Bruins place bet on doubles to beat ‘SC

  COURTNEY STEWART/Daily Bruin Freshman Megan
Bradely feels the doubles point is of utmost importance in
today’s rematch against the Trojans.

By Brian Kiley
Daily Bruin Contributor

On Feb. 1, the Bruins, who were ranked No. 15 at the time,
marched into Marks Tennis Stadium at USC and embarrassed the then
No. 7 Trojans 5-2 in front of their home crowd.

Today at 1:30 p.m. at the LATC, UCLA (8-1), who now holds the
No. 7 ranking, will be looking to stop the No. 16 (7-4) Trojans
from returning the favor.

USC comes into today’s match desperately needing a victory
to stay in the hunt for the Pac-10 title. Bruins head coach Stella
Sampras knows that it will be critical for the Bruins to be at
their best to keep the Women of Troy at bay.

“When we played them over at ‘SC the team was very
fired up and very focused,” Sampras said. “We
can’t come out flat because (USC) is too good. We will not do
well if we’re not ready to play.”

The Bruins are placing considerable emphasis on winning the
doubles point in today’s match to take some pressure off of
the singles matches and demoralize the Trojans.

“Doubles is going to be a major factor in the
match,” freshman Megan Bradley said. “Last time
(against USC) we came out really pumped up, and if we can come out
with that same energy and play good doubles we’ll be
fine.”

Doubles is especially important in this match due to the depth
of USC’s singles players. The Trojans are led by No. 8 ranked
junior Jewel Peterson, but in their previous encounter with UCLA it
was the No. 4 and No. 5 slots filled by juniors Maureen Diaz and
Tiffany Brymer who got the wins.

“Winning the doubles point is huge because it builds
momentum for the match,” Sampras said. “There were a
lot of close singles matches when we played them at “˜SC, so
we need to be sharp.”

The Bruins are coming off of their first loss of the season, a
4-2 loss against the University of Texas on Saturday in Texas.

It was a strange match in many respects for UCLA, and the team
is looking to regroup and put it behind them.

“It was a hard weekend with the weather, having to play
indoors, and not playing doubles,” junior Sara Walker said.
“We just need to stay positive, especially against
‘SC.”

A win today will keep the Bruins undefeated in the Pac-10 and
will maintain their tie with Stanford and University of Washington
for the conference lead.