When the NCAA Championships kick off at the Los Angeles Tennis Center for the No. 12 UCLA women’s tennis team on Saturday afternoon, the Bruins will undoubtedly be ready to take on visiting Quinnipiac.
The Bruins (16-7), who have been looking forward to the tournament since the beginning of the season, have gone through many changes and dealt with a number of roster alterations before finally making it to this point in their season.
“I’m really proud of the way our team has been practicing,” UCLA coach Stella Sampras Webster said. “They’re getting ready and I think they just want to start playing and from there, the rest is in their hands and I’m comfortable with that being the case.”
After finishing the season ranked among the top 16 teams in the nation, UCLA earned the chance to host an NCAA Regional, with three other teams traveling to Westwood to take part. The Bruins’ first opponent, Quinnipiac (12-6), qualified for the tournament by claiming its fourth Northeast Conference Championship in a come-from-behind victory over Long Island University.
Though the Bruins don’t know very much about the Bobcats and haven’t played in a dual match since defeating USC 4-3 on April 21, the team thinks it has prepared enough to be ready for the opening match.
“It’s been a while since we’ve played a dual match so the first two matches are about getting back into the swing of things,” sophomore Ashley Joelson said.
If the Bruins make it through the first round, they will likely take on No. 17 Florida State, a heavy favorite to beat San Diego State in the other opening-round match of the NCAA Regional, in the second round.
The Seminoles will be the first big test of the postseason for UCLA.
“We know that Florida State is really competitive and feisty, so we’re expecting a tough match there,” junior Elizabeth Lumpkin said. “Hopefully we will be able to use the home crowd to our advantage.”
“If we can get a win over Florida State and get that under our belt, that would help us build some confidence,” Joelson said.
Just last season, the Bruins weren’t fortunate enough to have the home court advantage as they traveled to Malibu to face host Pepperdine in the second round and defeat them before advancing to their seventh straight Sweet 16 appearance.
Not everyone on this year’s team has been through the experience of playing in the NCAA Championships, as freshmen Yasmin Schnack and Stephanie Wetmore, two key contributors to the Bruins in the late stretch of the season, will be getting their first taste of the environment this weekend.
“I’m kind of nervous, but at the same time excited,” Wetmore said. “There is definitely some pressure, but pressure is a privilege. We’ve worked for it and earned it.”
If the Bruins make it to the Sweet 16 again for the eighth straight time this year, they could potentially face off against fifth-seeded Northwestern, a team that defeated UCLA earlier this season in the National Team Indoor Championships.
However, UCLA feels as though it is a new team and that it has grown to become a big threat in this year’s postseason. There is a common attitude among the players about the meaning of the next few matches.
“This is what we’ve worked for all year and it’s do or die at this point,” junior Tracy Lin said.