In a match that will be the first true test for the No. 8 UCLA men’s tennis team, the Bruins will take on No. 9 Notre Dame in the USTA/ITA National Team Indoors.
The Bruins (5-0) have already beaten four top-50 teams, but the highest-ranked of those four opponents was No. 22 Pepperdine in the Bruins’ opening match of the season.
“We’ve had some good matches,” UCLA coach Billy Martin said.
“I don’t know if they’re going to be that much better than any matches we’ve already played, but I’ve got to believe that they’re a pretty darn good team.”
Martin never imagined at the beginning of the season that his team would be undefeated heading into the nation’s biggest tournament of the season, as the Bruins were adjusting to a new lineup.
Instead, he expected a more gradual improvement through the course of the season.
“I hadn’t anticipated us being 5-0 at this point,” Martin said. “I thought we’d get better as the year would go by.
“A lot of young guys have been stepping up, especially Holden (Seguso) and Nick (Meister).
“And Harel (Srugo) has stepped in at No. 1 and done a good job for us.”
But before getting too caught up in how well his team is doing right now, Martin is focusing on the task at hand, which will by no means be a simple one.
While the Fighting Irish play indoors during much of their season because of the weather conditions in South Bend, Ind., the Bruins play indoors just once a season, at the USTA/ITA National Team Indoors.
“I think they’ll be a little better prepared for the indoor courts that we’re going to be playing on,” Martin said.
According to Martin, the first match of the tournament usually tends to be the most difficult. The players must try to adjust to the speed of the courts, as well as to the level of competition.
“You never really know with the first match, because we’re not really acclimated to the elements,” he said.
In the history of the event, UCLA has captured seven titles, with the most recent coming in 2001.
The Bruins are ranked second in overall titles, just behind Stanford, which has captured 12 championships from that event.
Moreover, on the four occasions when the tournament was played in Washington, the Bruins have had even greater success, winning two titles twice and finishing as the runner-up.
Last season, the Bruins were the third-ranked team and advanced to the semifinals before falling to second-seeded Ohio State 4-2.
WOMEN’S TENNIS: The No. 8 women’s tennis team takes on No. 12 Fresno State this afternoon at the Los Angeles Tennis Center and may have to do so without some of its top players.
Three Bruins who sat out for the Bruins’ commanding 7-0 win over LMU on Wednesday may have to be sidelined again by coach Stella Sampras Webster if their injuries are too detrimental.
However, this will likely be less of a concern for Webster as it may have been in seasons past, as her team is as deep as it has been in quite some time.
Seniors Alex McGoodwin and Tracy Lin along with sophomore Yasmin Schnack didn’t play on Wednesday
They were replaced by senior Elizabeth Lumpkin, junior Anna-Viktoria Lind and sophomore Stephanie Wetmore, respectively, in the bottom of the singles lineup.
The Bulldogs enter the match with a 2-1 record, having lost to No. 2 Northwestern and captured a win against No. 18 Clemson. They also defeated a common opponent with the Bruins, No. 24 Arkansas.