UA tries to gain revenge against No. 2 Stanford

Stanford, the team responsible for all three of the Wildcat's regular season losses last season, is in town this weekend.

The two teams will square off today at 1:30 p.m. and then the Wildcats will host No. 18 California tomorrow at 11 a.m. Both matches will be held at Robson Tennis Center.

A win against No. 2 Stanford today will be tough. Besides a history of losing to the Cardinal (2-0), the Wildcats (3-0) are suffering from numerous injuries.

Freshman Martine Vandekerckhove is out indefinitely with a bad knee.

The Wildcats began their season last weekend, going 3-0 at the Wildcat Invitational.

"It was important for us to have some matches in a team situation going into Stanford and Berkeley this weekend, because the level of tennis is going to be much different," UA head coach Becky Bell said. "Stanford and Berkeley are certainly a notch above the teams that were here."

The second-ranked Cardinal are led by senior Katie Schlukebir, who is tied with Maes for the No. 7 rank nationally. Six of Stanford's players are ranked in the top 40.

"It's fun for our team to play them because we have nothing to lose," Maes said. "We haven't won against Stanford in the last couple of years, so we just go out there and play. The pressure is on them."

The Golden Bears, who last season finished 10-15, are led by Amanda Augustus, the 69th ranked player in the country.