All week, the UCLA women’s tennis team was preparing itself for what to expect from St. Mary’s, but what both teams failed to expect was a torrential downpour of rain in usually sunny Southern California.
The forecast, which calls for heavy thunderstorms and a 100 percent chance of rain throughout the day on Friday, left no possible opportunity for an outdoor match to take place.
“We’ve been talking to the St. Mary’s coach, and because they really can’t miss much more class time, they just felt like it was better to cancel than trying to stay and play knowing the forecast,” said coach Stella Sampras Webster.
Regardless of the weather, however, the team remained focused on building off its tight win against a tough California squad. When asked what her team was working on this past week, Sampras Webster responded, “variety.”
“I think a lot of our players play very similarly, so when we play other teams, we play different styles,” Sampras Webster said, “Just working on playing different games and getting the team to practice more of what they don’t like to see.”
After clinching its 10th win last week, the team recently moved up in the NCAA’s national rankings, climbing over Stanford to reach the No. 2 spot, sitting just below Duke, who handed UCLA its only loss of the season.
“We really don’t focus too much on rankings,” Sampras Webster said, “It’s nice to be one of the top-ranked teams in the country but we have a lot of matches to go, and right now, we just want to keep improving as a team.”
UCLA now looks to brighter skies as it prepares for a showdown with crosstown rival USC on March 7.