So far this season, the UCLA women’s tennis team has
become accustomed to playing most of its matches at the Los Angeles
Tennis Center, and has had to travel just once to nearby Malibu.
Today, though, the No. 11 Bruins face No. 45 Arizona (9-0) and will
find themselves in a foreign territory ““ one which could
potentially cause some problems. With a higher altitude, stronger
winds and high temperature, Tucson provides the Bruins with a
challenge that the team will have to acclimate to. “We just
need to be mentally strong because the conditions there are
tough,” sophomore Tracy Lin said. And that is just the
beginning of UCLA’s weekend away from home. Upon finishing
their match against Arizona, the Bruins will have to drive to
nearby Tempe, where they will take on No. 16 Arizona State, which
is off to its best start in five years, going 6-0 so far.
“Arizona State is a much stronger team this year than
they’ve been in the past, so it’s important for us to
be ready,” coach Stella Sampras Webster said. Being ready has
already paid off for UCLA in the past when they defeated Cal last
Sunday, which propelled the Bruins forward six spots in the
national rankings. And this weekend provides the team with the
opportunity to do something it hasn’t done yet, which is to
get a win over a nationally ranked team away from home. In its
first chance to do so this year, UCLA dropped a disappointing 4-3
decision to the then-No. 25 Pepperdine Waves. Since then, though,
the Bruins have been displaying some of their best tennis and
expect to do the same this weekend without overlooking either of
their Pac-10 foes. “We can’t underestimate either of
these teams,” Lin said. “It’s really important
that we get two more wins in the Pac-10.” For freshmen Ashley
Joelson and Anna-Viktoria Lind, the pair of dual matches will mark
their first set of away matches with the team. In fact, it will
likely be the furthest the two travel this year, considering that
the Pac-10 Championships will be held in Ojai and the NCAA
Championships will be hosted by No. 1 Stanford in Palo Alto.
“I’m excited,” Lind said of the trip.
“I’m really looking forward to it.” The most
important factor for the Bruins in the pair of matches in Arizona
will be to come out strong as they did in their upset over Cal by
clinching the doubles point. “There’s no doubt that we
can beat them and that we’re a better team, we just need to
be ready to go,” junior Alex McGoodwin said.
MOVING UP: With the win over Cal, UCLA moved up six spots from
No. 17 and the Bears dropped three spots to No. 9. However, the
Bruins still feel that they have room for improvement and look to
jump into the top 10 after this weekend. “Right now, focusing
on just winning and not necessarily our ranking, is going to help
us out,” added senior Laura Gordon, who moved to No. 33 in
the individual rankings over the last month.