If there was one blemish in UCLA women’s tennis’ national championship run last year, it was its performance in the 2014 USTA/ITA National Team Indoor Championships.
Then-No. 4-seeded UCLA entered the early-season tournament final as favorites over the then-No. 7 seeded Duke Blue Devils.
For a while, the Bruins looked the part. But despite gaining a 3-0 upper hand, the Bruins succumbed to a late Duke rally, losing the tournament championship 4-3.
When the Bruins try to exorcise the demons inflicted by the Blue Devils in the same tournament this weekend – starting with Kentucky (7-1) on Friday – the Bruins will once again have the on-paper advantage.
UCLA (3-0) entered the preseason as the No. 1 team in the country, and managed to hold onto that rank after three consecutive wins without dropping a single set.
Where the Bruins might find themselves at a disadvantage when they take the indoor courts at Charlottesville, Va., however, just so happens to be the indoor courts themselves. UCLA practices at the outdoor courts of the Los Angeles Tennis Center, where the tennis balls remain susceptible to the elements present in the Westwood campus.
In order to simulate the pristine conditions of the indoor courts at the Boar’s Head Sports Club, coach Stella Sampras Webster and her coaching staff has turned to innovative methods in the past, such as replacing practice balls more frequently to ensure they don’t lose velocity after multiple hits.
But ultimately, there’s nothing that simulates the feeling of playing tennis indoors better than actually playing on indoor courts. And with the team already having departed for Virginia on Tuesday of this week, the Bruins have had three days to acclimatize to the courts in Virginia before they take on the Wildcats.
Compiled by Aubrey Yeo, Bruin Sports senior staff.