So far, the UCLA women’s tennis team has only played three games in the 2014 regular season. Yet, the ITA National Women’s Team
Indoor Championships in Charlottesville, Va., are just over a week away.
To prepare, the Bruins need more than team practice. They need match experience, and they need it quick.
“(Any) two-out-of-three match where they have umpires and three balls … you can’t ever get that in a practice,” said coach Stella Sampras Webster. “What our team needs is lots of matches so that they get match-tough.”
UCLA will get a bit of a tune-up for the upcoming Indoor Championships Wednesday and Thursday, as it faces Loyola Marymount and UC Irvine at the Los Angeles Tennis Center. The games will be their final games before the Indoor Championships begin next Friday.
“Hopefully LMU and UC Irvine will push us so that we get challenged
enough,” Sampras Webster said. “(To) learn from the matches is what we are looking for, because I
know that the competition next week is going to be really high and
strong.”
Loyola Marymount (1-0) is unranked, while UC Irvine (1-1) is currently No. 38 in the ITA National Team Rankings. UCI familiarized itself with the UCLA campus last weekend, as it participated in the National Indoors Qualifying Tournament with UCLA, Texas Christian University and the University of San Diego.
Similar to UCLA, UCI defeated San Diego in the tournament. However, UCI lost 4-0 to No. 30 TCU, while UCLA defeated TCU 4-1.
“(The games against LMU and UCI are) just a good opportunity for us to play against another team that will give our young ones more experience,” Sampras Webster said. “(The games also allow) our doubles teams to play more together. … There’s definitely a lot of room for improvement in doubles.”
Right now, the rapport of the doubles teams is a primary concern. With little match experience, the members of the doubles teams have yet to become fully familiar and comfortable with their respective partners.
“(The doubles need to improve on) getting used to their partner and knowing what their partner will do (to) set them up,” Sampras Webster said. “The movement (and) the aggressiveness up at the net is where we are trying to really get our players to feel more comfortable.”
One of the Bruins’ new doubles combinations includes junior Chanelle Van Nguyen and senior Courtney Dolehide. Van Nguyen agreed that her doubles team, as well as the other doubles teams, need to improve on attacking the ball at the net.
“I feel like (every doubles team) should probably do better in the poaching part (of the game),” Van Nguyen said.
Remaining aggressive at the net is one way for the doubles teams to protect against complacency early in the season when they are not playing the toughest of teams.
“I know that it’s only going to get tougher from here, and girls are only going to get better,” Van Nguyen said. “So I feel like continuing to work on my all-around game like coming up at net, finishing points up at net, (and) trying to work on my volleys.”
The Bruins will try to remain one step ahead of schedule starting Wednesday at 1:30 p.m. against the LMU Lions.
Compiled by Matthew Joye, Bruin Sports contributor.