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  MIKE CHIEN Sara Walker plays against Arizona State last week. Walker will compete in the Rolex National Indoor Championships in Texas.

By Hannah Gordon

Daily Bruin Contributor

Sara Walker is heading home to Texas to compete in the Rolex National Intercollegiate Indoor Championships today. She is one of only 32 players honored nationally with a spot in the women’s singles.

Most players qualify by winning the regional competition of the ITA Grand Slam. Walker, however, lost in the semifinals of the regionals to the winner of the tournament. Despite the loss, she is so respected for her talent that she was selected at-large by the ITA National Tournament Committee.

Head coach Stella Sampras emphasized that it is an honor to be at the championship. “People playing in this have earned a spot. They are the top players in the country,” she said.

Walker shares Sampras’ enthusiasm. “I’m excited because I didn’t make it last year and it’s in Texas where I’m from,” she said. This tournament will also be special for Walker since her family will be there to watch her play.

Because the competition is so selective, even the first round will be a difficult match so Sampras’ goal is for Walker to play as many matches as possible. The high level of competition is important to showing Walker how to play No. 1 position at UCLA.

WOMEN'S TENNIS PREVIEW vs. Rolex National Indoors Today-Sunday All day Dallas, Texas

“It will be good for her to see what she needs to do to continue improving,” Sampras said.

Walker agrees that the tournament will be good practice because it has harder matches than most. The competition includes last year’s winner, Stanford’s Laura Granville.

Granville, the No. 1 seed, will attempt to be the first repeat women’s singles champion. The ITA ranks the next three seeds as No. 2 Ansley Cargill (Duke), No. 3 Michelle Dasso (Notre Dame), and No. 4 Nataly Cahana (Old Dominion).

Sampras will be traveling with Walker and coaching her through the championship. She said her job is to prepare Walker as she does in all matches, the only difference being that she can focus more because she only has to prepare one player.

“Sara is very coachable. But she is pretty independent. She knows what she needs to do,” Sampras said. “For me it’s more just building up her confidence.”

As for Walker’s goals: “I’m going to work on my match play, stay focused and step up,” she said.

If Walker does well it will help her individual ranking. She is currently left out of the rankings due to a computer mix-up, but new rankings will be out in a few weeks.

The Rolex National Indoors begins today and will conclude Sunday.