It’s hard to think about No. 7 UCLA’s matchup with
UC Irvine today at 1:30 p.m. at the Los Angeles Tennis Center
without at least entertaining the notion that it will be nothing
more than a warm up for the Bruins’ showdown with No. 9 USC
on Friday.
UCLA holds a 29-2 edge in the all-time series against the
Anteaters, who are coming off of a 7-0 drubbing at the hands of the
Trojans last weekend.
However, while players are inevitably thinking about
Friday’s match, the team is focused on putting together a
solid performance today.
“I think (today’s match) will be good preparation
for ‘SC,” UCLA head coach Stella Sampras Webster said.
“But Irvine is a good team, and we need to make sure we take
care of them first.”
The Bruins started the season 2-0 with home wins over Long Beach
State and Pepperdine. At this point the team is treating every
match as an opportunity to improve in preparation for what promises
to be a tremendously demanding season.
“We are taking each match as it comes and hoping that it
will prepare us for matches like ‘SC,” said Sarah
Gregg, who recorded wins at No. 1 doubles and No. 3 singles last
weekend. “We’ve all got individual things for each
match that we are working on.”
UC Irvine enters today’s match with a record of 1-1. The
team opened the season with a 4-3 win over Sacramento State before
falling to USC. They are led by junior transfers Jenny Bowman and
Tiffany Chang who play No. 1 and No. 2 singles respectively. The
pair also plays No. 1 doubles for the Anteaters, and is currently
ranked No. 60 in the nation.
The Bruins are still without junior Lauren Fisher and freshman
Ferriel Esseghir, both out with injuries.
But the rest of the team is healthy.
Senior Sara Walker, currently ranked sixth in the nation in
singles, is coming off of two dominating victories last
weekend.
“We’ve been working a lot on being more aggressive
in doubles and staying on top of the net,” said sophomore
Anya Loncaric, who played No. 6 singles and No. 3 doubles last
weekend. “We just need to focus and stay out there for as
long as it takes to win the match.”
Sampras Webster is undecided about today’s lineup, but she
will have the same players available for this weekend’s
matches as for last week’s.