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Phebus to serve Cardinal for lunch

By Daily Bruin Staff

April 4, 1996 9:00 p.m.

Friday, April 5, 1996

Bruins take on No. 21 Cal, No. 2 Stanford in final home matches
of seasonBy Hye Kwon

Daily Bruin Staff

It’s been well documented in the collegiate tennis circuit that
Stanford teams have a tremendous home court advantage. Rowdy
Cardinal supporters have been intimidating opponents while spurring
on their team for a very long time.

For the No. 6 UCLA women’s tennis team, on the other hand, the
home court advantage has rarely meant a big band of supporters at
the Los Angeles Tennis Center. In any given match, there are
usually more people taking the short cut across the top of the
bleachers to get to the dorms than there are people watching the
matches.

Facing Stanford today at 1:30 p.m. and its Bay Area neighbor
California on Saturday at 1 p.m. in the final home matches of the
season, the Bruins (14-3 overall, 5-2 Pacific 10) are doing all
they can to finally get a sizable crowd for their matches.

"For this weekend’s matches, we’ve sent out lots of flyers to
tennis clubs, dormitories and others places," UCLA assistant coach
Stella Sampras said. "It will be interesting to see what kind of
crowd we get."

Jumping out to a 15-1 overall record which brought them the No.
2 ranking, Stanford has been drawing big crowds wherever it goes.
The Cardinal features five players ranked in the Intercollegiate
Tennis Association’s top 100, a feat matched only by No. 1 Florida.
Ania Bleszynski (No. 11), who has a dual match record of 12-4, has
been the playing at the top position all year long. Katie
Schlukebir (No. 10) and Sandra de Silva (No. 16) play at the next
two positions, and both players have tallied 12 dual-match
victories.

"Stanford doesn’t have a player like Keri Phebus or players at
one and two that dominate their opponents," Sampras said. "But at
three through six, they have players who are very good."

UCLA players competing at three through six ­ Kelly
Rudolph, Brandi Freudenberg, Anicia Mendez and Jody Anglin ­
have emerged as vital members of the squad in recent matches. In
the Pepperdine match last Friday, those four players salvaged a
Bruin victory after Phebus and Stephanie Chi experienced their own
personal debacles.

"Every match is going to be tough against Stanford," Sampras
said. "But our players are very pumped up for the match and I
really think Stanford is beatable."

As much as Stanford has been living up to their high preseason
expectations, California has been a disappointment. Predicted to be
the top challenger to break the Cardinal’s strangle hold in the
Pac-10, the Bears currently hold a 8-7 overall record. As a team,
California has slipped from a No. 6 preseason ranking to No. 21 in
the latest polls.

This weekend will be critical for the Bears, who are in limbo as
far as their post-season fate is concerned. While a strong finish
in the month of April can translate into an automatic qualification
for the NCAA Championships, status-quo will likely mean that they
would have to play in the regionals in order to qualify.

"On paper they are a very good team," Sampras said. "Just
because they’re the 21st team in the country doesn’t necessarily
mean that they’re that bad."

FRED HE/Daily Bruin

Keri Phebus at forefront as No. 6 Bruins take on Stanford today
at 1 p.m. in LATC.

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