A top seed puts a bullseye on any team’s back.

And that is where one has landed for the Bulldogs. For the Bruins, though, being the underdog with a bow eases some of the pressure.

“They’re going to have all the pressure,” said coach Stella Sampras Webster. “If we can just come in and put a lot of pressure on them, we have a shot.”

UCLA women’s tennis (18-7, 9-4 Big Ten) will face No. 1 seed Georgia (20-5, 12-3) in the super regional round of the NCAA tournament at the Dan Magill Tennis Complex in Athens, Georgia.

The Bruins’ opening tournament rounds were both decided on the final singles court, with sophomore Olivia Center and junior Ahmani Guichard clinching in back-to-back matches.

Center has logged a team-high six clinchers for the Bruins as a consistent staple of her team’s singles lineup on the backcourts.

Guichard has been on a run of her own, having not dropped a singles match since March 21. Her most recent win punched her team’s ticket to the super regional.

Georgia’s path to Friday’s match came with less resistance, and the championship contenders blew past Alabama State and Charlotte in consecutive sweeps.

The Bulldogs’ season has not been all dominance, though, and the squad suffered a 4-1 loss to LSU in the SEC tournament semifinals. The bayou bust was one of Georgia’s five losses on the season, including an early-season upset by then-No. 35 Vanderbilt.

“Other teams have beaten them this season,” Center said. “Anyone can win at any moment, and just to have belief and play our games and impose ourselves when we’re out there.”

Ahead of last Saturday’s match, Sampras Webster identified deuce points as an area of improvement for the Bruins – who went on to win the second round showdown with a deuce-point victory from Guichard.

Winning the doubles point, which the Bruins dropped in the opening round of the tournament, also helped fuel Sampras Webster’s squad to a super regional berth.

UCLA was eliminated by No. 2 seed Texas A&M in the super regional of last year’s NCAA tournament. The Aggies, the then-defending national champions, bested the Bruins 4-2 in College Station, Texas.

Sampras Webster’s squad will once again be facing a top-seeded team boasting home court advantage. The Bruins have played the entirety of the postseason – including the Big Ten tournament – on the road, though, and are no stranger to travel.

“Some people need to train, some people just need rest,” Sampras Webster said. “It’s just very individual – we need to try to get everyone healthy, everyone recovered from this weekend and ready to go and travel to Georgia.”

Recovery will likely be important for Guichard, who resorted to underhand serves in last Saturday’s match while battling through an arm injury.

“Toward the end of the season, it’s important to keep our bodies healthy and our minds locked in,” Guichard said. “We will probably be leaving pretty soon for the next round so we have to put this weekend behind us pretty quickly.”

Athens should offer a slight reprieve from the 90-plus degree temperatures and thin mountain air UCLA competed in over the weekend. The Dan Magill Tennis Complex is more of the same for Georgia, though, which has played on home courts through the opening rounds.