Event: ITA Northwest Regional Championships
Where: Taube Tennis Center – Stanford, Calif.
When: Friday through Tuesday, all day
Who to watch: Junior Dahra Zamudio is the team’s highest ranked returning player.
Last weekend at the Saint Mary’s Invitational, the Orange, Calif. native beat a first-string Stanford player.
“To beat someone from last year’s number one team is an extremely good accomplishment,” coach Bill Maze said. “She is a great competitor. She really enjoys the competition and takes each opponent as a real challenge.”
Did you know? The ITA Northwest Regional operates as a single draw in that all players have individual matches against different schools. Maze plans to give each of his players specialized advice based on whom they are matched up against.
Preview: This weekend, balls are going to smack the court.
The Aggies have been preparing all off-season and now they’re ready for the peak of the season – ITA Regionals.
Maze said the main goal of the weekend is to have fun.
“Part of our team philosophy is that you can control your own attitude,” he said. “You can’t control the numbers. We all know we play our best out there when we have fun.”
UC Davis is up against some challenging teams that are nationally ranked. Two of the teams the Aggies are scheduled to match up against, Stanford and California, were ranked in the top-15 in the nation.
Though some squads in the tournament may come from top-level conferences like the Pac-10, Maze believes UC Davis still has an edge over the competition.
“It’s about the attitudes,” Maze said. “Our team has great chemistry on and off the court. That adds up. We play our best when we’re out there having fun together. That attitude is definitely one of our strong suits.”
– Caleigh Guoynes
