Nothing was certain for the UCLA women’s tennis team prior
to 5 p.m. Wednesday.
Nobody knew where the Bruins would be playing, let alone what
teams would be placed in their NCAA Regional.
And the team’s most experienced player knew better than to
postulate what the team’s fate would become Wednesday.
Rather, she sat eagerly with her teammates and watched as the
Bruins were handed their draw.
“I wasn’t really expecting anything because every
year we expect to go somewhere and then we usually end up staying
here,” senior captain Laura Gordon said.
However, this year the No. 19-ranked Bruins (13-6) must travel
to take part in the NCAA Regional ““ but just slightly over 20
miles.
The team will drive to Pepperdine to take on No. 34-ranked San
Diego State (16-8) in the first round of the 2006 NCAA
Women’s Tennis Championships.
“We’ve got San Diego State in the first round and
they’re a strong team compared to past years when the teams
in the first rounds have been pretty weak,” UCLA coach Stella
Sampras Webster said.
“I think it’s a good thing because it will prepare
us pretty well for Pepperdine. We’ve got to be ready for them
before we even think about Pepperdine.”
Though the Aztecs will provide UCLA with a challenge, the Bruins
have a little extra motivation knowing that if they get past the
first round, they will likely be facing the tournament’s
13th-seeded Pepperdine Waves.
Pepperdine handed UCLA its first loss of this season in a prior
matchup in Malibu, squeaking out a 4-3 decision that came down to
the wire.
“We had a feeling that we might be playing at Pepperdine,
but that’s great for us because now we get a chance at
revenge for our worst loss of the season if we get past San Diego
State,” sophomore Riza Zalameda said.
“It’ll be interesting to see how much we’ve
improved,” Sampras Webster added.
And if the Bruins do indeed get past the Aztecs to take on the
Waves, there will be different matchups across the board from when
the two teams first met this season.
“There are going to be some different matches in singles,
and I think our doubles teams have improved since then so it would
be interesting to see what happens,” Sampras Webster said.
“We’ll be able to see just how much we’ve
improved over the course of the season.”
UCLA is joined by five Pac-10 counterparts in this year’s
bracket including No. 1 seed Stanford, No. 3 seed USC, No. 10 seed
Cal, Arizona and Arizona State.
If the Bruins make it past the second round, they will travel
north to Stanford for the Round of 16 on May 18.
“For now we just have to look at it one match at a time
before getting ahead and that’s the best way to look at
it,” Zalameda said.