W. Tennis plays waiting game
By Daily Bruin Staff
May 1, 1996 9:00 p.m.
Thursday, May 2, 1996
No. 6 Bruins expect automatic berth to NCAA tournamentBy Hye
Kwon
Daily Bruin Staff
The calm before the storm.
That is what the UCLA women’s tennis team will be experiencing
the next seven days in practice, as it prepares for the NCAA
Championships, which begin on May 10 in Tallahassee, Fla.
As of Wednesday afternoon, the NCAA office had yet to release
the 10 teams which will earn the automatic qualification for next
weekend’s tournament. But considering the Bruins are ranked No. 6
in the country in the latest Intercollegiate Tennis Association
(ITA) polls, in addition to the fact that they have yet to be
assigned to play in the regionals which begin this weekend, all
signs indicate that the team is headed straight to Florida.
Other nationally-ranked teams which will most likely join the
Bruins in Tallahasee are Florida, Stanford, Duke and Arizona, which
are ranked No. 1 through No. 4. The teams on the bubble are No. 9
Brigham Young  which is in the midst of a slump and, as a
result, dropped two spots  and 10th-ranked Notre Dame.
If a team does not get the automatic qualification, it still has
a chance to make the 16-team tournament via regional playoffs. The
western regionals will be held at Pepperdine’s Malibu campus this
year.
* * *
The most eye-opening development in the new rankings is the fact
that Wake Forest has leap-frogged over UCLA to take over the No. 5
ranking. In the previous rankings, the Demon Deacons were No. 12.
Since then, the ITA took notice of two big wins against Notre Dame
and William and Mary, which evidently was the force behind the
catapult.
"UCLA’s biggest win of the period was against (USC) which
dropped to No. 19 in the new polls," ITA official Tim Curry said.
"We felt that Wake Forest had a better showing than UCLA
considering that it beat then No. 7 Notre Dame."
Other factors that probably played into the Bruins’ slip was the
close win against No. 35 California and a blow-out loss against
Stanford at Palo Alto. While a good showing against the Cardinal
would probably have at least maintained their No. 5 ranking, a win
could have propelled the Bruins as high as the third or fourth
spot.
* * *
In the individual rankings, very few things changed as far as
UCLA is concerned. Bruins ace Keri Phebus stayed put at No. 5,
while Paige Yaroshuk and Stephanie Chi moved up slightly to grab
the 23rd and 28th spots, respectively.
UCLA’s No. 4 player, Kelly Rudolph, is still clinging on to
top-100 status. The sophomore moved up three spots to assume the
96th spot.
ANDREW SCHOLER/Daily Bruin
UCLA’s Keri Phebus is still ranked No. 5 in the latest
rankings.
