Team faces tough matchups sans coach, key players

  DAVE HILL/Daily Bruin Senior Staff Senior
Jennifer Donahue prepares for a forehand in the
Bruins’ match against UC Irvine earlier in the season.

By Jason Saltoun Ebin
Daily Bruin Contributor

If the absence of No. 1 singles sophomore Sara Walker and No. 3
singles senior co-captain Zana Zlebnik were not enough for the No.
18 UCLA women’s tennis team (3-4, 2-0 Pac-10), Head Coach
Stella Sampras has been out since Wednesday with the chicken
pox.

In Sampras’ place, assistant coach Jon Reeves will act as
head coach for today and Saturday’s matches, and most likely
also against Pepperdine on Tuesday.

With three matches in the next five days and the Bruins riding a
three-match losing streak, “The next five days are big
days,” Reeves said.

Whether against Bulldogs or Ducks, the injury-plagued Bruins
will be looking to serve up a few aces against No. 33 Fresno State
(3-1) today and against Oregon (2-4, 0-2) Saturday. Both matches
will be at the Los Angeles Tennis Center at 1:30 p.m. and 11 a.m.,
respectively.

“I think both matches will be challenging,” junior
Catherine Hawley said. She has been competing at No. 1 singles in
Walker’s absence and is 0-3 after moving up from No. 2 .

Due to the injures, the entire team is forced to play at higher
positions and except for Hawley, everyone jumps up two spots. But
no matter what the outcome of these two matches is, UCLA will gain
invaluable experience where the Bruins need it most ““ at the
bottom half of their lineup.

If some of UCLA’s less experienced members manage wins at
higher positions, the confidence these players should gain would
prove invaluable when the team gets back to full strength. Senior
co-captain Jennifer Donahue (No. 5) and freshman Chelsea Godbey
(No. 6), who both moved up when Walker and Zlebnik first went out,
are only playing in their fifth and fourth collegiate matches,
respectively.

Against a solid Fresno State team, the bottom half of the lineup
is going to have to come through with some wins. With Bulldog
senior Liesl Fichtbauer (No. 28 in the nation) and junior Kim
Niggemeyer (No. 37) filling Fresno State’s top two spots, the
Bulldogs have two players ranked higher than UCLA’s No. 1
singles player. Hawley comes in at No. 97.

Unranked Oregon should pose less of a threat to the Bruins since
the Ducks are winless in Pac-10 play and have only one ranked
player, No. 54 sophomore Jeanette Mattsson.

But after a disappointing ITA/WTA National Indoor Championships
last week in Madison, Wis. ““ the team went 0-3 with loses to
No. 20 Northwestern (7-0), No. 19 Ohio State (5-2) and No. 17
Baylor (5-2) ““ UCLA has yet to find a way to win without
Zlebnik and Walker. With them in the lineup, the Bruins are
3-1.

The Bruins are going to have to put in an entire team effort in
order to come through with a win. In UCLA’s last three
matches, the bottom half of the Bruin lineup has only won one match
and a total of three sets to go 1-8.

Against Fresno State and Oregon, this type of performance will
not be to the Bruins’ advantage; for a Bruin victory,
No.’s 4-6 will have to win.