After upsetting Arizona State in its last match, the Arizona women's tennis team looks for a few more upsets this weekend in its toughest home stand of the year.
No. 9 California and No. 1 Stanford visit Tucson today and tomorrow, respectively. The Golden Bears (8-3) bring in six seniors and five players ranked in the top 100, while Stanford (10-0) rolls in with seven top-100 players, led by No. 12 Erin Burdette, who holds an 11-2 record.
"It's obviously going to be the toughest match of the year," said assistant coach Petar Danolic of the upcoming match with the Cardinal. "Stanford is very strong all the way throughout the lineup. They really have six girls as strong as any No. 1 player in the country. It's going to be tough, but it's also going to be fun."
Arizona has risen in the rankings from No. 40 to No. 31 after its win over the Sun Devils. The Wildcats are led by juniors Diane Hollands and Maja Mlakar, who also form an imposing doubles team, ranked No. 18 in the nation. Hollands is coming off a straight-set win over Joslynn Burkett of ASU, while Mlakar defeated Sun Devil Wendy Pilecka, also in straight sets.
"We don't look at the rankings so much," Danolic said. "We believe we are a top-30 team, maybe even a top-20 team. That's not our main focus, on how high we are ranked."
The matches against the Bay Area schools haven't been easy in the past, as the Wildcats split with the Bears last year and lost both matches to the Cardinal, who they have beaten just once in school history.
"All we can do is really come out strong," Danolic said. "We have to come out fired up. You never know if we give them our best shot. Any team is beatable if you go in with the right attitude."