They see it as their greatest opportunity thus far.
An opportunity to prove themselves. An opportunity to get into
the mind-set of going against tough teams. And most importantly, an
opportunity to show that they are capable of actually hanging with
some of the nation’s best teams.
When the No. 14 UCLA women’s tennis team faces off against
No. 6 Northwestern today at the USTA/ITA National Team Indoor
Championships, the Bruins (2-0) will be playing their
highest-ranked opponent so far, but are confident that they can
topple the Wildcats.
“Northwestern’s definitely going to be the toughest
match we’ve had so far, but I think we match up pretty well
against them,” sophomore Ashley Joelson said. “We know
some of their players and we know we have a very good
shot.”
Northwestern (2-0) is coming off a dominating performance over
No. 10 Duke, in which it dropped just one singles match.
The Bruins have generated momentum of their own, winning two
consecutive matches themselves before heading in to Madison, Wis.
to compete with 16 of the nation’s most elite teams.
“Not many teams out there have played tough
matches,” UCLA coach Stella Sampras Webster said. “Some
teams haven’t even played a match, so I think we’re
fortunate that we got a couple of matches under our
belts.”
UCLA will have some adjustments to make, though: They are
traveling to indoor courts, which are generally much faster than
the courts the Bruins use at the Los Angeles Tennis Center.
The Bruins understand the challenge of adapting to the
differently paced courts and planned their trip accordingly.
UCLA arrived in Wisconsin on Tuesday morning and held a practice
Tuesday night as well as two practices on Wednesday to help make
the necessary changes.
“It’ll take some getting used to,” Sampras
Webster said. “We haven’t played as much indoors as
other teams have.”
Teams in the Midwest and closer to the East Coast tend to
practice indoors due to severe weather conditions for much of their
season.
UCLA, on the other hand, is usually forced to cancel practices,
and even matches, when there is rain.
The Bruins have lost two straight matches to the Wildcats.
The most recent was a 7-0 shutout in the opening round of the
2001 National Team Indoors, and now the series is tied at two.
The winner of the match-up will take on the winner of the match
between No. 3 Miami and the host school, Wisconsin, on Friday.
Regardless of the outcome, however, Sampras Webster and the
Bruins will take the opportunity for what it’s worth ““
a chance to see where they stand among some of the nation’s
elite.
“It’ll just be a good test of where our team is at
because we get to play teams that are highly ranked that we
wouldn’t normally see during the regular season,”
Sampras Webster said. “Hopefully our team just takes
advantage of all the opportunities and we can do well.”