April 12, 2002

Los Angeles, Calif.--- The No. 29 Washington State women's tennis team lost to No. 8 UCLA 5-2 Friday, but the Cougars gave the Bruins a fight.

Washington State was close in every doubles match but just couldn't pull off the upset.

At No. 1 singles, WSU's Erica Perkins lost to UCLA's Megan Bradley, 6-2, 6-1. Cougar sophomore Stacy McKenna came up short against UCLA's No. 2 Sara Walker, 6-2, 6-1 decision of her own. At No. 3 singles, Bruin freshman Sarah Gregg gave UCLA a 4-0 lead when she defeated WSU's Orsolya Sallai, 6-3, 6-0.

On the back three courts, WSU's Chris Martinez made the score 4-1 after she notched a 6-4, 6-4 victory over Bruin Mariko Fritz-Krockow. The Cougars won their second match of the day at the No. 5 singles position where Nora Gaal defeated UCLA's Catherine Hawley, 7-5, 6-3. The No. 4 singles position was the last to finish as Lauren Fisher edged WSU's Lorena Arias, 7-5, 3-6, 6-4 in the only three-set match of the day.

"Overall we played pretty well," said Washington State Coach Cari Groce. "Lorena (Arias) played a very tough match against Fisher. We've been slumping a little at No. 4, 5, and 6 singles, but today that's where we got our points. I hope we can maintain this energy and challenge USC Saturday."

Washington State will compete next at USC Saturday (April 13).

UCLA 5, Washington State 2

Singles
#1 No. 4 Megan Bradley (UCLA) def. No. 54 Erica Perkins (WSU), 6-2, 6-1
#2 No. 7 Sara Walker (UCLA) def. No. 78 Stacy McKenna (WSU), 6-2, 6-1
#3 Sarah Gregg (UCLA) def. Orsolya Sallai (WSU), 6-3, 6-0
#4 Lauren Fisher (UCLA) def. Lorena Arias (WSU), 7-5, 3-6, 4-6
#5 Nora Gaal (WSU) def. Catherine Hawley (UCLA), 7-5, 6-3
#6 Chris Martinez (WSU) def. Mariko Fritz-Krockow (UCLA), 6-4, 6-4

Doubles
#1 No. 6 Bradley/Fisher (UCLA) def. No. 15 Perkins/McKenna (WSU), 8-5
#2 Gregg/Walker (UCLA) def. Martinez/Arias (WSU), 9-7
#3 Fritz-Krockow/Hawley (UCLA) def. Gaal/Sallai (WSU), 9-7