Healthy women’s tennis to host regional tourney match

Andrew Finley
Published: Thursday, May 1, 2003

The UCLA women’s tennis team got its wish for a bid to the upcoming NCAA Championships, which will get under way May 9.

Although the 11th-seeded Bruins have dropped five of their past six matches, they will still be one of 16 teams in a 64-team field to host a regional championship match. “The players don’t have to travel or miss a lot of school,” head coach Stella Sampras Webster said. “It’s a good draw.”

As hosts, the Bruins are favored to advance out of their draw. Their first-round match will be against Indiana University-Purdue University Indianapolis, which went 17-3 and a perfect 7-0 in the Mid-Continent Conference. A win over the Jaguars would pit the Bruins up against the winner of the Pepperdine-Minnesota match.

Although the Bruins do not know much about IUPUI, they have beaten Pepperdine twice this season with scores of 6-1 and 4-3.

“Pepperdine is playing better and they’re healthier,” Sampras Webster said. “We need to be ready and can’t afford to play bad matches. It could be the last of the season.”

The players have mimicked their coach’s philosophy of not looking too far ahead.

“We need to take it real seriously and play one match at a time,” said freshman Feriel Esseghir, who is expected to play both singles and doubles for the first time this season. “But it should not be a problem if we play our best,” she said.

Should the Bruins advance from their bracket, a potential rematch with Washington in Gainesville awaits. The sixth-seeded Huskies pounded an injury-ridden Bruin squad 6-1 three weeks ago at Washington’s indoor Nordstrom Tennis Center.

However, a healthier UCLA lineup and the outdoor courts in Gainesville would make the rematch very intriguing.

Stanford and Florida enter the tournament as the top two seeds, followed by Duke and California.

However, with every team in the tournament having at least one loss, picking a clear-cut favorite is difficult.

“Anything can happen,” Sampras Webster said.

“It’s whoever’s playing their best now. What’s past is past.”