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Riza Zalameda and the No. 14 women’s tennis team travel to Wisconsin to compete today in th

They see it as their greatest opportunity thus far.

An opportunity to prove themselves. An opportunity to get into the mind-set of going against tough teams. And most importantly, an opportunity to show that they are capable of actually hanging with some of the nation’s best teams.

When the No. 14 UCLA women’s tennis team faces off against No. 6 Northwestern today at the USTA/ITA National Team Indoor Championships, the Bruins (2-0) will be playing their highest-ranked opponent so far, but are confident that they can topple the Wildcats.

“Northwestern’s definitely going to be the toughest match we’ve had so far, but I think we match up pretty well against them,” sophomore Ashley Joelson said. “We know some of their players and we know we have a very good shot.”

Northwestern (2-0) is coming off a dominating performance over No. 10 Duke, in which it dropped just one singles match.

The Bruins have generated momentum of their own, winning two consecutive matches themselves before heading in to Madison, Wis. to compete with 16 of the nation’s most elite teams.

“Not many teams out there have played tough matches,” UCLA coach Stella Sampras Webster said. “Some teams haven’t even played a match, so I think we’re fortunate that we got a couple of matches under our belts.”

UCLA will have some adjustments to make, though: They are traveling to indoor courts, which are generally much faster than the courts the Bruins use at the Los Angeles Tennis Center.

The Bruins understand the challenge of adapting to the differently paced courts and planned their trip accordingly.

UCLA arrived in Wisconsin on Tuesday morning and held a practice Tuesday night as well as two practices on Wednesday to help make the necessary changes.

“It’ll take some getting used to,” Sampras Webster said. “We haven’t played as much indoors as other teams have.”

Teams in the Midwest and closer to the East Coast tend to practice indoors due to severe weather conditions for much of their season.

UCLA, on the other hand, is usually forced to cancel practices, and even matches, when there is rain.

The Bruins have lost two straight matches to the Wildcats.

The most recent was a 7-0 shutout in the opening round of the 2001 National Team Indoors, and now the series is tied at two.

The winner of the match-up will take on the winner of the match between No. 3 Miami and the host school, Wisconsin, on Friday.

Regardless of the outcome, however, Sampras Webster and the Bruins will take the opportunity for what it’s worth – a chance to see where they stand among some of the nation’s elite.

“It’ll just be a good test of where our team is at because we get to play teams that are highly ranked that we wouldn’t normally see during the regular season,” Sampras Webster said. “Hopefully our team just takes advantage of all the opportunities and we can do well.”

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