UCLA prepares to face Bears, Cardinal again
By Daily Bruin Staff
April 19, 2001 9:00 p.m.
 DAVE HILL/Daily Bruin Senior Staff Freshman
Mariko Fritz-Krockow keeps her eye on the ball in
a match earlier this year.
By Hannah Gordon
Daily Bruin Contributor
After losses in the Bay Area two weeks ago, the No. 32 UCLA
women’s tennis team looks to vindicate itself against No. 9
Cal today at 1:30 p.m. and No. 1 Stanford tomorrow at noon at the
Los Angeles Tennis Center.
Having seen their opponents only two weeks ago, the Bruins will
be prepared.
“I don’t see their lineup changing, so our players
have an idea of who they’ll play this weekend,” Head
Coach Stella Sampras said.
They may know their opponents too well. Freshman Mariko
Fritz-Krockow will be playing her good friend Keiko Tokuda, ranked
No. 41, of Stanford.
“It will be harder emotionally than another match because
usually when I step on the court I hate my opponent,”
Fritz-Krockow said. “It’s hard to separate on and off
the court.”
Most of the players see the knowledge as useful, however.
“It’s easy to remember what they did and how they
played,” junior Petya Marinova said.
The return of No. 1 Sara Walker, who did not play singles
against either Cal or Stanford two weeks ago, will also make a big
difference. Everyone will drop down one spot and thus probably have
a better chance of winning their matches. Walker will play the No.
1 player in the country, Stanford’s Laura Granville, who is
undefeated this season.
“I haven’t played Laura since Juniors,” Walker
said. “It will be good to see where I’m at, what I need
to work on.”
The team will also be aided by the home court advantage.
“It’s good to play at home again,” senior
Jennifer Donahue said. “I think it will make a
difference.”
The team is very aware of the importance of doubles after losing
both of its matches 4-3 last weekend because it lost the doubles
point.
“We have focused on doubles in practice this week because
it really hurt us not winning the doubles point,” Sampras
said.
She has succeeded in firing up her players for doubles.
“I’m definitely looking forward to doubles,”
freshman Laura Fisher said. “We need to get a little
revenge.”
“We have a good chance of winning if we win the doubles
point because Sara’s back and last time the matches were
close,” Marinova said. “Last time we were not prepared.
We just figured they were No. 1 so we’d lose. But we saw that
they’re not that much better than us.”
Marinova’s determination is shared by Fritz-Krockow.
“I had two match points against Stanford and I
lost,” she said. “I will not repeat that!”
