LMU matches kick off intense three months
By Daily Bruin Staff
Jan. 24, 2002 9:00 p.m.
 Daily Bruin File Photo Sophomore Mariko
Fritz-Krockow stoops down low in a match last season.
By Eric Perez
Daily Bruin Contributor
Easy does it now.
The UCLA women’s tennis squad kicks off the dual match
season with a pair of matches at the L.A. Tennis Center against
Loyola Marymount today at 1:30 and tomorrow at noon versus
Pepperdine.
The Bruins for at least the next three months will play an
exhaustive schedule of roughly two to three, sometimes even four
matches a week. The greatest challenge facing the No. 16 ranked
Bruins , though, will be maintaining their intensity throughout the
year.
“Our goal is to be the best in May,” said UCLA head
coach Stella Sampras. The NCAA championships are held in May.
“If we don’t start off well it doesn’t mean
we’re not going to be good in May, it’s just the start
of where we’re at,” Sampras continued.
Last year’s team exemplified how overrated the notion of
starting the season well can be.
They began the campaign ranked ninth in the nation and strung
together three straight victories, rising to No. 6.
However, after injuries to then senior Zana Zlebnik and top
singles player Sarah Walker, the Bruins lost 14 out of their next
18 dual matches falling as low as No.38.
No matter how many precautions a team takes to guard against
injuries, they are unavoidable. So the Bruins will focus on what
they can control ““ namely guarding against burn-out, lethargy
and stagnation.
“You want your players to be able to continue to develop
their games and not just be satisfied and stop making
changes,” said Sampras, who stresses that her players focus
on improving rather than on the highs and lows the season will
bring. “It’s a long season and they are going to be
playing a lot of tennis. So it’s just kind of (about) gearing
up mentally.”
The first dual match of the season, however, has its own unique
challenge.
“The first (dual) match is always the hardest, no matter
who we play.” said senior Petya Marinova, who said that
shifting the focus from an individual to a team concept comes with
its own growing pains.
“There’s such a big time difference (between
individual tournaments and dual-matches), the first game is about
kind of getting into the rhythm of dual matches,” Marinova
added.
