With individual play already in the past, the No. 14 UCLA
women’s tennis team is ready to move on and begin play as a
team when it hosts Hawai’i today in its first dual match of
the season.
The Bruins hope the match against the Rainbow Wahine will be the
starting point of a season that will end with a deep run into the
NCAA Championships.
More immediately, the Bruins are looking for a positive start
before heading into the National Team Indoors at the beginning of
February in Madison, Wis.
“We just really want to focus on doing well in these first
few matches because right after that we have National
Indoors,” junior Elizabeth Lumpkin said. “We’re
just trying to get really competitive, really intense, right away
and not work our way back into matches, but really be ready from
the first point.”
The match between the two schools is the first ever meeting in
their history and will also be the first match situation that a
handful of Bruins have been in since the fall season, due to winter
break and severe weather conditions at a Las Vegas tournament last
weekend.
“It’s going to be a good start for us because most
of us haven’t played a lot of matches,” sophomore
Ashley Joelson said. “It’ll be a good start to get us
into the season.”
Though a majority of the UCLA players have taken part in dual
matches in the past, as the Bruins are returning five of their top
six players from last season, there are four freshmen who have yet
to compete in a dual match.
Of the four freshmen, Yasmin Schnack has the greatest likelihood
of playing for the Bruins, after performing well in the fall season
and earning the highest individual ranking.
Whether the newcomer will take to the courts is still up in the
air as Schnack has recently been struggling, according to UCLA
coach Stella Sampras Webster. Regardless of how much time any of
the freshmen see on the court, Sampras Webster thinks it will be a
learning experience nonetheless.
“It’ll be good for our freshmen to get their feet
wet on what it’s like to play a dual match,” she
said.
Heading into today’s match, the Bruins are very optimistic
about their chances and will be looking to capitalize on them
against the Rainbow Wahine, while giving their coaches and fans an
idea of where they stand to open up the 2007 season.
“Obviously these are matches that should be
winnable,” Lumpkin said. “We want to try to be as
aggressive as possible and take care of business.”