With the USTA/ITA National Team Indoors just around the corner, the No. 15 UCLA women’s tennis team will have to first take on Cal Poly this afternoon, in its second dual match of the season.
The Bruins (1-0) have the upcoming trip to Madison, Wisc. in the backs of their minds, as they will be going up against some of the top teams in the nation. To prepare her team as best as possible for the tournament, UCLA coach Stella Sampras Webster will use the Bruins’ best lineup when they play host to the Mustangs.
“We’ll have our full lineup for this match,” junior Riza Zalameda said. “It’ll be good to see how we do, because this will probably be the same lineup we use in Madison.”
Zalameda, along with freshman Yasmin Schnack, did not compete against the Rainbow Wahine for the Bruins in the season-opening dual match, but return to compete in this afternoon’s matchup against Cal Poly (0-1).
It will be Schnack’s first career dual match since coming to UCLA, and she hopes to overcome the nerves and contribute for her team.
“I’m kind of nervous, but at the same time I’m excited because I didn’t get to play last week,” Schnack said. “There are people from the school that are going to come and watch and support us, so it’ll be different from what I’m used to.”
Sampras Webster is aware that the Mustangs will give the Bruins a much greater challenge than they faced in the Rainbow Wahine, and she is interested to see how her team will step up under such circumstances.
Though she has switched the lineup around by bringing her two top players back, she still has tremendous confidence in the lower-seeded players and credits her squad for having great depth.
“I’m excited to see everyone and see what they can do,” Sampras Webster said. “Even if we didn’t have them back, we have such a deep team that we’d be successful and win.”
But in the end, Sampras Webster feels it will be more advantageous for the team to bring Schnack and Zalameda back into the feel of competing in dual-match situations as this marks the Bruins’ last chance to compete in such an atmosphere before heading into the National Team Indoors.
“I’m hoping that they will be challenged and tested more than they were against Hawai’i, and it’ll be interesting to see how they respond to that,” Sampras Webster said.
Cal Poly is coming off a 7-0 loss to an opponent with whom the Bruins are quite familiar, the No. 14 Pepperdine Waves. Last season, UCLA defeated the Waves in the NCAA Regionals before reaching the NCAA Championships in Palo Alto.
Though they were shut out, the Mustangs were able to force several matches into three sets and were very close to capturing the doubles point, showing that they are quite capable of hanging with some of the top teams in the nation.
“Cal Poly’s going to be a stronger team than Hawai’i, so we definitely have to be ready,” sophomore Ashley Joelson said. “Every match, we just have to go out there and play as best we can, even though it’s still more of just a warmup to get us ready for Madison.”