Monday, 4/14/97
Bruins finish off USC, UNLV
Despite weekend wins, UCLA must buckle down for meeting with No.
2 Stanford
By Christie DeBeau
Daily Bruin Contributor
The UCLA women’s tennis team swept two dual matches over the
first weekend of its last home stand of the season. However, next
weekend might be a little tougher.
On Friday, UCLA defeated crosstown rival, No. 33 USC, 7-2. The
Bruins (14-4, 6-2 Pac-10) then proceeded to defeat No. 16
University of Nevada, Las Vegas 5-1. However, next week UCLA is set
to play No. 2 Stanford, who have already defeated the Bruins once
this season.
Although UCLA only gave up two matches against the Trojans, the
sets were close and could have gone either way. The Bruins’ No. 1
player Kati Kocsis played a close match against USC’s Ditta Huber
but she was able to win in two sets, 7-5, 7-5.
Freshman Elizabeth Schmidt lost in singles but not without a
fight that ended in three sets. Despite some of the tight matches,
the Bruins were able to stay focused and win in doubles play.
"We just keep improving and really stay focused," UCLA head
coach Stella Sampras said. "The season is so long that it is easy
to let up a little bit. We were up 4-2 after singles and USC’s
doubles were a lot better (on Friday) then they were the first time
we played them … We knew that USC was going to be tough. They are
our rival so we did not want to lose to them at home."
The second match of the weekend was a little bit easier for
UCLA. In fact, doubles play was suspended after the Bruins took
five of the six singles matches.
"(We) are focused and continue to work hard and I think that is
the difference in playing really good tennis," Sampras said. "It
showed in beating a team like UNLV. They are 16th in the country
and beating them at singles is just really great."
The success that UCLA has exhibited throughout this season is
due to victories from the veteran players as well as the newcomers.
But it is hard work from everyone that has made the Bruins the No.
3 team in the nation.
"(Since losing to Pepperdine and Arizona State at the beginning
of the season) the whole team has improved – just the experience
has helped," Sampras said. "Four of them are new and so it’s a
matter of feeling comfortable and adjusting to playing college
tennis.
"It has definitely been a team effort. … They all work really
hard and they are going to improve. That is the thing I want to do
this year – improve, and at nationals we will be at our best.
"Every match we play is just to prepare us for the (NCAA
Tournament), so we take every match seriously. Even if we already
won the match, in doubles we want to keep improving and I stress
that a lot. They understand that you can not let up."UCLA 7, USC
2
UCLA 5, UNLV 1
JON FERREY
Elizabeth Schmidt split her weekend matches. The tennis team
faces Stanford next week.