If the schedule the women’s tennis team has gone through already hasn’t been competitive enough, the Bruins will be taking on two of the nation’s premier teams on back-to-back days this Friday and Saturday.
No. 13 UCLA (13-6, 4-1 Pac-10) will be playing host to No. 1 Stanford (17-1, 5-0) on Friday in hopes of beating the Cardinal after losing to them in a very close 4-3 match in mid-February.
The only difference this time around, however, is that the match will count toward the Bruins’ Pac-10 record, and UCLA will play host at the Los Angeles Tennis Center.
Once the Friday match concludes, the team will get very little time to recover as it takes on No. 8 Cal (19-3, 5-0) at noon the very next day.
Both teams that make the trip to Westwood this weekend from Northern California boast undefeated conference records, whereas the Bruins’ record shows a defeat that they suffered at the hands of No. 22 Arizona State.
The loss to the Sun Devils came when freshman Yasmin Schnack was unable to finish the deciding match due to an ankle sprain.
Schnack attempted to continue to play after getting her ankle taped, but was only able to play one point before realizing her mobility was limited and before the pain began to become too serious.
MEN’S TENNIS: The No. 10 UCLA men’s tennis team (16-3, 4-0 Pac-10), meanwhile, will travel north to take on Cal and Stanford, two teams the Bruins have already defeated earlier in the season at home.
The Bruins are looking to add two more wins to their name as they continue on the road they hope leads to their fourth consecutive conference title.
“We really want to get these two wins this weekend,” sophomore Michael Look said. “That will put us in the position that we want to be in heading into our match against USC.”
UCLA looks to capture two wins in order to face the Trojans in the final dual match, not just for redemption, but for deciding the winner of conference title.
Both teams are currently 4-0 in the Pac-10, and if both are able to get a pair of victories this weekend, their April 20 matchup will determine the regular-season conference champion.
“It’s going to be important for us to get these wins before looking ahead,” junior Jeremy Drean said. “They’re not bad teams, but we need to take advantage of this opportunity.”
“If we can go up there and get these wins, it will make the match against USC that much more important,” coach Billy Martin added. “This time it’ll be in our home, so hopefully that will work out to our advantage.”
The last time the crosstown rivals met, the Bruins suffered their greatest loss of the season, losing 6-1 in a hostile environment at the Marks Tennis Stadium at USC.
KOHLLOEFFEL BREAKS RECORD: With his 6-4, 6-0 victory over San Diego State’s No. 30 Markus Dickhardt on Tuesday, senior Benjamin Kohlloeffel shattered the UCLA record for most singles victories at the No. 1 singles position with 52 victories.
The previous record of 51 was held by Tobias Clemens, who was in attendance on Tuesday.
Kohlloeffel is also on the verge of breaking another school record held by Clemens for total singles victories. The senior had 118 victories after Tuesday’s match, just one win shy of tying the current high mark.