Cat Harrison OregonCat Harrison Oregon
Scott Chandler

Harrison Secures Spot in Pac-12 Final

Women's Tennis

Harrison has chance to repeat in Pac-12 Singles Championship Final.

OJAI, Calif. – For the second straight season, UCLA senior Catherine Harrison will play for the Pac-12 Singles Title at the Pac-12 Women's Tennis Championships.  The defending singles champion punched her ticket to the final when she downed No. 7 seed Lauren Marker in straights on Saturday afternoon.    

“I feel like I played much better today than I did in my previous matches,” said Harrison of her performance on Saturday.  “I served much better today and my movement was really good.  I wasn't being as aggressive as I wanted to be because Lauren is a really good player who hits the ball hard.  But overall I was really happy.” 

In her semifinal matchup against Marker, third-seeded Harrison jumped out to an early 4-1 lead the first set to dictate the pace of the match.  Harrison then broke Marker and held to take the set, 6-1.

The Bruin senior carried this momentum into the second set, taking an early 3-1 lead.  Harrison broke Marker at deuce to serve for a spot in Sunday's final.  The defending singles champion secured her spot in the final on a service winner, capturing the match in straights.    

“The match was a lot closer than the score reflects,” said Harrison.  “The first five games I think went to deuce.  I was up 4-1, but I could have easily been down as well.  It was a very good, quality match.”

Harrison faces top-seeded Maegan Manasse of Cal in the championship match at 10 am PDT on Sunday.  Manasse is currently ranked 11th in the ITA Singles Rankings.  In their last meeting, the Golden Bear defeated the Bruin in three sets to lead Cal to a 5-2 win over UCLA on Feb. 20.   

“Maegan is really good,” said Harrison of facing Manasse in the final.  “I've never beaten her before.  The last time we played, I didn't play my best.  I'm approaching tomorrow with the mindset of 'If I play well and execute my game plan, I'll win.  But if I play average, then I'll lose.'

“I'm excited to get back to the finals,” added Harrison.  “Even though I won it last year, I feel like I'm the underdog.  She was ranked No. 1 in the country for a bit and plays singles No. 1 at Cal.  She's really good so I'll have to fight for it.” 

In the Doubles Invitational, Terri Fleming and Alaina Miller defeated Stanford's top-seeded Krista Hardebeck and Caroline Lampl to advance to Sunday's final, where they face No. 2 seed Sammi Hampton and Kassidy Jump of ASU.  The Doubles Invitational final takes place at 11 am PDT.        

Sunday's Singles Championship match will be televised live on Pac-12 Networks.  For updates, follow UCLA Women's Tennis on Twitter.