Farm, Bear Lair hard
stretch for w. tennis
By Chris Isidro
The Stanford women’s tennis team takes losing to UCLA
personally. And though they won’t be carrying firearms when they
take to the courts Friday in Palo Alto, the Cardinal is prepared
for battle.
After the Bruins straggle off the Farm, the Bear Lair awaits the
fourth-ranked team in the nation. No. 10 California finishes off
the toughest weekend of dual matches for UCLA this season.
The Bruins will face a Stanford squad reeling from a difficult
loss at home against No. 2 Texas. Further fueling the animosity,
the eight-time national champion Cardinal have dropped their last
two matches against the UCLA, including a 5-4 loss at the National
Indoor Team Championships in February.
"It would be nice to get a little retribution for what happened
up there," Cardinal senior Kim Shasby said.
Revenge might be sweet, but it won’t come easily. The Bruins
haven’t lost since late February and are angling for a top-four
seeding at the NCAA Championships.
"They’re really loaded," Stanford head coach Frank Brennan said.
"They’ve got the best one-two punch in the country in Jane Chi and
Keri Phebus, they have excellent doubles, and they’re just getting
good performances from everybody."
For seventh-ranked Stanford to pull the upset, they will need to
have the lead entering doubles. Stanford will need at least one
victory in the top three matches and will look Katie Schlukebir to
pull through for them. The top-seeded Cardinal upset Keri Phebus
earlier this season after facing match point in the second set.
"I’m hoping to win another singles or two," Brennan said. "We
had a couple close singles losses last time and I think we can turn
those around on our home courts."
UCLA will have to endure a hostile crowd at the Stanford Tennis
Stadium with a crowd of up to 1,500 predicted to attend the match.
But head coach Bill Zaima said that the Bruins will be prepared to
handle the challenge.
"This will be our first match we play against a tough crowd," he
said. "But it won’t be like playing a Florida or Georgia because
Stanford tends to draw older, more laid-back fans."
On Saturday, the Bruins cross the bay to take on Cal. Though
UCLA could very well be bruised up after a tight match the previous
day, they can’t let up against the Bears. Like UCLA, Cal has two
doubles squads in the top ten and, when healthy, courts a
formidable singles lineup.
"We need to beat Cal because they’re back up to the top ten and
we need to beat all the top teams we can," Zaima said.