After eight consecutive 4-3 results, UCLA’s women’s
tennis team hopes for a decisive victory today when it hosts Loyola
Marymount at the Los Angeles Tennis Center. The Bruins are 10-0
all-time against the Lions, including a 7-0 thrashing last
year.
Nevertheless, head coach Stella Sampras Webster does not believe
the team’s past success will add pressure to the players or
allow for a letdown.
“Most of our players are freshmen so they’ve never
seen LMU,” she said.
This season, Loyola Marymount is just 1-3, with two of its
losses coming from UCI and Long Beach State The Bruins crushed
those schools, 6-1 and 7-0, respectively. But Sampras Webster has
cautioned that past results are not necessarily indicative of
possible future outcomes.
“Their top couple of players are strong and they’ve
gotten better over the years,” Sampras Webster said.
“Our players need to step up.”
With All-American senior Sara Walker still nursing an injured
hamstring and Lauren Fisher not fully recovered from her elbow
injury, the Bruins cannot take Loyola Marymount lightly.
“We can’t let up just because they’re
LMU,” Sampras Webster said. “We’re expected to
win and we need to be excited to go out and compete.”
Freshman Shilpa Joshi, who will be playing in her third match at
the No. 6 spot, will replace Walker in the line-up. In her last
match, Joshi beat Arizona’s Kristy Randono in a third set
tiebreak to help the Bruins knock off the Wildcats.
“This is a great opportunity for Shilpa to get some match
experience,” Sampras Webster said.
With Joshi playing at the No. 6 position, each other starter is
expected to move up one slot.
“The more they play at a position, the more comfortable
they become,” Sampras Webster said. “We want to use
every match to improve and get better.”
With each player moving up, freshman Jackie Carleton will likely
play in the No. 1 position for the third time this season. In her
last match at No. 1, against Arizona, Carleton won the decisive
match over Emilie Scribot 7-6, 6-7, 6-3.
This will be the final match before the Bruins begin Pac-10 play
next week against USC.