Wednesday, April 3, 1996
By Hye Kwon
Daily Bruin Staff
It’s been a relatively successful season for the UCLA women’s
tennis team, which has accumulated an overall record of 14-2 and
holds a No. 6 ranking in the latest polls. However, the storybook
ending has yet to be written because the five matches coming up in
April could easily change the outcome of the season’s final
chapter.
In a span of two weeks, the Bruins will be pitted against
Stanford, California and Southern California. The three teams are
all ranked in the Top 25, and all are more than capable of
deflating UCLA’s postseason ambitions.
The test will begin on Friday afternoon when UCLA hosts Stanford
at the Los Angeles Tennis Center. Having won 14 matches while
losing just once to No. 1 Florida, the Cardinal has a firm grip on
the No. 2 spot in the nation. Stanford has one of the deepest teams
in the country with five players individually ranked in the Top
100.
The Bruins, knowing full well what kind of team Stanford is, are
not ready to change what has brought them success up to this
point.
"We’re going to treat Stanford like any of our opponents," UCLA
assistant coach Stella Sampras said. "We’re going to work on things
like any other week to prepare us for our opponents."
While Stanford has lived up to its preseason billing as one of
the top teams in the nation, its Bay Area rival California has
disappointed supporters so far. The Bears were projected to be the
No. 6 team at the start of the season, but have since gone 8-7 and
slid to No. 23 in the latest polls.
In the individual rankings, freshman Amanda Augustus is the only
player on the squad to be ranked in the Top 50. Augustus checks in
at the No. 48 spot.
USC, which finds itself two slots above California in the
rankings, has been marred by injury problems this year. But the
women of Troy are said to be healthy again and are ready to give
the heavyweight teams like UCLA and Stanford a run for their money
in the final stretch.
* * *
Keri Phebus, who suffered her third defeat of the season last
week against No. 19 Isabela Petrov of Pepperdine, is ranked No. 4
in the country. The new rankings, which were published on Tuesday
by the Intercollegiate Tennis Association, do not reflect Petrov’s
lopsided victory because it came two days after the March 25 cutoff
date.
Other Bruins ranked in the Top 100 include Stephanie Chi (27th),
Paige Yaroshuk (28th) and Kelly Rudolph (88th). The doubles
combination of Phebus and Yaroshuk moved up three spots to No.
4.
FRED HE/Daily Bruin
Paige Yaroshuk is the No. 28 singles player in the nation, but
moved up to No. 4 in the doubles rankings with Keri Phebus.