By Hannah Gordon
Daily Bruin Contributor
Plagued with injuries, the UCLA women’s tennis team is
dealing with an uncertain lineup while trying to prepare for this
weekend’s two nonconference matches. The No. 22 Bruins face
No. 38 Miami at 2:30 p.m. on Saturday and No. 6 Texas at noon on
Sunday at the Los Angeles Tennis Center.
UCLA has been in a slump but will get a boost this weekend from
the return of No. 1 sophomore Sara Walker. Walker has been out for
the past three weeks with a stress reaction in her foot but played
doubles last weekend against USC.
“With Sara’s return, moving people down a spot will
give the other players a better opportunity to win,” Head
Coach Stella Sampras said.
Assistant coach Jon Reeves agreed.
“It’s a great situation for everybody that Sara is
coming back,” he said.
While Walker is expected to play singles, it is unclear whether
or not she will play doubles. The injury status of Walker and
seniors Zana Zlebnik and Cristina Popescu has made the entire
singles and doubles lineups unstable.
Last weekend, Zlebnik played doubles with Walker, and Popescu
played singles for the first time in a year against USC. This
weekend, it is doubtful that Zlebnik will play, but possible that
Popescu will. The uncertainty has been hard on the team
“It’s a challenge to prepare when you don’t
know who will play,” Sampras said. “And with the rain,
we haven’t practiced enough to know where the player’s
games are.”
A bright spot during the team’s recent struggles is Petya
Marinova, who has shined since moving up to the No. 2 spot. She won
the last three of her matches, and teamed with Lauren Fisher, has
won eight of the last 10 doubles matches. Thanks to her dynamic
play, the ITA ranked her at No. 85 in singles.
“I never thought I’d be ranked in singles. My eyes
watered when I saw the paper,” Marinova said. “I
trained really hard and as people say, hard work does pay off. Even
though you don’t believe it in a slump, it comes
together.”
Saturday’s match will be an unusual homecoming for
Miami’s associate Head Coach, Paige Yaroshuk. She graduated
from UCLA in 1996 as an All-American, the Pac-10 doubles champion,
and UCLA’s Most Valuable Player. When she returns to Westwood
this weekend, Yaroshuk will be coaching against her own former
coach, Stella Sampras.
“It’ll be fun to see her,” Sampras said.
Although she finds coaching against her former player odd,
Sampras is amused by the matchup. She expects Yaroshuk to bring her
team ready, but Yaroshuk will have to be prepared for a healthier
UCLA team than seen in the past few weeks.