May 26, 2008

#1 Tracy Lin/Riza Zalameda (UCLA)

#1 Tracy Lin/Riza Zalameda (UCLA) def. #2 Melanie Gloria/Tinesta Rowe (Fresno State) 6-2, 4-6, 6-3
About the match...
Tracy Lin
"They (Melanie Gloria/Tinestra Rowe) were a good team. Rowe is extremely aggressive at the net. They were the only team to take a set from us the entire tournament. In the third set, we were fortunate enough to get an early break and stayed on top of them. Things just went our way today."

Riza Zalameda
"It was a very exciting win. We just came into it pretty confident in our skills. We've been playing for two weeks and our shots are pretty refined. All we had to do was execute. We knew they were a great team because I saw them earlier this year and we were expecting them to come out big. They did come out big on certain points, but we just toughed it out. We had more experience, more skill today and more will, but they were a great team."

Is this the same feeling as when you won the team championship? Riza Zalameda "It's a great feeling just to win a title like this, but I feel like last week was a little more intense because last week was the team. The team was incredible with winning not just for us, but also for other people."

Did you say anything special going into this match?
Coach Stella Sampras
"Not really. I have a lot of confidence in this team. They've won a lot this season and they're the #1 ranked team in the country. They knew that they were a better team, they just needed to go out and play really well. We definitely had some game-plans to counter their (Gloria/Rowe) games, but it was more of how well we were going to play. We started off really strong that first set and Fresno State definitely stepped it up in the second set when we got down 3-0. Both of them stayed together (Lin/Zalameda). They both have a ton of respect for each other and the chemistry between them is great, which is what you need in a doubles team. They just stuck with it and got some lucky breaks and got the win."

Why did you decide to pair Tracy Lin and Riza Zalameda?
Coach Stella Sampras
"She was the one that was there and we knew Tracy (Lin) had some strengths. We didn't have the right combination for her until we saw her play with Riza (Zalameda) and they just got better and better. They both have a ton of respect for each other on and off the court. They work really well together. Tracy really worked on her doubles and got better and better. They definitely compliment each other with Tracy's groundstrokes and Riza's ability at the net to take any ball that she can. Tracy just really proved us wrong about her doubles and it was great to see her step up and play #1 doubles and have that much success is just incredible. Riza is one of the best doubles players in the country, probably one of the best. Both of them together just worked and I can't take any credit because they had to do it. Tracy had to step up because teams were going to try to exploit her and she held her ground and she did a great job of staying tough by not getting frazzled."

Tulsa Women's Tennis

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