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Freshman Susi Wild and the rest of the women’s team will play at USC today at 1:30 p.m. Wil

Four times this season the eighth-ranked women’s tennis team has taken the court against a top-10 opponent, and four times they have come up a little bit short.

Today, the Bruins (8-4) will take an ugly streak of four consecutive 4-3 losses to top-10 teams across town, as they attempt to right the ship against No. 2 USC (10-1).

“This is an important match for us and a huge opportunity,” UCLA head coach Stella Sampras Webster said. “We want to get our best team out there and give ourselves a chance to beat them.”

This will be the second meeting between the two teams this season. In January, the Trojans took the doubles point and split the singles matches en route to a 4-3 win at the Los Angeles Tennis Center. The young Bruins insist the experience of half of a season has made them a better team than they were when they first faced USC.

“This team has improved, and having Ferriel (Esseghir) and (Lauren) Fisher in the lineup is definitely going to make our doubles better,” Sampras Webster said.

“Singles-wise, Susi Wild has been playing excellent and Jackie (Carleton) is playing better. It’s great to see the improvement and hopefully they will show it against ’SC.”

While UCLA clearly has improved in the last month, the Trojans have been terrific over that same span, winning five of six matches. They defeated then-No. 3 Georgia 5-2 at the National Team Indoors and crushed No. 7 Arizona State 7-0 two weekends ago in Tempe.

The Bruins continue to be bothered by injuries, but they expect to be aided by the return of Esseghir to the lineup. The freshman has missed the entire dual-match season with a foot injury. Fisher is also expected to be available, though it will be a match-time decision.

“I’m planning on playing,” Fisher said. “I’m not going to go out there if I can’t play, but at this point my elbow feels fine.”

Today will be the last regular season collegiate match between close friends and long-time rivals No. 3 Jewel Peterson and No. 6 Sara Walker.

Walker has been bothered by a hamstring injury for the last week, but plans to play today.

“I’m not 100 percent; my leg is still really tight,” Walker said. “I really want to play but we’ll see.”

UCLA will likely field its standard singles lineup of Walker, Carleton, Wild, Sarah Gregg, Laura Gordon and Anya Loncaric, but the doubles lineup will likely be an unfamiliar one. The insertion of Esseghir and Fisher into the line-up will significantly shake up the doubles teams, but the Bruins expect the additions to make them better.

“It depends what teams we put together, but hopefully having (Esseghir and me) in the lineup will make our doubles a lot deeper and stronger.”

The doubles point has been elusive for the Bruins in their losses to top-10 schools, but they know it will be critical for them to find a way to take it if they are going to defeat USC.

Despite the daunting task of defeating a Trojan team rich in talent and experience, UCLA isn’t lacking in confidence.

“Everyone is excited, it would be a great win to knock them off,” Fisher said. “I think we all believe that we can beat any team in the country on a given day. We are confident in our team’s ability, it’s just a matter of executing.”