UCLA’s women’s tennis team opens the 2003 season
today at the Pac-10 Indoor Championships at the Lloyd Nordstrom
Center at the University of Washington.
The tournament will showcase top players from the toughest
conference in the nation (the Pac-10 boasts five of the
nation’s top 10 teams) and give the Bruins a chance to gauge
where they stand.
Running through Sunday, the tournament is divided into four
singles flights and two doubles flights. UCLA senior Sara Walker,
ranked sixth in the nation, and freshman Jackie Carleton, will
compete in the top flight in singles.
“This (tournament) will be a good way to test how our team
will look,” Walker said.
Carleton will play with fellow freshman Laura Gordon in the top
doubles flight, while sophomore Sarah Gregg will play with freshman
Susi Wild as the other doubles pair in Flight I. Last year, Gregg
teamed up with Catherine Hawley to capture the doubles title in
Flight II.
The Bruins will be without junior Lauren Fisher, who is
recovering from an elbow injury, and freshman Ferial Esseghir, who
is nursing a stress fracture.
Nine players ranked in the top 30 nationally are expected to
compete in the tournament. Jewel Peterson of USC, ranked third
nationally, Walker, Cal’s Raquel Kops-Jones, and
Stanford’s Alice Barnes are among the top players in the
singles draw.
In doubles, Washington’s third-ranked Claire Carter and
Darija Klaic are considered the favorites, followed by Cal’s
fourth-ranked Kops-Jones and Christina Fusano.