By Pauline Vu
Daily Bruin Senior Staff
For the first time ever, the UCLA men’s and women’s
tennis teams will compete as one team when play starts Friday at
the Wingspanbank.com/World Team Tennis National Collegiate
Championships.
The Championships, which take place from Oct. 6-8 at Stanford,
include 16 of the top men’s and women’s college teams
based on their combined season-ending ranking.
This event started last fall, but UCLA didn’t have a high
enough ranking to qualify. After last season, however, the men
finished fourth in the nation and the women came in fifth.
“We missed it last year, so both Billy and I wanted to see
what it was like,” women’s head coach Stella Sampras
said, referring to men’s coach Billy Martin. “We heard
from a lot of teams that it’s a great event.”
Representing UCLA will be sophomore Sara Walker and junior Zana
Zlebnik on the women’s side. For the men, junior Chris Sands
and freshman Jean-Julien Rojer will compete. Sampras will coach the
team.
They will participate in singles and doubles matches for women
and men, as well as mixed doubles.
“It should be pretty good,” Walker said.
“It’s more intense with the guys out there. You do play
well because you get nervous playing with the guys.”
She added that the tournament, which doesn’t count toward
records or rankings, should be fun because of what makes it
different from regular tournaments.
“We never travel with the guys or play tournaments with
the guys,” Walker said.
Sampras echoed this sentiment.
“It’s different from any tournament that we’ll
play in college. I’m sure the guys will make it very exciting
for them,” she said of her own players. “They get into
it a lot more than girls do.”
The Bruins start on Friday against Mississippi State. They play
Virginia Commonwealth on Saturday and Illinois on Sunday. Finals
will also be played on Sunday.
Practice for the women started just last week.
“It’ll give us an opportunity to play some
matches,” Sampras said. “We’ll get to see Sara
and Zana play some doubles together.”
Walker’s lost her doubles partner last year, Amanda
Basica, to graduation.
The event should also allow some early season scouting.
“It’s a chance to see how other players are
playing,” Sampras said.
Other schools that will be at the tournament include USC, Tulsa,
Texas A&M, Stanford, Notre Dame and Louisiana State.