Women of Troy set to host SDSU at Marks
After a spectacular comeback bid fell just one point short against crosstown rival UCLA last week, the women’s tennis looks to return to winning ways against San Diego State on Wednesday. The Women of Troy had been looking to extend a six-game winning run going into their matchup against the Bruins, but they will now try to start a fresh streak by taking care of the Aztecs at Marks Stadium.
Despite the close loss to archrivals UCLA, associate head coach West Nott insisted that “nothing has changed” in the squad’s preparations for game day.
“Have a good practice, control the things you can control and just get back out there on the court and rack up another win,” Nott said when asked about the team’s mentality heading into the contest.
No. 4 USC now sports a 10-2 record and an undefeated 4-0 mark at home, while San Diego State is 6-5 for the season and has not lost in almost a month. After a rough 2-5 start, the Aztecs notched four consecutive victories to push their record over .500, and they will look to make it five in their upset bid against the Women of Troy.
USC travelled to San Diego in 2014 and came away with a dominant 7-0 victory, but neither the players nor the coaches are taking the win for granted this year.
“If we can keep working on the things we’ve been working on, the rest will just fall into place,” Nott said. “We won’t be taking them lightly.”
Six USC players are currently nationally ranked in singles, led by No. 18 junior Giuliana Olmos. The other ranked Women of Troy include two seniors, No. 36 Sabrina Santamaria and No. 46 Zoë Scandalis, while No. 88 Gabby Smith, No. 83 Meredith Xepoleas and No. 65 Madison Westby are all freshmen. Olmos and Scandalis are also the 17-ranked doubles partnership in the country, and sophomore Zoë Katz and senior Gabriella DeSimone are currently ranked at No. 27.
After the loss against UCLA last week, head coach Richard Gallien identified doubles as an area for improvement, and the team has been working to improve that aspect of their game throughout the week.
“We’ve got some new players, and gelling takes a little bit of time, especially just handling the pressure of a dual match,” Nott said. “We’ve been working really hard, and the kids are learning very quickly so I wouldn’t be surprised if we played great doubles [against San Diego State.]”
The players and coaching staff have also been working on maintaining full, NCAA tournament-esque intensity over the course of a full match.
“We’re working on our overall consistency as a team, not giving away any free points, just making every point, set and match contested from the beginning to the end and playing a full, complete performance,” Nott said.
USC and San Diego State do not share many common fixtures in their seasons, as the Aztecs play in the Mountain West Championship, but comparing results against their lone mutual opponent — Pepperdine — inspires confidence. San Diego State fell to the Waves by a score of 5-2 in their lone meeting of the spring, while the Women of Troy beat Pepperdine twice in the same week back in January, with a 4-0 win at home and a 4-3 victory in Malibu.
The Women of Troy know, however, that any lower-ranked team visiting Marks Stadium will be prepared to upset them and are ready to meet the challenge.
“We take them very seriously even though they aren’t ranked as high[ly] as us,” Santamaria said. “We’re preparing very well, and we’re going to treat [the game] like it’s UCLA or Stanford or Cal and just take care of business.”
The match begins Wednesday at Marks Stadium at 1:30 p.m., and it is the Women of Troy’s final contest before conference play begins at Washington State on Sunday.