Women’s tennis faces UCLA on the road


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After a difficult loss to the top-ranked Cal Golden Bears, the women’s tennis team is heading across town to Westwood to take on the UCLA Bruins at 1:30 p.m. on Thursday in their last match before official Pac-12 play begins.

Both teams are looking to rebound after losses to Cal, with the Bruins falling to them 5-2 on Saturday after the Trojans lost 6-1 on Friday.

The two teams finished in the top three in the conference last year, splitting two exciting matches with the score of 4-3, with the home team winning each time.

This matchup will be quite different from last year’s first meeting between the teams, where USC came in on a roll ranked 3rd in the country and UCLA pulled the upset ranked 11th.

After a challenging season, the Women of Troy are trying to battle back to the top of the rankings, currently sitting at 38th; UCLA has a similar mindset, ranked at 29th, and both teams have three losses on the year.

The match will get off to an exciting start in the doubles play, with both teams featuring top 10 doubles teams. Bruins seniors Catherine Harrison and Kyle McPhillips and the Trojans eighth-ranked pair, senior Giuliana Olmos and sophomore Gabby Smith.

The Trojans’ deep doubles lineup also includes a teams of freshman Jessica Failla and junior Zoë Katz, as well as sophomore Madison Westby and freshman Rianna Valdes.

Westby knows a thing or two about beating the Bruins, winning both her singles matches against UCLA last season.

“UCLA is always a good match,” Westby said. “They’re a good time, and so are we, so hopefully we pull it out.”

Westby is one of five Trojans who are ranked in singles, listed at 85th in this week’s rankings.

Joining her are the two freshman Valdes and Failla at 60th and 66th, respectively, and sophomore Gabby Smith at 90th.

Olmos rounds out the impressive list of ranked Trojans at 21st, but will likely face a difficult challenge against the Bruin’s 19th ranked senior Catherine Harrison.

UCLA does not have any other ranked players, but in a rivalry match, will always bring a serious challenge across the board.

The Bruin women bring more experience to the table with three of their top six players being seniors, leading to an intriguing matchup between the talented young Trojans and the veteran Bruins.

Katz and sophomore Meredith Xepoleas round out the singles players for the Trojans, both coming in with plenty of experience both in matches this season and previous years.

“There’s some excitement that goes into playing your conference that’s more school-oriented,” Katz said about the non-conference UCLA match and official Pac-12 play that starts next week.

USC will once again bring in strong preparation to the important and challenging part of the schedule that begins Thursday.