As the sound of tennis rallies and coaches’ shouting echoed behind the stands of an empty Strauss Stadium, the scoreboard above the players’ heads displayed a unique addition.
Despite this being a practice with no scores to be kept, the marquee already had an opponent’s team name opposite that of UCLA’s.
Just three letters, U-S-C to be exact, adorned the scoreboard and seemed to serve as a great motivation to help prepare the team for its match against the crosstown rival Trojans (9-2) Friday.
In only the secondPac-12 matchup of the season for UCLA (10-1), the No. 3 Bruins find themselves up against the No. 6 Trojans, which has only dropped matches this season to Florida and UCLA.
“We know them very well and we’ve had some great matches together,” said coach Stella Sampras Webster. “They’re a very good team, they fight hard and play fair, so it’s always a great match when we play against each other.”
Friday, however, won’t be the first time the Bruins face off against the Trojans this season, as the two previously met in the second round of the ITA Division I National Team Indoor Championship, with the Bruins easily cruising to a 4-0 victory.
What will be different for UCLA this time around is its environment, with the team playing its first true road game on an opponent’s home court.
“It’s not going to be as comfortable as it is here,” Sampras Webster said. “They’re going to have a lot of fans and there could be some distractions, but it will be a good test for our players to see how they can stay focused and not get overwhelmed or wrapped up in the moment.”
UCLA will also have to handle the strong familiarity each team has acquired with each other over the years, as they face of some USC players staring back over the net is one many Bruins are already well-acquainted with.
“They’re a really good team and obviously our biggest rivals,” said junior Chanelle Van Nguyen. “I’m just looking forward to playing them because we know them so well.”
Rest assured, however, that these familiar faces won’t get in the way of this storied rivalry when game time arrives.
“We approach it like we approach any team,” said sophomore Kyle McPhillips. “We’ve been working on a lot of points, patterns and situational things, so we just try to figure out who we’re playing and who has the best chance to win.”