University of California, Los Angeles, Athletics
Women's Tennis Trio Earns All-American Status
April 28, 2020 | Women's Tennis
TEMPE, Ariz. โ Elysia Bolton, Abbey Forbes and Jada Hart of the UCLA women's tennis team were named 2020 ITA Division I All-Americans, the Intercollegiate Tennis Association announced Tuesday.
Due to the shortened season, the ITA awarded All-American status based on the unpublished, double run of ITA Singles and Doubles Rankings. Twenty singles players and 10 doubles teams received the honor.
Bolton and Hart each qualified individually and as part of the nation's top-ranked doubles duo. Redshirt senior Hart, who announced last week her decision to return for an NCAA-allowed additional year of eligibility, garnered All-American recognition for the third season in a row. Bolton, a sophomore, made the list for the second time in as many years. Freshman Forbes debuted for her performance on the singles courts. UCLA and North Carolina collected five awards each to lead the nation.
Bolton/Hart went 18-3, including a 10-1 mark in dual matches. The pair's defining moment of the season came Nov. 10, when it beat No. 1 Anna Rogers/Alana Smith of NC State, 6-4, 6-3, to complete a run through the Oracle/ITA National Fall Championships field and capture the doubles title in Surprise, Ariz. The dual-match season was more of the same for UCLA's top-court tandem. Bolton/Hart defeated Emilee Duong/Josie Frazier of Illinois, 6-1, No. 15 Victoria Allen/Petra Hule of No. 9 Florida State, 6-3, No. 25 Emily Arbuthnott/Angelica Blake of No. 1 Stanford, 6-1, and No. 6 Sara Daavettila/Alexa Graham of No. 2 North Carolina, 6-2, over four consecutive days at the ITA National Team Indoor Championship in Chicago, earning the Bruins an All-Tournament selection. The last published Oracle/ITA doubles rankings had Bolton/Hart in the top spot.
Individually, Bolton finished 11-5 (6-3 in dual matches) and reached a career-best No. 9 in the Oracle/ITA singles rankings. The Cold Spring Harbor, N.Y. native went 6-4 versus nationally-ranked opponents and defeated top-40 foes No. 37 Vivian Wolff of Georgia, 6-3, 7-5, No. 31 Paola Diaz-Delgado of VCU, 6-4, 6-1, No. 15 Mariia Kozyreva of Saint Mary's, 6-4, 6-3, No. 13 Haley Giavara of California, 6-7(5), 6-2, 6-2 and No. 25 Angela Kulikov of USC, 6-3, 6-2. Bolton earned the second Pac-12 Player of the Week award of her career after posting a 4-0 record across singles and doubles matches to aid a sweep of SMC and UC Santa Barbara.
Hart also achieved a career high in the singles rankings, twice reaching No. 9. Her biggest win of the campaign came during the fall, when she knocked off No. 1 Katarina Jokic of Georgia to reach the semifinal round of the season-opening Oracle ITA Masters event. That victory was the first of six against nationally-ranked opponents for Hart. She went on to start the dual-match season with seven wins in a row, including triumphs over No. 77 Angelica Blake of Stanford, 6-2, 6-1, No. 28 Valentina Ivanov of Cal, 4-6, 6-2, 7-6(3), and No. 45 Anastasia Iamachkine of Pepperdine, 6-2, 7-5. Hart finished 19-6 (7-2).
Forbes completed her initial season with an overall singles record of 23-3, including an 11-1 showing in dual-match play. Each of her win totals led the team. The Raleigh, N.C. native, who spent a majority of the spring season on Court 2, earned 10 victories over nationally-ranked opponents against just two losses. The success elevated Forbes as high as No. 5 in the singles rankings. Her most notable win, coincidentally, came versus ninth-ranked Hart, 7-6(3), 6-2, to claim the ITA Southwest Regional Championships singles title at Los Angeles Tennis Center. Forbes also earned top-20 victories versus No. 17 Anna Turati of Texas, 6-4, 7-5, and No. 12 Cameron Morra, 6-3, 6-1.
