University of California, Los Angeles, Athletics
UCLA
ITA Regional Championships Presented by Oracle
Andrews-Hart Wins ITA Regional Doubles Title
October 22, 2017 | Women's Tennis
LOS ANGELES โ Bruins Gabby Andrews and Jada Hart joined forces to cruise to the ITA Southwest Regional Championship at the Barnes Tennis Center on the campus of the University of San Diego. The pair did not drop a set on its way to the title, which it captured Sunday with a 6-4, 6-2 victory over Natalie Da Silveira and Palina Dubavets of UC Santa Barbara.
Andrews-Hart opened things up with a convincing win over Alzbeta Houbova and Klara Pribylova of Hawai'i in the first round, 8-1. Things got a little more uncomfortable for the Bruin duo over the next two rounds, though, as it squared off two teams from USC. The pair of Angela Kulikov and Becca Weissmann was first up, giving Andrews-Hart a hard time before falling 8-5. The quarterfinal round proved the closest, as the fifth-seeded duo of Gabby Smith and Madison Westby fell by an 8-6 score.
The semifinal round was an all-Bruin affair, as the eighth-seeded team of Abi Altick and Alaina Miller pulled off the quarterfinal-round upset to defeat the fourth-seeded Pepperdine team of Laura Gulbe and Dzina Milovanovic, 8-4.
The semifinal round moved to a best-of-three format, but Andrews-Hart proved to be on a mission, with the duo dispatching its team of Bruin counterparts in straight sets, 6-0, 6-1, to advance to the final round.
A determined sixth-seeded team of Da Silveira and Dubavets topped two seeded pairs on its way to the final, beginning with the No. 3 tandem of Bruins Ayan Broomfield and Terri Fleming in the quarterfinal round. Having already defeated one Gaucho team of Elizaveta Volodko and Stephanie Yamada in the Round of 32 before taking care of a Long Beach State pair in the Round of 16, the Bruins had hopes of an all-UCLA final. Those hopes were dashed by Da Silveira-Dubavets, which advanced with an 8-6 win. There would be no stopping Andrews-Hart, though, as the Bruins captured the decisive championship victory.
A team of Sophie Bendetti and Kristin Wiley also participated in the doubles tourney, but dropped a narrow opening decision to the No. 7 team of Veronica Miroshnichenko and Eva Marie Voracek, 8-5.
In the singles bracket, five Bruins advanced into the Round of 32. Altick and Andrews each had her run stopped there to a ranked opponent, while Broomfield, Fleming and Hart all advanced into the Round of 16.
Following a 6-3, 6-2 win over host USD's Carolin Nonnenmacher, the eighth-seeded Fleming dropped her Round of 16 match against Voracek, 6-3, 6-0.
Each of the remaining Bruins would defeat a USC player in her Round of 16 match, with Broomfield knocking off 11th-seeded Westby, 6-2, 6-2, and Hart taking out Rianna Valdes in three sets, 4-6, 6-1, 6-4. Hart's tournament would end one round later against second-seeded Mayar Sherif of Pepperdine, 6-1, 6-2.
Broomfield's quarterfinal match against another Trojan, Angela Kulikov, also went the way of the blue and gold, as the Clemson transfer tallied a 6-1, 6-4 win. A Pepperdine Wave would spell the end for Broomfield as well, though, as top-seeded Ashley Lahey would defeat her in a thriller, 6-7 (8), 6-2, 7-6 (6).
Players Mentioned
