March 12, 2013

Sophomore Sabrina Santamaria avenged a fall loss to UCLA's #2 Robin Anderson with a decisive 6-1, 6-2 thumping at the No. 1 singles spot to help spark No. 12 USC to a 4-2 upset of No. 3 UCLA in Westwood last week. Following that powerful win, Santamaria has been named Pac-12 Player of the Week for the second time this season.

Then ranked #3 in the nation in singles, Santamaria had been sidelined by injury for over two weeks before coming back to full duty for USC in Friday's rivalry match. Although leading in her doubles match with teammate Kaitlyn Christian, their No. 1 doubles match was suspended when the Bruins grabbed the double point. In singles, #3 Santamaria was up against UCLA's #2 Robin Anderson for the first time since falling to Anderson in the ITA Southwest Regional Singles Championship in October. Santamaria was ready for this one, surprising Anderson with a quick straight-set win to notch Santamaria's 11th consecutive singles win and lift USC to a 1-1 tie with the Bruins in a rain-interrupted match that the Trojans would fight through to get the important upset road win. Santamaria is now 20-3 overall in singles play this season.

Santamaria is the first Trojan to win multiple Pac-12 Player of the Week honors this season, joined by teammates Giuliana Olmos, Danielle Lao and Ellie Yates as honorees this year. The Women of Troy have three matches on tap this week, facing No. 39 Texas today (March 12), Colorado at 1:30 p.m. on Friday (March 15) and No. 59 Utah on Saturday (March 16) -- all at Marks Stadium.