Competition tightens up for nation’s No. 2 team
By Daily Bruin Staff
Jan. 22, 1998 9:00 p.m.
Friday, January 23, 1998
Competition tightens up
for nation’s
No. 2 team
W. TENNIS: Bruins have championship potential, but road won’t be
easy
By Jared Hummel
Daily Bruin Contributor
Coming off an easy victory over UC Irvine on Wednesday, the UCLA
women’s tennis team (1-0 overall, 0-0 Pac-10) will square off
against the University of Utah today at the Sunset Recreation
Center.
UCLA head coach Stella Sampras would like to see a team
performance similar to Wednesday’s contest against Irvine (a 9-0
sweep) but anticipates a slightly more competitive match versus
Utah.
"Our players will have to be ready for some better tennis
players," Sampras said. "They’ll be a little tougher but we should
do pretty well against them."
The Utes enter play today armed with the No. 33 singles player
in the nation: senior Anna Svedenhov. Svedenhov boasted a 10-1
singles record and was a perfect 5-0 in doubles heading into
yesterday’s match at Pepperdine.
Although top UCLA player Amanda Basica and sophomore Katia
Roubanova will be unavailable today, due to injuries, the team’s
depth should more than compensate against both Utah and the Arizona
schools next week.
"It’s definitely going to be more challenging but I think we
have such a deep team that we’ll do pretty well at Arizona … I
feel that we have the talent to beat both those teams on the road,"
Sampras said.
With the No. 2 national ranking comes the pressure of
maintaining this status.
The Bruins’ depth provides the potential for a national
championship run this season but the road to South Bend, Ind., the
site of the NCAA Championships, is long and rocky.
"It’s very exciting to be ranked so high and we definitely have
the respect of the coaches around the country," Sampras said. "I’m
excited and I know the team is excited and we definitely have a
chance to win it … but we need to have everyone healthy to be our
best."
The Bruins hope to maintain their perfect record against the
Utes today, as they own an 8-0 series advantage.
