MICHAEL LITSCHI Junior Sara Walker aims the
ball crosscourt in the Bruins’ match against Pepperdine last
week.
By Eric Perez
Daily Bruin Contributor
The UCLA women’s tennis squad will venture into enemy
territory today at 1:30 p.m. to take on No. 7 USC at Marks Tennis
Stadium. It should be a titanic clash of epic proportions, a dual
match that puts two elite teams together that just flat out hate
each other.
“No I don’t hate them at all,” junior Sara
Walker said. “I love their team, it’s so weird,
we’re really good friends with all the girls.”
All right so they don’t hate each other, but the rivalry
component between these two programs does prevail. In fact for No.
15 UCLA, matches against “˜SC are ones they tend to never
forget.
“I can remember every match that I’ve played as a
player against USC,” said head coach Stella Sampras, who was
a Bruin player from 1987-91.
“Just because of the intensity of it, they bring out their
best and we bring out our best ““ it’s just a dog
fight,” Sampras added.
This dog fight will be the Bruins’ first big test of the
season. Thus far, UCLA has rolled over its opponents, shutting out
Loyola Marymount 7-0, then beating both Pepperdine and UC Irvine
6-1. UCLA has looked outright dominant at the season’s
outset.
“It’s easy for talented players to win without
having to really work hard. But against better teams, there needs
to be a work ethic, discipline, intensity, and energy to beat those
better teams,” Sampras said.
USC certainly qualifies as one of those better teams. The Women
of Troy have also blown up their early season opponents, beating UC
Santa Barbara 6-1 and sweeping UC Irvine 7-0. USC has advanced to
the quarter finals in the NCAA Tournament every year for the past
three years.
“USC is a very good team and they are ranked higher than
us right now,” said sophomore Lauren Fisher, who feels that a
strong start will be the key for the Bruins in what is to likely be
a very close match.
“We need to focus on the doubles point. We’ll be a
lot better off before we go into singles,” Fisher added.
This early season Pac-10 match-up has all the elements of a
classic drama. Just don’t expect a soap opera.
“We like their team,” Walker said. “But in the
big picture, we don’t like USC, so playing USC we want to
kill them,” Walker said.