Women’s tennis takes on Stanford, Cal on the road

The No. 43 women’s tennis team heads north to the Bay Area this weekend to face No. 23 Stanford on Friday and No. 1 Cal on Saturday.

USC has an undefeated 2-0 record in the Pac-12 after a 5-2 win over Washington last Friday and a 5-1 win over Washington State last Saturday. Their overall record for the season is 5-4.

The team struggled this season before entering the conference swing, recording three consecutive losses.

“You just have to be positive,” head coach Richard Gallien said after beating Washington. “[You have to] try very hard, making this blind assumption that something good is going to happen as long as you’re motivated and don’t do dumb things, don’t start blaming it saying, ‘It’s this person’s fault,’ and stay steady.”

The Trojans can rely on five nationally ranked players. Leading the Trojans is senior Giuliana Olmos, currently ranked No. 25. Olmos recorded two straight set wins over the weekend against the Washington schools at first singles.

Sophomores Gabby Smith and Madison Westby are ranked at No. 90 and No. 101, respectively. Freshmen Rianna Valdes and Jessica Failla are currently at No. 111 and No. 125.

Valdes was forced to retire at the end of the second set on Friday against Washington due to injury. On Saturday against Washington State, her spot at sixth singles was taken by freshman Kristen Venter.

“We definitely had some up and downs in the season.” Venter said after her first match on Saturday. “We’ve had a lot of injuries and technical things, like any other sports things, aren’t always going to go as planned. You need to have a plan B and C.”

In doubles, Olmos and Smith are ranked No. 8 in the country. Smith is also at No. 53, with Failla.

First up on the road for USC is No. 23 Stanford. The Cardinal are 6-3 overall and 1-1 in the conference after they beat Arizona 5-2 and fell short to Arizona State 4-3. Stanford has four players ranked nationally — juniors Taylor Davidson, Caroline Doyle and Carol Zhao are ranked 26th, 55th and 59th, respectively. Senior Krista Hardebeck is currently at No. 88.

On Saturday, the Women of Troy will face No. 1 Cal. The Golden Bears are currently undefeated at 12-0 and have a 2-0 Pac-12 record.

In singles, five players are ranked nationally for Cal. At No. 11 is senior Klara Fabikova, followed by junior Maegan Manasse at No. 12, senior Lynn Chi at No. 56, junior Denise Starr at No. 60 and freshman Olivia Hauger at No. 77.

The Bears have two pairs ranked nationally. At No. 4 is Manasse and Star and at No. 72 is Fabikova and Hauger.

First serve is at 1:30 p.m. on Friday and at 12 p.m. on Saturday.