After being unable to play Southern California or UCLA because of bad weather, the L.A. schools come to Tucson today and tomorrow to face the No. 29 Arizona women's tennis team.
The Wildcats have lost their last three matches, all to top 10 opponents Stanford, California, and Texas. Texas beat Arizona 4-3 Monday, but the Wildcats showed signs that they can compete with the best, as junior Dianne Hollands got back on track by defeating Longhorn Petra Dizdar, 6-2, 6-2.
After playing a few matches in the No. 2 position, Hollands was once again placed into the top position, where she has earned a 4-1 record.
"Pretty much the whole season, we'll be switching Diane and (junior Maja Mlakar) at one and two," said assistant coach Petar Danolic. "They're both about equal. We'll see which one matches up better against the girl from the other team. That's why we played Dianne number one against Texas, and it worked at both positions."
No. 11 USC (7-3) brings in seven newcomers as well as No. 23 Luana Magnani, who was 18-5 last season.
The Trojans and the Wildcats will not get a chance to reschedule their earlier planned matchup because it would not have counted toward Pacific 10 Conference play. This match, however will count for conference play, and begins Arizona's journey through the stacked Pac-10.
"We're even more determined now to go out and beat them," Hollands said. "We're pretty disappointed that we didn't get a chance to have a good crack at them, so we're even more excited this weekend, especially because we're playing at home."
No. 12 UCLA (7-5), on the other hand, returns nine players, including two ranked doubles teams, led by the No. 8 tandem of Lauren Fisher and Jackie Carleton.
"I think the good thing is that with their veterans returning, there is a lot of things that we know about them," Hollands said. "We're just trying to take what we know and put it into our matches."
The Wildcats counter with the No. 17 ranked doubles team of Hollands and Mlakar, who are 6-2 on the season.
"We play very well. We really enjoy it and we're aiming to qualify for the nationals in the doubles," Hollands said. "We're just trying to improve on every match."
"Both matches will be very tough," Danolic said. "USC is playing well right now. When we went to L.A., I thought we matched up very well against USC. I still believe that we're able to compete against those schools. We showed that against Texas, and hopefully we'll come out strong and confident, and hopefully we'll be able to pull out at least one win this weekend."