W. tennis heats up for battle in desert
UCLA travels to compete against both Arizona State, Arizona this
weekend
By Hye Kwon
Daily Bruin Staff
Two matches into the season, the UCLA women’s tennis team faces
a giant hurdle this weekend. This afternoon, the Bruins travel to
the desert for a weekend tilt with Arizona State this afternoon and
Arizona on Saturday.
A victorious weekend would make No. 7 UCLA (2-0 overall, 1-0
Pac-10) one of the front runners in the race for the Pac-10
championship, but head coach Bill Zaima is not quite ready to blow
up this weekend’s matches into something bigger than they are.
"Every match is the most important match you have, if you take
care of business the match before," Zaima said.
The road trip comes after UCLA jumped out to a 2-0 start in
dual-match play. With a lineup that left out Keri Phebus but
featured four freshmen, the Bruins demolished Loyola Marymount and
Washington State. However, they don’t compare to the opposition the
Bruins will face this weekend.
The Sun Devils are a perennial powerhouse that finished last
year’s NCAA tournament tied for fifth place with the Bruins. And
the Wildcats were ranked just a notch below UCLA in the preseason
polls.
At the Pac-10 Indoors, players from the desert schools lived up
to their preseason hype. ASU’s Reka Cseresnyes reached the
semifinals of the flight-one singles after notching an upset
victory over the tournament’s No. 1 player, Katie Schlukebir of
Stanford. Arizona’s Vicki Maes reached the finals where she was
eventually defeated by Phebus.
Led by Cseresnyes and Maes, the Arizona schools display talent
at the top of their respective ladders. But where they pale in
comparison against UCLA is in team depth. In their two previous
matches, UCLA has shown that they are formidable at every position
from one to six. This is primarily due to the way freshmen Brandi
Freudenberg and Jody Anglin have played.
"In college tennis, it’s a lot tougher to win on the road,"
Zaima said. "But we have a good mix of veterans and the two
freshmen who will likely be in the lineup (this weekend)."
Playing at the four and the five positions because of the
absence of Phebus and a subsequent upward bump, Freudenberg and
Anglin have been stellar. Anglin, in particular, has given up just
one game in two matches combined. With the expected return of
Phebus into the singles lineup this weekend, the two freshmen will
both be bumped down one position, giving the opposition a difficult
time at the bottom of the ladder.Comments to
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