It was just last season that the UCLA women’s tennis team clinched its first-ever NCAA Championship with a 4-0 victory over the No. 8 California Golden Bears. Fresh off winning UCLA’s 102nd NCAA team title, the women’s tennis team hopes to carry its successful run into the new year.
As it prepares to enter the 2009 season, the UCLA women’s tennis team has taken on a completely new look from last year’s squad.
With graduating seniors Riza Zalameda, Tracy Lin, Elizabeth Lumpkin and Alex McGoodwin out of the lineup, the Bruins have added a few new faces to their ranks.
Over the summer, coach Stella Sampras Webster announced the signing of former Georgia Tech Yellow Jacket Maya Johansson to the UCLA women’s tennis team.
Johansson, the No. 6 national singles player in the 2007 season, has signed a grant-in-aid form to play for UCLA this year.
“We are obviously excited to have such a talented player like Maya join our team,” Sampras Webster said. “She had a phenomenal season at Georgia Tech last year and we are thrilled she has decided to transfer to UCLA. We expect big things from Maya.”
The new Bruin expressed similar sentiments in anticipation for what the season has in store.
“It’s my first year here at UCLA, so of course I want to do well,” Johansson said. “I want to do well for my team and for everybody here. I’m excited for the season to start. I’m excited for the matches.”
Also joining Johansson this upcoming season are incoming freshmen Nina Pantic, Carling Seguso and Alexandria Walters.
With the addition of this new group, the Bruins have full faith in the team’s ability to continue its success as the defending NCAA Champions.
“We have a lot of newcomers, so it’s going to be exciting to see them grow through the season and see them get better,” Sampras Webster said. “We want to have the same mentality from last season. We want to be the most competitive team out there. We want to have the same expectations of excellence every day ““ coming out and practicing with the same intensity. We want to keep the standards high … and I think that this team is responding to it. They’re learning a lot and understanding what our expectations are.”
Returning sophomore Andrea Remynse shares Sampras Webster’s excitement. With an 11-3 overall record, Remynse won the most singles matches on the UCLA women’s tennis team during fall competition.
Remynse, who earned the No. 29 singles preseason rank from the Intercollegiate Tennis Association, is also looking forward to the new season.
“We have a new team ““ a young team,” Remynse said. “I’m excited to see how we do and what’s in store for us. We want to take it one match at a time and do our best at every match.”
Also returning in 2009 are Ashley Joelson, Anna-Viktoria Lind, Yasmin Schnack, Stephanie Wetmore and Brittany Rosen, who did not compete in the fall due to injury,
First up on the team’s busy schedule, the Bruins head to Palm Desert on Thursday for the National Collegiate Tennis Classic. The Bruins will face Cal State Northridge, their first opponents of the season, at home on Jan. 21 in the Los Angeles Tennis Center.
“I’m excited to see them compete.” Sampras Webster said. “Nowadays, every team is so strong. Everyone is gunning out for us as defending champions. We’ll be tested every time we go out there, and it’s going to be exciting to see how this team responds.”