Daily Bruin File Photo Chris Sands
participated in the off-season tournament this weekend.
By Pauline Vu
Daily Bruin Senior Staff
Four members of the UCLA men’s and women’s tennis
teams traveled to Stanford over the weekend to play in the World
Team Tennis National Collegiate Tennis Championships, where they
placed 13th out of 16 teams.
The team, which consisted of sophomore Sara Walker and senior
Zana Zlebnik, and seniors Chris Sands and Jean-Julien Rojer, was
the first one that combined members of both the men’s and
women’s teams. They participated in five events: men’s
and women’s singles (Rojer and Walker), men’s and
women’s doubles, and mixed doubles (Zlebnik and Sands).
“Obviously, we wanted to do well and we came across some
tough teams,” said women’s head coach Stella Sampras.
“I don’t think (our finish) shows either how good or
bad we are, it’s just a totally different format that we
played and it was fun.”
The event finish doesn’t count toward rankings, records or
anything official. College tennis starts its real season in the
spring.
“We could go out and not play with a lot of
pressure,” Sampras said.
The team lost to Mississippi State, Virginia Commonwealth and
Illinois, but ended the tournament beating Louisiana State
23-17.
Individually, Walker went 4-0 at singles, and she and Zlebnick
went 2-2 at women’s doubles. Rojer went 3-1 at men’s
singles, he and Sands were 0-4 at doubles, and Zlebnick and Sands
had a 3-1 record.
“It was something that Zana had to get used to,”
Sampras said of the mixed doubles team. “It’s
definitely different than playing women’s doubles because
you’re picked on from the other team. But she did well, she
hung in there.”
Zlebnik said that the mixed doubles matches got more intense
than she was used to.
“When the matches got serious, the guys didn’t hold
back,” she said. “It’s a little intimidating when
the ball comes at you at twice the speed that the girls hit it
at.”
Zlebnick and Walker also made their first appearance as a
doubles team, since Walker’s partner last year, Annica
Cooper, has graduated.
At a 2-2 record, they had mixed results.
“We still need to get used to each other,” Zlebnick
said. “It’s good to get acquainted together.”
Walker, who last year was the sole All-American from the
women’s team, had the Bruins’ only perfect record.
She was pleased at the social aspect of playing with athletes
from the men’s team.
“It was fun to travel with the guys,” she said.
“It was more social, we were rooting for the guys. I think
it’ll make our teams a little bit closer.”