Women's Tennis Puts Two in Each Round of 16
May 21, 2019 | Women's Tennis
ORLANDO, Fla. – UCLA women's tennis will have two representatives each in the singles and doubles rounds of 16 at the NCAA Championships, as Bruins went 4-0 Tuesday at the USTA National Campus.
Jada Hart got the day started with a straight-set win against a Pac-12 rival in singles play and Elysia Bolton followed with a three-set, comeback showing. Gabby Andrews and Ayan Broomfield debuted in a close one to open the UCLA efforts in doubles play, while Bolton-Hart edged a higher-ranked team from the SEC as day turned to night.
No. 45 Hart dispatched of her second higher-ranked opponent in as many days, defeating frequent foe and 24th-ranked Michaela Gordon of Stanford in straight sets. The win marked the Bruin's 10th against a nationally-ranked opponent and emphatically avenged a loss in the Pac-12 Championships final round. She has now won five decisions in a row, with four of those victories coming against top-60 counterparts.
A first-set loss to 38th-ranked Anna Turati of Texas proved no more than a hiccup for No. 32 Bolton, who responded with the subsequent set and the decider. After doubling up the Longhorn in Set 2, Bolton closed strong with three of the final four games for a 4-6, 6-3, 7-5 triumph. The freshman previously dropped a decision against Turati in January. She is 12-7 against nationally-ranked opponents.
The All-America duo of Gabby Andrews and Ayan Broomfield debuted with a three-set affair of its own, defeating 25th-ranked Victoria Emma and McCartney Kessler of Florida 6-3, 2-6, 1-0(7). A return of an Andrews serve went into the net to give the Bruins the decision in the 10-point tiebreaker. The third-seeded and fifth ranked tandem has now taken eight of 12 decisions against ranked rivals.
That's a #NCAATennis doubles win for @uclawtennis!
— NCAA Tennis (@NCAATennis) May 21, 2019
Andrews/Broomfield d. Kessler/Emma (UF) 6-3, 2-6, [10-7]! pic.twitter.com/mr7RXxIqPB
No. 11 Bolton-Hart squeezed by ninth-ranked Saidie Hammond and Kaitlin Staines of Tennessee in the opening set, recording a 7-5 result by way of tiebreaker. That proved to be all the Bruins needed, as they took six of seven games in the second set to complete the upset.
Hart will take on No. 25 Katarina Stresnakova of Oklahoma State in Wednesday's Round of 16 at 1 p.m., PT. The Cowgirl posted a 6-0, 6-2 defeat of Washington State's Michaela Bayerlova after previously upsetting South Carolina's Paige Cline. Bolton moves on to face No. 46 Cameron Morra of North Carolina no earlier than 2 p.m. Morra took care of business against 9-16 seed Marta Gonzalez of Georgia.
Andrews-Broomfield will look across the net at Clemson's pair of Fernanda Navarro and Marie Leduc in a top-10 showdown, to be played Wednesday at 1 p.m., PT. Broomfield teamed with Leduc before transferring to UCLA in 2017. Bolton-Hart will take on No. 37 Kate Fahey-Brienne Minor of Michigan no earlier than 5 p.m. Wednesday. Fahey-Minor defeated No. 17 Meghan Kelley and Sofia Munera of Virginia to advance.
Players Mentioned
