It won’t be the first time this season the UCLA and USC women’s tennis teams will battle one another, but it might as well be.
Gone is the warm weather of Los Angeles and the California sun, replaced with the winds and tornado watches of Oklahoma.
Gone is UCLA’s injury-plagued lineup, replaced with a new roster that will stack all but two of UCLA’s players up against a different opponent in singles play.
Though the Bruins (20-5) and the Women of Troy (19-7) have already met twice during the regular season, both Bruin wins, this afternoon’s match will have several new elements put into the mix.
“I’m hoping they go out and are relaxed and playing with confidence,” UCLA coach Stella Sampras Webster said of her players. “The biggest thing is just dealing with their nerves, dealing with the wind, just dealing with anything that comes their way.”
One thing Sampras Webster won’t have to worry too much about is inexperience: The entire team, with the exception of freshman Andrea Remynse, was a part of last year’s run to the championship match.
But at the same time, she knows that, come the NCAA Championships, any matches played during the season have very little relevance ““ even if it is against the same team.
Nonetheless, the Bruins have a great deal of confidence heading into today’s match against USC, thanks mostly to a pair of dominating wins over the Women of Troy.
“We have confidence that we’ve beaten them already, and so why not do it again?” senior Riza Zalameda said. “I think this is another opportunity to beat them and prove that we’re the better team. Any time we play against USC, we want to play our best.”
The last time the two teams met in the NCAA Championships was in 2005 at the University of Georgia. The Women of Troy defeated the Bruins by a narrow 4-3 margin that year to end their postseason run. This time around, UCLA will be looking to return the favor.
Coming off two 4-0 shutout victories in the NCAA regional they hosted at the Los Angeles Tennis Center last weekend, the Bruins will be looking to improve in areas where Sampras Webster found some flaws ““ most notably in doubles play.
With the return of sophomore Yasmin Schnack to the lineup in the opening two rounds of the NCAA Championships, Sampras Webster had to slightly adjust her No. 3 doubles team, pairing senior Alex McGoodwin with Schnack.
Though the two hadn’t played together for very long before the match, they are quickly becoming acclimated to one another and Sampras Webster has noticed some improvements since the team landed in Tulsa on Sunday.
“We’ve definitely been working on doubles, so I’m excited to see them play tomorrow,” she said. “We made some adjustments and I think they’ll be ready. I’m excited to see the improvement.”
At the No. 1 doubles position, the Bruins boast the nation’s top duo of Zalameda and fellow senior Tracy Lin, who are also the Bruins’ top two singles players.
Though Lin has been to the Round of 16 of the NCAA Championships in the past, things will be much different for her this year.
“I’ve never been in a state where there have been tornado watches,” she said. “I think we’re mentally prepared to deal with bad weather conditions.
“We’ve had a few days of practice out here, so we’re getting used to it and I think the team that doesn’t let the weather affect their game will definitely have an advantage there.”
GROUNDSTROKES: After a pair of wins in NCAA Regional play, UCLA improved its record to 20-5, marking the second consecutive season in which they’ve attained 20 or more wins … The Bruins own a 7-3 record against the remaining 15 teams that are still alive in the NCAA Championships … Arizona State was the only unseeded team to beat the Bruins this season … While the Bruins have reached the Round of 16 in each of the past nine seasons, they have yet to win a NCAA Championship, finishing runner up on five different occasions (1982, 1989, 1991, 2004, and 2007).