Tense matches highlight weekend for UA women

No. 5 ranked Arizona (4-3 overall, 1-3 in the Pacific 10 Conference South) earned its first conference victory over Southern Cal, 7-2 on Friday. They followed that on Saturday with a 5-4 loss to UCLA.

"I love the big crowds that go crazy. There's no better feeling in the world then having people behind you when you hit a great shot," senior Vicky Maes said.

The intense three-match set on Saturday between the seventh-ranked Maes and the Bruins' Kati Kocsis kept the fans on the edge of their seats.

"The crowd kind of got into it a little more," UA head coach Becky Bell said. "It got Vicky fired up and then they got fired up even more and it sort of created a lot of energy out there."

Maes won the first set 6-1 before dropping the second set, 3-6. Kocsis won the first two games in the third set, but Maes was able to break her serve in the third game.

"I was up 6-1 and 3-1 in the second set and then I lost like seven games in a row. I realized that I was losing because I started making a lot of errors. It was a tough couple games to get back in the third set," Maes said.

After breaking Kocsis' serve, Maes regained her rhythm and never looked back.

"When I was up 5-3 I knew there was no way I was going to lose because I changed my game back to where I was before," Maes said. "On days like that you just feel that you can hit the ball on a dime."

The win improved Maes' dual match play record to 7-0 and tied the overall match, 3-3.

"Kati finally adjusted in the second set, but Vicky just won the big plays and Kati made too many errors," Bruin head coach Stella Sampras said.

In the doubles phase, UCLA (2-2, 1-1) won on the first and second doubles courts, securing its victory, 5-4.

The fans were treated to a heart-stopping match in the Wildcats' win over the Trojans (2-3, 0-1) on Friday.

Sophomore Karen Goldstein met Ditta Huber on court two, a player she had beaten in a tournament last fall.

No. 32 Goldstein dropped the first set, 4-6 but forced the match into a third set after a 6-4 win in the second set.

The third set was sent into a sloppy tie-breaker full of errors.

Both players had trouble keeping the ball in bounds and each had trouble serving. Goldstein eventually won the tie-breaker, 7-6 (11-9) on a Huber double fault.