WOMEN’S TENNIS WOMEN’S TENNIS
Friday-Sunday All day Pac-10 Indoors Seattle Seattle, WA
By Jason Ebin
Daily Bruin Contributor
The 2001 Pac-10 Indoor Championships will feature the
nation’s top talent. Four of the top 10 nationally ranked
teams as well as six of the nation’s top 25 teams will
compete today through Sunday in Seattle, Wash.
Stanford enters the tournament with the No. 1 ranking followed
by No. 5 California, No. 7 Arizona, No. 9 UCLA, No. 12 Southern
California and No. 24 Arizona.
But for this tournament, team rankings might as well be left at
home. This is an individual competition for individual rankings.
Athletes will compete in one of three flights. In the first flight,
each school’s individual No.’s 1 and 2 compete, in the
second No.’s 3 and 4, and in the third No.’s 5 and 6.
The same format applies to the three doubles teams with No. 1 in
flight one and so on.
UCLA women’s tennis head coach Stella Sampras is looking
forward to the stiff competition.
“It is a good opportunity to see and compete against other
Pac-10 teams,” she said. “Because the tournament is
flighted, each player will most likely get an opportunity to play
against other players who they will play against later in the
season.”
Senior Jennifer Donahue agreed that the tournament provides some
benefits.
“This tournament is a really good indication of the
competition we will be facing later on in the season.”
Sophomore Sara Walker and senior Zana Zlebnik will compete in
the first flight, junior Petya Marinova and freshmen Lauren Fisher
will compete in the second flight, and freshmen Mariko
Fritz-Krockow and junior Catherine Hawley will compete in the third
flight.
With the exception of Walker at No. 1 and senior Christina
Popescu, who will sit out due to an ongoing knee injury, the
permanent Bruin lineup has yet to be determined, according to
Sampras.
In doubles competition Fisher and Marinova are expected to play
No. 1, Walker and Zlebnik No. 2, and senior Jennifer Donahue and
Hawley No. 3.
While the Bruins home court is outdoors, due to location, this
tournament will be held indoors, providing a welcomed change in
some cases.
“Indoors is my favorite surface, but because of the
flights the tournament is very hard,” Walker said.
“This is a good starting point for us, a time to get matches
and go out there and fight.”
But no matter how the Bruins manage to do this weekend, they are
going in with a winning attitude.
“I have never seen a team this excited,” Donahue
said. “We have pride in the way we play and because we have
worked so hard in the off-season, we are very well prepared.
Hopefully everyone will do well this weekend.”
Zlebnik, in her second year at UCLA after transferring as a
junior from Texas Tech, suffered an injury-plagued first season but
expects a big turnaround this season. “I am healthy now and I
want my last year to be my best year,” Zlebnik said.
“This year we work together much more than last year. We have
more fun and work harder as a team.”
Sampras agreed. “Right now I think the spirit of this team
is awesome. Spirits are really high now and if we stay motivated
and work hard we can have a great season.”