Meanwhile, on court 2, Catherine Harrison and Kyle McPhillips took care of business, winning their duel 8-3. When Robin Anderson and Jennifer Brady succumbed on court 1 (5-8), the fate of the double point rested with the result on court 3. Chanelle Van Nguyen and Terri Fleming rallied towards the end, but their comeback fell short (6-8), giving the Aggies the first point of the match.

Singles play was moved indoors as the weather in Waco continued to disrupt the action. With only three courts available, the top three singles players from each team played their matches first. Jennifer Brady and Chanelle Van Nguyen played particularly well, with each earning 6-3, 6-2 victories. On the top court, Robin Anderson lost her first set but came racing back to dominate in the final two. Her 4-6, 6-1, 6-1 win gave UCLA its third point of the day with three singles matches left to be played.

In the second set of singles action, Catherine Harrison took the first set 6-1 while Kyle McPhillips and Kaitlin Ray both lost first sets on their courts. Although the second set was much tighter, Harrison eventually clinched the Bruins' fourth point and match winner with a 6-1, 7-5 victory on court 4.

The win over the Aggies improved UCLA's record to 21-4 in 2015 and earned the Bruins a quarterfinal match with #2 North Carolina.

UCLA in the ITA Rankings

Although the Bruins are the seventh-seeded team in the NCAA tournament, they are ranked sixth nationally by the ITA, and UCLA has six players ranked in the top-125 in the country. According to the official site:

UCLA is currently ranked No. 6 in the nation in the ITA team rankings (May 1). Individually, Robin Anderson checks in at No. 1 in the country. She is joined in the top 25 by No. 21 Chanelle Van Nguyen. Other ranked singles players include: No. 33 Catherine Harrison, No. 35 Kyle McPhillips, No. 47 Jennifer Brady and No. 109 Kaitlin Ray. In doubles, Harrison and McPhillips are ranked No. 3, followed by Anderson and Brady at No. 9. UCLA, Cal and Stanford are the only three schools in the country with two doubles teams ranked in the top 10 nationally.

Probable Lineups

Doubles:

• Court 1: #9 Robin Anderson/Jennifer Brady (UCLA) vs. #35 Haley Carter/Whitney Kay (UNC)
• Court 2: #3 Catherine Harrison/Kyle McPhillips (UCLA) vs. Jamie Loeb/Ashley Dai (UNC)
• Court 3: Chanelle Van Nguyen/Kristin Wiley (UCLA) vs. Caroline Price/Kate Vialle (UNC)

What to Expect

As the tournament's second-seeded team, the Tar Heels probably expected an easier quarterfinal opponent. UCLA and North Carolina are quite evenly matched: both teams have top-level talent, depth, and experience. There's every reason to believe that this will be an extremely tight match, similar to what we saw when these two teams met in last year's final.

In my opinion, there are three key battles to watch today. The doubles point is very likely to decide the winner, which means that Robin Anderson and Jennifer Brady need to improve on their performance from the round of 16. In singles, Kaitlin Ray has to deliver; if her slump continues, the Bruins could be in trouble. And on the top court, Robin Anderson needs to confirm her #1 national ranking by beating a very tough opponent.

As the Bruins proved on Friday, they can win indoors if the weather doesn't cooperate, and they won't panic if they fall behind. I expect that this match will go the distance before it's decided.

Prediction: UCLA advances to the semifinals with a 4-3 win over North Carolina.

Go BRUINS!