USC falls to No. 19 UCLA

Friday afternoon at the Los Angeles Tennis Center, the No. 26 USC women’s tennis team was outshined by No. 19 UCLA. USC came up short 4-3 in the match and are now 15-8 overall and 6-4 in conference play.

The Bruins wiped the floor with the Trojans, winning the first point by defeating the Trojans in doubles. When the play paused, freshman Emma Charney and graduate Nathalie Rodilosso were trailing at 5-4.

The pressure was immense for the Trojans as they had to win four of the six singles matches to win.

Charney tied the score after defeating Ava Catanzarite with barely a scratch, 6-0, 6-2.

“Losing doubles is tough because then you have to win four singles,” Charney said. “But I just went out there and focused on my singles match, and it was nice to get a quick win so I could go out there and support my teammates after I finished.”

However, the Bruins gained the upper hand when junior Naomi Cheong lost 6-3, 6-2, and freshman Maddy Sieg lost 6-4, 6-3.

Ranked No. 8 in the nation, this is Seig’s first loss of the season, breaking her 14-0 dual-match singles record. Her opponent, freshman Fangran Tian, is a wildcard player who won the girls’ singles title at the 2019 Australian Open Asia-Pacific Wildcard Play-Off event. Both players were voted for 2023 Pac-12 women’s tennis Players of the Week.

The rest of the Trojans fought as hard as they could.

“I know we had like two or three-setters, and I’m so proud of Grace for coming back after injury and stepping up and getting her point on the board. And Snow also came back from injury and fought for all of us,” Charney said.

Sloane Morra brought the Trojans within one, defeating Anne-Christine Lutkemeyer 6-3, 6-4. Sophomore Grace Piper was able to tie the score once again with her victory over Sasha Vagramov on court five. Redshirt sophomore Snow Han fought until the last minute, winning the first set 6-2 despite losing to No. 106 Hance in the last two.

“I think the fight was there. We dug in, we came out on top of a third set. We were able to close out some matches and to really close,” head coach Allison Swain said. “So it’s tough right now because we want to be on the other end of this. But certainly, shout out to all our players for really digging in and trying to find a way on their courts.”

Charney talked about what she’s looking forward to the most in the Pac-12 tournament: “It’s my first time. I’ve heard it’s a really fun tournament, so I’m super excited to play teams and hopefully get the chance to play teams that we’ve lost to this season and go there and get some revenge.

Before heading to Ojai for the Pac-12 tournament next week, the Trojans will end the regular season play when they take on the University of Hawaii on Saturday at Marks Stadium.