Today, the UCLA tennis teams are asked to stop the bleeding.
With the Bruins falling further and further back in the Lexus
Gauntlet Trophy race, both men’s and women’s teams will
take on the Trojans. Yet while the men beat USC three times last
year and are favored once again at home, the women must head over
to Marks Tennis Stadium at USC to face a team that beat them
soundly twice last year.
“You think of the Gauntlet Cup,” sophomore Jackie
Carleton said. “Their fans aren’t going to be
sympathetic.”
Both the players and coaches feel more is at stake than just the
Gauntlet Trophy. With USC ranked No. 5 nationally and UCLA at No.
11, a Bruin victory would shake up the seedings for next
weekend’s important National Indoors Tournament in
Wisconsin.
“This is very important because if we win, it will change
the seedings,” assistant coach Rance Brown said. “It
will give us something to carry over to the National
Indoors.”
Although the Trojans are the favorite on paper, they are much
more vulnerable than they were last season. After losing four of
their top five starters from a year ago and starting three
freshmen, the Trojans are in a rebuilding phase.
“They’re going through what we did last year,”
sophomore Feriel Esseghir said, referring to last year’s
Bruin team that boasted seven freshmen.
One possible weakness the Bruins will need to exploit
immediately is in doubles. In their match against unheralded TCU,
the Trojans lost all three doubles sets.
“We have to get a fast start with the doubles
point,” Carleton said. “It can damage their
morale.”
From there, the Bruins hope it will be their own freshmen who
make the difference. In their season opener against Loyola
Marymount, freshmen Daniela Bercek and Alex McGoodwin won in
straight sets en route to a 7-0 victory over the Lions.
“They’re making an impact in the program right off
the bat,” Brown said.
However, the Trojans will undoubtedly be tougher than the Lions,
and the match will be a good measuring stick to see where the team
as a whole stands. But the game means much more to the Bruins than
a test, as they hope a win Friday against USC plus another in March
will help bring the Gauntlet to Westwood.
Most Bruin fans just hope the Gauntlet won’t be out of
reach by then.