NICOLE MILLER/Daily Bruin Freshman Lauren
Fisher will compete in Atlanta for the NCAA
Championships.
By Hannah Gordon
Daily Bruin Contributor
Even when ranked at a season-low No. 38, the UCLA women’s
tennis team remained confident. The players said they were one of
the top teams in the country, no matter what the rankings said.
Now, when they play No. 6 Vanderbilt in the 16-team NCAA
Championships in Georgia, the Bruins have the chance to prove to
the rest of the country what they have known all along.
With a 7-17 record, no one expected them to make it this far and
the team is thrilled.
“NCAA Championships are THE college tennis
experience,” said senior Jennifer Donahue.
However, the Bruins are focusing on the job ahead of them.
“We’re not going there just to be happy to be there,
we are going to win,” said Head Coach Stella Sampras.
The No. 30 Bruins advanced to this level with a win against No.
46 Georgia Tech in the first round and an upset over No. 12 Fresno
State in the second round of last weekend’s NCAA
Regionals.
The Bruins proved their ranking is not reflective of their
talent as they pulled one of only two upsets in the 16 Regional
competitions. The only other upset of a top seed came when No. 17
Wake Forest beat No. 15 Oklahoma State, making UCLA the
lowest-ranked team left in the NCAA Championships.
 MOHAMMAD ALAVI Sophmore Sara Walker
reaches low for the ball during a match against Texas earlier this
season. “Fresno and the rest of the country knew we were
playing the best we’ve played all year,” Sampras
said.
Vanderbilt is the favorite in today’s match with a strong
lineup and a No. 6 ranking. Vanderbilt’s Julie Ditty is
ranked No. 15 compared to UCLA’s No. 1 player, sophomore Sara
Walker, who is ranked No. 18 nationally. Walker might have been
ranked higher but was injured much of the season.
Vanderbilt also boasts the No. 38 singles player, Sarah Riske,
while UCLA’s No. 2 player, junior Catherine Hawley is ranked
No. 88.
Despite uneven rankings, the players are not worried.
“I don’t think any of us are nervous, just
excited,” said freshman Mariko Fritz-Krockow.
In doubles, Vanderbilt is again favored with the No. 5 doubles
team of Ditty and Kate Burson and the No. 17 team of Riske and
Aleke Tsoubanos.
UCLA’s No. 1 team of junior Petya Marinova and freshman
Lauren Fisher is ranked No 18. Marinova and Fisher did upset the
No. 6 team, Fresno State’s Simone Jardim and Kim Niggemeyer,
so upsetting the No. 5 team is not out of reach. Fisher was also
recently named Intercollegiate Tennis Association West Rookie of
the Year.
UCLA’s No. 2 doubles team is unranked but Walker and
Fritz-Krockow won the Pac-10 Conference Doubles Championship on
April 29.
The whole team has maintained the confidence that they could get
to this point, even if the results suggested otherwise.
“It is not a big deal to be where we are at. It is
expected of UCLA,” said Volunteer Coach Bill Zaima.
“But at 7-17, it’s harder to do.”
The road to Georgia has been a rocky one. The Bruins started the
season at No. 9 and reached a high of No. 7 after wins over Arizona
and Arizona State.
However, things began to fall apart in February when No. 3
senior Zana Zlebnik suffered a season-ending back injury and No. 1
Sara Walker sat out for a month with a stress reaction in her
foot.
The season seemed to slip away from the Bruins as they suffered
loss after loss. Yet they remained optimistic, perhaps out of
patience.
“We have focused on development, on learning from each
situation,” said Assistant Coach Jon Reeves.
“Every time they went out it wasn’t about winning
today’s match but playing better,” Sampras said.
“The results will come in time ““ and they
have.”
The results have come since mid-April with close matches against
the Washington schools, then wins over Cal and Oregon and finally
two postseason victories in NCAA Regionals.
“You don’t want to peak too early,” Sampras
said. “The season is so long that it is important to see it
as a progression where you play your best in May.”
UCLA is peaking at just the right time.
WOMEN’S TENNIS After a strong start, UCLA
experienced a prolonged losing streak due to injuries but bounced
back just in time for the NCAAs. Original graphic by ADAM
BROWN/Daily Bruin Web adaptation by MONICA KWONG/Daily Bruin Senior
Staff