The UCLA women’s tennis team limped into Eugene, Ore. last weekend, hampered by injuries, but the Bruins were able to persevere, coming away with a victory over the Oregon Ducks.
UCLA went into Friday’s match without sophomores Chanelle Van Nguyen and Robin Anderson, both of whom were suffering from injuries. Van Nguyen is still out with a sprained ankle from one week ago, and Anderson has had trouble with tendonitis since last weekend’s matches.
Despite the injuries of two of her regulars in the singles rotation, coach Stella Sampras Webster knew that her team’s depth would help them to defeat the Ducks.
“To be able to come here and play without them and win like we did it was a great,” said coach Stella Sampras Webster. “It is a sign that we have a deep team that can win.”
The players were also not the least bit fazed by the injuries to their teammates.
“I think that is something we did not worry about,” said sophomore Skylar Morton. “We just went out and played the way we know how to play.”
Friday’s match was also the third match for coach Webster’s new doubles pairs that debuted against Arizona and Arizona St. The new pairs of doubles fared well against Oregon, taking two out of the three matches to secure the doubles point for UCLA.
After one week of play, though, Sampras Webster was still not sure whether or not she will continue with the teams heading into NCAA in a couple of weeks.
“I’m not completely sold on the teams that we have,” Sampras Webster said. “We definitely have a lot more work to do in doubles.”
The players echoed their coach’s sentiments and said that while the team was good, doubles play was the area that they needed to work on the most.
“I think that all around our team is pretty strong but there are always things that we could improve,” said Dolehide. “Our doubles would be the main thing. I know we will be doing a lot stuff this week and the next week in practice to improve our doubles team.”
UCLA ends its Pac-12 conference play Thursday when it travels across town to take on the USC Trojans.