The UCLA women’s tennis team has been playing a caliber of tennis this season that isn’t necessarily indicative of its 15-7 record.
However, the No. 12 Bruins are well aware that five of those matches were close 4-3 losses, two of which were the result of an injury, including an earlier loss to No. 8 USC.
For that reason, the Bruins realize they have just as good a chance as any other team to perform well in the NCAA Championships.
And with the regular season coming to a close this weekend, UCLA is playing some of its best tennis against top opponents.
“We’re looking to play our best tennis at the end of the season,” senior Alex McGoodwin said. “I think we are starting to get it together, so it’s exciting.”
The Bruins will be looking to keep it together when they travel to the Marks Tennis Stadium to take on the Trojans in a rematch of an earlier loss this season.
This match will be the first taste of the rivalry on the road for the freshmen.
“I’m sure for our freshmen to seewhat it’s like to play in tough conditions as far as they’re going to have their fans out, their band out,” UCLA coach Stella Sampras Webster said. “Hopefully our players will respond and deal with that pressure, that adversity, and come out winners.”
The Bruins have been able to handle pressure, most recently against fellow Pac-10 teams No. 1 Stanford and No. 9 California.
Their performances against the two Bay Area teams have Sampras Webster excited to see how her team will respond to the tough task of facing USC at the end of the season.
“It’s kind of a weird time of the season because a lot of the players are tired, but it’s also USC and for them it’s UCLA, so I’m expecting each team to come out doing their best and playing their best,” she said.
Though the Bruins may be fatigued, the match against the Trojans is one they have been anticipating ever since falling to them in a climatic match earlier this season at home at the Los Angeles Tennis Center.
It was a game in which the deciding match was the direct result of junior Tracy Lin being injured, a situation the Bruins hope not to find themselves in on Saturday.
“Last time we played USC, not all of us were healthy,” Lin said. “And although some of us are coming off of injuries, I think everyone is more or less ready to play.”
The gap in talent between the Bruins and Trojans has been a very small one recently, with the majority of the matches coming down to the wire with three-set battles, and this season has proven to be the same.
The main concern for UCLA when it takes on USC will be its ability to execute on the big points and get off to a good start on each court.
“We’ve almost always been close with them,” junior Elizabeth Lumpkin said.
“It’s always a team that we know we have to be ready to play, but at the same time we know that it’s a team we can beat and we just need to execute.”