Shibahara Eliminated in NCAA Round of 16
May 25, 2018 | Women's Tennis
WINSTON-SALEM, N.C. – Sophomore Ena Shibahara was defeated 7-5, 6-3 by Pepperdine's Ashley Lahey on Friday at the Wake Forest Tennis Complex in the NCAA Singles Round of 16, bringing an end to the 2017-18 season for both Shibahara and the UCLA women's tennis program.
It was the second consecutive appearance in the NCAA Round of 16 for Shibahara, who has quickly carved out a special career during her time in Westwood. With just two seasons in the books, she has won back-to-back Pac-12 Singles Player of the Year awards, been named the ITA National Rookie of the Year and 2018 Southwest Region Player to Watch, and has compiled a 67-17 record in singles and 53-10 mark in doubles.
In Friday's battle, Shibahara lost a tightly-contested opening set, the first one she had dropped to that point in the Singles tournament. Lahey finished off the straight-sets win with a 6-3 victory in the second set.
2018 was another successful season for the UCLA women's tennis program, led by head coach Stella Sampras Webster. The Bruins finished the season with a 23-6 record, were the Pac-12 runner-up, hosted NCAA First and Second Round matches at Los Angeles Tennis Center, and upset No. 5 seed Ole Miss to advance to the Sweet Sixteen for the first time since 2015.
Of the seven players who competed in singles and doubles play down the stretch and in the postseason, UCLA is slated to return all but one of them for the 2018-19 campaign.
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