In the final home meets of the 2017 season, Arizona women’s tennis hosted UCLA and USC. Arizona fell 1-4 to UCLA before losing 2-5 to USC on Senior Day, dropping their overall record to 11-11.
Against UCLA, Arizona split their first two doubles matches. Lauren Marker and Paris Corley won their game 6-4 after Samantha Czarniak and Marie Van Aelst fell to their opponents, 6-2.
With the doubles matches tied one-a-piece, Sophia Thomas and Camila Wesbrooks came back from a 4-0 deficit to tie up their game 6-all. However, they lost the tiebreaker 7-4 giving UCLA a 1-0 lead going into singles.
Terri Fleming of UCLA won in straight sets against Paris Corley (6-1, 6-3) extending the UCLA lead to 2-0. #3 Ena Shibahara followed up the performance by defeating #31 Lauren Marker (7-5, 6-4).
Maggie Cohen gave Arizona their first win of the day with a 7-6, 6-2 victory over Kristin Wiley, but Gabby Andrews then sealed the win for UCLA with her win over Sophia Thomas (2-6, 6-4, 6-1).
Arizona had one day to regroup after their loss before hosting USC on Senior Day, marking the final home game for seniors Samantha Czarniak and Lauren Marker. The Wildcats quickly dropped the doubles point, with two 6-0 losses to give USC a 1-0 lead.
Corley gave Arizona their first point of the day with a 6-2, 6-4 win over opponent Rianna Valdes. Losses by Czarniak, Wesbrooks, Van Aelst and Thomas placed Arizona in an unrecoverable deficit, as USC took a 5-1 lead.
With the result of the matches determined, all eyes turned to senior Lauren Marker, playing the final game of her Arizona career. Marker and opponent #23 Gabby Smith exchanged punches before Marker took a 5-4 lead on her opponent— shortly after which Smith subsqeuqnetly shot back to tie the set at 5-5.
“I just had to reset and get my mind back,” Marker said about her opponent tying the match. “I just thought to myself ‘just keep going,’ so I just kept fighting and got away with the win.”
Marker finally claimed the set 7-5 tie breaker before finishing the match with a 6-3 victory in the concluding set, marking her final win in an Arizona uniform.
“It was tough competing for the last time, knowing it was my last time here,” Marker said. “I just wanted to leave here with a win, so I’m really glad I did that. I’ve really cherished all four of my years here.”
Up next for the Wildcats is a match in Tempe against rival Arizona State University on Saturday, April 22nd at 1 p.m. MST, which will be the Wildcats final match of the season before the Pac-12 Championships.
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