Los Angeles, CA (U-WIRE) -- Courtney Walker's confidence is back.

A year removed from suffering a serious ankle injury after an awkward fall on a vault attempt Walker, a sophomore, returned to form on Sunday as the Bruins defeated Cal, Cal State Fullerton and Sacramento State.

"I was absolutely thrilled to see Courtney Walker come out and make vault and floor the way she did," said UCLA coach Valorie Kondos Field, whose team bested second place Cal by nearly six points. "Last year, at our first meet she crashed on vault pretty badly and she was out pretty much the rest of the season. Her confidence was shattered. To see her come out so confident and so strong was absolutely the highlight of my season so far."

Walker, a last minute fill-in on vault for the injured Jordan Schwikert, posted a strong 9.850 score, helping set the tone for the rest of the meet for the Bruins. Walker would later post a solid 9.875 on floor exercise, proving that she can indeed be a key contributor this season.

"I've worked really hard and focused on every little thing so nothing would be overwhelming," Walker said.

The competition was anything but overwhelming for the Bruins (3-1).

UCLA's 197.150 was more than enough to defeat Cal's 191.175, Sacramento State's 190.375 and Fullerton's 190.325. The victory also helped ease the sting of last year's upset loss to Fullerton.

Senior Kristen Maloney led the charge, tying her career-high all-around point total of 39.750 and placing first in all events but the floor exercise. In that event, she was second only to teammate Tasha Schwikert, who posted a perfect 10.0. Maloney, however, is not completely satisfied.

"There are always things that I can improve on, landing on the vault, not getting so nervous on bars," Maloney said.

Absent from the vault, beam and floor was freshman Jordan Schwikert, who was originally scheduled to compete in all four events. Schwikert, who did score an impressive 9.9 on bars, sported a foot brace when not competing. She recently re-aggravated a hyperextended toe that she suffered months ago, making it difficult to walk on.

"She was walking into her beam mount," Kondos Field said. "She said through warm-ups it got worse and worse so we pulled her out when the meet started."

Senior Kate Richardson also turned in an impressive performance on the beam, scoring a 9.875. The high score may not have been a result of intense competition, but instead, the team's personal motivation.

"We concentrate on ourselves and the things we need to improve on," Maloney said of competing against three unranked teams that were unable to put much pressure on the Bruins.

It was a strategy that seemed to work almost perfectly.

(C) 2004 Daily Bruin via U-WIRE