COURTNEY STEWART/Daily Bruin Freshman Megan
Bradley leads the UCLA women’s tennis team to the Pac-10
championships, starting today.
By Eric Perez
Daily Bruin Contributor
Excuse the No. 6 UCLA women’s tennis squad if it’s
not ecstatic about the Pac-10 championships starting today in Ojai,
Calif.
“They already crowned the Pac-10 champion (Stanford), so
this weekend is almost like a break,” freshman Megan Bradley
said. “It’s kind of a weird time, I don’t even
know how I feel about it. We’re just a little tired, and our
bodies are breaking down a little bit.”
Talking to the Bruins about this weekend of tennis almost sounds
like a discussion about an exhibition weekend, such as the Pac-10
indoors, which kicked off the dual match season. Now, the Bruins
commence the championship leg of their season.
“It’s been a long season, and now we’re just
going to work on the things we need to work on and make sure
we’re ready for Nationals,” junior Sara Walker
said.
The format of the championship, which goes until Sunday, will
have a 32-player singles draw and a 16-team doubles draw. The
Bruins will focus mainly on doubles this year, which they dominated
at the event last year.
So who wants to win the Pac-10 singles title?
Well, not everyone on the UCLA team. Staying away from the
fracas that begins today will be none other than 2000 Pac-10
champion and 2001 finalist No. 9 Walker. No. 4 Bradley, sophomore
Lauren Fisher and senior Catherine Hawley will sit back and watch
also.
However, senior Petya Marinova, sophomore Mariko Fritz-Krockow
and freshman Sarah Gregg will compete in singles.
As the Pac-10 indoors was an optimistic time for the team, the
championships have that same sentiment.
The Bruins have retained their relative health throughout the
season and come back into elite status across the NCAA picture.
“This is the way it’s supposed to be around
here,” said assistant coach Bill Zaima. “Where we have
a great one and two (in the lineup), and we’ve got a great
six, because anyone in our lineup can play six. If we get strong
performances out of our three, four and five, I really believe we
will win the national championship.”
Zaima went on to stress, however, that his players need to
strengthen themselves mentally.
The Bruins are recently removed from a pair of undisciplined
efforts against top-ranked Stanford, which resulted in 6-1
losses.
Perhaps increasing mental toughness and composure will be the
final component that needs to be fine tuned this weekend before the
tennis balls really hit the net when the NCAA championships come
calling.
“It’s about that time,” said Bradley.
“We’re excited for the grand finale. An NCAA title is
what you play for all the way until the end.”