Teams: UC Davis vs. No. 70 Nevada
Records: Aggies, 11-10; Wolf Pack, 7-10
Where: Galena High School – Reno, Nev.
When: Today at 1 p.m.
Who to watch: After missing the last four matches due to an ankle injury, junior Randi Schuler will be returning to action for the Aggies. The Woodland native and Purdue transfer is third on the team with nine singles victories – all from the No. 1 spot.
Did you know? When America’s national anthem plays before today’s tennis match, no player on Nevada will be listening to the song of her home country.
All nine players on the Wolf Pack roster have a listed hometown located outside of the United States. Three of those hometowns are in France, two are in Belgium, and the others are in Brazil, Japan, the Netherlands and Russia.
Preview: The Aggies know what’s in front of them.
Announced on Thursday, No. 6 UC Davis will face No. 3 Cal State Northridge on Apr. 25 in the first round of the Big West Conference Championships.
But first, Nevada.
In the final match of the regular season, the Aggies will face a team that has fallen 4-3 to a ranked opponent in each of its last two outings.
On Apr. 11, Nevada fell to No. 27 Denver, and two days later it lost to No. 41 Boise State. In all, eight of Nevada’s 10 losses this season have come by a 4-3 score.
“It’s a strong team, and I think it will be really good preparation [for the conference championships],” head coach Bill Maze said.
While it will be UC Davis’ 22nd match of the season, today will feature a first for the Aggies.
For the first time all season, they will compete at a high school.
Though Maze doesn’t anticipate sharing a court with the Galena High School Grizzlies to be a factor, he expects the Nevada altitude to come into play.
“I think if we had lots of time we would have gotten up there early (Thursday) and would have played for three hours in that,” Maze said, “but we prefer our players not to miss class. We will just get there and warm up for about an hour. …We’ll string the rackets a little tighter. Tighter strings, the ball doesn’t fly too much, and it tends to keep the ball in play.
