UCLA women's tennis team seeks ingredients for success against Pepperdine
By Emilio Ronquillo
March 14, 2012 3:40 p.m.
Sounds out of the mouth color McCall Jones’ on-court passion, but the senior’s non-tennis hobby entails reaching hearts by traveling into digestive tracts.
Shortly after wrapping up her part in UCLA’s victory over Washington State on Friday, the women’s tennis captain and resident baker walked over to the rest of her team with a pink container full of homemade cookies when she was stopped by director of tennis operations Grant Chen and sophomore Morgan Thomas. Chen and Thomas could not help but immediately take a snack and excitedly chat about the fourth-year’s baked goods.
“I love baking stuff all the time,” said Jones, who attempted to continue speaking but was rendered incoherent by Chen’s booming praises.
“I put them in the freezer, and have one a day. They last a whole month. She usually makes me a couple dozen, and they’re so good, so unbelievable,” Chen said.
Today against Pepperdine, Jones and the rest of the Bruins may have to bring a level of intensity on the order of the passion which Chen feels toward the senior’s culinary works. No. 1 UCLA took all they could from their opponents from down the 405 freeway last year, with the Bruins pulling out a 4-3 win.
“Pepperdine is a very feisty team. They come in here and they compete against us. They’re dangerous because they’re very talented, so we’ve got to be ready for them,” coach Stella Sampras Webster said of the No. 31 Waves.
If anyone on the Bruins is equipped to handle Pepperdine’s heat and stay in the kitchen, it’s Jones. The powder blue-shoe-clad senior’s audible ferocity on the court surpasses that of any other Bruin. Her trademark hitting grunts, groans and quick post-point talks to herself are a fixture of women’s tennis matches.
“I’ve always been a loud, competitive person throughout my career, even in juniors. … (My dad) played college sports, so I think I get that from him,” Jones said. “Basically, if I’m talking to myself, I’m getting pumped up for my next point.”
Jones is one of only two players who earned singles victories in last year’s matchup who are slated to play in today’s game, with fellow senior Carling Seguso being the other. Seguso looks to play her second singles match of the regular season as she continues to be eased into the lineup after suffering a foot injury that limited her to doubles play for the season’s first half. The fourth-year hopes to avoid getting caught up in the high-tension match against the Waves.
“There hasn’t been much I can do if I can’t move, so it’s just more feeling good about my hitting. I know my movement will come the more I play, so it’s about not getting upset if I’m not playing as well as I was when I was 100 percent,” Seguso said. “(I need to be) focusing on the positive, what I am doing well versus what I’m not doing well.”
In this final non-conference game, Sampras Webster will continue gathering and identifying the ingredients for an improved doubles play. UCLA’s coaching staff cooked up a different doubles lineup against Washington State on Friday, putting together No. 2 and No. 3 tandems that came in a combined 2-0 in dual match competition. The Bruins were met with mixed results, as Jones and Montez lost on Court 2.
Should the Bruins’ doubles situation play out similar to how Jones bakes, UCLA should be in a fine position going forward. Jones does not stick to one recipe, yet her batches of pastries can keep the smiles coming day in and day out.
